To the Editor:

It happens at high school concerts (like last night). And town meetings. And open house nights. And football games. And dozens of other “big” events at Milton High School.

People park on Gile Road, on both sides, and leave very limited room for traffic to flow in both directions. Last night, we didn’t need Chris Christie to create some traffic problems, we did it to ourselves. It was virtual gridlock upon dismissal of the concert as exiting cars jockeyed with entering cars who were vying with parked cars.

It doesn’t need to be this way. Nearly every time that I have encountered this illegal parking on Gile Road, I have found plenty of legitimate open spaces in the parking lots surrounding the school. The lower lot near the field house is often barely used in favor of the marginally closer spots on Gile. Spots by the softball field are almost always open for events in the auditorium.  Parked cars on Gile often encroach so close to the entrance from Canton Avenue that I wonder if a fire truck could make the turn. Last night, I know, that was not possible.

Milton is an aggressive enforcer of overnight parking on our streets. Let’s apply that same aggressiveness to some early evening illegal parking on Gile Road.

Tom Callahan