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Let's admit space savers are here to stay and use technology to manage them
By adamg on Thu, 03/05/2015 - 10:17am
Kevin McCrea (yes, that Kevin McCrea) proposes using some of that there smart technology to deal with winter space saving: Basically charge residents for city space savers embedded with GPS devices that could report to City Hall:
After a snowstorm, when a 'host' shovels out a spot and needs to drive off they put their "Official City of Boston Space Saver" in their spot and log that spot into the 'Space Saver Hub'. They give their account and password and enter when they need to return to the spot. The "Space Saver Hub" uses the GPS embedded into the device to log the location. A display screen on the device could flash "Free until 6 pm" or whatever time the person plans on returning. The host is responsible for keeping the device charged and/or batteries installed.
A 'guest' driving through the neighborhood would have two ways of finding a space to park. One is to look for the flashing displays on space savers, the second is to have their smart phone alert them to available spaces in the neighborhood.
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Comments
Somerville has the best
Somerville has the best policy. No space savers ever.
But that still doesn't stop
But that still doesn't stop people from using them.
Council Communications. Public debate on issues...
Council Communications. Public debate on issues lack for want of better participation by Boston City Council. Councilors go to lengths publicizing appearances but have less aptitude fostering better public debate on issues
http://www.reddit.com/r/boston/comments/2y88h0/an_open_boston_city_counc...
You have this generation of
You have this generation of young 20 and 30 year olds who now own property in Southie, Eastie North End, they need a history lesson on parking spaces during blizzards. They are not adapted to large snow storms and the history of "if you shovel your parking space you own it" RULE
This is the age group 20s and 30s they're the ones who want to change policy.
And the city should not come up with an app on parking savers.Lets keep it how it was in 1978 and all the blizzards in between. Lets not have technology take over the space safers something thats been rooted throughout boston neighborhoods through the years. This should go on for the next 100 years or more.
Evolve
Places change over time. Sometime they change slowly, that is why the Seaport is less of an industrial wasteland than it used to be, but still one. And sometimes they change quickly, which is why the South End is now very expensive. And sometimes they change because they have to, because trying to hog public space is anti-social... kind of like being opposed to mixed race schools is anti-social.
So you're saying only those
So you're saying only those in their 20s and 30s understand supply and demand? You could tell everyone to GTFO to alleviate these problems by bringing car-to-parking ratios back down to 1978 levels but you know that isn't going to happen. Perhaps all the old timers should take an economics class instead.
Do we even need GPS? There's
Do we even need GPS? There's already an official space-saver-like system for when you're getting a moving truck. You pay the city some money and put up a sign.
waste of money
that sounds like a complete waste of money to perpetuate a problem. how about the city just spends money to clear the snow? there is plenty left in South Boston on major roads.
how about
people just stop using space savers all together. That's even simpler! Problem solved.
No space savers. Consider the source.
Coming from someone who has told us they don't have a car, the 'idea' of no space savers should be parked exactly where it deserves to be parked.
anon
Coming from an anon.. how about you take your space saver and put it where the sun doesn't shine. You'll have a parking spot forever.
Solved from your armchair
Enlighten us again on what kind of car you drive?
enlighten us
are you someone who feels 'entitled' to take up a parking spot for weeks on end because "it's your god given right" or "I shoveled for 600 hours up hill both ways, in the snow" excuse. Oh yeah you are.
Seriously tho, I pay my taxes like everyone else. Why should you get the right to have an opinion over me. I pay for those same roads you drive and park on. I have just as much right to my opinion as you do.
Nah, but I think 48 hours is
Nah, but I think 48 hours is fair.
Damn straight, it's a free country. I have the right to consider your opinion a joke because you don't have to shovel a spot for the car you don't have. One would think that you guys would be more relaxed, not having to worry about it. Somehow, it seems like non-drivers and nonresidents are the most worked up over the whole thing, though. Some shoveling might mellow you out.
if you paid attention
instead of focusing on what car I have or don't have... You'd realize..
We're on the same page. Hell I'll even give the space savers a week! But this more than a month is excessive. This has been my main point all along. I never said I was against space savers, I'm against hogging spaces for weeks on end.
I do shovel. I may not shovel out a car. But I do shovel my walk(s) and helped both neighbors shovel out their cars and walk ways. And as a matter of fact, I'm the ONLY person out of 7 residents in my building who does shovel the walkways. So I do know what it's like.
And furthermore "no car" does not equal "does not drive". I do drive. I just don't own a car. I drive my roommate's car often, and I do rent zipcars from time to time. You make it seem like I don't drive at all, when it's not the case.
Do you know why I'm so hell bent on space savers?
A few weeks ago, several days after a storm.. I borrowed my roommates car to do errands. Now since he does not park at home (nor can he), I rode the subway all the way to his garage downtown to get the car. Went shopping. Then drove home.
I drove up and down several streets around my home trying to find some place to park so I could unload the car. But all I could see was empty spaces with space savers in them.. and no place to park. And I'm hesitant to park in a space saver spot (even tho the spot directly in front of my home was open and just had a space saver) because I don't want my roommates car to be vandalized. So I didn't.
Anyhow after an hour of driving around and having no place to park. I gave up. I stopped in the middle of my street and unloaded my groceries. And just left the car double parked, blocking the street. I should NOT have to do this on my own fukkin street.
THIS is why I'm so vocal about space savers. Nothing worse than driving around endlessly and see empty spaces occupied with space savers for weeks on end. There's no need for it. Plus add some entitlement people seem to have, along with cars being vandalized for parking in a spot.. it's hard to be very supportive at all for space savers. Maybe if people shared, and weren't so nasty about their parking spot, mine (and many others) opinion would change. But that has yet to happen so here we are.
Everyone with cars is in the same boat. We all have to park our cars. And when it snows, we all have to shovel them out. We're all one in the same. So maybe if we dumped the space savers, and put everyone back into the pool of "finding a place to park is a pain in the ass" like it is during the summer, I think people's attitudes would change about their entitlement and realize..
"We're all in this together"
*shrug* not sure why I bothered typing that, it'll just get picked apart by the dogs on here.. but whateves.. now off to a meeting.
space savers exist so people
space savers exist so people like you don't steal the spot someone spent hours shoveling after keeping your car in a garage so you won't have to shovel.
IF YOU DON'T OWN A CAR YOUR OPINION DOES NOT MATTER.
That only applies if you have private parking
Parking spaces take up publicly owned and taxpayer supported space. Space savers make that public space private. What you claim only counts if you have your own private driveway.
Drivers pay for less than 60% of the road upkeep through vehicle ownership and use taxes. This means that non-drivers and non-car owners opinions do matter both financially and with regard to public ownership and access to the commons.
Having a car does not give you special rights. By your logic, only people who eat vegetables should have a say in whether I can just go dig up 200 square feet of a public park for my private use as a vegetable garden. Only dog owners should have a say in whether I can just go fence off 200 square feet of a public park for my very own private dog run.
See where that thinking goes? Nowhere.
Where's your nearest park? I think I'll go shovel off that 200 square feet now. Tiny House? Garden? Well, NONE OF YOUR DAMN BUSINESS BECAUSE I SHOVELED IT OFF! MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE!!!!!!!
Thanks Swirls
Thanks Swirls for the sanity check with this guy. His logic is very flawed.
But you're wasting your time, he only cares about himself and his entitlement to a parking space. You won't change his opinion. *shrug*
At least you didnt call him Mary this time
And as for me, anon, I AM entitled to my parking space and I've got a space saver to prove it. The system works for me and pretty much everyone who actually shoveled a space.
but that's the problem
there are more cars than there are spaces. And yes, there are more cars than there are spaces even during the summer with no snow. So your argument is invalid. Snow, No snow. Same issue with not enough parking.
I am anon, not Dave Davery
But I don't just care about myself. I believe that everyone, including me, is entitled to a parking space if the shoveled it, and that entitlement lasts until the city creates enough spaces by removing snow, or until the snow melts.
Gosh, that's swell
Well, I believe that for every drop of rain that falls, a flower grow. What do I win?
Tell him what he's won, Johnny!
You win some flowers and a year's supply of Jiffy Time Popcorn.
(Flowers only available when all snow is gone and avg. temp is above 50 degrees with at least 3 days of continuous sunshine. Taxes and license may vary. Popcorn not guaranteed to completely pop.)
YJAAIWRT
YJAAIWRT
Please translate Cybah
WTF is YJAAIWRT? Thanks
inside joke
inside joke.
If someone figures it out, I'll give you 20 bucks.
So Uhub is now your playground for private jokes?
You TOQ!
Nope
But those in the know do know what it means.. :) So it's not a total inside joke if others get it.
You can't "steal" public property. Period.
Seriously. What part of "public" do you diehards not understand? You're shoveling out YOUR car, not putting a down payment on your own personal slice of streetscape.
Drove around for one hour?
And then finally just double parked in the middle of the street to bring your groceries home?
First, no one believes you drove around for an hour. That didn't happen.
Second, you should have just double parked in the first place.
Now that wasn't so bad, was it.
Were you there?
Are you spying on me? Were you there?
Yeah, you weren't. So you don't know how long I drove. And yes it was an hour.
And you are aware that double parking is illegal. You know, I'd like to legally park the car instead of getting a ticket. but I tried first to find a legal spot like a good law abiding citizen but I didn't find one, so I had no other choice than to double park.
Gosh for bid I follow the law...
Nah
You may or may not be telling the truth. I may or may not have been there.
However one fact is incontrovertible, that is that no one believes you drove around for an hour simply to deliver your groceries and then move on. No one is going to key your car or slice your tires for simply parking for a moment to deliver you groceries.
Total fabricated nonsense to support your assertion that space savers are responsible for the downfall of Western Civilization.
let's dissect your comment for a moment..
Did I say that? I never did. EVER.
Again if people would READ what I've been writing all along, you'd even see I SUPPORT space savers in the traditional 48 hour rule sense. What I don't support is the months long usage of them. It's excessive.
You weren't there. You don't know where I live. You don't know what car I was driving. Hell, you don't even know what I look like. So you don't know. You weren't there. You can't tell that I'm lying, because you were not there
It's the truth. I did drive around for an hour looking for an open space that wasn't occupied by a car, a space saver, or not avaliable due to snow removal.
You can believe what you want, it's a free country. But I also have as much right to believe (or not to believe) these pro-space saver people that claim it took them "several hours" to shovel out a space which is why they get to keep it. Which, btw, I've never claimed to be false (unlike many on here who do).
See how your argument can work against you? It works both ways. You can believe what you wish, just as much as I can believe what I wish too.
Did you notice you're the only one who has tried call me out on it? (well as of 5:15pm) You're alone in your thinking...
And furthermore:
You must be new here. You must have missed the several postings about cars being vandalized or threatening notes being left. It could happen. As it been made very clear by some of the posts in any space saver thread, people are very territorial about their spaces.
Sorry I'm not going to take that risk with a car that is not mine . And that's my decision to make. Not yours.
Believe what you want....
It would have been so much
It would have been so much easier if you had Uber'd to the store. Sounds like a big headache. I would have thrown on the hazards and parked between 2 of the space savers. I don't believe that there are space saving ninjas out there; ready to vandalize a car that was parked for less than 5 minutes. Must be a rough neighborhood.
Up to 20% of city traffic is looking for parking
So, indeed removing parking and creating a greater shortage worsens traffic and air quality. Reducing parking requirements for new developments is thus also bad for the environment except in the imagination of people who dream of changing human nature through "progressive" policies.
Nope
No room for more parking - but you are welcome to move to Detroit or Hartford and see what happens when your "nice theory" gets put into practice.
The answer is simple - more public transit. Portland has doubled its population in the last two decades, but I've never had to spend more than a few minutes looking for parking, even in areas of downtown that predate Boston's most recent fires.
You cannot have both the compact characteristics of urban life and have space for cars everywhere. It simply does not work that way. There are plenty of suburban car habitats for you to enjoy in this country and Canada, too. No need to destroy centuries-old cities for your occasional convenience.
Removing parking minimums
Removing parking minimums puts parking back into the free market where it belongs. Developers will naturally build as much parking as they need to attract buyers/renters to their building.
You're right about on-street parking having a shortage issue. But the whole reason for the shortage is because the parking is underpriced. The solution is not to try to build more of it and give that away for free too. It's to charge a rate that results in 1 to 2 open spaces per block so that people can always find a space easily.
Kinda like how no one
Kinda like how no one actually spends hours shoveling out his or her car. If it takes that long, you're doing it wrong. Try a shovel instead of a teaspoon.
It's only a problem
to all the lazy people who don't shovel out their spots, the whiners who don't live in Boston, and those who live in Mommy's basement and don't own a car.
Just keep the streets one way
Just keep the streets one way and have angled parking.
Will the app allow for passive aggressive messaging?
Funny how space saver users will complain about the hours and hours of work they've done, yet the sidewalk, front and back of their spot are most likely still piled high with snow. How can you use a space saver if you haven't finished the job?
Hear! Hear!
This is a fantastic comment. People pile the snow from their space in to adjacent spaces, so that even if someone wanted to clear the adjacent space, they'd have to clear two or three cars worth of snow. They can't be bothered to move it somewhere else. Then once they've artificially reduced the supply of parking spaces, they b&m about how there aren't enough parking spaces.
Not to get too high on a horse, but my apartment and the next door neighbors spent a long time clearing out five adjacent spots in front of our houses, and piling all of the snow in non-parking areas (in front yards, and in and in front of an unused, but signed for no parking, driveway). We could have just as easily had three parking spaces and three snow mounds. Perhaps the city should get serious and ticket anyone storing snow in a perfectly legitimate parking spot?
With the amount of snow we
With the amount of snow we had this year, I couldn't just blame people shoveling spots for the huge snow mounds. I was at work during the first storm, the spot where is usually park was empty, that is where the plows started to put the snow and now it is a nice ice mound. I've noticed that in a few neighborhoods. Any spot that was empty during a storm became a snow mound and people have added to it by shoveling. Also, some of the other big snow mounds have cars under them.
Wrong
I shoveled 2 spots on the street. My next door neighbor also shoveled 2 spots. And all of the snow went into our yards, which was not easy. They piles are sky high. I will agree that some space saver shovellers do what you say, but not all of us.
That'll work
I can just see McCrea telling a bunch of crusty old Southie townies that they have to get some technological dingus instead of mom's busted old lawn chair. I want film of that.
Worth considering, even for crusty old townies
I'm a crusty old Dot Rat, and I think this idea and any alternate ideas are worth considering. At first glance this particular idea seems like a waste of money better spent clearing snow, but I'd like to hear more, and other ideas as well.
By the way, the idea that the trash guys would pick up the space savers on trash day was a farce. Trash day came and went and there are still truck tires, broken chairs, orange cones, cardboard boxes, etc saving spaces all over my neighborhood. Some people removed their savers for a day, but almost everyone just kept them in place. It's not pretty, but people need to use their space savers until the snow melts or unless the city actually starts removing enough snow in the neighborhoods. None of my neighbors have stopped using space savers, not even one, and its ok.
My 2 way side street has been a functional 1 way street for the last month. And from what I read on Uhub the other day, there will be no more side street snow removal from the city. So let it melt, let it melt, let it melt.
I wish I could thumbs-up this
I wish I could thumbs-up this comment a million times.
"Dingus"
n/t
Crusty old Southie townies?
Crusty old Southie townies? You're a real charmer.
LMFAO
Expecting Bostonians to pay for their space savers.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That may be the best laugh I've had this whole miserable winter.
No
The city doesn't owe you a piece of public property for you to park your private vehicle.
These space savers are ridiculous. If the city really wanted to deal with the parking problem in the winter, it would enforce its parking ban, and get out there and clear the streets from curb to curb. It would also help if the city went after people who do not shovel their sidewalks.
Exact
Enforce alternate side parking and get the snow removed.
Money will be an issue so it's time to charge a reasonable rate for resident parking stickers.
Drivers and their Government Handouts
I find it amazing (albeit not surprising) all of the people who chest thump about how only car owners get to weigh in on this. Car ownership is already massively subsidized by the government and yet now car owners want to claim even MORE government handouts.
I get that it sucks to shovel out a spot only to lose it, but lots of things suck. Its sucks for bus commuters to have spent the last 6 weeks periodically climbing over mounds of snow just to get on a bus. It sucks for walkers who have to detour around unshoveled sidewalks. LOTS of things are frustrating in the aftermath of a snow storm but it doesn't surprise me at all that drivers have a sense of entitlement over the one little frustration they might face.
You know those roads you're driving on with your car? Who cleared them? Oh, right. The government. Tax money is spent to make the lives of drivers easier. We all see how public transit gets shafted and government entities routinely won't even bother to shovel their own sidewalks. Imagine what it would be like if the government shoveled out all the sidewalks but left the roads the responsibility of property owners. How would all you car owners like that? I'd make that trade. I'd even let you claim your own parking spot.
LOL
That's some good satire.
OR...
...the city could do their job, enforce street cleaning schedule, tow cars and clean the god-damned streets like they are supposed to, instead of wasting endless time/money/frustration trying to institute a fancy "space-saver" device program that will still come with all the problems we already have and be prone to failure, like everything else the city is in charge of.
Boston has a well-known odd
Boston has a well-known odd-even street cleaning system. Let's just use it for snow clearing, plowing to the curb, and getting rid of the mounds. Big tickets for people who don't dig out and move their cars.
What is this odd/even system you talk of?
Maybe it's because we're out in the boonies here, but I've never seen odd/even on our street: During street-sweeping season, the sweeper comes down the center of the street, swoops to the right when nobody's parked there, gets to the end of the street, turns around and does the same thing on the other side.
E.g.
On Comm Ave you can't park 1st and 3rd Mondays on the odd side of the street for street cleaning. For 2nd and 4th Mondays it's even side. There are always a couple of people that park - who right now end up getting towed - which is a whole different issue.
There are a number of downtown neighborhoods looking at several options for better snow clearing - odd/even cleaning is part of that - but like all these things it's really complicated when you get into the details, variations among neighborhoods etc. One thing for sure - it would apply ONLY after snow emergencies - not when you get 4-5 inches.
"Really complicated"?!?
I'd be laughing my head off if this statement weren't so pathetic. It's odd-even parking, not rocket science or brain surgery.
Not talking logistics so much
Although that's a part of it - all these cars on the streets need "homes" for a few hours - where do you put them while the streets are being cleaned. It's one thing to tell people you need to put your car in the Gov't Center or Boston Common garage - it's a different thing if you tell them there's no room there and you're on your own, the closest public parking is in Canton at a T lot.
The real complication is that even if you find there's adequate parking - then you have to deal with the people - and YOU try telling a politician to tell his constituents to stuff it.
In my neighborhood - we've mostly been doing this for years and probably not much of an issue. Some other places are much tighter on parking alternatives.
I disagree with both of you
The logistics of where the cars would go would be the same in February as it would be in May.
The problem comes that it would take a lot longer to put snow into dump trucks than it would to run the street sweeper, so doing this once every 2 weeks would piss people off royally. On the other side, if the big storm is the day after "sweeping" day, you'd have to wait 2 weeks just for the city (contractors, if we are being truthful) to get started on your block. Or they could just wait it out and let spring take care of it on the cheap.
That's not how it would work
It would be different from sweeping - details to come later - my guess is that if we come to agreement Adam will run a story on it.
Again - any time you get into any of these things it's far more difficult than "just do this" - and it's often not one solution - it's multiple solutions and they can differ by neighborhood. There are legitimate and real differences between say Chinatown, North End, Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Fenway and others. On the topline - we may someday agree on "no space savers", but how this gets implemented may vary.
I look forward to reading about this
Something definitely needs to be done to help the "inner neighborhoods" when an onslaught like this occurs. Different set of problems than we face out in the outer areas.
"Odd - even" parking
Some days you park on one side of the street, the other days you park on the opposite side. How in the world does this simple concept pose any "legitimate and real differences" from neighborhood to neighborhood?
Read Adam's comments on this
Out in sylvan Roslindale and other lower density parts of Boston, rare is the street that has posted street cleaning, and they tend to be one day (morning) a month for a few hours for the whole street. Oh, there is street cleaning on the other streets, but your gutter is only going to be clean if somehow you've learned the schedule and made a point to keep cars away.
If you lived in Boston, this would be common knowledge.
Stevil's point is that a solution for Beacon Hill would not work in Dorchester and vice versa. All about density and general layout of the areas.
Sell your car
You're supposed to bicycle instead! Approve more condo complexes without adequate parking. Get with the fantasy-based program! ;)
Fantasy
Because the car-based program is working so well.
Centre Street in JP for example
http://www.cityofboston.gov/publicworks/sweeping/?streetname=CENTRE&Neig...
Street Cleaning
Must be your "boonies" as you call them.
In the city, street cleaning happens from March to November. Signs are posted on all streets telling you which week and which 4-hour time period one side of the street needs to be empty of all cars so street cleaners can go right up to the curb. People know how to comply. It's just a thing. If you leave your car there, in the way, you get a ticket and often towed.
I don't know why this isn't a model for snow clearing in the city. It's simple. Residents know how it works. All you need to do is get some snow-melting or snow-moving equipment to make the street corner piles go away.
Sorry, by boonies, I mean Roslindale
Which is in the city. Granted, the rural part, where all the deer and possums and roosters are, but still ...
Roslindale
Well, they should do Roslindale. I have friends in Roslindale. This really is not that hard. I went nuts when the city announced that street cleaning which should begin now -- it's March -- would be delayed because of snow. Just send plows instead.
My street is in Fields Corner
And the street cleaning is not posted, no one moves their cars, and there is no discernible schedule, although it often occurs on Thursdays, but not always.
And we are NOT in the boonies. We have a subway station!
I know the busier streets
I know the busier streets have posted parking requirements for street cleaning. In my neighborhood no one moves. If a car is parked the sweeper goes around it. Neponset Ave has posted signs, and they will tow!
No alternative side system here either..but
Street sweeping usually on Thursday, sometimes other days. No parking restrictions either. No signs. Just like Adam's street, they clean to the curb only if there is no car in the way.
But the city used to have alternate side parking in snow emergencies, alternating year by year. On my street we took it seriously and with no cars on one side of the street, it gave the plow drivers plenty of room to push the snow back on at least one side of the street. they stopped that system 3 or 4 years ago. Don't know why.
I've lived within the city limits for 8 years
and alternate-side parking in snow emergencies has never been a thing that has happened.
Alternate Side Parking
In Medford there is alternate side parking during snow emergencies (used to be all winter, but they changed it last year due to complaints of people living in the more congested neighborhoods). The city still doesn't plow to the curb on the empty sides of the streets!
Odd/even sweeping
Until about two years ago, when the city finally put up signs, that is what our street sweeper did. Now we have sweeping on the even side on the 1st and 3rd Monday and on the odd side the 2nd and 4th Monday. Friday is our trash day, and the city supposedly sweeps streets the day after trash pick-up but I don't think street sweeping is done on weekends.
What happens when someone
What happens when someone ignores this updated tribal code and parks in a "saved" space? Will Marty head over and personally slash the offender's tires?
What else are Chiefs of Staff for?
Nah. He's going to send over Daniel Arrigg Koh - that guy who's the tech-iest Chief of Staff ever to hit City Hall - to make sure justice is done.
This.
These schemes don't work without enforcement. Unless you had 24 hour surveillance to catch people ignoring the rules, you're right back to The Lord of the Flies.
Oh God, I'm giving some government official ideas. Forget I said anything. Obviously, space savers need to go.
Sounds like the basis for a new "reality" show
Each contestant is given a car and the last one to have their tires slashed and windshield broken is the "winner."
Or an episode of
BBC's Top Gear
The street cleaning model is still the answer.....
The city simply needs to link several things, that they already do, together to solve this issue.
First charge a fee for resident parking stickers - $50 for the first sticker, $150 for the second and $500 for the third and the same for any additional ones over three. It's ridiculous to have people get multiple stickers for nothing when parking is a scarce resource in the city.
Next use the funds generated to specifically offset costs to take care of the streets, including snow removal.
Finally, institute the same procedure for snow removal that we already have in place for street cleaning - alternate sides of streets - to be implemented during snow emergencies and, at the same time, extend snow emergencies by 24 or 48 hours (or 72, if necessary) to clean the streets to the curbs. People will absolutely suffer for those 24 or 48 or 72 hours, but everyone will get back to normal quicker and end this mindless drivel about who owns public spaces; ultimately saving millions of dollars in lost time for both businesses and residents.
Charge more..
It should market rate based on neighborhood.
So for SoBo that would be about $2,000 a year. no government hand outs.
People want plowed streets
People want plowed streets but don't want to pay for them. Thats why charging a fee for a parking permit is the best way to go. Someone who doesn't have a car shouldn't be paying for the clean up of parking spaces.
This is how Somerville does
This is how Somerville does it, and it seems like of the inner towns they've really been the most on the ball this year (they're on the ball most years, though, having lived there for 6 years before moving to Boston it's been a significant downgrade).
I don't know why the city can't look to our immediate neighbors for ideas. It's like Bostonians LIKE having inefficience shitty streets because THATS TRADITION oh wait that's exactly how it is...
If I had a car I'd build a
If I had a car I'd build a space saver with an accelerometer in it and have it hooked up to my home wifi. If someone tries to remove it the motion would enable a networked camera focused on the spot to capture who is moving it and send automatic tweets for millennial name and shame purposes
Something like a car alarm?
for your space saver while your car is away?
How about
Boston crack down on and fine out-of-state parkers or ticket cars that haven't been shoveled out in a month and act as their own damn space savers? Fewer cars in the neighborhoods=less competition and need for space savers.
Paint and number spaces
Rent them out at $100 a month, reserved for a specific vehicle all year.
Problem solved.
That is way too cheap. You'd
That is way too cheap. You'd still have maniacs vandalizing the cars of people visiting the city who don't know the ridiculous "rules" of parking in this city.
Why vandalize?
Why do that when you could just have them towed, same as if they were in your rented space in a private lot or the business parking in Somerville?
And...
...how are you even gonna see the damn paint?
"Oh, well, you just shovel the snow and remove the ice and...um..."
Libertarian Capitalism BS
At its finest...
That's kind of the problem of new technology. It just starts with a dumb premise that we should allow people to claim private rights what is really public property and that technology can enable that somehow fairly. I understand that it's a ton of work to dig out a street spot and seeing someone who hasn't done the work take it is aggravating. So I have some limited sympathy for space savers but they're just a bad accommodation to a relatively transient problem.
Applying the money to actually clearing the streets makes more sense than a complicated technical system to avoid that. It doesn't get done because everyone screams about property taxes and taxes in general and big gummint. Snow removal in residential neighborhoods on public streets is one of those things that could be organized by the city more efficiently than trying to privatize it.
But we've decided collectively to keep our property taxes relatively low and so priorities get set. We have decided that clearing residential streets so parking works well after snow storms is not worth the investment up front. Other places are willing to make that happen.
You're totally missing the point
The best part of this scheme?
Someone's gonna make money off it.
And that is why it is much, much, much better than any of your socialist "public services".
Haystack?
Isn't this like the much-vilified Haystack app?
Wasn't there an ordinance passed to avoid this kind of thing?
Th'hell
Things like this always remind me of a Porky Pig cartoon
where Porky has a mouse problem, so he gets a cat. Now he has a cat problem, so he gets a dog...
Needle snakes and gorillas
I think the problem was solved a few years ago.
But he only paid a dime
for that hotel room.
we feed the cats to the rats
we feed the cats to the rats and the rats to the cats and we get the cat skins for nothin'!
I have a better plan
You yokels just keep on dragging furniture into the street. On even days, I'll dump them into the trash cans that the neighbors across the street use to save THEIR spaces. On odd days, I'll haul those same trash cans half a mile down the road. Problem solved!
Who it's coming from
Interesting he comes up with grand plan, yet the rental building he owns manages to never have it's sidewalk cleared of snow....
GPS trackers aren't that
GPS trackers aren't that accurate, not everyone has a smartphone, and this is just ridiculous. We don't need an expensive solution to perpetuate this. Space savers need to be banned outright. The city needs to find a better way to clear snow and a way to do that would be by enforcing alternate side parking rules in order to clear snow.
Why don't we just PLOW THE
Why don't we just PLOW THE DAMN STREETS?
Are residents aware of the 48 hour rule?
I'm willing to bet that most of the people who have space savers out there are clueless about the "48 hour" rule on space savers. They are merely following what other unaware residents are doing.
I don't pretend to know a solution to this problem but maybe windshield flyers at the beginning of the season with rules will help? They do that before street cleaning season starts in Brighton and that seems to get peoples attention before the first sweep.
There is no rule
When our mayor says a couple of days it does not pass a law or make a rule. Everyone endlessly talking about what is right or wrong is idiotic. Mayor Walsh is the mayor not our mommy. Neither side is right.
The basic fact is that if you live in a city, you need to get along with your neighbors more than you need to be sane. Unless it involves hurting someone (that includes vandalism) go along. Some streets will have savers, and some won't.
Trying to change everyone around you never works. If the whole thing is too stressful then invest in off street parking. but stop fighting about it.
Here's an idea I floated
Here's an idea I floated awhile back: instead of space savers, let residents buy those temporary "no parking" signs that people use for moving trucks and construction vehicles. After a snow emergency, you're allowed to use one of your signs for up to 3 days (maybe longer if it's a massive storm). If you're nice enough to let people park in your space when you don't need it, you can re-use the sign (this would be done by clearly writing a date/time that parking is not allowed on it). And because it's an official city sign, you can request that anyone stealing your space be ticketed - eliminating the motivation for vandalism and/or violence.
City living =These are the
City living =These are the same morons that move into the north end and then complain about the noise from the feasts. AGAIN GET FRIGGN LOST space savers!!!! If you dont like it take your yuppie ass back to where you came from!!!
Conflicting Parochialisms
Wait I thought it was the yuppies complaining about townies who space save. Now its the townies complaining about the yuppies who space save. And I thought it was the townies who complain about the yuppies loud bar habits but now its the yuppies complaining about the townies festival noise. Why don't you all just Thunderdome it out until you are left with only one story.
Simplicity
You are all reading into this too much. If it snows and you shovel out your car, put a chair or cone in the space to save it when you come home. If you didn't shovel out your car, you lose your lazy ass spot.
Where online is a Map of Council District 2 clearly labelled...?
Where online is a) a Map of Boston Council District 2 clearly labelled with the Names of the Bordering Streets of District Two and b) a List of the Names of the District 2 Bordering Streets?...