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Citizen complaint of the day: Sidewalk-blocking urban-assault stroller in the South End
By adamg on Fri, 12/06/2013 - 8:03pm
Now that the menace of Southie-style wrong-way parking has been dealt with, concerned South End citizens can turn their watchful eyes to other menaces, such as this sidewalk hog of a stroller:
My South End neighbor has locked a baby carriage to a water pipe and is blocking the entire sidewalk.
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Comments
I wonder
why it's on the sidewalk and not inside their building.
just like bikes
that's the latest new trend - keep them outside and chain them up like bikes...
This situation will resolve itself.
If it's a long-term parking job, they'll come back to find a rain-drenched or snow-covered stroller with someone's half-eaten fast food in the basket, covered in rat and pigeon droppings. They'll learn.
and cars
people just leave them all over the street - taking up space.
Is that the best you could do
Is that the best you could do?
Not ashamed!
Yes, I could have just rolled it out of the way BUT WHY SHOULD I HAVE TO???
In case you missed it
The carriage is locked to a pipe.
The carriage is locked to a pipe??
That's way beyond stupid, irresponsible--and lazy, to boot. What is our society coming to?
Wait
Shouldn't that be blocking the aisle in an MBTA bus?
Is the baby still in there?
Does Child Services have a Citizen's Connect-like app?
O! La Deluge!
But, the tree is blocking the sidewalk, the shrubbery is blocking the sidewalk, and the pathetic / dense community of suburban raised blockheads that now populate the majority of the South End and use Citizens Connect to bring in the police / city to solve mundane problems, rather than asking nicely to just move the pram, is blocking any sense of empathy I have for the grieved.
No wonder so many gay guys moved out over the past 20 years to the more laid back confines of Ashmont Hill, St. Margaret's, and other places.
South End now = Marlborough Street east of Fairfield 1987, I'm ok, bleep you.
Oh, the anger!
Keep shaking your tiny fist in rage, John. It's such good therapy, no?
Anger...
Haha... I don't think John sounded angry.. I just thought he was pointing out how silly people have become..
Right...
but the tree ain't going anywhere, nor the bush pot. The pram is blocking right of way sidewalk access to anyone, say, in a wheelchair, which is wrong.
Because Gay Guys
Never have children or strollers?
For future reference, you can also fold the damn thing, even in its tethered state, just to get it out of the way.
I moved out of the South End
I moved out of the South End in June just to get away from the area. It's full of these tools now.
Where is St. Margaret's?
Where is St. Margaret's?
When neighbors don't talk to neighbors.
A little advice from one of those Neanderthal/rednecks from Southie that you enlightened progressives always trash on this blog. Why not approach this 'offending' neighbor and ask him/ her to discontinue this practice and explain why it's a problem? I know, I know, for you people to actually speak to or communicate with neighbors other than by texting, writing anonymous complaint letters to blogs or leaving nasty hand written notes on cars and running away is a concept seldom if ever considered. But try it, you might be amazed that it can actually work. In our 'right wing' working class section of town, we South Bostonians aren't afraid to tell others what's on our minds. You'd be shocked, but this actually helps and it clears the air and even gains you respect; if you even know what that is. Give it a try, grow a pair and stop being such stereotypical, sniveling little whiners.
I'm parking my stroller here
I'm parking my stroller here and blocking the sidewalk and I could care less how it impacts my neighbors. These are not progressives, these ARE right wingers! Yuppies, MBA'ers are typically republicans: hence the 'I got mine, so screw' you sort of thing. Otherwise I agree with most of what you wrote.
Wrong
Very, very wrong. Who do you know from the area.
A South End business owner
A South End business owner and 5 co-workers. You're wrong.
How is a person supposed to know to whom that belongs?
Are you supposed to go door to door to find the owner? What if you don't live in the neighborhood and are just passing through?
I'm not excusing silly complaints on citizens connect. I actually think it's a lot of fun when adam posts them. But come on, not every situation can be resolved with a little grit and balls, dirty mano a mano combat like the (cough) real men used to do in Southie.
Here again, another advantage
Here again, another advantage to actually making an effort to get to know your neighbors. way over most of your heads..
I have been at the receiving
I have been at the receiving end in Southie of a neighbor doing just that - going door to door screaming at people through the intercom trying to figure out who parked in "her" handicapped spot. I went out to take a look out of curiosity, and sure enough someone else had parked in the handicapped spot (which they legally can), and yes, this person had handicapped tags. Oh and it was 6am.
Good Advice! But...
if talking fails, start using it as a garbage can. See how quickly they remove it.
Thanks, neighbor
For providing a trash can. I was wondering where I could leave my bag of dog poop.
Well I noticed
A lot if dog owners leave the poop where the dog left it.
Oh please.
All the folks who've gotten their cars keyed or their tires slashed because they moved someone's lawn chair to park their car might disagree with you. But hey--keep doing your best to turn this into some kind of smug class war between you brave, proud Southie stalwarts who know how to handle yourselves and the rest of us "sniveling" left wingers.
I agree with Jakester.
I was pretty peeved when a neighbor, who had a legitimate beef with something that was going on during construction at my house, called in the city rather than calling me. I found this particularly annoying given that I had handed out my phone number to every neighbor prior to construction, and asked them to call me if there were any issues.
But for every upstanding person (in Southie or anyplace else, for that matter) who will bring an issue to your attention, there are probably three others who will just slash the tires on your car if they don't like where you park.
That's one big ass water pipe.
Probably more like a rain leader.
It Is A Drain Pipe
It's a downspout for roof drains and gutters. Typical for many houses on certain streets in the neighborhood, like these:
http://goo.gl/maps/utLCQ
Ass water?
Don't tell me those twats in the S. E. require special water for butt douching ! ? !
I'm glad
that someone complained. first, it's hard enough to navigate those narrow, uneven sidewalks without any further obstacles. It causes a dangerous scenario where someone might be forced into the street when there could be a car coming.
Second, it shoes the entitlement and over-privilege so common these days in the South End. I am entitled to own the space near my condo, etc. without regard to its effect on others. Leaving an SUV, fully-equipped stroller outside is also some yuppie way to mark your territory.
Third, it shows the rapid suburbification of the South End - these yuppie twits think that because they live in a $1.5 million condo, that everyone else in the neighborhood is also a yuppie twit. This is exacerbated by the fact that they are too busy looking at their Iphones to make eye contact with anyone else and realize that the South End is also a sh*t-hole with lots of crazed, drugged out people walking around. Somehow they don't see this. Maybe leaving a stroller out in Weston is ok, but shouldn't you be concerned that some whackjob is gonna take whizz in that stroller - or worse - in the city?
I guess it doesn't surprise me - I spend a good deal of time this summer at a certain outdoor section of a South End café where moms. on a regular basis, would leave their babies in strollers, on the sidewalk, unattended, while they went inside to order their mochachinos. I question the parenting skills of these people.
That's pretty standard in Europe
I'm betting its their European Au Pair, not the mom doing it. Very common in Scandinavian countries in particular.
Its the American way of Terrorized-by-Nancy-Grace-Worst-Case-Scenarios-and-Beyond Parenting that should be questioned, actually. Note Stevil's comment, above - again, lets have some sense of proportion here. Far more kids are killed in car wrecks than are snatched from strollers.
Sorry, Swirly
but I live part-time here and part-time in Europe. I have NEVER seen in Europe leave an unattended baby outside a café on the sidewalk - it is not commonplace at all, and I seem to remember police being called to the scene in such a situation on the British news a couple of years ago.
Also, it was not nannys doing this - it was South End moms (you can tell because they are decked out in head to toe Lululemon and oversized sunglasses, yapping on their cellphones at full volume). I stopped counting after I had seen the same scenario unfold about 10 times this summer.
Although far more kids might be killed in car accidents, why tempt fate? Why not go without that latte for the safety of you child-accessory? After a general sampling of many of my friends and acquaintances, NONE of them said they would ever do such a thing. In fact, they thought it was stupid. It just shows you the level of stupidity of these South End yuppies who are so self-absorbed that they cannot see those who are not just like them and think the world is just like the suburb in which they were raised.
I see it a lot in Sweden -
I see it a lot in Sweden - both in Gothenburg and smaller towns on the west coast. It's extremely common in smaller neighborhoods. Haven't seen it in Stockholm, but I don't spend as much time there. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21537988
Sorry jayjay
Swirley is the expert on everything. If you don't believe me, ask Swirley!
Well, I do know that France and Germany are in Europe
During my time there, I did see people leave kids in strollers outside of shops when the kid was asleep and/or the stroller wouldn't fit in the shop.
Cafes usually had tables for strollers to pull up to, too. Parents would run in and get their stuff and come back out.
CITATIONS NEEDED!
CITATIONS NEEDED!
Read before commenting
Miss Modular clocked in nearly 20 minutes before you.
sidewalks wouldn't be so narrow
if we didn't have to make space for all those cars on the street.
We never had these problems
Until there were bike lanes.
OK now fight among ur selves and pass the popcorn
Quick dash-in?
I hope so. Obnoxious, yes, but it isn't that wide a stroller to start with (not a double wide, giant wheels on the outside jobby).
But I also hope this is just a "quick dash" because every crumb from every cheerio or goldfish will be diligently hunted by the local raccoon, skunks, and possums overnight. My neighbor in Arlington left a stroller out one night on her porch and it got shredded by the local wildlife.
I can't figure out why they didn't fold it up in either case. These nifty modern ones have one-hand fold abilities.
My plan is working perfectly
1) Post photo online
2) Have it picked up by Universal Hub
3) Watch the comments explode.
Whatever happened to the tried and true passive aggressive note?
In the olden days we would just get a piece of paper and a Sharpie, write a passive aggressive note about the stroller blocking the sidewalk and stick it on the stroller. We'd shame that au pair with snark.
I can't believe we've become so wussy that someone doesn't even have the nerve to do that. Harrumph.
Walkers fighting with
Walkers fighting with strollers fighting with wheelchairs over the tiny bit of the street that's left to them...
Meanwhile, the bulk of the right-of-way is dedicated to cars. It's a little nuts. Monopolizing public land with a stroller is no worse than doing so with a heavy automobile.
These old streets were created when sidewalks were not considered "walking lanes," or some kind of pedestrian ghetto, but rather were considered to be the threshold of buildings. They protected the entrance and provided a place to get away from the muck in the (likely unpaved) middle of the street. Travelers were expected to use the entire street, and not be segregated.
For places like this, returning to the original character is the right way to go: sharing the street, slowing motorized traffic so that they can safely interact with non-motorized users, and letting the sidewalks serve the buildings. That's not to say that appropriating public land for private stroller or car storage is OK, but rather that the stakes ought to be lower.