UPDATE: PARKING MEETING TONIGHT!

There will be a meeting of the Salem City Council tonight, Thursday, September 29, 2016 at 7:00 PM in the Council Chamber at 93 Washington Street to discuss a new parking arrangement for Holyoke Street.
This meeting is about turning parking spaces on Holyoke Street into tour bus parking spaces.
This means we could potentially lose all of the parking spaces on Holyoke.

The council will also be deciding weather to change this:
"ORDINANCE to amend traffic, chapter 42 Sec, 11: Bus Stops, by deleting Holyoke Square, Bus Stops on the easterly side in a northerly direction, beginning twenty feet from Gedney Street and extending eighty feet. Tour bus parking two hour limit."

and replace it with this:

Holyoke Street, Bus Stops, on the easterly side in a northerly direction, beginning 20 feet from Gedney St. and extending 160 feet. Tour Bus parking Two Hour limit.

Ward Councillor Famico has moved to adopt the first passage. Which means we would keep at least some of the spaces.

If you care about parking on Holyoke Street at all, please consider attending this meeting, or if you cannot make the meeting please call your city councillors. Their phone numbers are on the Salem.com website. Or e-mail them at citycouncilors@salem.com.

Street Parking Changes

In preparation for the annual onslaught of Halloween tourism, Saturday morning the Salem DPW painted several new designated areas on both Holyoke and Norman streets that may greatly impact parking availability both during the month of October, and going forward into winter.
Although the only officially-designated place residents of 24 Norman Street are allowed to park is Riley Plaza, (with our hang tags) many tenants frequently park in the unmetered spaces along Norman Street, directly in front of our building or the shopping plaza next door, or on nearby Holyoke Street.  We recently lost a potential space to a badly-placed handicapped parking space in front of the building. Saturday we lost another one, the space directly in front of that space by the ramp, or "driveway" on the market side of the building. (see photo below)

We are also potentially losing all of our parking on the Verizon building side of Holyoke Street. The Salem DPW painted in two large spaces for tour buses to park on Holyoke.

Although tour buses and Verizon trucks have parked there in the past, this may indicate that a new, officially-posted "Tour Buses Only" area may be enforced with ticketing, or towing. Weather this will be only during the month of October, or permanently, remains to be seen.
There was no notification from the city to Markwood Management that any of these changes were taking place.
With the new Merchant hotel leasing parking space in Riley Plaza, two new hotels scheduled to open within the year (one on Essex Street, one on Washington Street) and the city seemingly favoring merchants and tourists over residents, parking scarcity is once again becoming critical issue. 

For now, just be aware of these changes and be careful to look for any new signs or posted regulations. We will post any new information we receive here on the blog.

Garbage In- Garbage Out

We know how it is. You work a long day, you're tired. The garbage needs to be taken out, the barrel is full, maybe even a little stinky, but the idea of walking up and down several flights of stairs and out to the dumpster is just not appealing to you. So you take your garbage bag, and you put in the hallway outside your door. You intend to take it down just as soon as you can, just not right now, but somehow that gets put off, again and again and again.

The above photo was sent to Markwood Management this week by a concerned neighbor. The bag in question had been put out on Monday. it was still there Thursday...festering and smelling and breeding it's own little colony of flies. Unfortunately this is not an isolated incident. In recent months  bags of trash, cardboard boxes, and bags of cat turds have been spotted sitting outside people's doors.

Warning: DO NOT DO THIS. 

This practice is totally unacceptable, and will get you a call from Markwood and a hefty fine.
The hallways are not a personal dumping space. Do not place trash in the hallway for any length of time. Either take the item down to the dumpster, or leave it in your unit.

You know, because seeing garbage in the hallway really improves the quality of life around here.

Towing Reminder and a Warning

A car was towed from the side driveway this morning that had been parked in there overnight.
This is unfortunate and a real hassle for the person who parked it there, but this situation could have been avoided if:

• The vehicle license plate number and vehicle description had been on the list of 24 Norman Street resident's vehicles.
• The person who left it there had contacted Markwood Management and informed them of the reason it was left there overnight.

The side lot is for short-term parking only. That means picking up and dropping off passengers, groceries, luggage, etc. The outward time limit is usually about a half an hour. However there is some grace, you probably won't even have a problem parking there a bit longer if you are not:

• Blocking the dumpster
• Blocking the entrance to the driveway
• One of multiple cars in the space. 
• Making a lot of noise

Things that are noticed, frowned upon and will likely get you towed are:

• Habitual abuse of the parking space
  (parking there repeatedly for more than a couple of hours over consecutive days).
• Overnight parking (never a good idea).
• Parking in the side lot and not being on the tenant's vehicle list*
• Using the driveway as a personal space for working on your vehicle.

*Markwood maintains a list of tenant vehicle tag numbers and vehicle descriptions so that we can tell if someone other than a tenant is parking in the side lot. This information is provided voluntarily by the tenants. If you are not on it, you automatically go to the short list for being towed.

Occasionally people have had mechanical issues with their cars. No oil, ran out of gas, flat tire, dead battery, etc. If this happens to you, and your vehicle is stuck, contact Markwood Management immediately. This is especially important if you are not on the list of tenant vehicles. If we don't know who you are we can't even call you and see what the problem is.

Vendors who are performing work in the building for Markwood Management, are generally exempt from these parking time restrictions. However if a tenant or owner is hiring a plumber, electrician, carpenter, cleaner, mover, etc. to do work in their unit, inform Markwood Management so that they can contact them if there is an issue. (for example, blocking the driveway or access to the dumpster).

This is all important because Halloween is coming, which means increased traffic and less parking availability. Our proximity to downtown, also means we are frequently prone to having unwanted visitors and "guests" parking in our driveway. It is important to keep the driveway open so that every tenant has equal access and trash removal can be completed. If you don't wish to be towed and fined, please respect the space.