When I'm driving to visit my mom I usually call her as I pass the airport (which means I'm about 15 minutes out). At which time she typically looks out the window and if there is a spot in front of her house she'll run outside and stand in it to save it for me.
So...which one of us is the terrible person here? I'm not sure.
Do you put anything in the spot to reserve it? In Chicago, you can park in any open shoveled spot as long as there isn't anything in the spot to hold it. If there is anything in the spot, i.e. cone, plastic chair, ironing board, then you do not park your car there unless you want to risk death. It is called dibs and people take it very seriously.
But all this you all are talking about is not private permit parking, right? If someone is visiting a friend or just in the area, they have just as much right as anyone to park.
I used to live in Hyde Park, so believe me I get the parking fiasco, but those parking spaces weren't "mine". Hence, like I said, I never bought a car.
Right, I am talking about regular street parking. Those who shovel out a spot and then reserve it by putting something in the spot now consider that spot to be "theirs".
No one has a right to reserve a space on a public street.
Unless it is winter and you spent an hour shoveling all of the plow hardened snow out of said space to get your car out of it. Then the chair should be respected. /gavel /pittsburghrules
No, it's a public street. You do not get to call dibs. You leave your forfeit your space.
Post by lasagnasshole on Sept 16, 2014 10:54:46 GMT -5
summer, aren't you from Chicago? I thought surely you'd know about Chicago dibs.
I almost put lawn chairs in our space this past winter.
The scene played out exactly like @soudesafinado said. We shoveled the space. Then our assbag next door neighbor in her SUV pulled out without shoveling her space and when she came home, she parked in the space we shoveled out. But our Fit doesn't have a lot of ground clearance so then we can't get into the non-shoveled space.
This was also the next door neighbor who literally didn't own a shovel. So F her. (They've moved, thank goodness.)
Post by lasagnasshole on Sept 16, 2014 10:58:52 GMT -5
Also, this is another reason SUVs are the fucking devil. SUV drivers are, IME, much less likely to shovel out their spots. Or they do the bare minimum. Sucks for those of us with small cars.
Unless it is winter and you spent an hour shoveling all of the plow hardened snow out of said space to get your car out of it. Then the chair should be respected. /gavel /pittsburghrules
No, it's a public street. You do not get to call dibs. You leave your forfeit your space.
I mean....yes. this is true. If somebody steals your dibs then you dont' get to key their car - but it's just bad fucking form to take the spot you KNOW your neighbor carefully cleared while the spot your car was previously parked in is now full of plow snow that you couldn't be bothered to shovel.
all bets are off for people coming in from out of the neighborhood. But if you drove your car out of its spot and didn't clear said spot - and then parked in a nearby shoveled space - you are a egregious asshole and all the "public street!" truth in the world doesn't change that. (general you, not pixy you)
Post by msmerymac on Sept 16, 2014 11:17:28 GMT -5
I've always thought that the whole "digging out a spot" issue could be solved by alternate side street parking, which means that the plows would actually be able to come clear out the snow.
Because as it is, there are parking spots in Philly, Chicago, etc that don't get shoveled or plowed all damn winter, reducing the number of overall spots available.
Having had to dig out my car with a small office trash can and a large serving spoon the first big snow in Chicago (being an apartment dweller = no shovel and our building manager wouldn't let tenants use his precious shovel), you can be damned sure that I would have frozen the locks and keyed the shit out of anyone that parked in my space.
It took me hours to dig out with my rudimentary tools since the local hardware store was entirely sold out of shovels.
Having had to dig out my car with a small office trash can and a large serving spoon the first big snow in Chicago (being an apartment dweller = no shovel and our building manager wouldn't let tenants use his precious shovel), you can be damned sure that I would have frozen the locks and keyed the shit out of anyone that parked in my space.
It took me hours to dig out with my rudimentary tools since the local hardware store was entirely sold out of shovels.
Chicago Dibs for Lyfe!!
You lived in Chicago and didn't prepare for winter? Huh.
Post by demandypants on Sept 16, 2014 11:55:04 GMT -5
Now why would you want to disturb something like that?
Also, our city public works has failed a number of times on actually plowing the streets- getting your road cleared can take a week. I am glad I am in the burbs when it snows. But I respect the parking chair.
Having had to dig out my car with a small office trash can and a large serving spoon the first big snow in Chicago (being an apartment dweller = no shovel and our building manager wouldn't let tenants use his precious shovel), you can be damned sure that I would have frozen the locks and keyed the shit out of anyone that parked in my space.
It took me hours to dig out with my rudimentary tools since the local hardware store was entirely sold out of shovels.
Chicago Dibs for Lyfe!!
You lived in Chicago and didn't prepare for winter? Huh.
I had never had to do street parking back in MI. I always had a carport or a garage.
And I didn't anticipate needing to dig out from behind a 2.5 foot tall wall of snow left by the snowplow in addition to the snow that was actually on my car.
Now why would you want to disturb something like that?
Also, our city public works has failed a number of times on actually plowing the streets- getting your road cleared can take a week. I am glad I am in the burbs when it snows. But I respect the parking chair.
I hope that's next to the television space. If theres a cooler of beer space nearby we've got ourselves a party!
Post by Chuppathingy on Sept 16, 2014 12:10:11 GMT -5
Am I the only one whose first thought was "using your kids for this is putting them in danger?" I get that the kids were 10, but if they had been sitting, or were just short, didn't anyone think that one of them could have been hit by a car?
I mean....yes. this is true. If somebody steals your dibs then you dont' get to key their car - but it's just bad fucking form to take the spot you KNOW your neighbor carefully cleared while the spot your car was previously parked in is now full of plow snow that you couldn't be bothered to shovel.
all bets are off for people coming in from out of the neighborhood. But if you drove your car out of its spot and didn't clear said spot - and then parked in a nearby shoveled space - you are a egregious asshole and all the "public street!" truth in the world doesn't change that. (general you, not pixy you)
THIS! I swear, I get people coming out of the neighborhood have to park somewhere, but people who live three doors down or up and didn't shovel parking in my space I just spent an hour clearing and now my back and shit hurts? NO! I will make exceptions for my elderly neighbors (of which I have a few), but then, I shovel at least one out and hit the sidewalks for two of them, so by george, I ought to be able to park in the fucking spot I cleared when I bring my damn car back!
Or any other spot that has also been cleared! if everybody went out and actually cleaned off all the spots (except the intermittent sacrificial snow mountain spot) then this wouldn't be an issue. My brother's block in Pittsburgh was great for this - the morning after a snow, the plows would go through and then all the neighbors would appear outside and everybody would just get to shovelin'. One awesome neighbor had a huge snow blower and would pretty much just do all the sidewalks while we worked on the street and tada, spots clear.
But when you live with a bunch of lazy fucks, you go out and actually clear your spot, but everybody else just drives through the snow as best they can and leaves half cleared spaces behind them all willy nilly. And then you drive back at the end of the day - and all that snow/slush mess has hardened into impassible ice mountains, somebody else is parked in your nice clear spot and there is exactly NOWHWERE to put your car. So you park a ridiculous distance away, tromp back through all the snow on the (also unshoveled) sidewalks and have the choice of doing that walk again in the morning, or taking out your shovel and clearing ANOTHER spot. And god help you if you've got groceries or kids in the car at that point.
So yeah. It's just a parking spot. But hell if it isn't a giant pain in the ass all the same.
I like msmerymac's idea of alternate side parking - but it also requires that you aren't already over capacity for parking in your area, it requires actual parking enforcement and it requires that the city actually plow in a timely fashion.
Oh - also - the other group that gets a pass on all this are people who leave their houses while the snow is still underway, or before the plows have come through. Because what are they supposed to do about that? They lose their pass if after they park in an available clear spot they do not then come out and shovel out their normal spot. (and don't even look at me like there aren't normal spots)
Don't you have a driveway? With a garage at the end of it? So... this is never an issue for you?
That sounds Snarkier than I mean it to. But it is so much more than a parking space when it's 6:15 at night with a below zero windchill and you've got to dig out your third spot that day and it's like, fuck it. I'm putting out a lawn chair.
I have a one car garage with stuff in it. One of our cars is parked in the driveway. The other is out in the street. Occasionally that spot is cleaned out and the boyfriend(s) of the girls that live across the street park there. It's just a spot. The emotional investment people put into a goddamn street spot is mind boggling to me. You don't own the street because you cleared snow from it.
No one has a right to reserve a space on a public street.
Unless it is winter and you spent an hour shoveling all of the plow hardened snow out of said space to get your car out of it. Then the chair should be respected. /gavel /pittsburghrules
I have to say I kind of agree. During snowmageddon we lived in a rental w street parking. Nobody put out chairs but it was understood that you parked in the spot you shoveled out.
I know it's not legal but it's nice when everyone re spects the rule.
summer, aren't you from Chicago? I thought surely you'd know about Chicago dibs.
I almost put lawn chairs in our space this past winter.
The scene played out exactly like @soudesafinado said. We shoveled the space. Then our assbag next door neighbor in her SUV pulled out without shoveling her space and when she came home, she parked in the space we shoveled out. But our Fit doesn't have a lot of ground clearance so then we can't get into the non-shoveled space.
This was also the next door neighbor who literally didn't own a shovel. So F her. (They've moved, thank goodness.)
I did. I lived in Rogers Park and Hyde Park and near Howard St. Hence I took the bus. Every time I had to look for parking on a regular day in any of those neighborhoods, I would break out in hives from the stress of it.
Can people petition for parking permits? You know, those signs that say you need to have a permit to park here. Seems like it would be much easier if possible.
Odd days (like the 1st, 3rd, 5th) you park on the odd side of the street. Even days, you park on the even side of the street.
So if it snows on Tuesday, January 11, everyone is parked on the odd side. The plow comes through and clears the middle of the street AND the other parking lane. The next day, when everyone has claimed their nice clean spots on the other side, the plow can come through again and clean the odd side. You really only have to dig/4WD yourself OUT of the spot, you don't have to maintain or save it.
I know people will argue that there are fewer people in Buffalo and more parking spots, but the parking spots that don't get shoveled out all winter MUST reduce the amount of parking in Philly by like 1/3. Plus the fact that the snow ends up on the sidewalk and blocking all kinds of other things when people just have to shovel out their cars.
summer, aren't you from Chicago? I thought surely you'd know about Chicago dibs.
I almost put lawn chairs in our space this past winter.
The scene played out exactly like @soudesafinado said. We shoveled the space. Then our assbag next door neighbor in her SUV pulled out without shoveling her space and when she came home, she parked in the space we shoveled out. But our Fit doesn't have a lot of ground clearance so then we can't get into the non-shoveled space.
This was also the next door neighbor who literally didn't own a shovel. So F her. (They've moved, thank goodness.)
I did. I lived in Rogers Park and Hyde Park and near Howard St. Hence I took the bus. Every time I had to look for parking on a regular day in any of those neighborhoods, I would break out in hives from the stress of it.
Can people petition for parking permits? You know, those signs that say you need to have a permit to park here. Seems like it would be much easier if possible.
The city will designate a spot as handicapped if you qualify, but general resident permits don't solve the problem. You have to have a permit to park on my street for more than 2 hours, but all residents have the same permit. So there's no way to stop my bitchface neighbor from parking her SUV in the space that I shoveled out.
Odd days (like the 1st, 3rd, 5th) you park on the odd side of the street. Even days, you park on the even side of the street.
So if it snows on Tuesday, January 11, everyone is parked on the odd side. The plow comes through and clears the middle of the street AND the other parking lane. The next day, when everyone has claimed their nice clean spots on the other side, the plow can come through again and clean the odd side. You really only have to dig/4WD yourself OUT of the spot, you don't have to maintain or save it.
I know people will argue that there are fewer people in Buffalo and more parking spots, but the parking spots that don't get shoveled out all winter MUST reduce the amount of parking in Philly by like 1/3. Plus the fact that the snow ends up on the sidewalk and blocking all kinds of other things when people just have to shovel out their cars.
Ohhhh, Buffalo plows the streets, though.
I never saw a plow come down my street all winter even though I had 5 snow days. We got 10 inches of snow on St. Patrick's Day and no plow. Of course, at that amount of snow we couldn't even drive Ye Little Fit until the snow melted.
Odd days (like the 1st, 3rd, 5th) you park on the odd side of the street. Even days, you park on the even side of the street.
So if it snows on Tuesday, January 11, everyone is parked on the odd side. The plow comes through and clears the middle of the street AND the other parking lane. The next day, when everyone has claimed their nice clean spots on the other side, the plow can come through again and clean the odd side. You really only have to dig/4WD yourself OUT of the spot, you don't have to maintain or save it.
I know people will argue that there are fewer people in Buffalo and more parking spots, but the parking spots that don't get shoveled out all winter MUST reduce the amount of parking in Philly by like 1/3. Plus the fact that the snow ends up on the sidewalk and blocking all kinds of other things when people just have to shovel out their cars.
Ohhhh, Buffalo plows the streets, though.
I never saw a plow come down my street all winter even though I had 5 snow days. We got 10 inches of snow on St. Patrick's Day and no plow. Of course, at that amount of snow we couldn't even drive Ye Little Fit until the snow melted.
I was actually going to ask wawa what she thinks, in her expert opinion, the chances of Philly implementing a sufficient plowing system would be, but... I know the answer. I think it probably holds true for Baltimore and DC as well.
i feel like asdfjkl posted photos of the best chicago dibs last winter.
That was actually 2011, I think. I had PTS sitting in some of the chairs.
I'm pro dibs. If everyone dug their spot out, it wouldn't be a problem. But they don't. They rock back and forth to get THEIR car over just enough snow to propel that mother like a rocket ship out of that spot. Then the packed down snow freezes over and the pile of snow in front or behind causes a problem for others who are or would park in that vicinity. So of I spend two hours digging my car out, fuck you, I want my spot back. Go fucking dig your own spot.
I never saw a plow come down my street all winter even though I had 5 snow days. We got 10 inches of snow on St. Patrick's Day and no plow. Of course, at that amount of snow we couldn't even drive Ye Little Fit until the snow melted.
I was actually going to ask wawa what she thinks, in her expert opinion, the chances of Philly implementing a sufficient plowing system would be, but... I know the answer. I think it probably holds true for Baltimore and DC as well.
LOL! I actually don't know a ton about the funding situation for that kind of stuff. Doesn't fall under capital improvement budget, so it's not my purview. The extent of my plowing knowledge is that it's always a design question for separated bike facilities...
Post by cinnamoncox on Sept 16, 2014 15:22:58 GMT -5
In Boston you "get" the spot for 24 hours after you shovel it. It's most certainly a thing. People know the space saver rule and for the most part, everyone cooperates.