The
commission, headed by chairman Stan Koty, emphasized the fact that this
was a public meeting, not a public hearing. Ergo, the Commission does
not adhere to the persons attending to oppose decisions that the
Traffic Board had made in the past. Also, Mr. Koty stated that topics
outside of the specific agenda of the meeting were not open to
discussion. This is where the confusion seemed to begin.

First,
the Commission stated that some of those in attendance might have been
misled by a mass telephone communication. These phone calls alleged
that all tradesmen coming into residential areas for improvement tasks
or deliveries would be subject to ticketing in accordance with the
Commission's decisions. Mr. Koty apologized for any persons who came to
dispute this, because of the fact that it was not accurate. Later in
the meeting, multiple people who addressed the board cited that they in
fact came because of this mass communication.

Next, the
Commission later stated that the meeting's agenda did not include
residential permit parking, which absolutely proved to be the hottest
topic of the night. Some of the literature given at the meeting could
have been perceived as fuel to the frustrations voiced at the meeting,
as well as the fact that less than half of those in attendance had an
agenda in front of them. This was explained as being a result of
under-estimating the turnout.

The Somerville Parking Advocacy
and Reform Coalition (SPARC) handed out a pamphlet of sorts to those
present at this event. The pamphlet opens with the following statement:
"On May 21st, 2009, The Somerville Traffic Commission voted to approve
the following changes to City parking regulation: These changes are
slated to be instated this summer." Some of the changes listed include
residential permit parking only for any and all streets not currently
designated, as well as all metered spots changing to residential permit
parking only during non-enforced hours.

In the eyes of the
majority in attendance on Thursday night, this May 21st meeting was
vastly under-publicized relative to the precedent it set forth. Several
angered and confused Somerville citizens voiced their frustration with
the changes that were scheduled to take affect August 1st, 2009.
Obviously, these changes were not implemented nor enforced on this set
date, but the fact that most citizens of Somerville were not aware of
these changes, or the original meeting on May 21st worried the crowd.
In fact, when visiting the Somerville Government's website, the only
news or press release given for May 21st is in respect to a tree
inventory being taken.

When those in attendance would try to
voice their frustration about this error in communication, the board
would cut them off, stating that these said matters were "not on the
agenda." Ward 3 Alderman Tom Taylor expressed his concerns, battling
his way through the board's interruptions. He was told that he was "out
of order" by the board after he stated: "two weeks ago…the Traffic
and Parking Department sent communications to the Board of Alderman,
and they ask if you have any agenda items please let us know. I let the
Traffic and Parking Department know that I wanted to address these
issues, and lo and behold, these issues were not on the agenda." The
fact that even an Alderman couldn't address the biggest problem on the
table disheartened the majority of the crowd.

There were several
specific arguments by small business owners around the city that felt
that they would be gravely impacted by these changes. Some local art
galleries, along with merchants, yoga studies and a wide variety of
other business believed that these changes would force them out of the
city. If their notions are correct, this would mean fewer jobs and less
general revenue in the City of Somerville.

The question that
was stated multiple times at this meeting by various attendees, and
seemed to be on everyone's mind, was just how responsible the induction
of these measures is in the struggling local and national economy. When
a decision made by elected officials in order to better the City is
perceived by the citizens therein to be trumping their business, there
should be a call for revisions. Those in attendance understood this,
but had trouble accepting it considering the unwillingness of the board
to entertain pertinent questions.

The disagreements and disorder
in the Tuft Administrative Building Cafeteria raged on for a little
over an hour. Barely anything was covered on the agenda until after the
room cleared out for a five-minute recess, and never filled back up.
Once the room was all but empty, the board quickly went through the
nine-or-so items on the agenda.

As cited by the Commission, if
there are discrepancies to decisions they have made, a petition with at
least fifty signatures from registered voters leads to a public
hearing. For any more information on this topic, visit either the City
of Somerville's website (www.somervillema.gov), or SPARC's at www.somervilleparc.blogspot.com.