Selectmen to Vote on Overnight Parking Ballot Question Tonight
The ballot question would be non-binding but could lead to action being taken.
The Board of Selectmen will vote tonight on a non-binding ballot question on overnight parking, according to its agenda.
If the board approves the wording of the question (it’s already supported it in theory), the question will go before voters at the Town Elections on Saturday, April 6.
Basically, the board wants to know if residents would like to see the town relax its overnight-parking ban. Selectman Steven Byrne proposed the idea of the question last meeting. At that time, selectmen disagreed on possible actions, or lack thereof, that should be taken after the vote.
[More: Selectmen Pursuing Non-Binding Ballot Question on Overnight Parking]
Town Manager Adam Chapdelaine, who was sworn in one year ago Wednesday, will also have his performance evaluation discussed at tonight’s meeting, according to the agenda.
The meeting starts at 7:15 p.m. in the Selectmen’s Chambers on the second floor of Town Hall.
Stephen H
8:03 am on Monday, February 25, 2013
Adapted from comments by Dan Dunn on Mass Ave Ballot Petition.
have a couple thoughts. First off I am not going to support putting this on the ballot. I believe the question is very simplistic and does not in any way cover the nuances of the situation that we are talking about. I do not believe the Overnight Parking Situation can be resolved down to a yes/no question. And I think it is pretty silly to think that you can. We could, as the residents of Arlington petition to put a series of questions on the ballot. For instance:
Do you support increasing parking particularly for our elderly and children?
Do you support decreasing the number of no-parking spots on Mass Ave, eastern portion?
Do you support installing more parking throughout Arlington?
Do you support changes in overnight parking that will increase non-resident and resident solutions?
These are all yes/no questions and you do not want any one of them on the ballot because they are too simple and do not cover the whole thing. You can’t reduce this to a question, I don’t think you should put this on the ballot.
Stephen H
8:05 am on Monday, February 25, 2013
I am going to go off on an editorial and I think I am going to lecture a little bit. I respect passion on issues. I respect passion on issues when you are in the minority. I have been in the minority on a number of issues. I can point you to votes at Town meeting where I lost 110 to 95. You might recall I led a certain fight to not ban leaf blowers. There is a Leaf Blower Ban *smirk*.
The mistake the Board of Selectmen is making is that you are confusing our not listening with our not agreeing with you. We listen to you, we simply disagree with you. And until you acknowledge that and discuss the changes that should or shouldn’t be there. Trying to pretend that we don’t listen to you is going to, it's, it's obvious that we listen to you. You can point to all the changes in the thing, you can point to the fact that I am talking to you here right now. We listen, we just don’t agree on this issue. And finally, I’ll just say because you are about to embark on a monumental waste of time for this town, I think you need to be very careful and crisp in the facts you use. That speech you just gave had a number of distortions and outright incorrect statements and it is going to be very difficult for us to have a discussion about overnight parking and I think we should talk about the situation. But I think we should have a fact based discussion, not in a version with altered reality.
Peter
8:49 am on Monday, February 25, 2013
Doesn't the Fire Department have a say as to have overnight parking especially on the narrower streets. It becomes a safety issue.
Hector
1:00 pm on Monday, February 25, 2013
Loosening the parking regulations will be great for keg parties.
Virgo
4:58 pm on Monday, February 25, 2013
Absolutely! It would make our life so much easier as we wouldn't have to tandem park our cars all the time. We have two cars since my husband I I both work full-time at opposite ends of the earth, but we have to constantly move each other's cars out before we can go to work in the morning!