Rotten Tomatoes on Rand

When I moved from Cambridge to Newton five years ago, I welcomed the ability to easily park on side streets. Cantabrigians are known for staking their claim to coveted parking spots with Southie-style space-savers like street cones, lawn chairs, garbage cans, and the like. When a legitimate spot was available yet “marked” I resisted the temptation to move said item and succumbed to the scare tactics. Walking a few extra blocks in the sub-zero temps was good for the soul, right?

Ya gotta respect the King

Fast forward to suburbia. As a Newton resident who commutes to work, I discovered a dead end side street conveniently located a block from my kids daycare and my bus stop. With no street signs lining Rand Terrace, my husband and I parked our cars on the side of this road. We never blocked a driveway, pathway or infringed on any property lines. Life was good. Until the notes. After a few months of parking our cars on Rand Terrance, we discovered hand written notes placed on our windshields advising us to stop parking on Rand. We ignored them but they didn’t stop. The notes got angrier and more threatening. I always maintained the position that unless there was a no parking sign, then I could park. Soon other commuter parents who attended our daycare took advantage of the easy parking and received similar notes. However, the notes didn’t stop us. We chatted about these residents, who we guessed lived in the condo building on the corner of Rand Terrace and Auburn Street, and could not fathom why they were so angry. They have a huge dedicated driveway. Clearly, something was amiss. However when the notes stopped, the keying started. Both of our cars were keyed over the next few moths, on both sides. In all cases, the keying damage was discovered at the end of the day. Part of me wanted to give up and park somewhere else. The other part of me didn’t want them to win. So we continued parking on Rand, damaged cars and all.

One spring day two years ago, I walked to my car parked on Rand around 5:30pm and discovered the entire front windshield covered in tomato juice. I was furious. With my son and daughter in tow, I decided to confront the perpetrator and started knocking on the doors of the condo building. Nobody answered, so I drove home and called the police. The police validated that parking on Rand was legitimate and cited the vandalism. The police claimed they drove by Rand Terrace later that evening and talked to some of the residents regarding the incident, reminding them that their street had legal parking. It didn’t work. A few months later, we had tomato juice on our wind shied as did several other cars. One of these incidents was cited in the local newspaper police blotter last spring.

Since then no parking signs now adorn Rand Terrace; however there are still a few legitimate spaces to park on parts of the street. Yet as recently as yesterday, a friend of ours who parks along the allowed area of Rand stopped me as I was walking along Auburn Street on my way to the daycare and said, “They did it again. They juiced my car.”

Not in my wildest dreams would I think that people of Newton, one of the safest cities in the country, could generate so much hostility. I thought I left Elvis parking entitlement back in Cambridge. While I cannot prove that the residents along the corner condo block of Rand and Auburn are the culprits, I do know that whoever performed these rude, senseless acts of vandalism are cowards. You got your sign. Leave us alone. Stop vandalizing our cars.