By Linda Scott
Watertown Resident
This will be a short one.
About 10 months ago, this appeared on Reddit:
Watertown Winter Parking Ban update
TLDR: Watertown Councilor Tony Palomba is working to petition and amend the winter parking ban. Email him at councilorpalomba@gmail.com to sign the petition, share your feedback, and learn more.
“Hi Folks, I am sending this email to those of you who have contacted me regarding the Winter Parking Ban (Ban) at some point in the last year and a half. My apologies of the long delay in coming up with a way to get this important issue in front of the City Council for a public hearing and vote. As you may know there is considerable opposition to amending the Ban from the police and fire departments, members of the administration and some councilors. However, I am fully supportive of amending the Ban and after discussion with others who are also supportive I think the best route to get the issue in front of the Council is to use the Citizen Petition procedure that is described in our City Charter. In brief, a group of residents can require the City Council to take up an issue if they collect 150 signatures of registered voters. Of course you would want to get many more to demonstrate strong support for the issue. The signatures are submitted to the City Clerk who will certify the first 150 and then pass the petition to the Council Clerk and members of the Council. The Council has three months to hold a public hearing on the petition and then vote to reject or accept it. I have drafted a petition, the form of which was approved by the City Clerk. However, it is important that this effort is resident-driven. I would like to meet with those of you who would be interested in pursuing a Citizens Petition. Therefore I want to offer two different zoom meetings with the goal of getting as many people as possible to attend to review the petition and to discuss their involvement in the effort. I am proposing Saturday, April 20 at 6:00 PM and Sunday, April 21 at 5:00 PM. Please respond to this email if you are available one or both of these days and times. I will send you a zoom link and attach the draft petition. I do not anticipate these meetings will last more than an hour. Please reply if you are not available on either day and I will make sure to connect with you following the meetings. I should note that gathering signatures, as many as possible, and having the petition certified by the City Clerk, is the first step in winning approval for amending the Ban by the full Council. But it is the most important step and If everyone who is receiving this email can get 10 signatures, we will already have more than 150! I look forward to hearing from you. Of course if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call me. Best, Tony Palomba”
Since then, Tony’s gotten the requisite 150 signatures to bring it forward. They have hundreds more, but do they count? You have to be a registered voter to count.
The meeting is on January 21, 2025 from 6 to 9 p.m. at City Hall. There’ll be lots of time (3 hours) to express your views on this matter of community safety. It would be interesting if Councilors, when asking for the usual name and address before residents speak to also ask them to include whether they have a parking space at their residence. (Any residents who don’t have a place to park, shame on their landlords for deceiving them. The sin of omission … forgetting to let the unsuspecting future tenant know that a parking space does not come along with their rent).
There are other interpretations. Maybe the tenant was told, but it just didn’t seem to matter to them at the time. … Shortsightedness strikes again.
In a conversation with a Watertown resident, we were both puzzled why Councilor Palomba wasn’t more straightforward about his involvement in this. On past issues, he has been much more transparent, attaching his name to the issue, not ghostwriting petitions.
Anyway, I’m writing the councilors on this matter. It’s important for them to know where citizens stand on this. Please reach out by writing or calling all of the councilors by Sunday night.
Here’s the e-mail to reach them all at the same time:
citycouncilors@watertown-ma.gov
All the City Councilors individual email addresses and phone numbers are available at https://www.watertown-ma.gov/350/City-Council
Anyway, petition or not, I’m counting on the good sense of the majority of City Councilors to do what’s right (and safe) for this community. As Tony Palomba pointed out 1o months ago, the police and fire departments are against this, and may I add … for a good reason!
Dear OP
I find your letter very disturbing
I did not because of the topic or your position
Your use of the term assault is incorrect and Offensive.
definitions:
a: a violent physical or verbal attack
b: a military attack usually involving direct combat with enemy forces (an assault on the enemy’s air base)
c: a concerted effort (as to reach a goal or defeat an adversary) such as an assault on drug trafficking
in this setting would be: a strong verbal attack.”the assault on the party’s tax policies”
Everyone needs to think about their personal reasoning to support or oppose changes in the way we live together as a group. You support the ban and have laid out your reasons.
You’ve also provided contact information so others can express their opinions -this is really helpful as not everyone has easy access to that information or the time to find it
If citizens asking to be heard by their government and their fellow citizens are framed as engaged in a violent attack, (when framed without violent or threatening language), we are all doomed.
We cannot hear each other, we can’t influence each other, we can’t come to a compromise or an agreement to change or not change the status quo, or even respectfully disagree. No matter the outcome, no matter how many people support the status quo or change, people walk away exhausted, angry and more unwilling to listen to each other -it’s no different than a one on one or small group conversation.
As I’ve read your letters over time on different subjects, I finally have to ask you to consider the fact that effective, passionate advocacy for yourself and others can be done without attacks.
Dear OP
As a learning point for me, could you tell me where to find the requirement that people signing citizen petitions must be registered voters?
Having not been involved in trying to get an issue before the public and the council, it would be helpful for me to understand.
if you have the time, my quick search of the city’s website was not productive.
Thank you
The police and fire department are against any change to the existing system because the money they collect from fines goes directly to funding their departments.
Making the common sense change that puts a parking ban in place when there is actual snow accumulation on the ground is the correct move by the local government. If it is safe to park over night during the summer, then it is safe to park overnight in the winter when there is no snow on the ground.