Parking space wars - if you shovel it, do you own it?

For those urbanites that live in snow prone regions:

You probably know the routine; snow storm on the way... you have on-street parking... you get up at least an hour and half early to brush-off and dig out your car from an avalanche of snow (maybe you even scrape the spot clean down to the pavement).

You "reserve" your spot with an old milk crate, lounge chair, traffic cone, trash barrel, etc.

You come home after work... you just spent twice the time of your normal commute home... it's freezing... you're tired and as you pull up to your "space" you notice some other vehicle all snuggled in and your milk crate laying in a snow bank?

What do you do?

Is "reserving/claiming" your spot a right that should be respected? (never mind any legal aspects or local ordinances).

FWIW, I live in the Boston metro area so I'm very familiar with the routine; which is probably the main reason I haven't rented an apartment in the last 15 years where parking wasn't included.

I don't see how you can claim a parking spot on a public roadway's shoulder, or a public parking lot.

What it reminds me of is going to the theatre on opening night of a movie, and seeing some asswipe saving 8 seats in a packed house. His relatives/friends haven't arrived yet, but he's saving them seats. And I've paid for a ticket, but he won't let me enter the row to grab a seat, even though the only seats left are the ones he's saving for people who have yet to buy a ticket.

I don't dig "saving" seats--so I probably wouldn't dig saving parking places.

I agree about people saving seats.

The shoveled out parking space is something you worked for.
Hard work.
You might even say you "created" it.
It wasn't there before you cleared it.

I'm familiar with the Boston situation.
I wouldn't park in a "saved" space.
To me, it would be like stealing.

and have never seen the milk crate "saved space" routine. Out of ignorance I might park there...

From the description... most of the "hard" work (ala the clear space) was done by the car (that blocked the falling snow...)

Per "stealing the spot"... given it isn't familiar to me, now that I know, it would depend on whether or not there was any other available space on the "public" street. If the street was packed with cars, except the "saved" space... and I lived there as well - I might steal it and consider it good vs bad parking luck - nothing to do with the "saved" space thing... just the urban parking thing.

This would be like if you bought the ticket (did the work) for a particular seat, they put that little 'reserved' sign in it, and you get there and someone else is sitting in it! If you do the work (sometimes like an hour's worth) to dig the spot out, I'm not sure it 100% entitles you, but I don't think it's a nice thing to do to take someone else's spot!

But I have read a number of anecdotes both here and on other forums.

Both situations (parking in someone elses previously dug out spot/saving seats), are similar in at least one way... they demonstrate laziness and a lack of common courtesy.

If can't find a parking spot, don't jump someone elses spot because you were too lzay or inconsiderate to dig out a post yourself.

People want to sit together at a movie? Then show up together or wait in the lobby.

I lived on a street with no offstreet parking for my building during the blizzard of 96 in Maryland. I remember the lawn chairs in the dug out spots. I remember a blurb on the local news saying that marking the spots with chairs and stuff wasn't legal. But, legal or not I do think it's rude to park in someone else's dug out spot.

spot,God help you!!!

I've seen cars with flat tires, broken windows, etc.

My take on it is this, you clean the spot, you own it until the snow goes away.

She has to street park and would probably have no idea why someone left a milk crate or a lawn chair in a spot. She'd probably call me up and be like..."What's up with these crazy Chicago people. There's a foot of snow on the ground and everyone's got their lawn chairs out in the street" :)

I think "reserving" a spot is technically illegal here. I've never seen anyone do it, in any case, but that could just be my neighborhood.

That and we have even-odd overnight winter parking here (to help with plowing, actually, even though I think they should only enforce the rule when there is actual snow on the ground or in the air) -- that spot you parked in and cleared out is not a legal spot the next night.

not shovel is scum. Absolute scum. I don't care what the "law" says, we're talking morals here.

:hi:

I've shoveled out a few spaces in my day, and any usurpers would have faced the wrath of Bunny! :hi: back at ya!

the "marking" of a spot ...

What about a couple of nights ago when folks parked me out to where I had to go a house down, instead of in front of mine... noting that both houses around me are currently unoccupied (no cars) - and across the street there were numerous spaces. So if you park me out - do I still have to respect the "marker" if it is smack dab in front of my house that was blocked by obnoxious parkers the night before? (I am not in an area with a lack of parking spaces ... so it is more than annoying when folks are too lazy to park on the other side of the street (where there is space) in front of their own hosue... Just asking?

When I shovel out a space, I share it with my mother's caregiver who is there during the day when I am at work.

In Chicago, the practice is known as Dibs. As in, "I have dibs on the parking space that I damn near killed myself shoveilng out."

I live on a street of houses with apartment buildings across the alley. Most of the people who park on this street don't live here.

Edited for stupid typos.

could and you hit the nail on the head.

I haven't lived in the city proper since 1986, but man, it could get really nasty when someone took someone else's spot.

I'm just wondering though is it still as bad? Back then, Streets and San didn't plow the side streets like they do now.

And I even passed a Streets and San yard where they hadn't bothered to put any salt down on Clark Street, just north of Devon.

My side street always gets plowed because the Democratic ward committeeman lives in the same block. :D

However, they plowed and did not salt, thus trapping my car in a foot of snow. Fortunately, my wonderful neighbor who always shovels/snow blows was out at the time, and she decided to start shoveling me out as I cleaned snow off the car and wondered whether I would make it to work (on a day that boss would have been POd had I not).

The people on this neighbor's other side are having painting done inside the house and their painters were arriving as this all transpired. Apparently the painters (speaking in Spanish, which I do not understand, having studied French) asked the neighbor if she had any extra shovels so they could help. She got a couple of garden shovels and soon the three had me out. The guys also waited around to push me in case I needed it. I didn't.

And they refused $$$. What great people.

helping their neighbors out after a snowstorm. I remember after the 67 blizzard and again in 79, everyone helping everyone on the block to get the cars dug out and walks cleared.

Glad to see nothing's changed with Streets and San, but it did start snowing here on the South Side about 2:00 pm yesterday and I'm sure they were out plowing the expressways first.

Not that it did any good, Mr. Wonderful had to pick up a friend from O'Hare last night and it took him 2 hours going up and 2 hours coming home on 294 to the 95th Street exit. My niece works in Oak Brook and it took her five hours to get back home to Mt. Greenwood last night.

considering the distance he drove. A coworker spent 3 hours driving from Skokie (Howard and Central to Ukrainian Village (Chicago and Western).

I was wiped out.

And thanks, I think that is an extremely nice story. It made my day start a lot better.

But OTW, people should respect your effort.

I've always enjoyed residents who think they own the public street their house sits on.

Shoveled or not, if the only parking space available is one with a lawnchair in it, I'd take it.

the rats car. See if you can get a couple of friends to help. Make sure to get some on the car's windshield. It's an effort, I know, but do it for mankind.

I don't think it should ever come to that, but I came from a neighborhood where lawn chairs were definitely used as place-holders, and even if they weren't there, the right of ownership was kind of respected. You knew who shoveled out what on the block because you were out with them. Of course, that was a specific neighborhood thing. Where I am now, it's a block of rowhouses with the driveways in front, so essentially, spots are *owned* anyway--most households have two cars, so that's generally a car in the garage, one in the driveway you obviously had to dig out yourself. (Not that scads of people use their garage for storage, so every other house someone *has* to park on the street--but those folks are on their own.)But we're so close, sometimes somebody digging out (I'll say it's kids who don't think) won't move the snow so it's not blocking another person getting out of their driveway. I recall being mad as heck once after carefully cleaning the area around my car so I could get out the next day, and waking up to find a hill of snow behind me--and with a wee little Honda Civic, I found myself bright and early cursing the world and flattening the hill so I could get onto the street at all.

It would be nice if people would respect this. But the only way to really reserve it that I know of is to have an intimidating-looking human standing in it.

It's public property. A person can't seriously think he can claim public property by shoveling away the snow and planting a milk crate. :silly:

As soon as a person moves his car out of a public parking space on a city street, even one that he's shoveled, it's available to whomever needs/wants the space. :-)

Yeah, that's common law.

But then, there's the law of the streets!

I'm thinking that you haven't ever lived in a big city during a major snowstorm (no disrespect meant)

For example, Chicago. The big snows of 67 and 79.

You and your crate would both end up in the snow drift if you tried that here. :nuke: