Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/12/16/tis-the-season-for-chicag.html
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@anon67050589, any favorites from your neighborhood? 
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Nobody managed to ‘no-totally-innocently-i-swear’ incorporate a cheerful bulking keyring motif?
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People in Pittsburgh do this too, but just with “parking chairs” .
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Blessing count in progress:
217. I have a driveway.
218. And a garage.
219. Nobody's had to shovel snow in Pasadena in 80 years at least.
220. It's finally raining.
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Boston folks mark spaces with folding chairs. In some parts of town, if you move chairs out of a spot that someone’s excavated, say goodbye to your tires.
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Must be the whole northeast, because Philly does it too. How could this possibly be legal?
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Baltimore, too, despite there being a city ordinance against “saving” parking spots. Last year I shoveled almost the whole block where I live, and there were still people putting out chairs and shovels even though they didn’t clear the spot.
Here’s an idea: Help your neighbor clear their spot, and that way nobody needs be a whiny dickhead about where others park on the street.
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Yep, Baltimore is notorious for this. I moved there from Maine in '96 and my first bad experience was in '98 when my wife was pregnant with our first child. I shoveled our spots but didn’t save them, someone took them, so I moved a chair and took a neighbor’s spot for her so she wouldn’t have to walk a couple of blocks in her condition. That evening came the pounding on the door and the glaring face of the man from across the street, but I stepped aside so he could see her huge belly and he backed down after that. I was thrilled when I finally moved out of the city and had my own driveway again.
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Of course instead of celebrating this bad behavior we should hold it up to the scorn it deserves.
Chicago should be ticketing the idiots who think They get to call "dibs"on public streets. Just because you had to shovel doesn’t give you title to a parking spot.
Let’s face it chum you didn’t shovel to “save your spot” but to get your damn car out.
Those who want to call out special snowflake behavior just need to point at this.
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And you think that’s ok?
Yes, of course @_@
Technically, it’s not. But considering that half the people in my neighborhood who claim dibs on their space are cops, what are you gonna do?
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No. I’m not celebrating people slashing tires or keying cars. I’m not sure why you thought I was.
I’m saying there’s some lousy parts of town (I’m looking at you, Southie) where people are ridiculously ruthless about something as simple as a parking spot. The city’s passed ordinances against saving spots with cars, and in my part of town it’s rarely done anymore – everyone comes out and digs out each others’ spots, and we share coffee and/or some whiskey to keep us warm.
The one time that saving spots in my area was acceptable was a few years back when “Snowmageddon” hit. When you’ve just spent an hour clearing three feet of ice and snow to make a parking space with the help of your neighbors, everyone agrees that you’re entitled to save it for your use.
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Yes, I’m sure every snow-bound city does this.
I was always opposed to it, even went out of my way to dig out other spots, but even I gave up eventually.
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Absolutely. Stealing a spot in Boston means you’re preventing someone from actually being able to get home. It’s not like you can park in the middle of the street and shovel out a new spot, if there even is enough room to do it. Managing snowstorms in the city is all about working together, and anyone who violates the contract that makes society possible needs a little reminder that it’s unacceptable.
I only think it’s acceptable during the big storms though, if you’re doing this over less than a foot of snow you’re obviously just a huge asshole because if it’s only a tiny bit of snow like that you’re supposed to work with your neighbours to clear the whole street, not just selfishly clear your own spot.
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I’ve found that staying warm isn’t the problem, it’s staying sober enough to finish the job at hand. Shoveling snow with coffee? No way! That’s what beer is for! The snow holds the glass nicely and keeps the beer cool, and if you work with a growler and not a glass/bottle of beer (“Bottle of beer…bottle of beer…”), then there’s no issue with refills!
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Do I ticket the reindeer sawhorse or yell “gotcha!” when someone parks there?
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During Snowmageddon, my downstairs neighbor brought out a bottle of rye whiskey and shoved it in a snowbank for communal sipping. That was a fun morning. We probably followed it with Dunkies, because, well, Boston.
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