Comments on: He who parks by the map, pays by the map

By: Leslie

Leslie — Thu, 08 May 2008 21:29:16 +0000

I tried to fight a ticket I got on Comm. Ave. They took the meters away and put up signs that said no parking, but all had duck tape on them with a sharpie that said 7am-4pm. I parked after 4pm, but still got a ticket. I took pictures of the sign, my ticket was after 5pm, but they didn’t throw it out. Even with hand made signs, which you’d think they would have replaced, but they are back again, and hand written again. Crazy!

By: Leslie

Leslie — Thu, 08 May 2008 21:21:08 +0000

Please keep us updated! Fascinating - it couldn’t happen to a better duck?! If that makes any sense.

By: Ron Newman

Ron Newman — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:42:29 +0000

The two cities have some special arrangement for people who live on Russell Street, where they get a resident parking permit from each city, but one of them is labelled “Russell Street only”.

By: sammywhite

sammywhite — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:09:11 +0000

Doesn’t look like you need any more confirmation, but there’s a plan on record at the Middlesex South Registry of Deeds for the property at 48 Russell. The dividing line goes right through their front yard.

You can find it here: http://www.masslandrecords.com

choose South Middlesex/pick Document Search tab/select Plans button/enter Book 1999 Page 1145

this should return 1 result. select it and then hit “Quick Document Viewer” in the lower left.

By: kayleigh

kayleigh — Thu, 08 May 2008 14:52:09 +0000

by this logic, a person living at 44 Russell Street could not legally park in front of his own house. absurd.

By: Tape

Tape — Thu, 08 May 2008 13:30:41 +0000

Just a cursory glance at that DPW told me that both sides of Russell St. are in Somerville until halfway between Orchard and Mass. Ave., at which point both sides are in Cambridge. The line separating the white and the yellow is clearly set back from the east side of Russell.

Granted, this is a clearly stupid demarcation. I’d guess that Cambridge doesn’t care to pay for services/repairs on that street.

By: Rob

Rob — Thu, 08 May 2008 13:24:10 +0000

I live on a street off Teele Sq that splits halfway between Camrbridge and Somerville. I’m a Somerville resident but admittedly sometimes park on the Cambridge side when I can’t find any spots within 6 houses of me or so. Luckily I haven’t gotten bagged yet. Best of luck to you. At minimum, sounds like the signage where you were needs to be a little more explicit.

By: Todd

Todd — Thu, 08 May 2008 10:43:11 +0000

You might also take some pictures of the area where your car was parked. If there are no signs on the block that say Somerville permit parking, you should be in the clear for that reason alone.

By: Ron Newman

Ron Newman — Thu, 08 May 2008 05:09:56 +0000

Hi. I live a few blocks from there, at Day and Orchard streets. If you look carefully at the permit parkng signs, you’ll see that Somerville and Cambridge signs look somewhat different. The section of Russell Street that you parked on is in Somerville, despite the fact that the houses on the east side of it are in Cambridge. The city line actually runs through the front yards.

By: Charlie D.

Charlie D. — Thu, 08 May 2008 03:53:12 +0000

Using the MassGIS data viewer (Oliver), it looks like the city line goes through the houses on the east side of Russell St, making most of Russell St in Somerville.

To see for yourself, go here:
http://maps.massgis.state.ma.us/massgis_viewer/index.htm
Click on the MassGIS data viewer link in the upper left.

If you zoom in and superimpose the town boundaries on the ortho images, you’ll see exactly where the boundaries lie.