General Boston Discussion

www.bostonglobe.com

‘Somebody is up there with binoculars.’ Parking is tops when it comes to Boston 311 calls. - The Boston Globe

During 2025, a stretch of Congress Street was the most complained about address in Boston, and just about every call was about parking, according to a Globe analysis of city data.
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During 2025, a stretch of Congress Street was the most complained about address in Boston, and just about every call was about parking, according to a Globe analysis of available city data.

The parking strategy of Isabella Bachman, a 28 year-old who was at a nearby dog park with her Australian shepherd, hinted at why.

She estimates that it would cost her at least $400 a month for a parking spot. But, if she simply parks on specific streets in the neighborhood she knows to have relatively scant parking enforcement and eats the tickets she does get, she pays on average about $120 a month.

[...]

The second most complained about address in the city is 1138 Washington St., a Dunkin’ in the South End. Last year, 360 complaints were made. Almost all of them dealt with parking.

Stephanie Barbosa, a 45-year-old teacher, has lived in the neighborhood for 20 years and goes to the cafe every day. The staff know her food order: a toasted English muffin. She usually drives and described her parking calculus.

She will double-park in the bus lane or live-park at a meter without paying if she thinks she can get away with it. It’s often a call made purely on gut instinct, she explained. It helps if someone can stay in the car to move it if need be while she ducks into the Dunkin’.
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Lot of interesting stuff in the article about 311 response times too, but really my takeaway is "clearly current policies are not a deterrence"
 
KCasiglio said:
www.bostonglobe.com

‘Somebody is up there with binoculars.’ Parking is tops when it comes to Boston 311 calls. - The Boston Globe

During 2025, a stretch of Congress Street was the most complained about address in Boston, and just about every call was about parking, according to a Globe analysis of city data.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com



Lot of interesting stuff in the article about 311 response times too, but really my takeaway is "clearly current policies are not a deterrence"
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Stephanie Barbosa should be arrested.
 
Jeremi said:
Stephanie Barbosa should be arrested.
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At a certain point they should stop writing tickets and start towing. Isabella Bachman averages 3 tickets a month, so 36 a year. Presumably all in the same area. Tow the damn car.

Edit: I also can't believe these people were willing to give their names and so casually admit to this.
 
This is actually a modern problem. You wouldn't be so casual way back when before the internet because you might get to the registry to renew your license and stand in line for literally 3 hours on Nashua Street only to find that you missed paying a ticket so then need to go to City Hall to stand in line for an hour to pay it and hope to have enough time before the registry closed to go stand in line for 3 more hours. It was like standing in line for toilet paper in the old Soviet Union

Edit: I should have stated that this is what happens when tickets are so easy to pay and you can check instantly if you owe any. The internet helps these people game it. The law of unintended consequences
 
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A quick check of the city of Boston's financials seems to indicate that parking enforcement is actually pretty strongly revenue positive, so the city should be willing to spend more on enforcement since it more than pays for itself. but generally I hold the general opinion that city controlled costs of parking need to go up significantly.

I've previously posted my opinion on meter charges -
true market determinant pricing should mean that price should increase when demand outstrips supply - yet it doesn't except for occasional event pricing. But it occurs to me that its possible to implement an ad-hoc proxy "congestion fee" through increasing the cost of parking by taxing it - we're rather alone amongst large cities for not. I know MAPC and the transportation funding task force suggested it before Healey shot it and other new revenues down, but Boston itself can do some of that via nothing more than adjusting meter pricing.

Meters are $3.75/hr in Back Bay and Seaport, $2-2.50/hr everywhere else. Compared to an off street garage that charges 40+ a day, 20 for a 1 hour stay yet is full, I'd contend that there's plenty of upwards space in downtown parts of Boston, especially if you also extend meter hours. Chicago's infamous meter privatization deal took street meters from $3 to $7, private garages pay 22% tax, and people still pay it. Boston last increased meter rates in 2019 - due to inflation, that $3.75 should at a minimum be $5 by now.

I know it's not politically realistic, but meters really should be priced similarly to private garages. Even not touching things like the public good that the street represents, they're substitute goods in econ speak; the "service" is functionally identical, and pricing should reflect that. If nothing else, it'll prevent some amount of VMT from people driving laps hoping for a meter to become available.
But the same should also apply to parking tickets. The last time ticket fees went up was in 2018 - a resident area ticket at $60 should be ~$80 today with inflation. A 33% increase isn't something to scoff at, and can change the algebra on someone choosing to eat the tickets. Ie, at $60 a pop, 3 tickets costs $180, much cheaper than the $300 off street spot - it'd take 6 to cost them more. At $80, its much closer, more if they get a 4th ticket that month. It leverages the psychology of risk tolerance in the city's interest.
 
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Great analysis, thanks for that. I didn't appreciate how profitable parking fines have been for the city, wow. Yeah simply increasing the cost of tickets would be massively accretive with zero marginal costs. If you want to stand tall and just eat ticket costs, go for it.
 
KCasiglio said:
At a certain point they should stop writing tickets and start towing. Isabella Bachman averages 3 tickets a month, so 36 a year. Presumably all in the same area. Tow the damn car.

Edit: I also can't believe these people were willing to give their names and so casually admit to this.
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excited for the T's automated enforcement to start kicking in. Hope the Globe follows-up after Stephanie Barbosa can't renew her registration.
 
as02143 said:
excited for the T's automated enforcement to start kicking in. Hope the Globe follows-up after Stephanie Barbosa can't renew her registration.
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Theres no reason she wouldn't be able to - registration holds are for unpaid parking violations, not merely getting a lot of them. Unlike moving violations, there's no point system at play here. Same thing with the boot/tow list - its for >5 unpaid tickets. If someone pays them promptly, which as @Scott notes is quite simple with modern tools, under the current regulatory scheme they'd be in the clear.
 
Stlin said:
Theres no reason she wouldn't be able to - registration holds are for unpaid parking violations, not merely getting a lot of them. Unlike moving violations, there's no point system at play here. Same thing with the boot/tow list - its for >5 unpaid tickets. If someone pays them promptly, which as @Scott notes is quite simple with modern tools, under the current regulatory scheme they'd be in the clear.
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And to be clear, it should be quite simple to pay one's tickets. I wouldn't at all advocate for making it a bigger burden logistically. Again, though, it seems evident the current regulatory scheme is insufficient to deter scofflaws.
 
KCasiglio said:
And to be clear, it should be quite simple to pay one's tickets. I wouldn't at all advocate for making it a bigger burden logistically. Again, though, it seems evident the current regulatory scheme is insufficient to deter scofflaws.
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I think that a merit of the old system where you had to go wait outside city hall is that it penalized people not just in money but in time. $50 hurts the poor more than the wealthy, but 50 minutes hurts us all the same. Not to say that we should reinstate an antiquated inefficient system because it was more equitable... but I do think that tickets scaling based on income is something worth considering if we really want to deter the South Enders without also slamming people from Hyde Park with relatively enormous fines.

EDIT: on second thought, making each annual violation more expensive is probably a good way to be forgiving to honest mistakes while also punishing wealthy people who are trying to abuse the system.
 
www.bostonglobe.com

Downtown Boston is still struggling. For Segun Idowu’s replacement, will Wu focus there? - The Boston Globe

Idowu's impending departure raises questions about whether his successor will continue his neighborhood-focused approach to the job.
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Idowu’s departure comes at a precarious time for Boston’s economy, amid threats to some of the city’s core industries, concerns over the vitality of the Financial District, and declining values of commercial real estate that powers the city’s budget. Now, business leaders are wondering: Will Wu, and whoever she picks to succeed Idowu, continue the neighborhood-focused approach to economic development, or will they pivot to prioritize a downtown that’s still struggling to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic?

[...]

Still, for much of her first term, Wu contended with a perception that she is less friendly to big business interests and traditional power brokers than her predecessors. That has played out in clashes over property tax rates on commercial buildings, and over affordable housing and green energy policies that critics argue has stalled new construction.

Those are challenges that Idowu’s eventual successor will have to confront, along with stubbornly high office vacancy rates. Then there are broad economic shifts that are hurting small businesses all over the city, including downtown.

[...]

Over four years, Idowu and the city nearly doubled the amount in city contracts that went to minority- and women-owned businesses, including a $17 million contract between Boston Public Schools and City Fresh Foods in 2022, the largest contract the city has ever awarded to a Black-owned business.

And when Beacon Hill granted Boston 225 new liquor licenses, Idowu worked to help minority-owned businesses in historically disenfranchised neighborhoods apply for them. He also launched the SPACE Grant program, which doled out COVID-era recovery funds to small businesses to help them move into empty storefronts, not just downtown but all over Boston.

[...]


For his part, Idowu said he is not at all concerned about leaving behind a vacuum of leadership, even with several major events around the corner, from the FIFA World Cup, Tall Ships, and the country’s 250th anniversary, which are expected to bring a wave of investment and tourism to the city.

“I have tremendous faith in my team,” Idowu said. “I would argue that we’ve been one of the most productive engines of progress in the city in many, many years ... and I think that the person who takes over is going to be standing on a very solid foundation.”
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www.wcvb.com

Manhole fires spark evacuations in Boston

Multiple manhole fires in Boston's Back Bay prompted evacuations and street closures Tuesday evening.
www.wcvb.com www.wcvb.com
Several buildings in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood were evacuated Tuesday night following multiple manhole fires. According to Boston police, dispatchers received a radio call around 5:21 p.m. for a report of a manhole fire at the intersection of Dartmouth Street and Newbury Street.
Officials determined there were multiple manhole fires in the area, prompting road closures and evacuations. There were no reports of any injuries.The following streets are currently closed:
  • Newbury Street is closed between Exeter Street and Clarendon Street
  • Dartmouth Street is closed between Boylston Street and Commonwealth Avenue
  • Exeter Street is closed between Boylston Street and Commonwealth Avenue
  • The intersection of Newbury Street and Dartmouth Street is closed
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For anyone interested apple maps just updated their 3d models, so its now much more up to date. Its well ahead of google earth now, hopefully google comes soon too.
 
Correct me if I’m wrong but I believe the models Apple uses (at least for non-important buildings) are made by volunteers on open street map
 
The 3D flyover imagery is generated from photogrammetry, aerial, and satellite images.

From spot checking, it appears to be from early fall 2025.
 
The Chelsea/Everett developments are looking particularly filled out now
 
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