Off-campus students dissatisfied with local parking situation

According to senior Jenna Sirkin, the parking situation for students living off-campus can be summed up in two words. "It's awful," she said.

Sirkin's assessment is a common one, and the regulations in each city highlight the complicated and conflicting parking needs of students and permanent Medford and Somerville residents.

While Tufts has jurisdiction over streets on school property, the majority of upperclassmen live on streets that are under the jurisdiction of Medford and Somerville. The high demand for parking has led both communities to enact parking regulations.

However, Somerville's parking policies are much stricter than Medford's due to a higher population density.

"Somerville is a very small city, and parking is very difficult," Director of Community Relations Barbara Rubel said. "Both cities have resident parking programs, developed out of the sense that there are too many cars and not enough room for all of them."

Students with out-of-state plates who wish to park regularly on the street must register their car with the city of Somerville, which could lead to a change in insurance rates. Students may use Somerville visitor parking passes to ensure legal parking for no more than two nights a week in the same vehicle. Police will ticket a vehicle they believe has been there for a longer period.

Senior Zachary Chrisco said the residents in his house rotate who parks on the street and who parks in their driveway every two nights, in order to circumvent the limit.

"It's tough," Chrisco said, "[But] we make it work."

Other students expressed frustration at Somerville's current parking policies. Senior Peter Bromka said he was displeased with street sweeping rules, which require that cars alternately leave even and odd sides of the street clear two days a month.

and has also been ticketed for parking his car against the flow of traffic.

Chrisco has also been ticketed for parking his car against the flow of traffic and for his car "hanging out of the driveway a little bit."

Senior David Geisler, who lives on College Ave., said the problem is compounded by the high cost of parking on campus. A resident pass costs $400 for a full year.

"If they make it cheaper, everyone will buy passes," Sirkin said. "The idea is to deter you from having a car."

Sirkin believes that opening faculty lots during the evening might ease the parking situation on city streets.

Longtime Somerville parking problems led Tufts to seek a collaborative solution for students and the Somerville police. "We were embarrassed to hear about students who left the area after receiving dozens of tickets and tearing them up and leaving a pile on the street as they drove away," Rubel said.

"We decided to work with the city to capture those parking scofflaws, put the tickets on their bursar bills, and by doing so, help the cities enforce parking regulations. The policy is spelled out in the Pachyderm and is always described to students when they inquire about parking as part of their off-campus housing search."

According to Rubel, the situation has improved. "Parking complaints have dropped substantially," she said. Although Rubel still occasionally hears from neighbors, she said that they try to contact the driver and inform them that "we provide on-campus parking and they are contributing to difficult relationships with our neighbors by not using it."

While the parking situation remains tight, Vice President of Operations John Roberto said Tufts adapts to needs as best it can. "The University's parking program is managed quite well," he said. "We assess the number and category of parkers [and] where they're designated to park on an annual basis."

"We make basic changes to the allocation of spaces based upon demand and [make] any changes as they are warranted," Roberto said.

To prevent any difficulties, Rubel said students should consider parking when looking for a residence. "We urge students moving off-campus to find a place with off-street parking or consider changing their car registration to their local address so that they can get a parking decal for the city where they're living," she said.

Rubel said that parking difficulties in the area are not exclusive to the student population. "It's no more difficult for students than for anyone else in the community," she said.