Malden declares victory over winter and calls it a day!

City lifts all winter parking restrictions and looks right past last month of this season toward Spring

  Malden has declared that winter has essentially concluded and that if anyone disagrees… let them eat sno-cones!

  That’s right. In a bold move on Wednesday, freshly appointed weather seer Gary Christenson (who moonlights as Mayor Malden) announced on Twitter that the City of Malden was lifting winter parking restrictions just a week and one day after installing them for the first time in three years. “Malden’s weather forecast, a lot of snow in February with a 90% chance I’m wrong,” the message blared.

  In January, the city announced it was going back to the former winter protocol with a list of Winter Parking Regulations – led by parking on even side of the street only – as of February 1 “due to a snowy weather pattern ahead.” On Wednesday, city officials made the decision that pattern did not develop nor is there anything on the horizon. As a result, effective immediately, the city lifted all winter parking restrictions.

  According to City of Malden communications spokesperson Ron Cochran, “We will also continue to do all we can to help our residents through the winter season while balancing the need to have safe and passable streets.”

  Cochran also reminded residents, “However, we must be mindful that the New England weather is known to change in an instant, so we encourage residents to be sure they are signed up for our Malden Alerts system as well as following our website and social media for updates. To sign up please visit www.cityofmalden.org/maldenalerts”

  For the present, the forecast is temperatures in the unseasonably high 40s and 50s for at least the next week. Last month was Boston’s fifth warmest January on record.

  “We just don’t see enough in the forecast for us to have our residents be ticketed for winter parking,” Cochran said in an online report. “Once you get to March, you can usually count on the fact that even if anything comes, it usually goes away pretty quickly. We are not worried about the long-term effects.”

  In the past three years prior to the winter parking season, Malden changed its restrictions to align more closely to those in adjoining communities, with restrictions going into effect at the first major winter storm that requires the city Department of Public Works to deploy plowing and/or sanding. In the past, they’d be effective Nov. 1 through April 1.

  Mayor Christenson on Wednesday also announced on Twitter that the change was made before a single winter parking violation ticket was even issued.

  City officials said they are convinced that Malden residents will be pleased with the decision.