By 6 a.m. on a Monday morning, the first-come-first-served parking area outside the Upper School (US) — dubbed “The Strip” — is completely filled. Inside cars, students sleep, study and wait for the school day to begin, having secured prime parking.
Besides the Strip, there are 70 reserved spots available for non-Cambridge residents at the Grove Street parking lot. Students who don’t have a Grove Street permit and don’t get a Strip spot must choose between parking spots further away. Some students with Cambridge resident parking passes choose to park in the Coolidge Hill neighborhood, located behind the US near the Shady Hill School.
However, the All-School Student and Family Handbook prohibits even US students with a Cambridge resident sticker from parking in the Coolidge Hill area. According to the Handbook, “the prohibition of student parking in the Coolidge Hill neighborhood is due to an agreement with the school’s Cambridge neighbors. This applies to all students, including those with Cambridge resdent parking stickers.”
Recently, the problem has intensified.
“In the last two months, it’s really been an issue,” US Dean of Students Rory Morton ’81 said. “We’ve gotten complaints from Coolidge Hill residents, and we’re trying to be vigilant about enforcing the parking rules.”
In 2010, the US and Shady Hill agreed to limit student parking in Coolidge Hill to minimize traffic on residential streets, Mr. Morton said.
“When students are being dropped off and teachers are coming to work, the Coolidge Hill area is really congested. The BB&N neighbors have to deal with the Shady Hill traffic anyway, so we’re not trying to add to the traffic at that point in the day.”
Students from Cambridge can park in designated resident parking spaces on Coolidge Avenue but can’t park on streets in the rest of the neighborhood.
“It’s difficult to find physical parking spaces for students to use near BB&N,” Mr. Morton said. “The hope is that most of the kids who live close enough will be able to commute and find something or walk.”
Iris Fahy ’26 lives in Cambridge.
“I usually park on Coolidge Ave, and after my commute, I have to walk another 15 minutes to school, which means I have to get up earlier,” she said.
According to school administrators, the school partnered with Boston in previous years to make Municipal Parking Lot 4, on the other side of the river, available for all students to use. Boston now limits Lot 4 to two-to-four-hour parking, making it unrealistic for students to leave their cars there during the school day.
“I wish we could go back to Lot 4,” Iris said. “It would give Cambridge students a lot more parking options.”
Cambridge resident Amanda Berlin ’26 parks on Coolidge Avenue and walks by open spots on Coolidge Hill.
“There’s so much space,” Amanda said. “Every day when I go to my car, I see so many open spots that could be available to students. But since we can’t park there, we have to fight over the few spaces we’re actually allowed to use.”
Amanda wished for more clarity about why parking is not allowed in Coolidge Hill.
“I don’t feel like we’re bothering anyone,” she said. “We aren’t parking in driveways, and we’re not getting in the way of neighbors. We aren’t doing anything wrong. We’re just parking.”
Sarah Baker P ’29 lives across from the Shady Hill faculty parking lot.
“I have not personally felt the effects of students parking on Coolidge Hill, partly because of where our house is located on a banked curve,” she said. “That said, I have heard some neighbors have felt frustrated when a high volume of cars in the neighborhood prevents them from parking near their homes, welcoming daytime visitors or having home maintenance done.”
The neighborhood has limited parking.
“Coolidge Hill is a thickly settled neighborhood to begin with, so even if it weren’t flanked by two schools, it would feel quite full,” Ms. Baker said. “The streets can only accommodate so many cars while allowing residents to get in and out of our driveways, host visitors and so on. I don’t have a magic solution, but I know there are a lot of well-meaning people on both sides, and listening to each other is a great start.”
Chief Financial Officer Tara Gohlmann P ’23 ’26 ’28 said the school is focused on alleviating parking issues.
“We have not yet found a long-term solution to expand parking beyond the Grove Street athletic facility,” Dr. Gohlmann said. “We have partnered with nearby neighbors, but these partnerships are short-term fixes as these neighbors are unwilling to commit to long-term leases.”
The administration is still looking for solutions.
“We’re willing to add shuttles in the event that we see any increase of students and faculty or staff interested in using expanded times,” she said. “Real estate near BB&N is very expensive, and the necessity for and cost of expansion to our facilities for parking would need to be carefully weighed by our Board of Trustees.”
