That’s not Monty Python skit. I’m taking the uploader’s word it’s Dave Allen, but it’s definitely not Python.
Was your area laid out for local shopping and working? Or for public transport?
It was built in the 1880s to support all the immigrants who came to area to work in the newly opened plate glass factory.
I don’t know how the layout was decided back then.
My mother used to recall using the trains that actually ran daily schedules all the way into downtown Pittsburgh. There were also buses between the smaller towns in the area.
Also I recall old trolley tracks on the streets so they must have had those in the past.
When I was a child growing up there were small ethnic grocery stores scattered throughout the town.
Those have all disappeared.
Depending on the location some of the houses have garages or dedicated parking pull ins in the alleys but not everyone. I am on a hill and there is nothing in the back.
Sorry, but he’s not allowed to argue any more unless you pay.
This board is the textbook definition of “arguing in one’s spare time.”
Dibs is one of those things Chicagoans love to argue about, but it rarely seems to cause an actual problem. I really like the Boston idea of formally recognizing the right to dibs during specifically defined times.
One thing nobody has touched on is that Chicago plows the streets, but doesn’t plow the alleys. If you have a private parking spot, in a garage or otherwise, it’s almost certainly only accessible through the alley. So if you’re parked in “your” spot, you avoid the problems with street parking, but it could be days from when the streets are clear enough to drive on to when the snow melts enough that you’re actually able to get your car out of the alley.
My god.
Yates, a lawyer and mother of twin seven-year-olds, lives near Mount Pleasant and Eglinton, and feels particularly attached to the spot she cleared. Her husband had a heart attack last year, so shovelling duties primarily fall to her, and the work was painful due to a pinched nerve.
Such is the couple’s reluctance to lose their space that when Yates’s husband had a medical appointment Tuesday morning not too far from home, after a debate about “protecting the spot,” they agreed it was better if he walked
What do people do with the snow they shovel out of the spot? If it’s in front of your house, I’d guess you would shovel it into your yard. But what if you were in front of someone else’s house? Would you be allowed to dump the snow into their yard?
On the rare occasions I had reason to shovel the curbside area in front of my house I just pitched the snow out into the middle of the street. Spread around such a large area it amounted to no appreciable depth. And was quickly smashed / spread / melted by passing cars.
That might not work for narrow streets & heavy snows, but that wasn’t my scenario.
Barring any strange local ordinance: into whatever yard is next to the parking spot. If there had not been a car parked there, the city plow would have been pushing the snow into that yard anyway.
The exception, I suppose, would be if the homeowner in question comes out and yells at you for putting snow in his yard. 
In my small city, the homeowner (or in single-family houses the tenant) is responsible for shoveling any sidewalk on their property that parallels a street. People who don’t shovel their sidewalks risk a fine. Not sure how many folks are fined; most people do what the law requires.
Also, people are not permitted to shovel snow into the street. Again, you can be fined if you do. Again, I’m not sure how prevalent fines are; it doesn’t seem to happen very often.
Sidewalks that stretch along a park or other city-owned property are cleared by the city. They’re usually pretty good about taking care of it reasonably quickly.
The WORST snow removal I have ever seen was in the early nineties in Windsor, Ontario. We were there for a few days in February of…I want to say 1990, and again in 1992. There was snow, not a lot, but it was not being taken care of at all. The streets were unplowed, the sidewalks barely touched. Both situations lasted throughout our time there (3-4 days) with no new snow falling; never saw a shovel, never saw a plow. It was very weird. I hope things have improved since.
I live in Toronto. We have a bylaw, Chapter 719 of the Toronto Municipal Code, that deals with snow and ice removal and property owners obligations. It is a violation to move any snow from your property onto public property, however it says nothing about moving snow around on public property. It would be frowned upon to pile snow from the street onto someones yard so in cases like the one you refer to the usual practice is to try to distribute the snow evenly out on the roadway where it will get beaten down by passing cars, and eventually melt or get hauled away by the city.
I have the same issue, spend 20 minutes to shovel away the berm created by the snow plow and the snow from in front and behind my car to be able to drive away, and risk coming back to find a car parked in the spot. Yes it annoys me, but I’d never resort to damaging the car. I keep a smallish sturdy square-nosed shovel in the trunk whenever there’s more than about 10 cm of snow on the ground in case I have to dig out another spot for myself, and always toss the snow out onto the roadway.
Since we’ve strayed into clearing sidewalks, please allow me to gripe about that for a moment.
I’m in my 70s and my wife and I live in an older (1960s) neighborhood of individual houses. The city was petitioned to install sidewalks on our street and the residents voted 55/45 to approve them. (Of course, the person who started the petition did so because he wanted his son to have a safe space to play. His family then moved out and their house was purchased by a childless couple. I’ll bet that the issue would not pass now.) Anyway, we’re getting a sidewalk in our yard this year, whether we like it or not.
The city says I’m responsible for keeping it clear of snow and ice. Now, we’re in the South and we don’t get much snow or ice, but we do get some. Had a significant ice storm two weeks ago and about 4” of snow two days ago. I don’t even own a snow shovel. I use a regular flat shovel to clear a couple ruts in our short driveway from our carport to the street. And having a 4WD means I don’t usually even need to do that. I do it mostly so delivery people and visitors can easily access our door in the carport.
The sidewalk will be 6’ wide…seriously. It will be more concrete than my entire existing driveway and carport floor combined. At my age, there’s no way I can shovel it. Do I need to buy a snowblower now? Does the neighborhood need to buy one since we probably all have the same issue? And what about ice? The only solution for the recent ice storm we had was to put down salt. But we have dogs, as do many of our neighbors, and I don’t want rock salt or other chemicals on the sidewalk. The city only gives us a few hours after the snow ends to clear it. It’s not like we’re in an area that supports a thriving snow removal industry.
I know…just griping.
Will be interesting to see if, and to what extent, the city enforces that. Also, don’t need to know where in the South you are, but how often does it snow/ice and how long does snow/ice tend to stick around?
And are there teenagers in the neighborhood that want to make a few bucks?
IME - I suspect it is very neighborhood dependent as to whether there are teens willing to perform such tasks. Judging by my street, it never ceases to amaze me how many houses have middle-high schoolers who perform ZERO outdoor chores. Everyone can raise/fuck up their kids however they wish. But I could not imagine having a teen living at home and not having them at least help with the mowing, raking, shoveling…
There are 6-8 middle-high schoolers on my block. Should I need assistance with yardwork, I could not imagine any of them being eager to do it for pay. Or their parents urging them to do so. (When I was a kid, I had to mow/rake/shovel for our house and the 2 elderly neighbors.)
That’s a great point. The house next door sold a couple of years ago to a couple with a son in junior high. Mom or Dad mow the lawn, and their driveway and sidewalk never get shoveled by anybody.
My kids earned their allowance by doing tasks like these.
The snow/ice doesn’t stick around long. And I’ve never known the city to cite anyone for failing to clear a sidewalk. But…it’s a legal requirement. I’d hate to have somebody fall down on the sidewalk and sue me for failing to comply with city ordinances. I think I’d feel like I have to make at least some effort to keep it clear. (BTW, they have been locating underground utilities and painting markers on the street and in my yard for the past several weeks. The nearest edge of the new sidewalk will be almost 10’ into my front yard. I won’t be able to have any vehicles on my driveway closer than 10’ to the street or they’ll block the sidewalk, another violation of city ordinances.)
Not to hijack this hijack, but my wife teaches business law, and IRT a current assignment, students often describe a pedestrian slipping on an icy sidewalk. The extent to which a homeowner/resident can be required to clear snow/ice, and is potentially liable whether they do or don’t, is VERY location/law specific. And IME, people very often get it wrong.
Kinda curious - what is your property description? Is there already an easement near the street? IMO it is not inconsequential IMO if the city is not only taking a portion of your property, but also imposing an obligation and potential liability upon you for the taken portion. Not that you can do anything about it…
As a frequent pedestrian, that is one that my city consistently ignores enforcing. I HATE it when people block the sidewalk.
Final point - strikes me as weird that the petitioner wanted a sidewalk for their kid to play. Play what? Ride their bike? Because I’d think that kids could play on grass, driveways, back yards, patios…. I generally think of sidewalks more for pedestrian traffic than play areas.