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If only he had talked to his
If only he had talked to his neighbors, I'm sure they would have been totally reasonable.
Well
At least you know where they like to park should you decide to enact revenge.
This space saver crap needs
This space saver crap needs to be put down hard before someone gets killed.
OMG, why is anybody surprised
OMG, why is anybody surprised that things like this occur.
Yup!
Inotherwords, before it's too late. Not just in Southie, either, but throughout the city. It's gotten so out of hand that it's ludicrous.
Economics solves it all...
In Southie, might is right. Instead of market rate pricing we have space saving and property damage. Either way, the problem solves itself "organically".
Time to take it away?
When my boys fought over something and the fighting got physical, said something would go away.
If people can't behave, maybe they shouldn't get to use public land for storage of their private property?
At the very least, vandals should lose their parking privileges for several years.
Run for mayor on the platform
Run for mayor on the platform of taking away street parking for residents. Oh wait, you don't live in Boston. Thanks for playing though!
Run along
Where did she say anything about taking away all street parking?
That's right: she didn't.
#southiechildishness
Says a suburbanite
With a private driveway.
There is a reason for that
If you want a car, get a home with a place to park a car.
That's what I did - even when I lived in Boston, I waited until I had off street parking.
Otherwise, you have no right to a parking space. Period. You want your 200 square feet of public space for storage of your personal belongings? Pay for it.
Otherwise, given how much Boston rakes in in local aid and how much I pay in taxes to the state, and the fact that I pay $$ when I want to park near my husbands office in Fort Point on top of that tax support, I'm going to point out that people who cannot behave themselves need to have their privileges revoked.
Just like the bratty children that they are.
Street smarts
If you want your kids to be street smart when they start fighting over something, let them kick the shit out of each other. Just like in real life, the strongest survive. That's how we do it in the city. Please don't tell us how to fight in the City.
Have fun
Bailing your children out of jail, and enjoy living with them when they decide to punch you out rather than do their share of housework.
You reap what you sow.
Saving spaces worked for a long time
People shoveled and saved their spaces. Old people and families with young kids kept their spots near their houses.
There was respect.
It worked fine for generations. I'm not mad that times are changing but don't act like this system has always been dysfunctional. After the Blizzard of 78 we dug everybody out and then they put savers out. There was nowhere to park except what the 'hood had dug out. Dig a spot out for yourself if you want to park on our street!
This reminds me of a young kid from Texas I met. He loved it here but had a hard time driving. Said the worst was when you were going down a narrow street and both cars tries to get thru.
I explained to him that you're not supposed to bang thru. You stop first if you can and let other car thru. Changed his whole mind set on Boston traffic.
You're forgetting the most important factor.
It worked fine when there were fewer cars than there were available street spaces -- back when anyone who wanted a space could have one, just by shoveling one out. In that environment, it made a certain sort of moral sense that if you went to the trouble of shoveling out a space, you could have the exclusive use of it for a while, because, by doing so, you weren't depriving anyone else of anything.
But now, with there being as many as 5x as many resident parking permits in some neighborhoods as there are available spaces, you just plain don't get the exclusive use of a space -- You and the other 499 people with duly registered and stickered cars are competing for the available 100 spaces. You're not entitled to a whole parking space; you're entitled to, on average, one fifth of a parking space. In that environment, trying to save a space and claiming it for your exclusive use is hoarding. , and hoarding is sociopathic.
It's astounding how many people who say "it used to work fine, back when people were better behaved," are simply ignoring the fact that there used to be enough spaces to go around, and now there aren't, by a lot.
troll-tally off....
The street smart kid is watching to 2 idiots fight it out. "In real life", disagreements should not result in assault.
So...Damaging the car of someone who's new to town/neighorhd
and doesn't know the score (or anybody, for that matter!) is okay and legitimate? Sorry, but I don't buy that.
As someone....
Slashing tires is a DEEP chowda-head move but like basketball, its usually only the retaliation that gets notice from the heat.
its usually only the
Which makes it all the more important to stop all this BS before people end up dead, in jail, or having to have their parents/relatives bail them the hell out of jail.
even if you're a complete southie d-bag....
how exactly do you justify space saving when it's not even snowing? hasn't there been multiple issues down by Mercer street too?
its...
A damn shame people still do this crap.
Agreed
People need to work these things out.
Assuming they are not a bunch of sociopaths.
Nothing to do with snow
Some people save their spaces all year. Drive around in the summer and you'll see orange cones in the street.
For those of you who think that all the city has to do is declare that saving spaces after a snowstorm is no longer valid, well, that's not going to end anything.
I don't think anybody is
I don't think anybody is under that delusion except possibly the
MayorCity Council.Declare, no.
Throw that shit in the trash, now that's a start.
Lurk in the bushes and throw the god damned book at anyone trying to "retaliate" against someone who parked in "their" space, that'll solve it.
mercer street used to have a much bigger problem...
his name was whitey.
Who?
Never heard of him.
Now back to my kale smoothie.
Man, I love having a driveway
Man, I love having a driveway.
Southie is a terrible
Southie is a terrible neighborhood that I deeply regret moving to. So many residents here, both lifers and newcomers, are unbelievably aggressive, and appear to seek out confrontation over the most trivial episodes. The word "yuppy" - long dead in the rest of the country - is alive and well here, and spat at anyone who wasn't born and raised in southie and thinks that maybe things could be done differently. It is also dirty, ugly, and the most insular place I have ever set foot in. I can't wait to leave.
Terrible?
Then pack your bags and move. Make sure you tell all your friends how much Southie sucks so they move too. Better yet, spread the word so no more of you candy ass victims.move here.
don't pack your bags...
the angry townies are being priced out in droves... even frat boy, wanna-be-yuppies are being priced out.
We are just a few years away from becoming the next South End.
- The Original SoBo Yuppie
I lived in both towns
Your a moron if you want Southie to be like the South End.
maybe you're just difficult
i've lived in southie since 2007 with and without owned parking. i think most people are pretty friendly after living in two parts of town.
And....?
Two questions; what's a "wm" in this context? It sounds like the tire slasher should be identifiable, so was s/he arrested?
White male?
I assumed that "wm" was shorthand for "white male".
WM=
wicked masshole
Saving spaces is now illegal
Last summer the city council passed Ordinance 1310, which states, in part,
I'm sure the city council thought that what they were doing was banning the Haystack app, but here it is, in black and white: no more space savers.
hahaha
LOL nice. However, it wont be enforced at all.
Sad, its really needed.
Yeah
I'm sure they're going to start citing people for blocking bike lanes now, too.
Right
they'll get right on this after you automatically add /s to every post you write :)
Glad you're here Cyb!
Glad you're here Cyb!
Thanks :)
:)
She(?) was being sarcastic.
She(?) was being sarcastic.
(J/K)
hahaha
not falling for that one...
SNORFL
Last week I took a short walk down Broadway and A, there were 2 seperate instances of cars parked on top of crosswalks BLOCKING the curb cuts.
Only two?
Only two?
read carefully
". . . or facilitate the reserving of. . ."
Probably still legal
The ordinance says only the city can facilitate the reserving of spaces for instances like snow emergencies
Hmm, isn't parking your car
Hmm, isn't parking your car just another form of "reserving" that space on the street? You could conceivably read Ordinance 1310 as banning all parking in the city of Boston! Wouldn't be the first time: happened in 1920 too. Would solve a lot of problems ;)
Oh, I'm sure that there's some super-lawyerly way of reading that paragraph such that it does not apply to parking. I am not a lawyer.
But it definitely should apply to space-saving.
Not Even Super Lawyerly
Ordinance 1310 specifically says that the only people allowed to facilitate the reserving of street space are the City of Boston and any of its departments or designees, which include BTD, the primary facilitator of street parking and enforcement thereof.
By parking on the street you are participating in a transaction of public space facilitated by the City of Boston via BTD, protected by Ordinance 1310.
Nice try on loopholing a parking ban out of it, though!
Clever
Clever, but I don't think so.
I think the most normal reading of "reserve" incorporates the notion of a future use that has not yet started. When you make a reservation at a restaurant, it's for a future use. But if you just walk into the restaurant and sit down, you are not "reserving" the table for the rest of your meal (although hopefully you continue to have an expectation of continued exclusive use).
I can't wait to post this city ordinance on every space saver that I throw onto the sidewalk. Can anyone find a link to it?
It's hard to find a link to it.
It's hard to find a link to it. It's a transparency thing; the city council doesn't seem to like to make its work product accessible. (cue thezak in 3...2...1... but he's actually right.)
Page 2
Post away!
http://www.universalhub.com/files/haystack-report.pdf
Interesting that this was
Interesting that this was apparently passed in response to Haystack. Don't be surprised if the Mayor and/or CC simply announces "Oh, this doesn't apply to space savers" once the snow flies (or if they ignore it entirely).
Alternatively...
Alternatively, it might give the Mayor enough cover to actually enforce the law... "The city council passed it; my hands are tied; I have to enforce it.."
It might...
But I don't think
BakerWalsh(!) wants to be a one-term mayor that badly, he said only half-sarcastically.Seriously, though here's the challenge:
Enforcing the law is guaranteed to piss off a lot of people.
It may also please a lot of people, but it's hard to get a handle on how many people vehemently hate space savers vs. how many people use them all the time vs. how many people just don't care one way or another.
Result: This could lose him votes.
Leaving things as they are (status quo), however, is unlikely to win or lose him votes.
So, absent a major outcry from the people of Boston for the elimination of space savers, the potential political upside is unclear at best, whereas the potential political downside is obvious.
Also: presumably, if there were a lot of votes to be gained by outlawing space savers, Menino would have done it.
Baker?
Baker?
Whatever his name is.
Duh, brain fart.
Newbies
The Newbies are the biggest offenders. I see them take up 2 parking spaces with their cars and then when 6 PM rolls around Newbie #1 comes out of his condo and moves his car up so Newbie #2 can pull into the space. Frat boy tries his best to parallel park while Muffy stands behind him telling him how much space is left and which direction he should turn his wheels. And yes, everyone is laughing at you including your friends.
Yeah, sure thing, kid.
Yeah, sure thing, kid. Whatever you say.
Cue the final challenge from
Top Gear's Budget Supercars episode, where they had to parallel park their cars on a typical English street.
if there's that much demand for parking
why doesn't someone build a high-capacity automated garage in that neighborhood? IMO - city should just outright ban on-street parking in southie if people can't handle a shared public resource (or do like brookline does - ban overnight parking). You don't own the spot in front your house. This is ridiculous.
if there's that much demand for parking
Why doesn't the city charge market rate and not issue more permits than there are spaces?
Victims
Why do the Yuppies and Newbies feel like they are the victims when it comes to parking? Try to be nice neighbors instead of the immigrant victims that you portray yourselves to be.
"nice neighbors"?
How are you NOT a victim when your car gets vandalized because you parked it on a public street? And you think the solution is to "try to be nice neighbors"? You're insane.