The first brisk winds of fall have brought the chilling news to student car-owners that local police are evidently resolved to crack down on all-night parking in city streets. Armed with a spanking new ordinance, officers are ready to haul away offending vehicles faster than Henry Kaiser can turn them out at Willow Run.

Police officials say that the campaign is designed to clear the way for fire trucks in cases of early morning alarms. If this were the purpose, the drive would be completely justified. But the Cambridge fire chief denies this is the reason. Fire engines can pass through all streets where legal parking space is used, at any time--day or night. If they couldn't of course, then city officials would be hazarding the lives and property of their citizens for the sake of the small change from parking meters. Snow removal in the winter requires streets to be clear. Yet the parking ban extends to such off-thoroughfare areas as the triangle just above the Square, and the spaces in front of Claverly.

The removal of obstacles for fire engines is obviously not the answer; nor is the argument for snow removal entirely plausible. The authorities should give some completely acceptable explanation, for if the current campaign builds up to all its promised thoroughness, students faced with paying tribute to garage-owners are going to feel like turning their cars in to City Hall--at the rate of about 50 miles an hour.