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!

A Couple of Things...

Just a couple of things.
#1. Please Return What You Borrow
If you borrow one of the (3) stepladders from the electrical room in the basement, please return them as soon as you are done with it. These ladders are the property of 24 Norman Street and are available for everyone to use, but only if they are actually available.

#2. Park Considerately

If you are lucky enough to find an open parking space in front of the building, please remember that there is space for (3) regular vehicles and (1) handicapped vehicle. Please park in a way that allows for other vehicles to fit in the space ether in front of you or behind you. 

#3. Do Not Leave Things in the Hallways/Stairways
The common areas should not be used to store personal items. This includes bags of trash and litter, furniture, and packages. It should either be in your unit, or on it's way to/from someplace else. Packages delivered to the mailbox area should be picked up as soon as possible, especially if they are large and blocking either the mailboxes or the staircase.

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.

Temporary Parking Changes on Hoyoke

The parking situation on Holyoke Street took a twist two weeks ago when new signs were installed on both the east and west sides of the street. The new signs by the Holyoke Insurance building (Common Ground Enterprises) were changed to seemingly restrict after-hours parking. However, according to Ward Councilor Arthur Sargent;
"The parking spaces on Norman St and Holyoke Sq that are beside Common Ground Enterprises should only be reserved for them during the day (8:00 am to 5:30 pm) Monday thru Friday."
Arthur copied Markwood on emails he received from Lt. Preczewski of the police dept and Matt Smith from the parking dept which confirmed this.  They worked with Common Ground Enterprises to correct the signs to properly reflect The City Ordnance. So you can park on the Holyoke Building side (west side) of the street between 6:00 pm and 7:30 am on weekdays, and all day on Saturday and Sunday without any problems.

The signs on the Verizon building (east side) were changed to allow 2 hour parking on Holyoke.
The apparent compromise on the bus parking area initially looked  promising, but was actually calculated to divide the small-business signers from the residential participants in the petition.
There is currently a petition drive with almost 2,000 signatures to modify or eliminate the tour bus parking. By allowing temporary parking the city appears to be addressing the issue that was driving businesses on Gedney Street to oppose tour bus parking–loss of business due to the lack of convenient available parking in the area.
This change is only temporary, and ignores resident parking needs as it does not allow for weekend parking. Again, according to Ward Councilor Arthur Sargent;
 "The temporary parking where the Bus Spaces are is from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm. 
Although this theoretically means that you can park there between 6:00 pm and 7:30 am on weekdays, and all day on Saturday and Sunday, (as that is in line with the city-wide parking ordinance), since this is not reflected on the signage, you do so at your own risk.

Markwood will keep you posted on any further developments.

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.

IMPORTANT MEETING TONIGHT!

The recent petition to change the City Ordinance pertaining to Tour Bus Parking and make all of Holyoke Square (east side) Tour Bus parking passed for first passage 2 weeks ago.
Councillors, Sargent, Milo, Lovely and Dibble were opposed.
It only takes (2) votes to make a City Ordinance Change. It will not become law until a 2nd vote is taken this Thursday night at the Oct 13th City Council meeting. The meeting will be on the 2nd floor of City Hall in The City Council Chambers.
Anyone interested can attend the meeting (at 7:00) and they will be able to speak on the issue, if they sign up on the Public Comment Sign Up Sheet located in The City Clerks office (room #1 on the first floor of City Hall) before 6:30.

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.

Fall Entrance Corridor Street Sweeping Schedule

Entrance corridor street sweeping will begin on Tuesday, September 1 and run through September 11.

Entrance corridor sweeping will take place between 5:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. on the following dates.  New this year, we have stream-lined the sweeping of entrance corridors and re-aligned some of the days corridors will be swept, so please take an extra minute to review this fall schedule.  Each corridor will be swept over a period of two consecutive days which will alternate between the odd and even side of the streets.  Also, as we did last spring, City workers will be utilizing blowers to clear corridor sidewalks of debris prior to the street sweeping.

Each corridor will be posted with temporary ‘No Parking/Tow Zone’ signs and parking will be prohibited between the hours of 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m.

Tuesday, September 1: Odd side of Boston Street and Essex Street (from Boston St. to North St.).
Wednesday, September 2: Even side of Boston Street and Essex Street (from Boston St. to North St.).

Thursday, September 3: Odd side of North Street.
Friday, September 4: Even side of North Street.

Tuesday, September 8: Odd side of Loring Avenue and Lafayette Street (from Derby St. to Marblehead line).
Wednesday, September 9: Even side of Loring Avenue and Lafayette Street (from Derby St. to Marblehead line).

Thursday, September 10: Odd side of Bridge Street.
Friday, September 11: Even side of Bridge Street.

Please be aware that certain weather conditions prohibit the use of the street sweepers: during moderate to heavy rainfall and extreme cold temperatures sweepers will not be able to operate. Weather cancellations will be posted on www.salem.com

Residential neighborhood street sweeping will begin on September 14 and continue through October 9.  The residential schedule will be released shortly.


CLICK HERE FOR ENTRANCE CORRIDOR SWEEPING SCHEDULE