Boston rednecks...over parking (Cambridge, Somerville: housing, condo, rent)

[LeavingMA]

Originally Posted by smarty

Please note that I'm not defending the people who are holding the spots.... However, Have you guys ever live in Boston with a car but without guarantee parking spot?

Can someone tell me why it took my friend 1 hr to find a resident parking spot in Boston during the summer when he has a resident parking permit?

I think the problem is there are more cars than parking spots.

I know what it is like. And their are lots of spots that look like you would be able to park there, but can't because of some strange sign that won't let you.

Boston being an old city was never designed or built with the amount of cars people have now in mind. The one nice thing with the newer upcoming cities is they have designed and allowed for lots of cars. Although who knows if this will still be enough for the future.

[eevee]

Originally Posted by smarty

Please note that I'm not defending the people who are holding the spots.... However, Have you guys ever live in Boston with a car but without guarantee parking spot?

Can someone tell me why it took my friend 1 hr to find a resident parking spot in Boston during the summer when he has a resident parking permit?

I think the problem is there are more cars than parking spots.

yup, lots more cars than spots, esp. when you factor in the triple deckers (god forbid each apartment has 2 cars and there are, for example, 12 triples on a block. you do the math-no street can hold that many cars) and other multi-families. then you have to deal w/ your neighbor's visitors who drove up and parked in your spot, or the person whose car wasn't even parked there during the storm but moved in on your spot afterwards. there will never be enough parking in Boston, so people make due the best way they can. I've very rarely seen problem w/ the claiming of spots, never witnessed any vandalism (like I said before, seems like the major problems comes when someone either doesn't know the tradition or purposely breaks it). Mumbles tried getting rid of the tradition and there was backlash, so it looks like it's there to stay, at least for a while longer

oh, and it's not just a Boston/Southie redneck thing either. I'm in Chicago and have seen quite a few chairs/trash barrels/crates after it snowed here. I'm sure lots of towns that have lots of snow and limited parking have this issue

[charolastra00]

It's not even just Southie and JP- I've seen it done in nicer areas of Cambridge!

There is a serious parking issue in Boston where so many people have cars that they rarely use or only use on weekends. Over the summer, I had a sublet right on the Cambridge/Somerville border. It was a townhouse complex with several rows of rowhouses and mine happened to be on the road right off of the main road. The townhouses each had 2 bedrooms so while several were young grad students at Harvard with their families, most were either 2 or 3 roommates. On my row of houses, there were maybe 6 or 7 apartments and at LEAST that many cars. Plus the cars of the people across the street and the construction workers across the street. When I needed to move out at the end of the summer, I left a note on the car that normally parked in front of my door (whose owner lived 3 rows back) politely asking the owner to temporarily park elsewhere for the 3 hours it would take to move my stuff out and pack the car.

The morning my mom came with the tanker rental SUV to move me into my dorm, the car was still there and the closest parking was 3 blocks away. With about 15 boxes and 3 suitcases on the hottest day of the summer, that wouldn't work. It's ridiculous that there is NOTHING else, especially in an area so close to public transportation (15 minute walk to either Porter or Harvard and right next to a bus stop). Luckily the neighbors were home and had no problem going for a drive during that time, but my mom had to drive around lost in Boston while I knocked on every door in my complex!

Hopefully zipcar will fix some of the problems. I know lots of people getting rid of their cars because they only used them to drive out of Boston on occasion.

[rogercobb]

Originally Posted by neil0311

It always made me crazy when I lived in MA, every time I'd hear about this moronic "unwritten law" that the City of Boston let people get away with every winter. It seems that some people think that just because they parked their car on the street and shoveled it out after snow that they own the spot for life and can mark it with a chair. I'd never heard of anything like that growing up in NYC where most people park on the street. It just seems outrageous.

Well it seems that a newcomer to the city got her car vandalized because she dared to park on a public street despite a lawn chair in her way.

http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO69175/

If you want private, reserved parking, buy a house or rent an apartment with a driveway or garage. Newsflash...the public street doesn't belong to you and just because you park on it and have to shovel it after it snows doesn't change that fact. The act of shoveling doesn't give you license to vandalize. Mayor Mumbles and his minions should be ashamed and should put a stop to this nonesense.

Just curious. Why did you include "Boston rednecks" in the thread? It sounds like you're targeting whites as being the only people that behave in this fashion. A pretty stupid thing to include and I don't think its a problem for people to reserve a place if they've done all the work shoveling.

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by rogercobb

Just curious. Why did you include "Boston rednecks" in the thread? It sounds like you're targeting whites as being the only people that behave in this fashion. A pretty stupid thing to include and I don't think its a problem for people to reserve a place if they've done all the work shoveling.

Actually, race never entered my mind. I don't think that way, although it's true that many in Southie and Eastie are Irish and Italian and many of the folks who act this way are white (as am I).

What I meant was the mentality that its OK to slash tires and act like an a-hole because you think you own the street. Redneck behavior is what I was describing.

[mapl]

Originally Posted by momoffive

sorry, as someone who was born and raised in ma i have to agree with the chairs!! after shoveling for hours in the bitter cold just to have someone pull in and take my space just does not seem right, sorry. Most of the people shovel a space in front of their own home. Usually no garages or driveways so the road is all they have. I believe they can have chairs/barrels or whatever and can hold their space for 48 hours (?).. just my humble opinion ..

I have to respectfully disagree here. I, too have lived here in the Bay State pretty much all my life, and I think that that whole idea of space-saving and the "You shovel it, you own it" mentality is childish. Menino just made a good compromise when he said that in the event that big winter storms with heavy snowfall hit, people should be allowed to reserve their space for 48 hours after the storm at the most. I support this compromise. Any length of time exceeding 48 hours after a storm at the most for reserving one's parking space is ludicrous ....and unnecessary. Resorting to screaming, lying, vandalizing someone's car, or physically assaulting someone just simply because s/he took a parking space is unacceptable, stupid, immature and vicious. The people who act like that are like spoiled children who throw temper tantrums because they've just been told that they can't have the new toy(s) that they want, or not to have too many candies.

Doing away with this practice is probably the best idea. One doesn't have to reside in one of the more trible neighborhoods in Boston, or anywhere for that matter. Cities and towns in the Commonwealth should be doing a better job of snow removal after a big snowstorm. That, I believe, would allieviate many of the problems that invariably come up with parking after a big snowstorm hits, because people wouldn't feel the need to be so protective, territorial and defensive about "their" parking spaces. These are public streets--nobody owns them. Better snow removal from streets in cities and towns here in the commonwealth, including Boston, Cambridge and Somerville are what people should be fighting and petitioning for, imo.

[momoffive]

Originally Posted by mapl

I have to respectfully disagree here. I, too have lived here in the Bay State pretty much all my life, and I think that that whole idea of space-saving and the "You shovel it, you own it" mentality is childish. Menino just made a good compromise when he said that in the event that big winter storms with heavy snowfall hit, people should be allowed to reserve their space for 48 hours after the storm at the most. I support this compromise. Any length of time exceeding 48 hours after a storm at the most for reserving one's parking space is ludicrous ....and unnecessary. Resorting to screaming, lying, vandalizing someone's car, or physically assaulting someone just simply because s/he took a parking space is unacceptable, stupid, immature and vicious. The people who act like that are like spoiled children who throw temper tantrums because they've just been told that they can't have the new toy(s) that they want, or not to have too many candies.

Doing away with this practice is probably the best idea. One doesn't have to reside in one of the more trible neighborhoods in Boston, or anywhere for that matter. Cities and towns in the Commonwealth should be doing a better job of snow removal after a big snowstorm. That, I believe, would allieviate many of the problems that invariably come up with parking after a big snowstorm hits, because people wouldn't feel the need to be so protective, territorial and defensive about "their" parking spaces. These are public streets--nobody owns them. Better snow removal from streets in cities and towns here in the commonwealth, including Boston, Cambridge and Somerville are what people should be fighting and petitioning for, imo.

i agree with you re people should petition for better snow removal in and around the city. I also think people should have 48 hours to "claim" their spot. If/when we get the "big" snow storms (common for this year) then menino should loosen up and give 5 days (or something). Again, if people would shovel out their own spot and all spots on the street are shoveled out, i don't think we would have this much of a problem...my BIL plowed/shoveled out his car for three hours...had to move it so he could shovel under and get a clean area all around. As soon as he did this (his car now parked in the middle of a street as he was just finishing his spot....a women comes pulling into his space and my BIL was like ... what are you doing???? i just shoveled for 3 hours and my car is right here and now you think you can just pull right in??? I just don't get people....why would you think the space is yours when someone just busted their butt for 3 hours?? No one believes they "own the street"...they just cleaned out a spot...give them a break and go clean out your own spot... imho, of course....

[mapl]

Originally Posted by momoffive

i agree with you re people should petition for better snow removal in and around the city. I also think people should have 48 hours to "claim" their spot. If/when we get the "big" snow storms (common for this year) then menino should loosen up and give 5 days (or something). Again, if people would shovel out their own spot and all spots on the street are shoveled out, i don't think we would have this much of a problem...my BIL plowed/shoveled out his car for three hours...had to move it so he could shovel under and get a clean area all around. As soon as he did this (his car now parked in the middle of a street as he was just finishing his spot....a women comes pulling into his space and my BIL was like ... what are you doing???? i just shoveled for 3 hours and my car is right here and now you think you can just pull right in??? I just don't get people....why would you think the space is yours when someone just busted their butt for 3 hours?? No one believes they "own the street"...they just cleaned out a spot...give them a break and go clean out your own spot... imho, of course....

I still believe that any length of time in excess of 48 hours after a snowstorm for reserving one's "private parking space" on a given street is overkill. One Boston City Councilor had it right when he told people that they can expect whatever furniture, etc., that they put out to reserve "their" parking space to be moved, either by the city or by a neighbor, and not to be selfish. Mayor Menino's doing the right thing, imo.

[LeavingMA]

Last I checked the streets and parking spots were public, so any "ownership" is fairly ridiculous.

[mapl]

Originally Posted by LeavingMA

Last I checked the streets and parking spots were public, so any "ownership" is fairly ridiculous.

Absolutely spot-on, LeavingMA. Thanks.