At the height of summer, Route 1A in Rye can be a beautifully chaotic stretch of pavement. Cars, vans, scooters and bikes inch along the road, also called Ocean Boulevard, running right along the beach for much of its length.
Stressed out parents cart crying kids, beach chairs and boogie boards, on their way to or from the sand. Surfers strut past local board shops and hamburger shacks.
One thing remains constant, amid the summer hubbub: Parking spaces along the road’s shoulder have long been a free-for-all — and free for all.
That could soon change: Last September, elected officials in Rye floated the idea of installing parking meters along 1A, stirring a clash between those who want to raise revenue, and those who see it as an unfair tax on the beach.
“To me, I think not having that ability to access the ocean and experience the ocean the same way we have would be an injustice,” 17-year-old Lorax Reed recently told me.
Reed, along with two other teenage buddies, Kai Hudlin, 16, and Aidan Chin, 17, have become the fresh faces of the anti-paid parking movement.
The three of them agreed to meet me in the state-owned parking lot at Jenness Beach (capacity: 67 cars). The lot is directly across the street from Summer Sessions, the popular surf shop where Aidan works.
“Through the community of surfing, we've all kind of bonded,” says Reed.
The way the surfers see it, removing free parking along 1A will mean less time in the ocean, and less hang time with friends, with young people the most affected.
Kai plays out the scene for me:
Friend 1: “So and so, you want to come to the beach today?”
Friend 2: “No, sorry, I can't afford that right now.”
Bummer.
Take it to TikTok
Rye residents have had access to designated parking areas along 1A, so roadside parking is the domain of out-of-towners looking to sun themselves on the beach. After the town’s Board of Selectmen floated the idea of installing parking meters on that stretch, the teenagers' launched a three-pronged strategy.
First, they showed up at selectboard meetings. Though they aren’t old enough to vote, the kids stood up during public comment periods and voiced their concerns about paid parking.
Second, they put together a petition to collect the signatures of those opposed to the idea: At last check, it had garnered 10,000 names.
Third, they recorded videos for Instagram and TikTok: first-person, from-the-heart messages explaining the parking proposal, and their opposition.
“Parents and grandparents, do you remember what it was like to grow up on the beach? Please do not change this forever,” Kai says in one of the videos, looking straight into the camera.
The appeal is targeted not to other teenagers, since they can’t vote, but instead to the adults in Rye who will decide the issue. And they are doing it with a not-so-subtle nostalgic plea.
The way Aidan sees it, time on the beach as a young person has “shaped my personality. And I'd hate to, you know, have someone not go to the beach and not find like, how I did, who I am.”
Adults say they want kids off their screens. They want them out in nature.
Lorax, Kai and Aidan are like: Yeah, bro. Us too.
Catching the attention of the adults
The teens’ multi-pronged approach has caught the eye of the very adults they hope to sway.
“Oh, very impressed,” Scott McQuade, a member of the board of selectmen, told me.
“That is something that matters to them. That they're willing to do something about it.”
McQuade says he hasn’t made up his mind yet about paid parking in Rye. On one hand, McQuade, an avid cyclist, is worried it could change the culture of the beach.
“My biking group finishes there because we just love the beach culture,” he says “We feel like we're in the islands. Everyone is happy. It's just a great feeling.”
On the other hand, squeezing money from the many out-of-town visitors who flock to the Seacoast each summer isn’t such a bad thing for Rye’s finances.
“The positives would be for the third- and fourth-generation people who live in Rye that struggle every year with expenses, that this might stabilize their taxes,” he said.
The town has hired a consultant to forecast how much money may be generated by installing parking meters. With the study not yet complete, the issue of paid parking will not be on the ballot during Rye’s town meeting next month.
Instead, it could come up for a vote down the road.
Aidan, Kai and Lorax are going to try and keep the momentum in place, for when it ever reaches the ballot.
“I feel like maybe we're a little undermined because we're just kids, but I feel like we have the same, like, voice and power,” said Aidan.
