(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries and letters to the Editor of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)

Traffic Commission
130 Holland Street
Somerville, MA 02144

Ladies & Gentlemen:

Pursuant to the authority vested in the traffic commission by Chapter 397 of the Acts & Resolves of 1978 (hereinafter “the Act”), I respectfully request that you remove or cause to be removed thirteen signs unlawfully installed by Tufts University and located on Professor’s Row, a public street in Somerville, purporting to restrict on-street parking to Tufts employees.  (Exhibits A and A1 annexed hereto.) See pdf link below for Exhibits

Also, I request that you remove the signs you have installed atop the existing resident parking signs located on upper-Packard Avenue, between Powder House Boulevard and Professor’s Row, purporting to alter the twenty-four hour enforcement of resident parking and limit it to the hours of 1 a.m. to 8a.m., daily.

Professor’s Row is a significant connector street linking Curtis Street to College Avenue.  Unlike Latin Way, Sawyer Avenue and Talbot Avenue, all private, Professor’s Row is indisputably public, notwithstanding its location in the heart of the Tufts campus.  (See Exhibit C annexed hereto.)  Any Somerville resident whose motor vehicle displays a valid resident parking permit on its windshield is therefore entitled to park on it, just as they are entitled to park on every other public street in Somerville.

Regarding upper-Packard Avenue, the limitation of the hours during which resident parking is enforced to the hours between 1AM and 8AM, rather than the regular twenty-four hours during which it is enforced on every other public street in Somerville, with limited exceptions most often necessitated by business or public safety needs is, to say the least, most unusual.  Indeed, as far as I have been able to discern from a review of your regulations, it is the only street with this extraordinary limitation.

From in or about September 2021, when I first noticed the signs on Professor’s Row and Packard Avenue, I have taken the opportunity, during my weekday walks, to count the number of vehicles parked on upper-Packard Avenue on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, between 10AM and 4PM. The highest number of vehicles I have observed parked there has been seventy-four; the lowest number has been 52; the average number has been sixty-four.  Of these, the highest number with a valid resident parking permit affixed to their windshield has been seven; the lowest number with a valid resident parking permit has been two; the average number with a valid resident parking permit has been five.    

The obvious question to ask is: Who benefits from this significant change in the resident parking permit program on upper-Packard Avenue – a program with which every other Somerville resident must comply if they wish to lawfully park on our public streets?  The answer is self-evident: It is Tufts faculty, staff, employees, and students who are not Somerville residents and are therefore not entitled to resident parking permits or permit exemptions, who are the direct and substantial beneficiaries.            

Both the Professor’s Row signs and the restrictions they announce, and the upper-Packard Avenue “special dispensation” from the normal twenty-four hour enforcement of resident parking, have had the demonstrable effect of turning these two, public streets into what can best be described as “private parking lots” for Tufts.

And what is the outer limit of your special treatment of Tufts?  Will all or part of College Avenue or Powder House Boulevard or Teele Avenue or Whitfield Road, or any of the many other streets that abut Tufts, one day find themselves treated the same way as Professor’s Row and upper-Packard Avenue?

Although it will not change what has occurred since last September, it is worth noting that, the limitation of the hours for the enforcement of resident parking on upper-Packard Avenue required – and requires – the adoption of an appropriate regulation, in accordance with Section 3 (a) of the Act.  Moreover, such a proposed regulation is subject to appeal, as provided in Section 3 (b).  However, no such regulation is found in the alphabetical arrangement of streets set forth in Schedule D of the traffic commission regulations.  Based upon this, I therefore submit the 1AM – 8AM resident parking limitation on upper-Packard Avenue and the signs that announce it have been and remain – as I suggest should be the case – without force or effect.

Sincerely.
Andrew R. Puglia
Somerville

See exhibits mentioned above here.