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Cantabrigians may not get how space savers work
By adamg on Sat, 02/11/2017 - 6:15pm
Guys, you can't just plop a chair down somewhere - you need to put some actual work into shoveling the space. People across the river, like RoadTrip New England, who took the photo today, can help with the basic rules of space saving.
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Comments
Basic Rules of Spacesavers in Cambridge
1. No.
Says the transplant/transient from suburbia USA
Spacesavers were everywhere when I was a kid in Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, etc. It still blows my effing mind someone who takes a scarce street parking spot someone else shoveled out, and has the audacity to call that person who used the space saver selfish, rude, when the exact opposite is the case.
Oh boo hoo
I move Metros and dead scratch tickets, and I ask people to move their bags or their fat asses so I can sit when I ride the T, but that don't entitle me to put garbage on the seat when I get to my stop so it will be waiting for me when I want to ride again.
Apples and oranges.
Apples and oranges.
What happens when you arrive
What happens when you arrive at your destination, and you need to park your car somewhere besides the space in front of your house which you dug out?
What happens if someone
What happens if someone "steals" your saved space, and all the other spaces are saved? Do you do the "honorable" thing and drive in circles all night?
Yup
What happens when you're out of town during a snow storm and come back to find all the spaces either occupied or "saved"? Do you just sell your car? Move somewhere else until spring?
When you were a kid...
When you were a kid, perhaps there were enough spaces to go around, and anyone who wanted one could have one, just by shoveling. So space-savers were about making the other guy shovel out a space instead of taking the one you shoveled out.
Nowadays, in some neighborhoods, the ratio of valid street parking permits to on-street spaces is five to one. There aren't enough spaces to go around. The only way the system works is that someone else uses the space as soon as you leave it. Using a space-saver is hoarding, plain and simple, and hoarding is antisocial jackass behavior.
It's for watching the upcoming slap fights
If you walked around Eastie,
If you walked around Eastie, you'd think this is exactly how it worked. This is what makes space savers so stupid. Hardly anybody ever does any actual shoveling. They just drive back and forth until their car is free, then find some junk to throw down so that they don't have to look for a parking spot later.
People also claim spots before the snow even starts to fall. I saw numerous space savers on Thursday morning around 7am before any snow started to accumulate.
Space saving is stupid...and asinine, to boot.
This:
is also quite selfish...and asinine, to boot.
The only good thing I have
The only good thing I have seen about space saving is when people do put effort into cleaning up the spot. If there's no sense of ownership, we ultimately end up with fewer useful parking spots overall (or a much narrower street).
Doesn't make it right, though.
I'm not seeing that
I'm not seeing much of that. In my neighborhood, every single space has a car in it. There are no space savers, and no "wasted" spaces that haven't been shoveled out.
You sure can
If you have 4 wheel drive.
For once I'm glad I live in Arlington
Our "no overnight parking" rule is annoying most of the year, but we don't have to deal with space saver wars.
Lived there for seven years
Never had the problem of somebody arriving during a storm and blocking my driveway, either. Friends in Medford and in Somerville are constantly dealing with this.
ugh, Medford
Is truly the worst for this. They take it to a whole new level.
Have lived in 2 places in
Have lived in 2 places in Somerville the last dozen years with driveways- and it still amazes me that delivery trucks and at least 1 regular parker for a nearby school treat it like convenient off- street parking- worst was my last place that had driveway off private way- one of my neighbors acted like he owned the private way and would use space savers up and down it 365 days a year- even though he lived on the opposite side from where parking was allowed and another set of neighbors would have parties where their friends would leave a couple cars in my driveway
arlington no overnight parking
i have a 100% success rate in calling the APD and asking for an exception to this whenever i need one granted
Didn't they formalize the
Didn't they formalize the process, and limit it to 8 times per year per household or something?
I'm glad I have a garage space for my car.
I live in Somerville, and like it a great deal, but, given the parking situations that arise in the general Boston area before, during and after major snowstorms, I'm glad I live in an apartment building, with a garage space to keep my car in when it's not in use.
thats no moon
thats a space- wait no its not that either
its just garbage in the street.
Adam I question the legitimacy of this photo location
as Cambridge. It's not just implausible but nearly impossible to find a Cambridge citizen that would place a single chair as a space saver. A single chair denotes the worst in Objectivism popularized by conservative sex icon Ayn Rand. True Cantebrigians would save multiple spaces with love seats and peace blankets.
True Cantabrigians...
.... understand the concept of the commons, and recognize a shared public resource when they see one, and wouldn't use a space saver.... (at least not when anyone's watching)
you need to put some actual
Since when?