The newest storm brewing on the Wakefield Facebook discussion groups relates to the winter parking ban. The local ban prohibits overnight parking on the street from Dec. 1 to April 1 in order to facilitate snow plowing and ensure public safety.
The latest idea that social media pundits are convinced has never occurred to anyone at Town Hall is to do away with the winter-long parking ban and institute a ban that would only apply when there is an impending storm.
Oh, I’m sure that will work, given the astounding number of people who in this Information Age somehow manage to be blissfully clueless when it comes to news of any kind, never mind news of incoming inclement weather.
To address that problem, it has been suggested that the town have flashing blue lights at every major intersection and at all entries to town to let people know that a storm is coming and the overnight parking ban will be in effect. In addition, the town could notify each and every resident about the parking ban via a reverse 911 call.
As one Facebook commenter put it, “I hope they change it. Then I can read all the complaints when people didn’t get the call or don’t realize it’s going too snow. That will be fun.”
To that I would add all the complaints that will come from people who didn’t see the flashing blue lights or who didn’t know what they meant. Also, have people forgotten what happened the last time the town tried to pass along some important information via the reverse telephone notification system? There was outrage over such abuse of a system that should only be used for “true emergencies.”
And can you imagine the high dudgeon that would ensue the first time a storm goes bust and we get dusted with a half inch of snow after the town has issued an overnight parking ban?
One downtown resident posed her own personal parking dilemma on a Wakefield Facebook forum. As is the case with lots of residents who live in or near the downtown, there simply isn’t any off-street parking where she lives and she was asking for suggestions of places she could park her car at night during the months covered by the winter parking ban.
Gee, it’s a shame there isn’t some kind of downtown parking garage that would be largely empty overnight where those who live in the downtown area could park their cars during the winter months.
