If you drive regularly in an urban environment where snow accumulations are common, you’ve no doubt faced this conundrum:
It has just snowed and the plows have directed all the snow curbside. Thus, you can’t find a place to park on the street. You drive past the house you want to enter and patiently look for a spot. You eventually find a spot that has been shoveled out, and its a perfect spot. However, you’re certain that it was a local resident who dug his or her car out, probably to go pick up some groceries or something. They’ll probably be right back. What do you do?
Here in Chicago, the unofficial rule is that if you dig your spot out you get to keep your spot. Often people will put lawn chairs or boxes of some sort in the space to hold it, and people accept this as common practice.
So you can only park in un-dug out spots? How does that work? Do you double park while digging one out? What if they are all dug out or filled with cars?
I didn’t vote because I don’t live in this situation. Wouldn’t it depend on how hard spots are to get? If there aren’t enough, even apart from the snow, wouldn’t you grab a spot just like you would if there weren’t any snow? If there are lots of spots, just not shovelled, can’t you park, then shovel a new one?
This was not my experience when I lived in Chicago 10+ years ago. “Saving” parking spots on the street was strongly frowned upon and placemarkers were usually ignored. It probably depends on your neighborhood.
I live in an apartment complex with no assigned spaces. If I dig out where I was, go out and come back and the spot I dug out is empty, I will park there. If not I take another. Generally, everyone digs their cars out when the storm ends and will go out the day after and the development management will do an excellent job of bringing in plows and digging out all the spots way back to the curbs if the spaces are empty. Even though I’m not working now, if I see that they are nearing the area where my car is, I’ll go out for a while and give them a chance to clear everything away.
One year we had about 2’ of snow. We park perpendicular to the curb. Most people pull the front of the car in and have to back out and, therefore, clear the area behind their cars if the plow doesn’t come close enough. Because it was so deep that was the case that time. Everyone helped everyone else clear out their cars, one by one. It was nice to see everyone cooperate. But then, we’re all neighbors…
We usually don’t get enough snow to bother marking spots. But when we do (like this weekend), I’ve learned to be polite and stick to my own spot, if I have to go anywhere at all.
That’s Philly, too. Fights break out over this stuff, violent stuff. In certain neighborhoods, the whole block bands together. They’ll carry somebody’s car out of the spot, for example. And they feel perfectly entitled to it. Periodically, the city will make an announcement that spots are fair game for everyone. Nobody listens.
I’m not saying it’s right or wrong. But from a practical standpoint, make your choice wisely, considering the neighborhood you’re in.
I grew up in Chicago, and live here now, and this “reserving spaces” crap drives me up a wall. It’s a public street, it’s fair game. I can sort of understand in the middle of a blizzard people reserving their spaces with lawn chairs or traffic cones, after digging through all that snow. I don’t necessarily agree with it, and I never do it and harbor no ill will to somebody who takes my space. Them’s the breaks. However, it’s gotten fucking ridiculous. On my block, some people will reserve spaces when it just gets cold. One of these days, I’d love to steal their curbside garbage and put an end to this nonsense.
What neighborhood did you live in? It seems to be universal in at least the working class neighborhoods, but I’d gladly move into a neighborhood in this city where people are sane enough not to fall for this bullshit tradition.
Saving spots doesn’t fly in my neighbourhood of Montreal, with the exception of moving day - we tend to be tolerant because we know it’s short term and with the intent of allowing a truck/trailer to park to move stuff. Otherwise, an open spot is an open spot, and you take it if you need it.
That said, around here you’ll often find people digging cars out in groups - a bunch of people will delay leaving in order to help someone else get out, or will offer to shovel once they arrive if they see someone else trying to get out. Most of us have a shovel in our cars, so it’s not really going out of the way, and just being nice.
I’m lucky that my road gets cleared (snow removal) within the first 48 hours following a storm, and I live close to a municipal parking lot that becomes free during snow removal activities, so snow storms are actually not as much as a pain in the ass as they could be. Still…open spot = my spot if I need it. This is true even without snow…it’s all six-plexes here, so no one gets to reserve the spot at the curb in front of their apartments, ever.
In Buffalo and its suburbs, saving spots is considered rude. Put a chair in a parking spot, and it’ll probably end up on the tree lawn, with a car in the space where it sat, if it isn’t missing altogether.
The city has year round alternate side parking; Sunday afternoon through Wednesday afternoon on one side; Wednesday afternoon through Sunday afternoon on the other. Eventually, plows will clear out all the on-street spaces.
In the suburbs, overnight on-street parking isn’t permitted from November through April. Plows work the residential streets in the wee morning hours.
