Traffic and Parking Commission Meeting November 2nd

There is a City of Salem Traffic and Parking Commission meeting next Thursday, November 2nd at 120 Washington Street 3rd floor at 6:30 PM. (Item vii on the above agenda). The Bus Parking in Holyoke Square will be discussed at this meeting.  Please consider attending to support turning the Bus Spaces back into Automobile Parking spaces.  Please pass the word about this meeting by email and social media.

IMPORTANT MEETING THIS THURSDAY

The Parking Board is going to discuss parking in The Holyoke Square area on Thursday night. (See the attached agenda below). The last ten months have proven that The Bus Parking there is not working. There have been approximately 6000 hours of possible bus parking and buses have only parked there for about 10 to 20 hours. During this time there have been approximately 20,000 hours that cars could have parked there (7 cars times 10 hours a day for 10 months).  The bus spaces on Holyoke Square have remained empty for 10 months. Buses don't park there and cars are not allowed to park there.  It's time to allow cars to park there again. Please pass the word about this meeting and try to attend if you can find the time.  Thank-You!

Boston Globe Survey: Dedicated Bus Parking in Holyoke Square

Should Salem continue to maintain dedicated bus spaces in Holyoke Square? - The Boston Globe

If you have followed this blog for any length of time, you are aware that the city council recently narrowly voted to make the north side of Holyoke Square into dedicated tour bus parking, year-round.
This has had an adverse affect on the availability of parking spaces in the neighborhood of 24 Norman Street.

An article posted to the April 21 bostonglobe.com website featured arguments for and against dedicated tour bus parking in Holyoke Square. Arguing YES was Kate Fox, Executive director of Destination Salem, arguing NO was Arthur Sargent, Salem city councilor at large.
The link to the article is here: http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/regionals/north/2017/04/21/should-salem-continue-maintain-dedicated-bus-spaces-holyoke-square/TlMapKBUM8CIfEvrk3SR2H/story.html

There was also a survey asking "Should Salem continue to maintain dedicated bus spaces in Holyoke Square?". If you have the time and/or a subscription to the Globe website, please go and read the article, and vote. The results as of Friday were 39 votes AGAINST and 18 votes FOR. Although it is a non-binding survey, anything we can do to make our opinion heard will be helpful. You can be sure that the opposing side will be networking in favor of their agenda.

Holyoke Petition Update

 

A petition to overturn (or modify) the current tour bus parking ordinance for Holyoke Street has been posted to the bulletin board at 24 Norman Street. The tour bus parking is adversely affecting  Gedney Street merchants, and they are also supporting the petition and have their own version posted at Steve's Market. 

In case you missed it, Kate Fox of Destination Salem, (with the support of our Ward 2 Councilor Heather Famico), petitioned to change the City Ordinance pertaining to Tour Bus Parking and make all of Holyoke Square (east side) designated Tour Bus parking.
This process was started last May without informing any of the local residents or merchants of the proposed change. After two council meetings the ordinance passed several weeks ago in a narrow 5-6 vote. Ward Councillors, Sargent, Milo, Lovely and Dibble were opposed. 

If you are feeling concerned about the lack of neighborhood parking now that the east side of Holyoke St. is reserved for tour buses, we urge you to sign the petition. 

This effort is being spearheaded by Joan Zabkar, who successfully headed up efforts to undo the ill-advised installation of parking meters on Gedney St. by Steve's Market. 

Our goal is to collect as many as 4,000 signatures from area residents, merchants, and sympathetic Salem residents from other wards. It is our only chance to undo the ordinance which is in effect year round, 7 days a week between the hours of 9:00 AM and 6:00 PM.

Please sign the petition!

A Parking Petition

A petition to eliminate the tour bus parking on the east side of Holyoke Street that was recently instituted is in the works and will be available to sign at Steve's Market very soon. Apparently the residents of 24 Norman Street are not the only ones in the neighborhood who are upset about the lack of due process, representation and transparency in the city council decision to take away an entire street of local and resident daytime parking in favor of tour buses. The decision, instigated by Kate Fox of Destination Salem, and supported by our ward councilor, Heather Famico, adversely affects not only us, but customers of the businesses on Gedny Street, and even the residents of 10 Norman Street and Barton Square. If we get enough signatures on the  petition, we have a good chance of overturning this decision, as the city councilor vote to do this was very close (6 councilors voted for it, 5 voted against it) I will keep you posted as things develop.

Latest Update on Holyoke Street

New signs have been installed on Holyoke Street. The entire eastern (Verizon building) side of the street has been turned into tour bus parking. This effectively restricts our parking there to evenings after 6:00 PM until 8:59 AM the following morning. Markwood has been in touch with Ward 7 Councilor Steve Dibble , and Ward 2 Councilor Heather Famico (our ward councilor). For now this is 7 days a week, and there is no indication that it will be only seasonal, (May-November). Be aware that this will mean ticketing and towing if you park there anytime between 9:00 AM and 6:00 PM.
If you have issues with this decision, please write and express your displeasure to Heather at hfamico@Salem.com 
 If there is any interest in starting a petition, please contact the author of this blog or Markwood Management.

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.