Cambridge Parking Part Two: Waiting with the Crowds

As if the snow was not bad enough, I took part in an annual spectator sport on Monday, standing in line on with all the others who waited until the last day to get their 2005 Cambridge resident’s parking permit. I had tried to avoid this and went early on the previous Friday afternoon to miss the last day, only to discover that they take off at 12:30 on Fridays. Good idea and I should have called ahead.

So I took the morning paper, the two recent letters to my Cambridge address, along with last year’s permit, and walked to City Hall Annex past a number of cars still covered from the Sunday snow fall, eight days prior. As I settled into the line that snaked all around the lobby, I noticed on a sign that you also needed your car registration. No use waiting here, back to my car.

I decided that this might be the morning rush so planned to return mid-afternoon after the lunch crowd. I took Coetzee’s Waiting for the Barbarians as appropriate reading material. Going through the front door I was dismayed to see the line still snaked around the lobby. The afternoon rush was even greater as this time the line also went up the back stairs and into the upper lobby. I should have brought Suroweicki’s Wisdom of Crowds. We had enough in the lobby to out smart a lot of experts.

There was great camaraderie in this crowd as people shared stories of parking struggles in the snow. Several people recounted episodes of the snow rage on their street that I referred to in part one of this epic. Some creative ways to save your space were shared. One winner was the use of garage the trash collectors will not touch such as broken computer monitors, a plentiful resource in Cambridge.

I considered bagging it but then we all agreed the meter maids will be running wild on the first day of the new permits. All those snow covered cars will be easy targets as it would not be impossible for them to have the newer stickers in place. Two hours later, and half way through Coetezee, my time approached. Did I have everything? I went through the careful interrogation and, fortunately, they accepted my papers. As I left, precious permit in hand, I noticed the evening rush was even longer.

Post script - I noticed that the meter maids were indeed out and all the cars on my street with old parking stickers sported new tickets. One person whose car was still totally buried - took just enough snow off the back window to show the proper sticker.