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South End to go officially space-saver free
By adamg on Wed, 02/12/2014 - 12:04pm
Now cut that out! South End space saver.
The city has agreed to a request from South End neighborhood groups to completely ban the practice of space saving after winter storms. The South End Forum, which represents those groups, reports:
The SE Forum has agreed to launch a communications campaign which asks all South End residents (and their visitors) to refrain from using parking "space savers" to designate and reserve on-street parking spots that they may (or may not) have shoveled during a previous storm. Neighborhood associations universally view the practice of "saving" a parking spot after it has been shoveled by one individual as a significant contributor to reduced on-street parking inventory--while the "space savers" reserve an otherwise available parking spot--and as an avoidable trigger that has led increasingly over the past few years to unnecessary and avoidable hostility, confrontation, intimidation, and acts of criminal vandalism. ...
Public Works is committed to fully supporting the South End as we begin a period of transition making the South End a "space saver free pilot neighborhood." While the neighborhood associations launch education and outreach campaigns designed to inform all Southenders of this change, it's reasonable to allow our neighbors some initial time to adjust to the realities of a "space saver free neighborhood" specifically during a declared snow emergency. A sensible transitional "grace" period in the coming weeks notwithstanding, Public Works strongly encourages South End neighbors to report any space saver found on the street. Because we have only a few weeks of winter remaining this season, Public Works will wait till next Fall to launch their own information and education campaign announcing the South End as a space saver free pilot neighborhood.
Neighborhoods:
Free tagging:
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Comments
Good luck with that.
Good luck with that.
Yup, Good luck with that.
Severely doubt this will stop people from doing so. Sure you can SUGGEST people stop using them and you can 'safely' move one out of the way, but it won't stop people from using them in the first place. You can't ticket a 'space saver' so there's no incentive for folks to stop using them.
This issue won't end until ALL neighborhoods do this and it becomes a city wide rule.
I can't wait for the fist fights to start... because they are going to. Just wait... I have my pop corn ready.
You were wrong about this back in January.
I believe you've lost a bet. Your argument makes no sense. Of course I wouldn't expect you to admit that.
Why not
I think my argument makes perfect sense.. And frankly i could give a rats ass what some anon on here thinks.
Thanks for playing, come back when you've registered and re-make your point, Maybe I'll care some more. Oh wait, nah I probably won't regardless.
Perfect sense.
If you recall, your argument was also that the City would never do it in the South End only. You've already been proven wrong in record pace on that one. I just get a kick out of your bloviating nonsense, and the failure to admit when your opinion is proven bogus.
I'm confident you don't care what people in this forum think of you. That's why you spend so much time in this community.
As an actual resident
As an actual resident of the Pilot Block neighborhood, I haven't seen one single space saver yet this year in a 3 block radius from my apartment.
Have you heard of any
Have you heard of any instances of vandalism as cited as one of the reasons for eliminating space saving after a snowstorm?
No
I have not, no- but take that with a grain of salt as it might be different in other sections of the South End.
I've certainly not seen any vandalism in the several years I've been here.
The nerve of some people!
While I don't disagree with this regulation in practice, I do disagree in principle. One of the key components of a yuppie is that of coming into a neighborhood and forcefully removing all vestiges of the urban community.
The city needs to stop bending over for upper class yuppies and approving "luxury" building complexes!
Democracy
Democracy doesn't make a distinction between new and old residents.
First they came for the space
First they came for the space savers and I said nothing....
Really?
The city is comprised of more demographics than just yuppies and townies. What do you call the families that live in the city? What about empty-nester couples that move to the city after their children leave home? This is the South End we’re talking about. I would venture to guess that the neighborhood association is comprised of more people in their mid-40's than mid-20's. I don’t think a main "component" of a yuppie is joining a neighborhood association and petitioning the city to implement policy change.
You can't at the same time blame the yuppies for continuing the space saving tradition in one neighborhood and abolishing it in another.
And yes, when new residents move into neighborhoods they tend to bring with them economic development and change. It’s true that the city does not do a good job of ensuring that a wide spectrum of housing projects are approved, but it’s tough to argue that economic development in general is anything but good for a neighborhood.
Maybe the Southie residents
Should stop selling their parents' homes to the yuppies and stop making tons of $ on the sale?
What does the South End have
What does the South End have to do with Southie?
Please accept my apologies
Typo! But applies to all the Boston neighborhoods
There's a crucial difference in the South End,
namely, that it never had a longstanding, widespread practice of space-saving, unlike Southie. It's a laudable move to prevent an urban pox from spreading.
Thus solving the problem...
...once and for all!
-futurama
I said
ONCE AND FOR ALL!
We couldn't play nice...
...and this is what happened. Other neighborhoods will follow, most likely. If people respected the rules in the first place, and didn't act like entitled brats, be they locals of "yuppies", then there wouldn't be an issue.
Just a quick side note: I live in Charlestown and never save my spot during snow emergencies. What's interesting is *gasp*...I always find a place to park! If people didn't engage in silly entitled behavior, then this wouldn't even be an issue.
Different strokes for different neighborhoods
First of all, "respecting the rules" would mean not trying to save a parking space by placing an object in it, since it is illegal to use street spaces to store any property other than a duly registered car.
Secondly, since the ratio of registered cars with valid parking stickers to on-street spaces in some neighborhoods exceeds 5:1, how exactly is it that parking wouldn't be an issue if "people didn't engage in silly, entitled behavior?"
Bob, I think many people
Bob, I think many people agree with you that the price of resident stickers (free) is way to low and therefore the demand is way too high. To equal this out, the price needs to reflect the supply of spaces, not the supply of stickers, which is endless. It shouldnt be 1:1 of course, but smart people could figure out the ideal ratio and price accordingly.
That depends.
There are a number of ways you could allocate spaces: the market approach, in which you price the stickers so that the number sold is about equal to the desired number; the lottery approach, in which everyone entitled to a sticker is entered into a lottery and the desired number of stickers issued (with the lottery being repeated periodically), or the current approach, in which spaces are issued first-come, first-serve to the permit holders, repeated daily (or as often as people move their cars). There are arguments for and against each, and it's unclear which is "fairest" or "best".
Um, what?
I live in the South End. I have never heard of the South End Forum. I save my space after I shovel it out. How do they get to change the rules (rules outlined on the City of Boston website, no less) after having some meeting of people who already have the same opinion?
Dear Anon, what happened was
Dear Anon, what happened was that the grownups got together and talked about what reasonable people would do and decided to do this. They didn't want to call you away from your sandbox.
!
Well played!
not really
I know MANY new residents who don't know these groups exist, its not like they hang flyers out or you get a 'new resident' welcome kit from the neighborhood association.
Newspaper, anyone?
How can anyone read the neighborhood newspapers and not be aware of the neighborhood associations?
And if someone doesn't read the neighborhood newspaper, then perhaps he doesn't give enough of a hoot to have his opinion count?
Pilot Block
I can only speak for my particular neighborhood association in the South End, but they flyer every door with some regularity announcing their presence/welcoming participation and have an active email list. They're quite visible.
Adamg, can we add a feature
stolen from Craigslist.... "Nominate for best-of".
Coz for sure I nominate this for best-of-Uhub.
SE Neighborhood Assns been talking about this for two years.
Every neighborhood association of the South End has unanimously supported making the South End space saver free for over two years now. The SE Forum (which is an umbrella comprised of the officers or reps of individual SE neighborhood associations) has lobbied Public Works, two Mayor's offices, and most of our city councilors for a long time to simply exempt the SE from the space saver "allowance" practice (which is exclusively for 48 hours under an officially declared snow emergency, the city will turn a blind eye to in street space savers). The SE Forum position asking to be exempt from the space saver "practice" has been repeatedly covered in local press, city-wide press, and in multiple SE neighborhood association announcements for two years now, so it's pretty amazing you haven't heard a peep about this. True enough that the city's website currently indicates a 48 hour "allowance" which is neither a city policy or law/ordinance; at best, it's a Public Works "practice" that the united SE neighborhood associations view as undesirable and conflict-creating specifically for the South End.
The SE Forum has asked for the South End to be a "pilot neighborhood" to test whether making the neighborhood space saver free is workable. Because there is web and print materials from Public Works out there that references the 48 hour allowance, while the South End transitions to space saver free, the 48 hour allowance will continue to be honored. But not beyond that, and not in front of it. Next winter, after everyone is fully educated/informed and the web site revised, the South End will move toward complete space saver freedom
I was at the SE Forum meeting
And will vouch for all of the above by anon. Due to the city's fall pamphlet acknowledging the 48-hour allowance, there will probably not be strict enforcement of the space saver ban immediately after a snow emergency. For what it's worth, the guy from Public Works at the meeting said that of all space saver complaints fielded by the city, only 4% are from the South End. So this is not a big issue for us -- and we don't want to see it become one. We're now getting the word out to residents via email, flyers, etc. The relevant text from the announcement is as follows:
So, what you're really saying is
no one will be shoveling down in the South End anymore. I mean, my God, what do they pay taxes for?
Actually raises an interesting question...
Boston allows space savers; the surrounding communities, as far as I know, don't. Are Boston spaces any better shoveled than in the surrounding communities? That's not the impression I get, but eh, I'm a pedestrian anyway so the truth could be different.
I grew up in Revere
and then and to this day no one messed with another person's space. Just the way it is.
S. End car owners have managed to shovel themselves out without
resorting to space savers for many years. Now is the time to smother the practice in its cradle.
Is this fake news
...like the Onion?
I'll believe it when I see it.
So is the city going to do a
So is the city going to do a better job of plowing the streets? You don't really need to save a space if there aren't feet of snow and ice impeding your parking.
Marty should just hire you
Marty should just hire you since it is such an easy job to plow. Who are these amateur plow drivers leaving piles of snow on the side of road?
Who are the plow drivers
Who are the plow drivers stopping 5 feet out from the curb and never coming back around?
NOT THE SPACE SAVUHS!!!!
What next, the Sacred Cod?
savers
The problem I have is someone putting a saver in a spot they have simply moved their car out of. If you shovel the entire spot out, meaning all sides, then I'm fine with it. If you drive over the plow drift you shouldn't be entitled to that spot.
My eyes saw "South End", while my brain saw "Southie"
I'm still getting over the misplaced shock. It would've been glorious.
That's fine
The South End isn't "real Boston" anyways.
The neighborhood groups
also banned dogs shitting on the sidewalks. Are these anarchists making up their own laws?
What about reverse commuters?
This is the subject I have NEVER seen come up in space saver discussions -- if your job requires you to park in a residential area during the day (think construction and maintenance trades) just where the everloving fuck do you park if the whole street is claimed by lawn chairs? For that matter, where do I park in the 1 hr that I have to take a deathly ill pet in to the neighborhood vet during the day, without risking getting my tires slashed?
I don't want to claim anybody's "rightful" space - I PAY for a space of my own just so I don't have to deal with this in the evenings. But if my builders arrive after 9 in the winter and are invariably gone by 3pm, why should they have to park 3 blocks away and then lug heavy equipment all over the place just because some pig who's usually gone 8-5 would throw a royal conniption if they happened to catch another vehicle in a space that's otherwise empty 10hrs a day or more?
Space savers are BS and even their defenders know it.
People who are against space savers have the right idea, imho.
The people who are against the use of space-savers have the right idea, imho. If more people decided to put a stop to this kind of stupid practice, and petitioned the city to do a better job of snow removal after a huge winter storm (i. e. plowing one side of the street, and then plowing the other side of the street(s) the next day, for exanple), it would save lots of stress, wear and tear on people's nerves, and there'd be much more good will among people, there wouldn't be these tire slashings, car vandalizing or physical/verbal abuse taking place among people. I'm sure lots of people, especially those in places like Southie, wouldn't like it for awhile, but I'm sure they'd get used to the new rule and accept it, like most others would.