South End publisher vows you can have her space saver when you pry it from her cold, dead hands

I'm against the space savers - I lived in a neighborhood where the long time residents thought the parking spaces were theirs and damaged cars that violated that concept (not southie - the north end). I'm lucky enough to have my own parking spot now but even when I parked on the street, my philosophy was to dig out completely so I could park - free exercise and I wouldn't need help to get my car out the next day. Once abandoned, it wasn't mine anymore. Other people not digging out not my problem. If enough people did this, eventually there'd be more spaces available. Everything else was outside my control and not worth getting worked up about.

The discussion above has me thinking though, what is the city's responsibility? They're removing space savers because, rightly, no one person can lay claim to public property. In the same vein though, shouldn't the city be cleaning out the snow in parking spots? The comment about them not even plowing parking spots on snow emergency lanes where you would get towed if parked made me think of this. How frustrating is it to encounter a snow pile the size of your car in what would otherwise be a great place to park, especially when the snow was pushed there by city workers in large trucks? Even if the snow hasn't hardened yet, my little shovel is no match. What about people who don't dig their cars out, impeding adjacent parking spot AND the lane of travel? Two land roads become one lane and single lanes become dangerous to drive on.

I'd be in favor of alternate side parking after snow emergencies to get spots cleared. I'd also be in favor of ticketing and towing of buried cars - the fee could pay for the city to dig out the car. It could be structured so the elderly and infirm aren't penalized. I know it's easy for me to say since I have a spot at home but I do occasionally drive the car too.

I have lived in the South End for over 20 years, and use of space savers has never been wide spread in the South End.

Do any of you commenters even live in the city and have to deal with street parking? It's easy to armchair quarterback this thing. All my coworkers that live in the suburbs and have driveways seem to have the strongest opinions about space saving.

THANK YOU, Steve and South End Forum members for prompting our city leaders to apply logic and fairness with regard to our public ways. The prevalence of space saving in parts of our city is highly inappropriate, and creates more problems than it solves. One does not own claim to a spot by virtue of digging it out… tradition or not, this concept isn't fair or logical to me, nor does it represent the concept of a "community" in which one might take pride. Our neighborhood is to be commended for taking the correct stance. As others have made the point in their comments, we never got a vote to say YES to space savers… so why should the practice be allowed? Kudos to the Forum for a thorough discussion on the matter and for nipping it in the bud before it became more widespread in the South End.

Sue, it's very disappointing that you seem opposed to this correct new policy and to see your misplaced criticism of the process that has lead to its correction. Surely there are better ways to use your platform to address this subject.

Mayor Walsh and our city councilors, please look to the South End as a model to the way this city should behave. Have the political courage to say NO to those who claim entitlement. Correct the misconception of ownership (even temporary ownership).

It's inconvenient when it snows, and we live in an imperfect world. To those seeking to make it more perfect and fair, please look beyond a folding chair.

- The SE Forum is indeed elected, if indirectly. Each neighborhood association board is elected, to the best of my knowledge. Those board members then make up the SE Forum. On most issues, when a conversation/topic emerges, the boards (to the best of my knowledge) poll or otherwise chat with their members, then bring back their vote. Also, to my knowledge, recent meetings have been advertised and open to the public. Older meetings may have been a bit less advertised but were never 'closed'. So yeah, it's as close to a democratic organization as we can get, without a formal referendum. And oh yeah, those folks are volunteers and try to do the right thing, so thank you from me to our neighborhood association leaders.

- My Neighborhood Association has invited reps from a local housing project, but they never attend. We also hang flyers, but nobody from that project signs up for the mailing list. I believe (but can't say for certain) that the SE Forum has also invited them to participate. I wish they participated, but for whatever reasons they don't. Can lead a horse to water... (Please don't yell at me for the horse reference. It's an expression)

- Agree, it's a shame the city doesn't plow snow-arteries to the curb. That is terrible and should be fixed.

- Also agree with Sue. Now that the dust has settled, and especially if the temp ever hits 33 again, the most neighborly thing anyone can do is to try to clean out the mounds of snow left between parking spots. [Don't tell anyone this but once the streets are down to black pavement, I sometimes shovel out these mounds and just spread it in a thin layer on the pavement. The sun and remaining salt melt it much faster than it ever would sitting in a mound, and cars just drive right over it. Shh. ]

- Disagree with Sue on most everything else above. I can see the intention behind space savers, but the problems are more numerous. Implied threats. People who went into a garage or were out of town during the storm would NEVER get a spot, space savers are left forever, and on and on. Also, I don't recall, but if she's this passionate for space savers, I hope there was a big editorial to that effect before the local ban was ever put into place.

- The battle axe and ebola words are a mean, especially the personal attack on Sue. Those comments aren't helping anything. That said, they're just words, let's not let some petty verbal insults detract from the larger discussion. And yes, Ebola is a pretty accurate analogy for a bad thing that spreads rapidly. I don't think it was meant to be an insult to specific people.

Having said all this, I hope I can get a spot tonight after work...

I heard Mayors Walsh & Flynn on BUR talking about the good old days - before space savers - when you everyone in the neighborhood knew each other and respected the spaces people shoveled out in front of their houses. What went unsaid is that you probably get a neighborhood beat down if you did park in front of the O'Connell's house in "their spot" — snow or no snow.

We now have condo developments where we once had three deckers. Every household has a car. Or two. Or three.
We have more resident parking than spaces.
South End News will be focusing this year on the car/parking/transportation issues.

Also, I fear the growth of "Two South Ends". A South End where 30% of the residents are not represented in the largest neighborhood group.
Why? Why don't they join? What are their issues?
Are issues of institutional entitlement being addressed? Are their barriers to attendance or membership that are not being addressed?

I was a founding member of the Mission Hill Civic Association back in the early 1990s, when Mission Main was being renovated. We welcomed children to our meetings so parents could attend. We had a Spanish speaker on hand and posted signs in Spanish. We held meeting in the Mission Main development. We appointed an advisory board with members from each housing development, (public + private). We sent meeting notes, by mail or hand delivered, to residents. We held cookouts in Mission Main. We held a "stand out against crime".

I'm not saying the Forum didn't or did do these things, and I'm not saying they should. I'm just raising my experience and the success we had in Mission Hill as a group that represented all of Mission Hill.

Thanks for all your comments. By the way, my feelings don't get hurt, and I respond to personal or offensive attacks only because I feel they take the distract from constructive conversation. Also, as a woman, I find gender specific insults are harmful to all. In other words, I'd rather be called an "idiot blowhard" than a "battle axe broad".