An hour before school starts, Hull Street becomes prime real estate for parking as students with Tiger Permits race to find spots for their cars that are the closest to school.
“You have to get there around eight if you want to get a spot,” said senior Maya Macomber, who parked on Hull last year. “I’ve heard about people getting to Hull at 8 to get a spot and then just sitting in the car for an hour until school started.”
Hull Street is also notorious among students for bad parking and idling.
“People park horribly on Hull, leaving three feet between each car, which takes up spaces that people could be parking in,” said senior Nate Burres, who added that students who aren’t able to park on Hull need to park five to ten minutes away from school.
Many students who race to Hull early for parking spots also tend to idle, Burres added.
“They wait in their cars, with the cars running, which is terrible for the environment,” he said.
While idling is illegal according to state law, there are currently no anti-idling signs up on Hull Street.
“Maybe the school or city could put signs up on Hull reminding people not to idle,” said Macomber, who added that idling becomes more of a problem during the winter when students want to keep the heat on.
The infamously poor parking on Hull Street has led to a new Instagram account, @nnhs.bad.parking, which has already accumulated 172 followers.
With only 150 student parking stickers available and limited car spots, parking around North has been an issue for years.
“It’s pretty difficult most times for students to find parking,” said senior Ellie Fahey, who added that due to the inconvenience of going through the student parking lottery and the race to park close to school, many students have found alternative places to park.
According to vice principal Amy Winston, the number of student parking stickers available is determined by City Statute, which means the school administration cannot add more parking spots for students.
“We have 400 adults and only 240 parking spaces, there definitely is not room for kids to park on campus,” added Winston, who added that it is important for students to remember that being in a suburban high school with easy access to Newtonville means that parking inherently becomes less accessible.
Student parking stickers cost $60 and are available to students via lottery to park on Hull Street, Lowell Ave, or in further parking spots in Newtonville, Winston added.
