Letter from Virginia Maurer regarding City Manager's Agenda Item #5_ in support of Option #1_ No change on Garden

1 Macomber, Jennifer From: Virginia Maurer <[email removed]> Sent: Monday, March 31, 2025 2:29 AM To: City Council Cc: City Clerk Subject: "City Manager's Agenda Item #5" in support of Option #1, No change on Garden Dear Honorable Cambridge City Council, My name is Virginia Maurer, and I live at 52 Garden Street, Cambridge. I am writing to support the "City Manager's Agenda Item #5" in support of Option #1. I support Option #1 because I believe this option has worked well since its implementation. I believe that removing parking will have a negative impact on seniors and people with disabilities. As a senior, I can understand the extent of this impact. For example, last fall, I experienced a knee injury and had to walk with a cane until recently. Beyond the challenges of walking with a bad leg, I quickly learned that using a cane meant that I could only carry things in one hand. As a result, I struggled when I had to make multiple trips back and forth from wherever I was parked to carry things to my condo. That might not seem like a challenge for everyone, but for me it was, especially when there was rain or snow. I was only able to manage when I could park within a block or two of my building. I was surprised to see that your studies show there is sufficient parking available on nearby sde streets to absorb the loss of parking places on Garden Street, because this has not been my experience at all. When I have tried to find parking on Bond, Shepherd, Walker, Chauncy and other nearby side streets, I have typically seen at most 2 or 3 places available to park, if even that.—and sometimes no space is available at all or if there is any space, there's not enough room for a car to park. I don't see how these streets can accommodate even more parking than they currently do—and certainly not the number of cars needing to park if Garden St. loses its parking. In addition, we need a loading area because our building gets multiple deliveries a day from USPS, UPS, FedEx, Amazon, and food/meal delivery services. Ours is an old building and we frequently have repairmen and contractors come. Moving trucks need a place to park. And we need access to rideshares. These are not occasional needs for loading and unloading, but regular and ongoing daily. I live in a building with 40+ units. Unlike Cambridge residents who live in single family homes with driveways with ample parking, those in my building rely on on-street parking in a neighborhood where parking is already tight. Please don't make it worse for us. I respectfully urge you to support Option #1. Thank you, Virginia Maurer 52 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138