Boston car owners deserve ticket break


Boston car owners deserve ticket break

The coronavirus pandemic has take an enormous financial toll on many Hub residents — from business closures and furloughs to outright job loss. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh feels your pain — to a point.

Recently Walsh and the Boston Housing Authority announced they are extending the moratorium on non-essential evictions through the end of 2020.

“These are extraordinary times,” Walsh said in a statement.

Indeed they are. Tens of thousands are still filing for unemployment benefits in Massachusetts, and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council estimates some 18,000 households are having trouble paying their rent in Boston.

Money is tight.

But car-owning Bostonians are getting no such extended fiscal reprieve, as the city will bring back street cleaning tickets Aug. 10. Though the city continues its moratorium on towing cars, owners can expect to pay $40-$90 for a parking infraction.

Walsh says it’s a cleanliness issue.

“As summer progresses, we don’t want to see dirt and trash build up on our streets, and we received several complaints about that,” the mayor said this week.

An excellent point — but why keep pre-pandemic price tags on those tickets? People are still hurting financially. And Bostonians’ livelihoods aren’t the only things that have taken a hit.

In some areas of the city, streets are either closed or sidewalks extended for outdoor dining. Those who either work from home, or who can’t or aren’t taking the car for a vacation have staked their claim on curb space. Where are people going to move their cars to, in order to comply with street sweeping orders?

The city needs money, we get it. But we haven’t returned to normal by a long shot.

 

 


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