The Dark Side of Overnight Parking Bans
A personal experience
As a child, I grew up in an economically-challenged neighborhood in Brookline, Massachusetts (circa. 1981-1989). My parents were not economically advantaged enough to afford to comfortably live in Brookline. However, because they so deeply desired for their children — my sister and me — to attend the respected Brookline schools, they managed to cobble together enough money to obtain a mortgage from a local bank, which they used to purchase (with the assistance of my mother’s parents) a fixer-upper in Brookline on Lincoln Rd. My parents were ecstatic, and as young children we knew — not quite why — that we were lucky to be living in Brookline.
Our fixer-upper did not have a driveway attached to it, and there was no place to park any car at what was a two-family house. We only had one car, so we didn’t need spots for 2 cars. But we did need a space for our 1 car, and we had none. Not only was there no driveway, but there was no room for building a driveway. What were we to do with our car every night with the Brookline overnight parking ban? Where would we put our car…every single night?
Despite our economic hardship, my parents were forced to rent a parking spot out 3 blocks away in a secluded part of the neighborhood for $200/month. This was a prohibitive amount for my parents to pay for parking as they simply did not have any disposable income. My parents’ dream had been to get their children into the Brookline schools, and paying for that parking spot seriously hampered their ability to pay the mortgage and remain housed.
My father was a cab driver with Red Cab in Brookline, and my mom was a nurse at Beth Israel in Boston. As a nurse working 5 night shifts a week, she did not get off work until 1:00am. For 5 nights a week my mother was forced to walk — alone — 3 blocks in the middle of the night, without street lamps, from our $200/month rented overnight parking spot back to our house. My mother was in danger 5 nights a week walking, alone, as a woman, in a secluded part of Brookline all because of the unreasonable overnight parking ban in Brookline.
The overnight parking ban put my mother’s health and safety at risk 5 nights a week for years. The stress that this caused our family was intense. My sister and I feared for her safety, had nightmares, and had trouble doing well in school. My father became increasingly depressed because of the danger that my mother faced every night — all because of the Brookline overnight ban.
Despite the safety risks involved, my mother’s job was too important for our family income to quit. Eventually, the stress caused by the Brookline overnight parking ban was too much for my father, and it was a factor that led to his untimely death. To this day, my mother, sister, and I still suffer from the effects of his death, which were in part a result of this unnecessary regulation.
Dr. Michael Williams, PhD
Boston, Massachusetts
What Others are Saying
I asked users on Reddit who live in the Boston area for their opinions regarding overnight parking bans. Here is some of their feedback (January 2024):
The headaches they cause especially in less densely populated residential neighborhoods are not worth the advantages. If an area is dense enough where parking availability is an issue, put in meters and make areas resident permitted only. Cambridge does this and it is way less of a hassle for residents than what Brookline does.
It’s an anti density NIMBY measure to keep property prices high.
I live in a Boston area suburb. I think the only reason there is an overnight parking ban is to limit multiple adults living in one house. It seems to be only enforced if a neighbor complains.
I have always thought that they exist to keep lower income people out of those areas people people who cannot afford to live where there is a driveway so for that reason, I don’t like them
They’re meant to keep the poor [people] out.
I won’t even consider living in those towns because of the bans.
My town has it and nobody gives a s**t, unless it’s downtown area or snowing and needs plowing. My entire street has cars parked on the road and nobody snitches.
I sleep at night and nobody parks in front of my house, so couldn’t care less.
We are trying to move closer to Boston for work and the overnight parking bans have made it impossible to find housing. It is hard enough right now to find an okay place to live that we can afford, but if the town doesn’t allow overnight street parking we basically just can’t live there. It’s hostile and unnecessary.
They serve the purpose of keeping the “riff raff” out. See the concrete barriers on intersecting streets where Allston meets Brookline on Harvard Ave side streets.
It also means many people can’t afford to live on those towns as renting a parking spot is sometimes as expensive as renting an apartment.
I think they are ridiculous, but I don’t necessarily agree that it should be a free for all. I would prefer it if these towns employed the resident parking and visitor parking passes, like they do (or used to do years ago) in Somerville. I’m in a 2BR with a roommate. We each have a driveway spot (which is awesome), but basically, we can never have overnight guests. We can’t have family, friends or partners visit without arranging for other parking. Or like another commenter said, if I go to bars with a friend, I’d feel safer if they crashed for the night, but they literally can’t. I also realize how lucky we are to have a driveway, but this is even more important for those who don’t have off street parking. That’s the worst.
