May
2007
Parking on Taft Hill2
My March entry on parking meters in Roslindale set off an intense discussion of what to do about people staying over the two hour limit on most Roslindale Village streets and in the municipal lot on Taft Hill Terrace. In this week’s Transcript, David Ertischek reports on the May 16th community meeting to discuss this issue. I was left feeling that some things had either not been discussed or merely not reported.
First, was there any discussion of employees of Roslindale Village businesses taking the T to work? There seemed to be many complaints that employees can’t find parking, but why not require employees to take public transportation? Roslindale Village is ideally situated next to the commuter rail and served every five minutes by buses going in and out of the village. For those of us who live here, we don’t need to use (or even own) cars. Employees of the village businesses who come in the morning and stay all day SHOULD give up their spots to customers who bring business to the village; they should be ticketed along with downtown commuters not in the MBTA lot. Building another level to the Taft Hill lot is ridiculous!
As for employees of the Health Center, what did they do when they were located in the Community Center on Cummins Highway with no parking? The Health Center’s mission is to serve the communities of Roslindale, Hyde Park and West Roxbury. If there should be any parking for the Health Center it should be for those resident patients who are too sick to take the T to the center. When I used to be a patient of the Fenway Community Heath Center (located a half block from the Berklee College of Music) I always rode my bike or took the T. There was NO parking, for employees or patients.
People in Roslindale need to get real about parking. We live in the city, folks, not the suburbs. Good city living means accessible public transportation and pedestrian friendly neighborhoods. Cars need to take a back seat to people in Roslindale Village if we are ever to realize the revitalization that so many of us hope for.
