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Don't steal his baby
By adamg on Thu, 01/29/2015 - 7:27pm
Hey, we thought Somerville didn't allow space savers. Mike G. shows us somebody near Davis Square is very protective of his or her parking space.
Last year:
When the space saver really was a baby.
Neighborhoods:
Topics:
Free tagging:
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Comments
Drama queen.
Drama queen.
Oh come on--it's funny!!
I think you're taking this too literally.
??
Spring Hill has several Space Savers. Hell, back when I used to live on Winter Hill (Magoun Sq), folks were cutting tires over parking spaces that they felt belonged to them. (The irony being that those doing the cutting weren't so much Southie Irish, as Southie 'Mericans who were renting out to 'Family.')
Because no one else shovels
I really don't get why anyone thinks space savers are necessary. Yeah, maybe you did spend time shoveling out your car. So did everyone else. Do you think the person who ends up taking your spot somehow avoided the snow? And this is assuming people are actually shoveling out the spot they are saving - pretty often, I see people preemptively saving spots, or putting out a space saver after they brush a dusting of snow off of their car.
Conversely, some people could
Conversely, some people could come in from out of town as visitors and take a spot someone shoveled, or someone who lives there could have spent a few days out of town to come back to claim a spot someone shoveled - so its not necessarily and uniformly true that 'everyone else shoveled out a space'.
Right, but supposing that
Right, but supposing that every spot on the street is shoveled, where is a visitor to the neighborhood supposed to park? The whole concept is inherently unworkable unless there are a certain number of viable-but-unshoveled spaces on every street. Considering that parking usage in the above neighborhood is already around 100 percent, it seems unlikely that someone who doesn't want to move a space saver could simply go find some other empty spot to shovel out. Every spot that has been shoveled is like that because there was previously a car in it. A car that will need to park somewhere once it returns to the neighborhood.
Visitors do have options:
Visitors do have options: bring a shovel and shovel out your own space; take a cab or take public transportation.
You're not getting it.
Every single space either has a car in it, or had a car in it and was shoveled out to allow the car to leave.
What about people who cannot
What about people who cannot take the T because of handicaps?
I thought that was why the T
I thought that was why the T had The Ride...? Am I wrong about this?
The folks who Needed Spaces
The folks who Needed Spaces had Signs.
Last winter, I was the only
Last winter, I was the only person in my building that shoveled out a spot. This year, one of the new guys in the building shoveled his out and another new guy half shoveled a spot. The rest just kick enough snow away from their tires to only fight with it ten or so minutes in the car, rolling back and forth until they pop. So no, not everyone else does shovel. Not even close. That being said, I abhor space savers and refuse to use them myself. I did my part, if "my" spot is taken I'll find another, even if I begrudgingly have to clear it properly.
Quality
To sound obnoxious about it, I was pretty anal about my shoveling job. ~2.5' min clear on both sides (I get to park in a Municipal Lot), clear almost to the ground where I could, if I couldn't, it was due to leftover ice. When I shovel a car out, I shovel it out - and the snow on the vehicle is gone so that it looks like it had been in a garage. And honestly, I hate my car - this isn't about 'my baby'.
I was OK with the idea that I might not get 'my' spot back when I got home last night, until I couldn't pull into a couple of the 'shoveled' spots. I have an ancient 2001 Corolla that's way low to the ground and is lightweight enough so that it loves slipping and sliding in snow-mush. I tried, I really did
I eventually got into a spot last night. Overnight, the plow came through and cleared out the spots that weren't occupied, adding more snow around my car, requiring more shoveling to pull out easily.
I just wish others put more care into the process than just the bare minimum.
Agreed
So many people don't see themselves as part of the community. Just visiting (even if they are there for 5 years) and don't have a stake in making things better for everyone.
Why not add what time they
Why not add what time they plan to be back? If somebody needs the spot for 15 minutes (maybe to get out of the freaking way to shovel another spot without blocking traffic!) it's not going to seriously impact this delicate hothouse flower's life.
Reserving your spot makes your car take up twice as much room. The spot it's currently in, and the spot your ridiculous cardboard box is currently in. The city just cannot double the number of car-spots every time it snows.
I'm currently putting off routine medical care for my cat because the local vet doesn't have private parking and I'm afraid that, if I "stole" a spot for 20 minutes mid-afternoon on a weekday, I'd come back to slashed tires. Why did I move back here again?
I was with you until your
I was with you until your talk about the cat.
FWIW: just give the cat up to the local shelter and get your self back to where ever you came from. Where ever I've lived, even if I had to walk a screamer in a carrier, I've managed.
But this is essentially the
But this is essentially the problem with space-savers: They are inherently unfriendly to short-term guests to the neighborhood.
man needs new word
you used inherently in your last post
unfriendly to short-term guests???
Eric, My primary concern is where I'm going to park when I get home my work commute... not the delicate feelings of perhaps slightly inconvenienced short term guests to the neighborhood. I would NEVER presume if I drive to another neighborhood after a blizzard that I will be able to easily park, especially without a residential permit. I either walk, take the T or take a cab. It's not too tricky!
Doesn't look too cleared out to me
Consistent with just about space saver user I've seen, they did zero work or at best a halfass job clearing the space.
douchebag
was he using the tone of lumbergh ironically?
writing this kind of garbage and trying to claim public space as your own is a "total dick move." also, it should be noted that one of the defining behaviors of being a total dick is using the phrase "total dick move" to try to manipulate other people.
Nope...
I'd take that space in a heartbeat. People need to stop shit entitled bullshit. You're doing a service for your community when you dig a space out. It's not yours. I never did it and also never had an issue finding a spot.
In all seriousness then,
how would you feel if you came out to the space you took and found your tires slashed? I ask because most of the cops around here would not exactly spend time trying to find the vandal when you explain the circumstances.
Ok...
So you're saying that the extreme behavior that space saver types exhibit somehow justifies there actions?
Understand something
If that's what I meant I would have written it. I asked a simple question without giving tacit endorsement of the practice.
What WAS the point of your
What WAS the point of your question? How do you think he would feel if someone slashed his tires?
Hypothetical situation:
Hypothetical situation: Suppose I throw away your space saver so that I can use your space for 15 minutes, and then I leave, leaving the space unoccupied with no space saver in it. Now suppose some other innocent car owner returns to the neighborhood and, finding their own shoveled space in use, they take this seemingly unclaimed space. Then the original shoveler comes back and finds this car in their space. Does it seem even remotely just if they decide to slash that person's tires? Doesn't that kind of set up a situation where taking *any* empty space will put you at risk of property damage?
*This*, even above the supply-and-demand issues, is the real reason why space saving should be illegal.
Disconnect
I agree that the purported "justification" for criminal vandalization vanishes if you can't assume that the car currently parked in the spot belongs to the person who removed the space saver. For that reason, it's important to cultivate the disconnect between the space saver removal and use of the spot. For my part, I throw out every space saver I see while walking my dog. I've freed up a lot of spaces.
How would I feel?
I would want the entire neighborhood nuked from orbit.
They shovel out the car, not
They shovel out the car, not the space. If I shovel out their car, can I keep the car?
I'll just leave this here.
http://spacesaversofboston.com/
An evil thought
I wonder what would happen if there were an art happening where people created wildly artistic bespoke space saving objects, and there was a tour and a contest, and a celebration with good cheese and white wine after?
Would a solid round of ironic hipster appropriation put the locals off the tradition for good?
Nothing more to say than
You had me at 'Bespoke,' Mme.
(Brooks Bros is having a Sale. Could you help me find a suit?)
BB is RTW /=bespoke
They're different.
Where do spot stealers come from?
If I have a car to park and I park in the space you dug your car out of earlier, it's not like I just went out to buy that car just to park in your space. That car was dug out of its own space somewhere else, that (god forbid) someone else parked in instead of me or I'd probably have put my car back there since it was such a good space to begin with.
These cars aren't parking there and were never seen before within 3 blocks of your house. Which means that if someone else is parking in your space, it's very likely their spot is open somewhere else...or maybe a third car is in that spot...so you get the third car's spot.
Somerville uses the
Somerville uses the Commonwealth Connect smartphone app. Please report this behavior, it is expressly forbidden. It's pretty rare in Somerville and we don't want such douchebaggery to catch on.
Hah...
All this drama over space savers and people doing 20 minutes of work to shovel out a spot. This could all be avoided if folks do as I did - buy a Subaru, outfit it with snow tires, profit. All this kvetching about "properly" shoveling out spaces would be moot because everyone's cars could get out of and into any space, irrespective of shoveled out status.
Money and time
You've got it!
I can't afford a Subie.
It took me 2.5 hours to dig my car out. (20 minutes, my ass)
Sounds like someone's Subaru
sits in a garage, or they have a snowblower.
All this kvetching! Seriously folks, why don't we all buy Jeep Wrangler's and pay a neighbor boy to shovel us out, in 20 minutes or less of course.
Really?
You can get a perfectly good Subaru used for $10K.
No garage for me. Though that would be pretty awesome on days like Tuesday.
P.S. - I've owned two-wheel drives in the past and, yeah, claiming two hours of labor to shovel out a spot is insane.
Insane?
OK, color me insane. I'm also not in the best of shape, so I took my time so I didn't have a busted back or heart attack.
Yes, I started at 11:30 and was done at 2. I had 3'-6" of plowed snow to clear, 1/2 of which was the heavy mushy crap. And it had to be walked around to a spot that didn't impede other traffic or pedestrians.
Bullshit
Unless your Subaru has a 25" ground clearance or the road never saw a snow plow that buried you into a 36" snow bank of icy goodness, then you're not going from a dead stop with cars in front and behind you to just pulling out without moving some snow and/or ice.
True...
I did not have a car behind me and I had to move my car around during the day to pack the snow around it down. But absolutely no shoveling was done.
And are people that drive $20K cars really yuppie elitists now? Does it help that I live in Jamaica Plain, er, JP? Not really? OK.
Me too
I live in JP, too.
My car was bought used for $4k 3 years ago.
It's not a competition, quit getting defensive. I couldn't use my car to tamp down snow. It's just the way it is,
Douchey...
I've definitely been a dbag in this thread, I'll say that. I get all fired-up about spacesavers. Directed my initial rant inappropriately.
A bit understandable
You did get dumped on a bit, I didn't think by me, which is why I tried to respond calmly.
Am I jealous I can't afford a Subie? You bet your sweet bippy - I'd love a WRX. Maybe I need to sort my priorities - a shit car and a sweet Ducati or vice verse? I'm OK with what I have for now. :D
Oops...
I saw a nice lawn chair sitting in a cleared spot. I assumed it was left for garbage and took it home. Oops