City of Somerville Department of Traffic and Parking

Picking up towed car today after 1 inch of snow put parking ban into effect… die somerville parking authority die a long slow death

The parking rules in Somerville are absolutely insane and ridiculous! I have lived here for more than a year, and I have paid almost 300 dollars of parking tickets. This city has a ridiculous rule about snow emergency, you cannot park your car for more than 48 hours. It was really hard to find parking spot during snow emergency because you can only park on one side of the street. When you have a spot, of course you want to secure your spot. However, the cops still give you the ticket for parking in the same spot for more than 48 hours. The ticket was 50 dollars. I have never heard of any parking rules like this in other cities.
One time my car almost got towed because there was a road construction, however, I didn’t get any notifications on the street or online. They just knocked on your door on the day of the construction and ask you to move your car. If you were not home, they towed your car.
If you are considering moving to this town, please take a look at their parking rules and then decide whether or not you want to move here.

I cannot possibly say enough horrible and hate-​filled things about the extortionist parking régime in Somerville. I live here and have numerous parking permits. Still, I get tickets regularly. I pay attention to the rules… the annoying street sweeping, the 20ft from intersection, the no longer than 2-​day guest pass, etc. Still, over two years I’ve forked over more than $ 500 to these Nazi assholes and 90% of the tickets were given to me right in front of my house!
Where do they get the numbers from? Most tickets are $ 50 a pop…$ 50! In a town of so many young families and grad students, how do people afford this? They must rake in a small fortune each year in parking tickets. Where does the money go? I wish they would take a bit of it and re-​pave North Street… that would be fun.
I’ve appealed tickets before and was pleased to find the officer (at least the one I got) was very understanding. He told me, half-​jokingly, that I’d be better off parking next door in Medford every night and walking home. What! Why should that even be a thought?! But, he’s right.
Anyways, these guys suck. If you’re considering moving here… don’t. The constant tickets and anxiety they produce is not worth it. I can’t wait to leave, myself.

To me, the only thing that sucks about Somerville?
The fact that I am paranoid about where I park. Whether it be obstructing an intersection (in the residential areas), street cleaning obstruction, driveway obstruction, permit payment and sticker location, all the events in which roads are closed or need to be cleared, confusion over whether I as a resident pay for meter parking or not, and of course.. . when its winter time, and having to shovel out parking spaces and never moving my car afterwards.
Really, this actually makes me realize how much it sucks to live in Somerville. I ended up almost become a certified parking officer myself after having to learn every regulation they enforce for parking laws here. And I’m still paranoid about where to park every night here, because they’ll probably create another new law to ticket you for.
Oh and for new residents: make sure to read the 137 PAGE PARKING AND TRAFFIC RULE BOOK THAT SOMERVILLE EXPECTS YOU TO KNOW BY HEART IF YOU WISH TO PARK HERE!!!
here is the friendly link:
make sure to tip your friendly parking officer. You know how hard it is to get that tape measure out for being parked within 20 feet of a residential intersection!

Thought I’d give a positive review since I had a great experience when I went to get a new resident permit the other day. Basically:
1) I arrived at the parking office two minutes before close, and I was still served
2) I didn’t have any printed copies of the necessary documentation (only a PDF of my signed lease) but the employee let me email her the PDF so she could print it out for me.
3) I just checked my bank account, and I think my 50 dollar parking ticket became a 30 dollar parking ticket.
4) I parked illegally while doing all of this (shh) and didn’t get another ticket.
Couldn’t have gone better, really.

Obey the rules and you won’t get a ticket right? Well, the ‘driveway two-​feet’ city ordinance rule is BS. You can completely disregard it … or maybe it just depends on which side of the street or day of the week or full moon or not for it to be enforced.
The problem is when people disregard the city ordinance of the ‘two feet’ rule, getting out of a driveway can be hell … which is why I park on the street when I can.
It didn’t help me to leave numerous notes on the offenders windshield pointing out this ordinance. My pleases for consideration were also disregarded.
i figure I’m done writing notes and I’m not going to stand there waiting for them to come out to have a discussion about it.
So I asked for a little help from our Police Department. I asked for a ticket to be issued so they don’t do it again … the car was a foot into my driveway and the officer would not write a ticket. The Police Department disregards it’s own city ordinance.
So, I’m surprised to read about all these erroneous tickets being divvied out by the Somerville Police Department. I’m confused as to why the Police Department would disregard their own city ordinance.
When I called back to ask why the ticket wasn’t issued they sent a car back for the officer to have a conversation with me. It’s not a conversation to be had, either write the ticket or do away with the ordinance. Do I need to worry about retaliation …