Kinder, gentler monthly winter parking pilot plan approved

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snow emergency


MANCHESTER, NH – Just in time for snow season, the Board of Aldermen passed a pilot parking program to replace the long-standing overnight winter on-street odd/even parking ordinance.

It’s designed to make nightly parking between December and April less confusing, and hopefully less costly to those who end up paying the $25 parking fine.

All you have to do is keep track of which month it is.

The board was split on the proposal, but Alderman Joe Kelly Levasseur cast the tie-breaking vote, saying that although he respected the fact that Public Works Director Kevin Sheppard spoke against changing the plan, he was intrigued by it.

Sheppard said one of his reservations was that there has already been materials printed for public distribution outlining the current odd/even parking rules.

Ward 2 Alderman Ron Ludwig quoted 2014 statistics on the number of parking tickets issued to those in violation of the odd/even parking ordinance.

“We gave out 2,100 tickets in four months. That’s $55,000. People are getting these tickets for not getting on the right side of the streets,” said Ludwig. “If we’re in the ticketing business to make money, I’ll quit this job and take that job.”

Ward 9 Alderman Barbara Shaw said she expected the change would cause problems for those who live on narrower streets where one side of the street is not as conducive to parking.

“We’re going to hear from people on this,” she said.

The plan would in some ways simplify the system – instead of having to remember what day it is and then parking on the even-numbered side of the street on even-numbered days, or vice versa, the monthly system would mean parking on the even side of the street during even-numbered months.

Since the annual winter parking restrictions go into effect December 1, that means the month of December is an even month (because it’s the 12th month) and so on streets where parking is normally allowed, residents should park on the even side of the street during that month.

As always, during snow emergencies typically no vehicles are allowed to park on city streets, or they will be towed to the city impound lot.


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About this Author

Carol Robidoux

PublisherManchester Ink Link

Longtime NH journalist and publisher of ManchesterInkLink.com. Loves R&B, German beer, and the Queen City!