New Roslindale parking restrictions take spaces away from healthcare workers, employee says

BOSTON — For years, Berthonya Joas has depended on parking spaces along Bussey St. in Roslindale to get to work.

“My entire department [parks here],” Joas said.

But Bussey and nearby Walter St. are no longer options for Joas and dozens of employees working at three healthcare facilities, including Faulkner Hospital and Hebrew Rehabilitation Center. The City of Boston is enforcing two-hour parking limits on spaces outside the Arnold Arboretum and Joas said it will negatively impact dozens of healthcare workers.

“We don’t really know what we’re supposed to do,” Joas said. “It kind of feels like an attack on the healthcare workers. We’re coming here to work, we’re doing patient care.”

The Boston Transportation Dept. said the new regulations are meant to create more parking spaces for Arboretum visitors.

“The two-hour limit will increase turnover in these spaces close to the park entrance. This matches the regulations at other entrances to the Arboretum,” a Dept. spokesperson said in a statement. The city said there will be a grace period before parking tickets are issued, but didn’t specify how long that grace period will be.

Roslindale resident Karen Pacino and her husband John walk their dogs in the Arboretum. They don’t agree with the new parking restrictions, but they understand why the city made the change.

“A lot of people that go to the Arboretum on a regular basis can’t get any parking,” Pacino said. “You have employees working there for 10 hours a day, parking here and doing their 10 or 12 hour shift, and talking all this space.”

Joas said all the options—paying to park somewhere else or taking public transportation—are going to end up costing her and her co-workers more money.

“There are no garages around, no [parking] lots. A majority of the streets are permit or residential parking. There really are no options for us,” Joas said.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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