By Beth Treffeisen
Street parking in neighborhoods like Beacon Hill just got some extra needed relief with the passage of the updated version of the City’s street occupancy permit program this past Wednesday, December 14 during the Boston City Council Hearing.
Boston’s street occupancy permit program allows residents, contractors, and utilities to perform construction, renovations, maintenance, and other important infrastructure improvements to the City.
But, at the same time, the program takes away valuable on-street parking from residents who are already facing a parking crunch in downtown Boston.
By modernizing the program Boston City Councilor Josh Zakim hopes it will help free up some on-street parking spots in an already dense area.
The ordinance has changed the pricing of permits for anyone who needs to take up space on the street for construction, painting, cleaning, demolition or other similar purposes to pay an initial fee $50, up from the previous price of $20.
It now also imposes a daily fee as opposed to a monthly fee to provide an incentive to finish the work in a timely manner.
Language has also been added to include fees for not taking down the ‘no parking’ signs after their allotted times.
“They run them, put them up and they’re not so quick to take them down – littering our neighborhoods,” said City Councilor