No Parking

Students owning ears in the Cambridge area might just as well sell their jalopies and buy unicycles. Unicycles don't need much parking space at night. Cars do. And in a week the Cambridge police force starts its annual campaign against overnight parking. Carowners have that long to sign up with the high-priced garages and parking lots around the Square; then the men in blue uniforms move in to tag the remaining cars and have them towed away.

All the trouble comes from an old, old statute on the Cambridge books which forbids parking after 2 a.m. in the morning. The Police Department defends the statute on the grounds that cars on the street at night are a hazard to the Fire Department, claiming that the firemen need plenty of room to maneuver their big equipment. But the fire department has pointed out that it can get its hook and ladders through any streets where parkers obey the daytime parking signs. The only possible justification for the ordinance is thus an imaginary one, yet the law stands put on the books.

The days of the one-hoss shay and the stage-coach are generally considered to be over; a car is often not merely a convenience but a necessity at college. Cambridge's snarled traffic and winding streets are bane enough to car owners without the curse of the parking ordinance. The ban is no use to the firemen; it means nothing more than extra work for the Police Department; for students it is the last straw. There is only one group of people who stand to gain from the parking law, and they are the proprietors of the local garages and parking lots.