The code of the Masshole: Police report vandalism across city against people who park in spaces they didn't shovel out

There are micro-economic factors that favor 48 hour space saving; namely, it gives citizens an incentive to clear snow from city streets that cannot be easily accessed by plows (streets that are parkable during snow emergency; in other words, spot savable spots).

If you drive through Southie this afternoon, after the space saving spots have been removed and most people are at work, you will find neatly shoveled, cleared streets.

Now, after you drive through Southie, head up West Broadway across the street the bridge to the South End via Berkeley St, and you will find a much different scene. Since parking spots can not be saved, residents have no incentive to spend the time to shovel out non-emergency spots, so the street is kind of a mess, and you need 4x wheel drive to get in and out of a lot spots.

The 48 hour spot saving is actually a great rule, and I'd imagine most of the complainers in this thread either:

1) Complain about anything that happens in Boston
2) Don't actually live in Boston, and/or don't park on the street.

I wonder how many people complaining about spot savers:

A) have a car
B) park on the street
C) grew up here

with regards to C, this seems a lot like people who move in next to railroad tracks/a bar/etc and then complain about the noise and/or try to change it. It's basically a tradition, the majority of people seem to get along with it just fine, seems like those offended should either go along with it or go somewhere else.

I love all of the UHub socialists who want everything to be free and equal for everyone, until it comes to a parking space they spent 10 minutes shoveling out. All of a sudden "tradition" becomes overly important and vigilante justice (including vandalism and violence) are justified.

You can probably hear me laughing at the hypocrisy all the way from MetroWest.

A few points:

1) If anything, this illustrates the need for more investment in public and bike transportation, to the point where more people (like myself) can leave their car in place under the snow until it melts and go car-free if they feel they can make it work.

2) I am doubtful that space-saving occurs nowhere else in the U.S. except for Boston's neighborhoods. I can easily see this happening in NY or Chicago. How do those cities handle large amounts of snow? Do they plow to the curb and ban all parking on all streets, including side streets, while they do it? Do they have an absolute 'no-space saver' policy?

3) Vandalism is never justified - what if the person who took your shoveled space lost their shoveled space to someone else and felt they had no choice? One car coming late to the scene would cause a domino effect, then before you know it, everyone's tires are slashed! (I would think if you were to do anything, you could write a note or if you're more daring, double-park the offender in if the street were to allow it)

4) If it is totally impractical for the city to remove all snow from all residential streets in order to return the street to its unblocked condition, it is equally impractical (not to mention sanctimonious) to expect some people to not to have a problem giving up their shoveled space (though again, nothing justifies vandalism as redress for this grievance) . While I understand it is still a public street, it is only human nature to feel cheated if one puts a good deal of physical work into an accommodation only to lose it to someone who may not have - it goes against every person's innate sense of fair play.

It is not unreasonable to me that many would feel that their private sweat put into returning a portion of the public street (which is the city's responsibility to keep clear) to an accessible condition entitles them to some implied recompense from the city, namely parking rights for that section cleared, for at least as long as the rest of the street continues to be in an inaccessible condition for parking. So while the law may be on the side of the space-usurper, that does not necessarily make the taking of the space morally right.

5) I would very much like to hear from the 'no space saver crowd' how they would deal with the hypothetical case of a person who lives and parks his/her car in South Boston, digs out and saves a space on a street that has had the number of spaces effectively halved by the storm, commutes to work in an area not served by public transportation (let's say Maynard), works late and drives back to South Boston find his/her space taken, and no other spaces within walking distance available. What would you recommend? I suppose that person could drive downtown, pay an exorbitant amount to park in garage overnight, wait 20 minutes for a bus in the cold and get dropped off 5 blocks away from their home and repeat the process in the morning, and possibly for days on end. Or they can save their space.

6) I say, if you must leave a space saver, make it a shovel with a note attached reading 'I have already cleaned this space for my car. Please feel free to use this shovel to make your own space.'

i usually would only use the space i shoveled out for a day or two until snow started melting. if someone took my spot shortly after the storm? my friends and i would get our shovels back out and bury the car and i mean really bury it. now YOU can shovel too.snow karma.

1. place a few undercover cops in strategic locations in the neighborhoods listed above from 7am - 9am

2. watch someone pull their car out, set a space saver, and drive away

3. when they get to the end of the block hand them a $100 ticket

4. tip the herald so they can report it

do this a couple times and word will get around.