Police Start Campaign To Stop Night Parking

Cambridge Police announced last night a new "tag and tow" policy to eliminate student parking on the city streets. The policy is the result of complaints of firemen who were hindered by illegally parked automobiles in their attempt to fight the Leverett House fire early Monday morning.

Richard J. Linehan, Acting Chief of Cambridge Police, said a special sergeant had been appointed to "tag night in, night out until those streets are cleared." The new policy, effective last evening, will be directed against all cars, but "especially cars out-of-state."

The automobiles' owners were violating a city parking regulation which forbids parking for longer than one hour between the hours of 2:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m.

Under Cambridge parking regulations, any car may be towed away and the owner charged for the towing if the police have issued two warning tickets. However, out-of-state cars may be towed away after only one warning ticket. Linehan said the courts would back the police department "completely" in enforcing these regulations.

Before the events of Monday morning brought the safety hazard to the attention of the city police, cars in the vicinity of Leverett House had not been issued tickets. Although the no-parking rule was in effect, the police preferred not to enforce it.

Cars Hinder Firemen

William Cremins, Deputy Chief of the Fire Department, complained that the number of parked cars made it "impossible for our men to get in there." The illegally parked cars prevented the firemen from getting their equipment close enough to the fire without wasting several minutes trying to maneuver through the blocked streets. Police claimed there would have been a panic if the fire had not been such a small one.

Matthew J. Toohy, Chief of University Police, said he could not remember any complaint of a similar nature being registered against student parking.

The fire, which was reported at 3:30 a.m. Monday, completely gutted the room of Athanasios Boulukus '59 and John T. Tangeman '59. Boulukos and Tangeman discovered the fire when they returned to the room after walking a friend home. Damage to adjoining rooms was slight, but Cremins said that several of the rooms damaged by the smoke would probably have to be repainted.