The South End Forum says effective immediately, there's no more cluttering up neighborhood streets with chairs, lamps and just general crap to save parking spaces: A pilot ban on post-snow space saving in the South End has gone permanent.
And instant: Roving members of the neighborhood's many civic groups will be going around collecting any space savers they see.
Although in some other Boston neighborhoods the city currently "tolerates" the use of space savers for 48 hours after an official snow emergency is declared by the Mayor, space savers on South End streets will be removed whenever and wherever they are placed regardless of whether a snow emergency is declared or not. The South End is a 100% space saver free zone.
The forum is distributing flyers and posters to let residents know about the ban - and to let them know that any items not swooped on by their neighbors will be picked up by public-works crews on request to the Mayor's Hotline at 617-635-4500 - or, at the latest, by trash pickup crews on their regular rounds.
The forum got the city to agree to a pilot program last winter over concerns of reduced parking inventory in the neighborhood as well as over the fact that space saving is "a completely avoidable trigger that has led over the past few years to unnecessary and avoidable hostility, confrontation, intimidation, and actual acts of criminal vandalism."
All the posters (5.2M PDF).
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Comments
HYDE PARK TO PLEASE
By anon
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 1:37pm
HYDE PARK TO PLEASE
Excellent
By WhatTheBins
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 1:38pm
Let's continue rolling out this program to other neighborhoods where it makes sense - where registered vehicles vastly outnumber available resident spots by several multiples. Residential parking is constantly in demand across almost all of the South End, so it makes sense to make it a neighborhood-wide policy. I'm not sure that neighborhood-wide bans would be appropriate for all of Hyde Park, for example.
I've never even seen a space saver in the South End in my 4 winters living in the neighborhood, but I'm happy the city agreed to take a stand in one neighborhood, nonetheless.
*Adam, I can't access the posters PDF - "Page not found." Google Chrome.
Why not just do it everywhere
By lbb
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 1:43pm
Why not just do it everywhere? I understand about number of spaces vs. number of registered cars, but on the other hand, say you've got a building with ten apartments in it -- why should you be able to "reserve" the ultra-convenient space right out front just because you had lucky timing on one particular day? It doesn't seem right to me under any circumstances.
Lets not forget people who
By anon
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 1:59pm
Lets not forget people who put a space saver out then leave for a whole day, or just don't come back at all! If you are gone all day, why should people that might need to quickly park there, not be able to?
I am old.
By dmcboston
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 3:19pm
I remember shoveling out my neighbor's cars, because they were my neighbors. Too bad you South End types hate your neighbors so much.
Heh.
How is that relevant? If we,
By anon
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 10:57pm
How is that relevant? If we, as a neighborhood, shovel out the spots together, should we not all be able to use them? Space savers encourage individuals to not share and just care about one space. Banning space savers makes you care about the whole community being clear. Maybe we can even implement plowing to the curb by having "street cleaning" days in the winter.
I'm old, too.
By Scratchie
Mon, 12/01/2014 - 1:26pm
I remember when townies weren't self-righteous jerks. Oh, wait, no I don't.
Overnight space saving
By SwirlyGrrl
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 4:16pm
Check it out over by A street in Fort Point sometime. Less so now that there are more actual residents in the area, but it isn't enough to hoard the spot in front of your house - you need to hoard one near work, too.
Slow change for an entrenched tradition
By DerekLessing
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 3:11pm
Space saving has been condoned for a long time. You can't reverse that in a single year. We're trying this in the South End for a couple of reasons: (1) an active Forum of neighborhood associations has been talking with city administration folks for a year or two about this; and (2) space saving just isn't that widespread in the South End anyway. So it's a good beginning test case. With success this season perhaps other neighborhoods will follow.
So what if space-saving is a long-time tradition!
By mplo
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 3:26pm
It's still stupid, imho. The net results of such stupidity have begun to really crop up, in a really big way (people getting shot, physically assaulted, having their cars totally trashed, etc, and ending up in the hospital), to boot, and it's really gotten out of hand. What's the city going to do? Wait til someone gets killed over a stupid parking space? Then it'll really be too late!
This kind of space-saving means that people, whoever they may be, think they can act like spoiled brats. Imho, the people who do it are like spoiled children who throw tantrums when they're told they can't have too many candies, or that new toy that they crave so damned much.
Because
By anon
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 8:40pm
no one wants to the pilot car whose tires get pilot slashed.
I think the time has come
By Stevil
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 5:53pm
One address = 1 residential permit. It used to be a minor inconvenience to find a parking spot - now it's virtually impossible in many neighborhoods - especially when there is street cleaning.
I think the time has come
By roadman
Fri, 11/28/2014 - 10:30am
NO resident permits. Public streets should be available to the PUBLIC. And that includes parking.
Personally I agree with you
By Stevil
Fri, 11/28/2014 - 6:54pm
But I'm trying to remain within the realm of political reality so I'm suggesting one car per tax lot.
Here's a question, however:
By mplo
Fri, 11/28/2014 - 8:46pm
How can the "Parking by Permit Only" policy that's for residents be rescinded, since it's very widespread, and has been, all over Boston, Cambridge and Somerville for such a long time?
but...
By johnmcboston
Mon, 12/01/2014 - 12:31pm
Unfortunately, street spaces were taken up by car commuters coming in from the suburbs but wanted 'free' parking all day, so they would park in the neighborhoods and walk/T the final leg to the office. The resident permit program grew out of that.
Try now with the posters
By adamg
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 1:43pm
Sorry about that - link fixed.
Better snow removal on the part of the City at large
By mplo
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 1:58pm
Better snow removal on the part of the City at large, in ALL of the neighborhoods, would be at least a starting solution, and a move in the correct direction, imho, thus eliminating or at least reducing people's feeling the need to reserve a shovelled-out space after a snowstorm, not to mention hostilities, physical and verbal confrontations, and people ending up in the hospital as a consequence of being physically assaulted, or even shot, over parking spaces, not to mention total trashing of cars belonging to people who either don't know the score, or who are desperate for a parking space after having circled around several times and still being unable to find one.
Good idea, but...
By lbb
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 2:21pm
To do better snow removal, you have to force people to get their cars off the street. People won't stand for it.
If The Poilice Get Militarized So Too Should DPW
By BlackKat
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 3:06pm
This is why we need one of these for snow [and car removal].
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68...
Cops should NOT be militarized, and neither should the DPW.
By mplo
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 3:43pm
It's stupid, imho, in either case, for that to happen.
Indeed
By adamg
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 4:10pm
Relax
By BlackKat
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 4:59pm
I was being facetious, primarily in light of the big issue with police using armored vehicles against civilians.
Why stop there?
By SwirlyGrrl
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 4:20pm
[youtube]www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-fWN0FmcIU[/youtube]
I'd much prefer
By orangekrate
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 4:48pm
DPW gets militarized than the Police. At least if it means better snowplowing.
Well, then, maybe getting their cars towed would be a lesson.
By mplo
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 3:21pm
Another big problem is that the "No Parking During snow emergency" laws aren't enforced, as they should be. Frankly, I think if enough people ended up getting their cars towed, and having to go all the way to where their cars where towed to, and paying the hefty fines of not only a parking ticket, but the towing fee, in order to retrieve their towed cars from wherever they were towed to, due to their violations of the "no parking during snow emergency" law, they'd learn a lesson and be a litte more compliant, instead of messing things up, and causing streets to get plowed inadequately.
Yeah, IF...
By lbb
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 4:51pm
...you've got the political clout to pull that one off. Big if. Very big.
Also, you're not really talking about a snow emergency, are you? You're talking about snow removal, which is different. In a snow emergency, there's no parking on designated arteries -- people park in the lots or the side streets, which aren't designated as snow emergency arteries. You couldn't designate every street in the city as a snow emergency artery. So you're talking about clearing the streets of cars for snow removal after the fact, i.e., when there's not a snow emergency, meaning you couldn't use the existing snow emergency regs to do it.
Political clout has nothing to do with it, imho.
By mplo
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 5:36pm
It's funny that you're willing to accept the fact, after a major snowfall, city streets all too often end up not being plowed, or being plowed inadequately, because people refuse to cooperate by parking their car(s) in a garage for a night or two after a heavy winter storm, so that the city can do a decent job of plowing the streets and make it easier for everybody. Imho, if someone can afford to own a car here in the city, they can afford to put it in a public parking garage for a night or two after a storm.
Where do you live?
By adamg
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 6:59pm
That there are all these municipal garages all around?
Lots and garages
By lbb
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 7:18pm
The garages, of course, are mostly downtown (and a few near venues like the Garden). But there are municipal parking lots where you can park in a snow emergency. See the City of Boston website.
In some parts of the city
By adamg
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 8:42pm
There are a total of 108 municipal spaces for the entire neighborhood of Roslindale, both in lots in Roslindale Square, which is about 1 1/2 miles from our house.
And...
By lbb
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 10:03pm
Everybody gets that, Adam. All together now: unless you're independently wealthy or have a driveway or private garage, sometimes it just sucks to own a car in Boston. Snowstorms are a prime example. I know plenty of people who park at Alewife when a storm is coming, then take the T to get home, wherever that is, and sort it out when the storm is over -- because they don't have guaranteed parking close to where they live. It goes with the territory.
So....
By cornbread
Fri, 11/28/2014 - 1:16am
So because it inconvenient to have parking reduced by a few spots after a storm, let's institute the larger inconvenience of squeezing every car in the city into some parking garage miles from our apartments? Which is justified because it just sucks to own a car in boston, so who cares if we make up rules that make it suckier right?
Snow emergencies begin when there's a winter storm predicted ,
By mplo
Thu, 11/27/2014 - 1:26am
with 4 or more inches of snow due to fall during a period of several hours. At least in Somerville, starting at a given time, during evening or daylight hours, residents are given a certain time frame in which to move their cars to the other side of the street prior to the storm's arrival, or, if they can't find parking on the other side of the street, they can park during the snow emergency (i. e. the snowstorm and the aftermath of it, when the city is plowing that particular side of the street), or into one of the municipal and/or school lots that the city of Somerville makes available for residents who can't find parking on the opposite side of the street. A snow emergency also involves the aftermath of a storm, when the city has to remove the snow.
Political clout? The law is
By tape
Thu, 11/27/2014 - 6:38pm
Political clout? The law is already on the books.
Are you quite sure of that?
By lbb
Thu, 11/27/2014 - 8:28pm
Again: snow emergency. Snow removal. Two different things.
Somerville does it just fine.
By tape
Thu, 11/27/2014 - 6:36pm
Somerville does it just fine.
I know, because I live in Somerville.
By mplo
Thu, 11/27/2014 - 7:31pm
The only thing I wish they'd do, however, is to do both sides of the streets in the same way after a snowstorm.
No dumping
By dmcboston
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 3:33pm
EPA won't let you dump snow where you might think it makes sense. The ocean. Rivers. Places close to rivers.
Apparently snow is full of road crap. If you've seen the debris left under a snow pile in the spring, well, they might have a point.
So, shovel out your neighbors. Throw the shit in their yard.
If only other neighborhoods
By anon
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 1:54pm
If only other neighborhoods would follow, that would be great. If you don't want to lose your spot, don't move the car.
I used to be on the side of space saving and felt that a person who dug out the spot kinda deserved to have it for a while. But it has run its course. Unless you have a driveway, nobody is entitled to a spot on a city street. We all know the snow comes every year, and that digging out your car is something that comes with the territory, why people feel it earns some pass that says you now own a spot for a certain amount of days is pretty arrogant. Suck it up and dig out we are all in the same position! Don't move your car if you want that spot so bad, or god forbid, park a few blocks away on a main street where the city has already plowed. Leaving garbage in the street because your the only special snowflake that has worked so hard to dig out is arrogant and rude. Why the city allows this anymore is beyond me, someone is going to end up being killed over it (as ridiculous as that sounds!)
Let's roll this out to all of Boston!
By kathryn
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 2:21pm
South Boston and the North End are two of the most notorious areas for so-called space savers. I park in South Boston every day and I can tell that, during every storm last year, the streets were littered with tables, chairs, cones, etc. by people who thought it was their right to drive out of their parking spot in the morning, place a chair or other object in the spot, and prevent anyone else from using that spot for the entire day! In South Boston, this doesn't just go on for the first 48 hours after a storm -- these space-saving folks tend to put their chairs on the street for WEEKS after every snow storm. It's infuriating because the town already has so few public parking spots and it's becoming impossible for anyone to park there!!
If you're the only one
By fefu
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 2:34pm
in your neighborhood with a SmartCar, you can shovel yourself out and you'll be the only one who can fit! That's what I'm banking on this winter...
Those little "smart" cars are like toys;
By mplo
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 5:30pm
If you're hit while driving one of those cars, you're dead as a door-nail.
Must be why they love them in Canada
By anon
Mon, 12/01/2014 - 3:21pm
The cars were out in Canada for two years before they were in the US. They have been in the US for several more.
But, hey, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg don't get snow.
You have any actual real true and honest data on deaths? Or just guessing because "everybody knows blah blah"?
'Trigger'
By ElizaLeila
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 2:37pm
OMG Trigger is my new trigger
Finally...
By MatthewC
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 3:02pm
When I lived in Charlestown, I never once saved a spot. And guess what? I also never once couldn't find a place to park! Space saving is bratty, entitled behavior. Period.
Same here when I lived in the Fenway
By lbb
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 6:13pm
And, when I got home and found someone else parked in my space, I didn't lose my mind. I simply drove on and found another space that (wait for it) someone else had shoveled out. Or, once in a while, I found a space that needed shoveling.
Observant readers will note that the world did not end on any of these occasions, and my life on earth continued. And I made friends now and then with someone who needed a shovel and didn't have one, or didn't have a good one.
Now I know how to dispose of
By anon
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 4:07pm
Now I know how to dispose of my used motor oil/tires/computer monitors for free. Just make space savers out if them!!
Also
By Dirty Harbors
Thu, 11/27/2014 - 9:11am
Car tires, paint and well sealed bags of asbestos products. Sometimes the DPW will leave your space saver if it's questionable. Come home from work, your space is still there.
Good luck trying that in places where people actually use them
By sunny
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 5:49pm
If 90% of the neighborhood wants to continue this tradition, your battle is very much uphill. I don't have a problem with space saving during heavy snow storms. I totally understand why people do it. You can argue all day long about how no one owns a spot and how people should just take the bus or ride their bikes.
I totally get why people continue to do it.
Cracks me up
By Boston resident...
Wed, 11/26/2014 - 9:15pm
When people who don't live in Boston, have no idea what's it like to shovel out a spot, don't own a vehicle, or who rides a bike, tells you that it's wrong to save a spot after a snowstorm.
Cracks me up, too
By Bob not logged in
Thu, 11/27/2014 - 10:04am
when people who refuse to do simple arithmetic don't understand why space saving, that worked fine when there were 100 cars and 120 spaces, no longer works when there are 500 cars and 120 spaces, and somehow think that hoarding a space is OK.
I live in Boston, shovel out
By tape
Thu, 11/27/2014 - 6:40pm
I live in Boston, shovel out spots, and own a car. I also ride a bike, but that's not relevant.
Space saving is bullshit.
What baffles me
By dr2chase
Sun, 11/30/2014 - 9:19pm
is why you would not consider one of those several options that you have listed. I don't live in Boston, and don't think I could possibly cope with the hassle of finding a spot day after day. I would ride a bike. Right now, if it is just me heading into Cambridge or Somerville, I ride a bike.
I'm not one of those young hipster guys, either -- I'm over 50, could stand to lose plenty of weight, but if I didn't ride my bike so much I'd feel even older (feeling old was one of the reasons I started to ride my bike again).
Inotherwords,
By mplo
Thu, 11/27/2014 - 2:05am
Inotherwords, if 90% of the people in the neighborhood want to continue with their stupidity.
Yeah in other words
By Madmen
Thu, 11/27/2014 - 1:38pm
If 10% don't like this tradition you can move. 10% of the population wants to change the world. Go out and vote for a politician who has a thick head.
Ha ha ha!
By mplo
Thu, 11/27/2014 - 7:37pm
As thick as yours?
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