Boston rednecks...over parking (appointed, apartment, rent)

[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.

[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 ..

[miu]

I agree with momoffive, if you've spent time to shovel out a parking space properly, it should be yours until the bulk of that snow melts. I hate people that don't make the effort to clean up the parking space around their car properly. I also dislike those who are too lazy to clean the snow and ice off the roofs of their cars and SUV's off.

[eevee]

did she live in that neighborhood, or was she just visiting? from what I've seen, it's usually visitors who don't know the rules or are just visiting that tend to fall victim to this tradition. I would be really PO if I spent over an hour digging out my car, just to come home to see my spot taken by someone who doesn't even live there!

if you live in the neighborhood, just mark your spot after you dig out your car like every other smart person does. unless your neighbors hate your guts, chances are they won't bother it, so long as you don't try to "trade up" (ie, steal a spot closer to your door.). I hate seeing people's cars get vandalized like that, but when in Rome...

[LeavingMA]

Just get an SUV, then you can go right over the snow mounds and not worry about cleaning your spot.

[Baltic_Celt]

I live in inner-city Boston. While no one should vandalize anything & my car has been vandalized/broken into a dozen times in as many years (probably mostly pranks), I've had nasty notes left on my car for minor territorial neighborhood "infractions", such as parking on the street outside someone's house, who didn't think my car should have been there for the 3-4 days I didn't use it, nor should I have been parking in their self-appointed spot. It's mean-spirited & childish, but nonetheless, this has happened as long as anyone can remember in overly-crowded Boston neighborhoods where parking spaces are highly competitive. I didn't say it's right, just that it's always been. What did I do the 4-5 times nasty notes have been left over the years? I moved my car & never parked there again to avoid vandalism. I'm a tiny girl. No one is intimidated by me or my little Geo, so it's one of the annoyances I endure by living in Boston.

In the past, I've seen some of the older, harsher community women standing outside in the streets in front of their homes at 3-4pm, "holding" their husbands' spots until they arrived home from their jobs, as a storm had already begun or was imminent. No, I'm not kidding. I wouldn't cross one of these old dolls, that's for sure. Some of them scare me more than the men. I've also seen older men race out of their homes to scream at some poor unsuspecting soul (usually a weaker appearing individual - several times during my life, it's been me) that they're entitled to a particular space because they've always parked there. This happens year round, not just in winter. It's a harsh reality & unfair, but I won't change it & neither will the mayor when he had city workers drive around last winter & the one before, removing chairs from held spots. The chairs went back again within minutes & it was a game of musical chairs.

It is a neighborhood courtesy that if someone shovels a portion of the street where their car is parked, most neighbors honor that & give them the leniency to park there. If you don't block off your spot when you leave it, via chair/bucket/milk crate, you loose... find another spot when you return. You also find continual "inching" wars, as each time you leave & block off your spot, the cars in front/back have inched forward securing a bit more room for themselves, sometimes making it challenging to get back into "your" spot. I've literally been blocked in, by cars right up against my front/back bumpers & had to back upwards & forwards 6-times to get in/out of "my" spot. Again, part of the territory & as I've lived here off & on over a 30-yr period, nothing's changed.

Every area/situation has it's disadvantages. I've read onsite before about suburbanites who are distressed that neighbors park in their driveways, or too near them making it difficult to navigate in/out. If you have a car, there will be issues with it, anywhere.

LeavingMA - When are you leaving? I could use your space.

Happy Holidays, everyone... VV

[LeavingMA]

People can be quite territorial of their parking spaces.

[Baltic_Celt]

Originally Posted by LeavingMA

People can be quite territorial of their parking spaces.

Quiet right.

In Re: to your earlier post, I can't afford an SUV to drive over snowbanks... but I can afford a shovel to dig into them. Perhaps Santa will bring me one... in 2015.

Happy Holidays... VV

[YoMikey617]

Parking spot markers are very childish and psychotic. And yet the childish psychotic behavior is quintessentially Bostonian just the same. If the city had any balls they would do an occasional random undercover steak out and then they would show the old hag parking spot marker vandals being prosecuted on the evening news.

Even worse than the people who mark parking spots...

You dig out your car, and then someone else entirely marks the spot you dug out as their own.

You arrive at your car to find that the owners of cars on both sides dug their cars out and threw the snow onto your car. ...but they left their markers out after burying your car. (happened to me once; I removed both markers and moved my car, effectively creating 3 new parking spots)

[LeavingMA]

The easiest thing would just be to move somewhere it doesn't snow.