Cranston’s Hopkins Opposes Permanent Overnight Parking in City
Monday, March 20, 2023
Cranston Mayor Kenneth Hopkins announced Monday that he will oppose proposed legislation to relax city ordinances and allow permanent overnight parking on city streets.
“While I know the city council has been discussing this topic for several months, I support the strong recommendations and opinions of my department heads who do not advocate for a change from Cranston’s long-standing prohibition of overnight parking on city streets,” said Hopkins." “I agree that it is not prudent from a public safety neighborhood issue as well as a problem for our plowing and street sweeping duties.”
In a statement released on Monday, Hopkins pointed out that Cranston Police Chief Colonel Michael Winquist and Fire Chief James Warren also do not recommend implementing a new overnight parking scheme.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTBy prohibiting cars on streets, the police can more easily identify stolen or suspicious cars, Hopkins said, and “in storms when we implement parking bans, it will cause major issues with residents who ignore or fail to know about the ban.”
The city’s Public Works Director Richard Bernardo also opposes parking at night on city streets, said Hopkins.
“Our ability to properly snow-plow and implement our street sweeping program is compromised with cars parking all over city streets,” said Hopkins.
More on Parking in Cranston
Currently, Cranston residents cannot park their vehicle on any city street for a period of time longer than two hours between the hours of 1:00 AM and 7:00 AM on any day.
Hopkins said the implementation of a parking permit system will be an administrative burden to some deprtment not yet identified in the proposed ordinance.
“Some streets are not practical, where others would require subjective judgment if you only allowed parking on one side of a street,” said Hopkins said. “We would have neighbors pitted against neighbors. No one would be pleased if they could not get a permit and somebody who lives in another house could park in front of their house.”
Hopkins said that he acknowledged that while a small group of residents are impacted by the present law, he has heard from many residents who want to keep the overnight restrictions in place.
“I sympathize with some people, but in many instances there are people who bought or are renting properties with full knowledge of the available off street parking situation,” said Hopkins. “If people are adding drivers or cars to their households without proper available parking, we should not turn the whole city upside down.”
Hopekns said that the Police Department will work with any resident who has an occasional one-time issue like seal-coating a driveway or a lot of guests or family members staying over.
“We handle those items on a case-by-case basis with a phone call to the police department,” said Hopkins.
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