New Measures Implemented on Parks and Playgrounds, Parking Meters, Resident Permits, On-Premise Consumption, and More

UPDATE: The Traffic, Parking and Transportation Department announced on June 5, 2020 that parking meter payments would be in effect beginning June 15, 2020. Beginning July 1, 2020 street cleaning parking regulations will be enforced. Visit www.cambridgema.gov/covid19/services for additional updates City Services. 

City of Cambridge officials continue to work closely to address the rapidly evolving challenges related to the Coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) outbreak. Effective March 16, 2020 at 5 p.m., all city offices were closed to the public until further notice as a precautionary measure to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

Below are some new measures that are being implemented:

Parking Meter Payments. Effective March 17, 2020, City of Cambridge Parking Meters payments will not be required and will not be enforced until further notice.

2019 Resident and Visitor Parking Permits, which were due to expire on March 31, 2020, will continue to be honored until further notice. Once city buildings reopen, Traffic, Parking, and Transportation staff will begin processing 2020 Parking Permit applications, scheduling parking ticket hearings, and processing ticket disputes.

Police and Fire Stations. While the main lobbies to the Cambridge Police Department’s main buildings at 125 6th Street and the Central Square Substation will remain open to the public, administrative requests (e.g. fingerprinting services, LTC applications, etc.) are strongly encouraged to take place online. All Cambridge Fire Stations will not be accessible to the general public or family members and friends of fire department personnel. If immediate assistance is needed in/around the fire stations, residents should ring the nearest firehouse bell for assistance or call 911 for an emergency. Any food donations by the public will be respectfully declined by Cambridge Public Safety at this time.

Parks and Playgrounds. The City of Cambridge’s playgrounds (areas with play structures of any kind) are closed, effective March 16, until further notice. Parks, fields, and courts, with the exception of playground areas, will remain open for passive use. No congregating, group activities or game playing is allowed. Please maintain a distance of 6 feet from other people while enjoying these spaces.

On-Premise Consumption Prohibited. Per Governor Charlie Baker’s Order of 3-15-20 Prohibiting the Gathering of More Than 25 People and On-Premises Consumption of Food or Drink, effective at 12:00 a.m. on Tuesday, March 17, 2020, all on-premises consumption licensees are prohibited from selling alcohol to the public until 11:59 p.m. on April 5, 2020. This includes: restaurants, bars, hotels, general-on-premises, clubs, war veterans’ clubs, continuing care retirement communities, pub-brewers, farmer-series pouring permits, and manufacturer’s pouring permits. These establishments are also prohibited from serving any food or drinks for on-premises consumption; only takeout and delivery of food is permitted. Hotels and lodging houses can continue to offer take-out and room service but cannot allow the on-premise consumption in an area open to the public, i.e. lounge, lobby, or restaurant area.

Please note that the Order and Advisory do not apply to off-premises consumption licensees, including grocery stores, pharmacies, package stores, direct wine shippers, and farmer-series. These licensees may continue to operate, unless either the Order or Advisory is amended to state otherwise. If you decide to remain open, we encourage social distancing (at least six feet apart) and when possible we ask that you limit the number of persons inside any of these establishments (including employees) to 25 or less. Please note that if a package store also serves food, the Governor’s Order applies to the extent that the food cannot be sold or served for the consumption on the premises; you can only offer the food for take-out or delivery purposes.

The Order does not apply to grocery stores to the extent that you may remain open but if you have a restaurant area in it, you cannot allow the on-premise consumption of food therein (you must remove/close the area). In addition, while grocery stores may remain open, we strongly encourage social distancing (at least six feet apart) and when possible we ask that you limit the number of persons inside to 25 or less.

Register for City Alerts. The City of Cambridge sends out emergency notification system that allows the City to send emergency notifications to subscribers via email, text and phone calls. This service will be used for important COVID-19 updates, and other emergencies, including evacuations, large-scale water outages, or other significant service disruptions.

If you have questions or concerns about COVID-19, call the Massachusetts COVID-19 Information Line at 2-1-1. The call center is equipped to handle a high call volume.

For Cambridge related updates, visit https://www.cambridgema.gov/covid19.