Boston plans digital map of all parking signs and meters by December 2023

BOSTON — July 11, 2023 — Boston launches $800,000 effort to digitize parking signs and curb regulations across all 22 neighborhoods. The City Council's Committee on City Services and Innovation Technology heard testimony July 11 from Commissioner Nick Grove of the Boston Transportation Department and Chief Information Officer Santiago Garces on plans to use Cyclomedia street-survey data and the Cartograph asset management platform to build the city's first digital inventory of parking signs, meters, and markings. Grove reported that BTD issued 984,823 parking violations and collected more than $97 million in fiscal year 2023, while operating with just 89 of a historically standard 150 enforcement officers. Garces projected an initial GIS dataset by December 2023 and full integration with the city's 311 and enforcement systems within 18 months, contingent on new staffing funded in the most recent budget cycle. The Residential Parking Permit application program remains paused pending a citywide audit that has so far cut Bay Village's active sticker count from 677 to 439. Council President Edward M. Flynn pressed administrators on officer starting pay of roughly $47,000 a year, declaring flatly, "They're not getting paid enough."