AN INSIDE LOOK
By Bill Gouveia
If you are
going to propose a law and get it adopted, common sense says you should have a
plan to enforce it. But when it comes to
the newly-instituted Foxboro parking bylaw, common sense is in very short
supply.
The law bans
residents from parking cars on their private property during Gillette Stadium
events, which means it is almost exclusively aimed at homeowners in the North
Street area near Patriot Place. The
police chief and the building inspector pushed and supported the bylaw along
with selectmen. They said the parking of
cars in the highly residential neighborhood posed a safety threat to pedestrians,
motorists, and neighbors and impeded the safe flow of traffic.
But in
their haste to implement this misguided policy, they failed to properly plan
just how they would make it work. They
can go around and look for cars parked in driveways and on lawns, and even hand
out $100 fines to those they believe in violation. But they have yet to come up with a sensible
answer or a workable plan for how people can hold simple family gatherings
without worrying about police possibly towing Grandma’s car during dinner.
Of course,
officials have no intention of actually doing such a thing to Grandma. But how are they planning to apply this law
fairly? There is no doubt some North
Street area residents abused their homeowner rights and created a nuisance by
jamming their property with game-day parkers.
But the overwhelming majority either parked no cars, parked friends and
relatives, or parked a few people safely on their land for a fee. In many cases, they have been parking the
same acquaintances for decades.
Did this
new bylaw strip homeowners of their right to hold family gatherings when they
involve more than three cars? Do you now
have to get permission for Grandma to visit?
Will she need a permit or a placard to guarantee she is not a scofflaw? Many of the games are held on or around
holidays. Must residents now give up
their right to celebrate the holidays at home?
Here’s an
idea. How about cracking down on the
people who actually create a parking or traffic hazard, and leaving the ones
who don’t alone? If this is really a
safety issue, why must the people who are not creating safety problems be
stopped from parking cars?
The current
bylaw tries to solve the problem around the stadium in a heavy-handed and
uneven manner. It is like trying to kill
flies with dynamite. It makes little
sense, creates a lot of peripheral damage, and is simply unfair and discriminatory.
Think about
it for a minute. The town and the
Patriots agree to funnel a lot of traffic down North Street so they can have a
private entrance to the expensive club seat parking lot for VIPs. They create traffic the residents must
endure. Then when the residents try and
use their property to park the cars of friends and relatives, or make a couple
of bucks, the town blames them for creating traffic problems.
The
homeowners are not causing the vast majority of the issues. The traffic itself is to blame. If town officials are truly worried about the
safe flow of traffic in the residential neighborhood, then they should reduce
that traffic – not further punish or inconvenience the people who just happen
to live along the route. Those neighbors
are not creating traffic problems, but rather are the victims of them.
Safety is
always first. No one should be hurt just
so residents can make a few extra bucks.
Town officials have to create a safe situation for everyone. But frankly – this ain’t how to do it.
They rushed
this law without thinking it through.
They changed the implementation date of it several times in a way that
was unfair and unreasonable. They did
not clearly present the impact of it at Town Meeting. They created a committee to discuss the law
with area residents after it was passed rather than before. They did not think this through.
Foxboro
voters should repeal this law at the next Town Meeting and tell officials to
come up with a complete plan and resubmit.
Hopefully, this time they will get it right.
Bill Gouveia is a local columnist and
can be emailed at aninsidelook@aol.com and followed on Twitter at
@Billinsidelook.
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