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Oh, JP, what are you turning into?

Jamaica Plain chair

Matt O'Connor snapped this Jamaica Plain snow scene today.

Meanwhile, somebody picked a good day to start up a new blog: Boston Parking Spot Savers.

Also see:
Our own collection of parking-space news and photos.

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Comments

This isn't just a Southie thing. Been doing it in Dot forever. I have to say I hate it now and it seems to have become a lot more douchey. When I was growing up in Adams Corner you really did know your neighbors,at least slightly. And saving the spot didn't seem like some never ending claim of ownership but rather just letting peeps know it wasn't a wide open spot. It was nice when people could get a spot in front of their house so they weren't traipsing thru the snow with kids and groceries.

Never saw this nonsense with space savers for un-shoveled spots or for minor storms though.

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It's gotten really obnoxious. Just like everything else "Bahhston" that's gotten hyped up and made into some sort of "de rigueur" thing that everyone must do, if they want to say "Hey that's how we do it in Bahhhston." Even for people born and bred here it's become one of these requisite things that must be done -- like fucking singing that goddamned Sweet Caroline, or any other Bahhhston sports ritual. Folks elsewhere may hate us because our sports teams have been kicking their asses for the past decade, but I think it's just as likely that they're just sick of our shit.

It's so self-conscious. If you have to draw attention to how Bahhhston you are "Look at me! I'm saving my parking space with a broken piece of shit chair!" then you're an idiot. If you leave a barrel in your space because we just got our third 12" plus snowstorm of the week and you damn near had cardiac arrest shoveling that mf out, then by all means. But as it's been argued here on these pages, the city's "policy" is bullshit. It's a city street and no one has the right to claim it ("I hosey! I hosey!"). But neighbors work it out for the good of the n'hood. For the amount of snow (actually slush) that we got yesterday, No. You can stick that cone/barrel/chair/toilet/Madonna statue up your ass and whistle Sweet Caroline while making your Legal Sea Food reservation. harumph.

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Holy Shit!! That was a Uhub post that I totally agree with. Common sense is an under appreciated personalty trait.

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You must have a driveway, the way you go on joking about those of us who don't ... here's the thing: when the city declares a snow emergency, like it did yesterday at 5:20pm, immediately we lose a ton of parking spaces on all the main streets near by. There are not enough parking spaces left in the crowded parts of this city. I own a house built before cars were invented by a working class family who built on a a tiny plot of Boston land. I do not have enough room to build a driveway. I am a public school teacher and I have an elderly mother who lives elsewhere I need to be able to get to. So ... please put yourself in our shoes once in a while.

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You know what? I tell you, when I went to the snow emergency site on Sunday, it did say emergency declared on the 14th at 5:20. But now that is gone - I am really confused ...

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Was there a Boston snow emergency? I didn't receive any alerts.

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The city's main twitter account confirmed yesterday that there was no snow emergency. Maybe people moved off the main streets to have the plows do the shoveling for them?

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You assume that I also didn't shovel out my spot when I left in the morning. And you aren't the only one with an elderly mother.

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Yes, we all know that everybody has an elderly mother.

My eightysomething MIL still shovels out her own damn car.

If she is that frail/disabled, do her a favor: go to the RMV website and download the placard paperwork. Then take her to her Doctor and get the Doc to sign off on it. Then go to the RMV and get her a placard. Then go to city hall and GET HER A HANDICAPPED SPACE.

If you are too effin lazy to do that, I have absolutely no sympathy for you. I have all sympathies for your elderly mother, with such a lazy child that won't properly care for her and makes it all about them.

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I attached a plow to the front of her wheel chair. Two birds.

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You may have missed that I don't live with my mother.
I really wish I did! Then I could get that handicap spot.

Genius hater.

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So you're complaining about your car ownership in a neighborhood you know and freely acknowledge was built before the car? Do you often complain about your own continued choices? Why do you have a right to claim a free space on the street as yours? Can I go around shoveling entire streets, plopping space savers down, and then charge people if they want a space and I'll remove the saver?

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You would end up being hunted down by everyone in the city, but you would make bank before your ultimate untimely demise.

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I still save my spot, but I live on a side street that really looks like more of a parking lot. The city must see it that way too, because they ignore it most of the time when it comes to plowing. Like yesterday. So now it's a street full of ice. Damn right I'm going to save my spot after I chipped my way out and the whole other side is a chunk of tire-popping ice.

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People have always done that in JP, it's not a "new" thing,

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New tires, man, get 'em. If you can't park on some ice, you really shouldn't be driving on them. Oh, you were being facetious? So you waited too long to shovel (if you were out early to remove snow, it wasn't a problem) and had to get through some ice to move your car. Congrats, you're a hero. But it doesn't mean that spot is yours. It means you got to move your car. That's it, that's all.

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people wouldn't feel as much of a need to reserve parking spaces, and things wouldn't get as out of hand as they often do when it comes to the claiming/saving of their parking spaces. One doesn't have to be a resident of the City of Boston to realize that people don't own the streets per se, and just because they shovel out their parking space(s) doesn't mean that they own them, either.

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Not complaining about them - actually advocating to being one in a real snow town for change. Meaning the U.P. of Michigan or Buffalo, or anywhere where you get lake effect snow. It's an eye-opening experience. Continuous fucking snow, continuously continuous until you go bat shit insane. However, you don't seem to lose your ability to drive and you're not throwing space savers around like cigarette butts. This town is going soft and I'm not sure if it's because of the non-snow country out of towners moving in, or if all the locals are just becoming big, Sweet Caroline humming pussies.

If we don't watch out some old guy in a rusted-out Jeep Cherokee with Maine plates and one of those hunting caps with the plaid ear flaps is going to come down and revoke our "Hardy New Englander" papers and make us wear pink Red Sox caps (when it's not even breast cancer awareness day even).

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TOO MANY DAMN CARS!

That means YOUR CAR too.

(blah blah I have to drive blah blah my town blah blah sweeet carrroliine blah blah blah)

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We;ve been here a bit over 16 years -- and the overall winter weather hardiness factor seems to havedropped precipitously in just this short period of time.

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I blame the ascendency of the meteorologists in the evening newscasts. People have become obsessed with checking the weather. Fuck Jim Cantore.

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Actually, most of the older vehicles are in pretty good shape, rust-wise. Dented to hell, but still running. And, will never come this far south, no reason to, too damn hot, too far from the beloved Arctic Circle. Shovel? Just drive over it until it's packed down.

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Too many cars.

Too much junk tossed in "space savers".

You can't plow what you can't get to dear.

Also, 35% of residents own cars - why should all that tax money go to clearing the roads for the sake of people who park entirely for free on public property instead of the sidewalks and bus stops?

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Every time it snows I thoroughly shovel my car out, and when I need to drive somewhere I just leave. As much as I would love to come back to the same spot I diligently shoveled out, I don't own it and don't feel like I have any special right to it. I think if everyone did a better job of not just removing enough snow to pull out, but actually clearing the space, then finding a spot later on wouldn't be as big of a deal.

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Love how this always devolves into some combination of:
1. F you, I shoveled it out so it's mine.
2. F you, it's a public street.
3. F you, Bostonians are weak and can't handle snow. I'm from _____ and we handle snow fine there.
4. F you, Bostonians are hardcore and you must be from the burbs.
5. F the burbs.
6. F Boston.

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Let Boston sell official space savers, make'm expensive, say $100. When people put them out with no snow emergency, take them - person is out $100. When the person leaves it up past the deadline, take them - person is out $100. It's a ridiculous notion that's well past it's prime. You shoveled out your car? CONGRATS! That means you own a car and that public parking spaces are still public.

Buncha pansies.

(This message brought to your by a suburbanite who shovels out a driveway with 3 parking spaces and helps his neighbors and takes care of an elderly grandmother)

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What's to stop me, in this model, from taking the marker from in front of your house and moving it to mine?

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problem solved

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It doesn't matter if they're duly authorized, holographically secure, individually numbered space savers licensed by the city, or beat up old lawn chairs.

Depending upon the neighborhood, there are 4 to 5 times as many cars with valid resident permit parking stickers as there are on-street spaces. Hoarding (i.e. trying to block or reserve a space that you aren't currently using) worsens the shortage.

Hoarding is sociopathic.

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Can anyone explain why street cleaning ends on Nov 30th for streets outside the main city core? Couldn't the city use those days to clean the streets of snow? Sure its a pain in the ass for us to move cars around for street cleaning days, but ultimately it will at least rid the streets of a lot of the snow on a regular basis and actually free up parking spaces.

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I grew up in Buffalo. The odd-even street parking days were essential for snow removal. I don't see why it cannot be done here. I know Boston is a larger city than Buffalo- but I would hope Boston has more resources and budget for this.

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A pain in the ass, but it makes a lot of sense. Maybe bring it up at one of Mare Mahty's town hall listening session thingees this week. Tonight is (was?) transportation, tomorrow the environment.

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1) Not every street has parking on both sides. Many streets have parking on only one side.

2) There are already 4X as many cars as there are street spaces. If you take away half the street spaces, where are the other cars going to go? There really isn't enough room in commercial garages and parking lots to accommodate them.

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How is this any different from regular street cleaning during the other 8 months? It's a pain sure, but I think the benefit out weights the pain in butt factor of having to move your car a few times a month. Then maybe we wont have nasty black snow banks around until late April...

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