So the new citywide permit parking signs now appear to be posted. The new rules will be enforced starting January 4th.
From what I've seen, they did a rather sloppy job placing the signs. Some blocks have no new signs. Sometimes there are new signs just a few feet apart, or at weird heights on the pole. And on streets like Elm, where they replaced old restrictions (like 2 hour parking except by permit 8 am - 6 pm except Sundays) with new ones, I've seen blocks with all 4 combinations of new and old signs (new only, old only, both, and neither).
Tom Champion's post at
http://community.livejournal.com/davis_square/2011317.html explicitly says the major-street permit and time limits are not in effect on Sundays, but the signs don't reflect this. They just say "2 hour parking except by permit 8 am - 2:30 am, permit-only 2:30 am - 8 am", without saying "except Sunday". You'd think they'd have proofread the signs before they spent thousands of dollars posting them them all over the city.
And I still can't believe the extent to which they imposed the permit-only rules, even in industrial areas. And this might be illegal under state law, since
http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/40-21.htm just says towns can ban parking in front of a house except by residents of that house.