Lack of Passover parking in Brookline stirs debate
clash with bank's policies
The weeks preceding Passover are a busy time of year for the Jewish community. Families begin the laborious task of ridding
their homes of chametz and stocking up for a week's worth of kosher for Passover goods. But in Brookline, where kosher
shops abound and parking is scarce, customers of The Butcherie kosher grocer have been outraged after being towed from the
nearby Citizens Bank parking lot.
“There are signs there, but frankly I didn't see them,” said “Miriam,” a 67-year-old Butcherie customer who asked not be
identified by her real name. “But it would seem, in the spirit of the holiday, that Citizens Bank could be more appropriate to its
citizens. The fact is, in my opinion, they wouldn't tow on Christmas or Easter.”
The bank's parking lot is located across from The Butcherie on Harvard Avenue and has 10 spots available to its customers.
On-street parking is available and a municipal lot is located a block away from the kosher shop. But as the Jewish holidays
approach, and parking becomes increasingly difficult, many customers take any spot they can get.
Walter Gellerman, president of The Butcherie, said he has received numerous complaints from customers whose cars have been
owed around the Jewish holidays. He asked the bank to make an exception to their parking policies for the two Sundays
preceding Passover, when the bank is closed. But so far, he said, the bank has been unwilling to work out a deal.
“People come in here, they spend $50 in groceries, and then it costs $100 or more to get their car back, and it's an
inconvenience,” said Gellerman. “Our customers and the bank's customers are the same people, so it's not just hurting us and
our business, but their's as well.”
The Citizens Bank's branch manager, Carmela Deghmane, would not offer the Advocate any comment, citing company policy.
But Mike Jones, spokesperson for Citizens Bank's New England region, said the branch is merely responding to its own
customers' complaints.
“The actions we have taken are in direct response to customers' requests for assistance,” said Jones. “We've had many
instances where tellers have had to meet customers at their cars in the lot because the parking spaces were occupied by non-
customers.” Jones rejected the notion that Jewish shoppers are being targeted on the holidays, and said that the bank has
received numerous thanks, from both Jews and non-Jews, since it began enforcing its parking restrictions.
Dick Cooper, co-owner of the nearby real estate company, Century Property Management, appreciated the bank's diligence.
He and his real estate partner are both Jewish.
“We make deposits at the bank, Monday through Friday,” said Cooper. “But Thursdays and Fridays and especially around the
Jewish holidays, the bank will be empty but the lot is full. And then you see somebody walking across the street with bags from
the Jewish market and it's upsetting.”
Liran “Leo” Cohen, the owner of Brighton Towing, has had a contract with the bank for over a year. He is Israeli and Jewish,
and dismissed the idea that he is looking to profit by towing cars owned by Jews.
“There is no way to identify whether the car is a Jewish car or a Christian car or a Muslim car,” Cohen said. “I just know it is
illegally parked.”
Cohen admitted that requests for his services increase around the Jewish holidays. But, he said, he has gone out of his way to
dissuade local shoppers from parking there, even though there are several signs warning unauthorized car owners that they
might be towed. The Sunday before Passover began, Cohen, along with another tow truck driver and an employee of The
Butcherie, spent the afternoon flagging cars away from the lot.
“I don't think you will find another tow truck company, or a business (like The Butcherie), for that matter, that will have people
outside saying ‘Don't park here,'” Cohen said. “Everyone went out of their way to prevent it.”
Brookline Town Selectwoman Betsy DeWitt said that parking in Brookline is always a hotly debated issue. And although the
Citizens Bank lot is private property, she hoped the two businesses could come to a mutually agreeable solution.
“This has to be decided between the bank and the other businesses, because the town has no authority over that [lot],” DeWitt
said. “But Citizens Bank might recognize that there are certain times of the year when there is a lot more customer traffic at The
Butcherie, and be more tolerant of people using their lot.”
Gellerman and the bank are still trying to work out a compromise. The bank has offered to pay for a sign inside The Butcherie
warning people against parking in its lot. But for now, customers will just have to be aware.