8/8/2019 Lack of Summer Street Parking a Problem for Watertown
Businesses
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Lack of Summer Street parking a problem for
Watertownbusinesses
By Laura PaineWicked Local WatertownPosted Dec 24, 2010 @ 12:10
PM
WATERTOWN Summer Street business owners say they were never
informed that arecent MassHighway project would result in the loss
of on-street parking.
Now that the work is done, theyre angry and want those spaces
back.The Summer Street project which was safety improvement work
that included repaving,
restriping, installing traffic lights and improving sidewalks
came to a close around the endof November. It then became clear to
local businesses like Manzelli Oil Company andWatertown Savings
Bank that there would no longer be parking on either side of the
street,despite regulations that allow both sides of the road
between Mt. Auburn Street and SpringStreet to have one-hour parking
spots.
At the Traffic Commission Meeting on Dec. 22, some business
owners explained thatlosing parking has resulted in a loss of
business. Town Councilor Susan Falkoff told thecommission she
thought that Public Works Superintendent Gerry Mee unilaterally
decidedto remove the parking without talking to stakeholders.
Not that it wasnt decided for good reasons, she said. It sounds
like parking spaces wereremoved and the community was
blindsided.
There are currently no signs posted on Summer Street that
prohibit parking, Mee said.Im a little bit surprised, he said. We
fought time and again to maintain parking. The
issue of the people werent informed [there were] public
hearings. It all needs to beconsidered. This isnt a surprise.
MassHighway runs those meetings to see if there is supportfor or
against those projects.
Councilor Vincent Piccirilli explained that because of where the
centerline is painted, thereisnt enough space on either side of the
road for parking anymore.
What I am looking at is the mismatch between the MassHighway
project and the localtown project, Piccirilli said. I think thats
where the confusion is. Its a gray area.
He suggested moving the centerline to allow for parking on one
side of the road, which wasmet with great opposition from Mee, who
said that if the town makes changes without theproper approval from
the MassHighway Department, Watertown could lose funding for
futureprojects.
Chief of Police Edward Deveau, who chairs the commission, said
there were too many legalquestions to make any immediate
decisions.
I understand the frustration, Deveau said. Im sorry, but were
not going to react to onething without understanding the whole
project. You guys have every right to weigh in. Whatwe have to find
out is if legally we can wave the rules. Im not going to put the
town in aposition where they could lose funding. We have a role we
have to do and we have to makesure we do it right.
The Traffic Commission voted to recommend that the parking issue
be send to the PublicWorks Committee.
Laura Paine can be reached at [email protected] 2010
Watertown TAB & Press. Some rights reserved
