Bostonians: If You Can’t Reach Your Parking Meter, You Don’t Have To Pay

by Austin Petersen

Boston News, Weather, Sports | FOX 25 | MyFoxBoston

BOSTON, MA – Residents of some areas of Boston are getting a reprieve from parking tickets if they can’t reach their meters due to built up snow. Local towns and cities are losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in parking revenue, but enforcement isn’t cracking down due to recent severe weather conditions.

When I’ve been able to, I put money in,” said Janet Kalin. “But I’m not gonna climb over a mountain to get to.”

From MyFoxBoston:

“We don’t expect people to go to heroic measures to pay. So if the parking meter is not accessible and they haven’t paid, we won’t ticket them,” said Joseph E. Barr, Cambridge’s director of traffic  and parking.

It’s meant a loss in revenue for several Local cities. Barr laid out the problems.

“It’s a combination of people not being able to park, so not paying the meter in some cases they can park but they can’t access the meter,” he said.

Just like the snow, the revenue lost is piling up. We dug up the numbers and Learned Cambridge is behind an estimated $200,000 this winter versus last. Boston lost $368,000 in revenue. Somerville lost $65,000 and Newton lost $95,000 in revenue from paid parking.

“It’s more a judgement call. Like I said, we try to be understanding when people do have a problem paying the meter,” Barr said.

Austin Petersen is a homegrown Missourian with a lifelong passion for liberty. He grew up on a horse farm in Peculiar, Missouri and went on to attend Missouri State University, graduating with a degree in the Fine Arts. After developing a career in media in both New York City and Washington, D.C., he returned to Kansas City, MO, the city he now calls home. In 2016, Petersen appeared on the national stage as a candidate for president of the United States. He took second place in the crowded Libertarian primary behind Governor Gary Johnson and ahead of cyber security maverick John McAfee. During his campaign, Petersen earned many high-profile conservative endorsements, including Mary Matalin, Erick Erickson and Leon Wolf of RedState.com. Petersen also brings decades of professional experience in a wide variety of fields, from content production and media to business and political activism. He is the owner and chief executive of Stonegait LLC, a consulting firm specializing in photo and video services. He was also the director of production at FreedomWorks and an associate producer for Judge Andrew Napolitano’s show “Freedom Watch” on the Fox Business Network. Additionally, Petersen has a national following as a commentator and professional pundit. He is the founder of The Libertarian Republic, a powerful online news source for the public that receives an average of 1 million unique visits monthly and whose podcast, The Freedom Report, receives an average of one million monthly downloads. He is also a frequent contributor on television, appearing on Fox News, Fox Business, CNN, MSNBC and on dozens of local radio shows.

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