Space saving, Eastie style, by W.E. David Halbert
Brian Kane alerts us to a group in Chicago that is trying to establish chair-free zones where residents pledge not to use space savers in the winter. Think we can get a Southie chapter started?
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Comments
It worked when I lived in
By Kathode
Mon, 11/07/2011 - 1:58pm
Cambridgeport but I can't imagine it working in Southie. Prove me wrong, folks!!
Chicago?
By anon
Mon, 11/07/2011 - 2:44pm
Now we have to go outside of New England to tell the folks in Southie how to behave. I moved here 2 years ago and think the space saving works just fine. Stop whining and get on with your lives.
3 Hours?!
By anon
Mon, 11/07/2011 - 4:08pm
How does it take 3 freaking hours to shovel a space the size of a car? I used to shovel my parents driveway and sidewalks in less than an hour. I also let the public use the public sidewalks I shoveled, because I'm not self-entitled and trying to claim I somehow have rights to public land just because I shoveled it.
I look forward to the day that this asinine practice is banned.
You say that now, but...
By some.nerd
Mon, 11/07/2011 - 4:51pm
...try saying that when you busted your hump to shovel your space out while getting to work on time in the morning, only to get home at night and have to shovel ANOTHER space because some lazy A-hole with a pickup truck feels entitled to reap the results of your hard labor. It's damn frustrating and exhausting.
I'd be in favor of reserved spaces, but realistically I'd have to move to a complex to get that kind of perk. Then they'd probably plow it for me too... hmmm... that's sounding better and better!
Different strokes for different neighborhoods?
By Chris Owens
Tue, 11/08/2011 - 11:29am
In much of the city, every single space has a car in it every single night. That means, after a snow storm, every empty space on the street will have been shoveled out by whoever had his or her car in it overnight during the storm.
Because there are many more cars with resident permit stickers than there are spaces (the ratio is 5:1 in some neighborhoods), that means 80% of the cars were not in a street space overnight.
For those of you who believe in saving street spaces, what exactly is it that you propose those 80% of car owners, who weren't lucky enough to snag a street space before the storm, do? Where do you suggest they park? And for how long after a storm would you suggest they be forbidden from taking an on-street parking space?
People who save parking
By dMc
Wed, 11/09/2011 - 10:07am
People who save parking spaces don't give a shit what you do with your car. They are lazy, selfish piles of garbage.
I've called and emailed the city about this many times, but no one cares.
If you hear the air being let out of your tires at 2am, that might be me!
Problem
By anon
Mon, 11/07/2011 - 9:15pm
The real problem here is that the City of Boston does not perform any sense of snow removal. The Public Works contractors waste fuel and money driving around during a snowstorm pushing snow from one intersection to another. Then they do not want you to shovel the snow back into the street. Take a look around, where do you want the residents to put it?
Boston's problem
By anon
Tue, 11/08/2011 - 8:26am
Outright refusal to implement alternate side of the street parking. Do it one night a week on one-way streets and you'll get your snow cleanup. Totally in favor of a pseudo-totalitarian approach to snow removal: Clean the roads by any means necessary.
That said, space saving is moronic. You aren't entitled to a public space just because you performed the simple task of shoveling out your own car. It is, however, a necessary evil in this town not because of the lack of spaces, but because of the consequences. I'm as big a fan of pitching a space saver into the offending placer's front yard as anyone else, but I realize there are psychopaths out there who will use that as their opportunity to hack off your rearviews and bash out your taillights. That example didn't happen in Southie, but on Custer Street in JP last year. It's not worth it.
My approach? Shoveling out those in-between spots and clearing as much of my block as possible so it's not a problem.
Alternate side won't do it.
By Chris Owens
Tue, 11/08/2011 - 11:33am
There are many, many streets with parking only on one side of the street. Alternate side isn't going to cut it, there.
And then there's the problem that taking away half the spaces on a street (via alternate side restrictions) puts an awful lot of cars into pay garages at a minimum of $10 overnight, maybe $20 in some neighborhoods. $20 per space times half the spaces in the neighborhood times once per week is an awfully big cost with which to sock the public.