Winter parking BS. (Chicago: deal, build, vandalism)

[DrSloan]

Originally Posted by glass_of_merlot

What do you mean "if I could work a shovel"? What are you?

He's the Shovelnator
Unlike the Terminator, this cyborg was built to plow.
Be on the look out for the next model on the block called the S-1000

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by Drover

Snow followed by 36 to 48 hours of temperatures so cold that salt won't melt it away is about a once-in-a-decade event if that. It also didn't help that we got two feet spread over the course of a week. We were better off when it all fell at once. Following "the big one" in 2011, they had the main arteries cleared within 24 hours and were already hitting the side streets.

I got a good illustration of how efficient the city is at clearing snow early Monday morning when I was driving around the NW side. I was driving up Cicero Avenue and as soon as I crossed Devon into Lincolnwood, the streets went from "slick but mostly clear" to complete snowpack. Some of the side streets were still almost impassible. Same went for Skokie. You could literally follow where the city limits were and when you crossed from suburb to city by how well the snow was cleared off the streets.

Many city services leave you wondering where the hell all of our tax revenues are heading, but clearing the roads after a snowfall is one thing the city does with impressive efficiency. Nobody wants to risk being the next Bilandic.

A buddy of mine saw a Chicago plow truck driver taking a break earlier today - in Niles. Maybe the bastards are two-timing us.

[MassVt]

Originally Posted by Chi-town Native

A buddy of mine saw a Chicago plow truck driver taking a break earlier today - in Niles. Maybe the bastards are two-timing us.

Well, the suburbs need some love, too..

This is the Gospel according to Chet. Amen

[Chi-town Native]

Humboldt Park woman, sick of 'dibs,' shovels entire block | Voices

A side bonus of this awesome experiment is please note that thanks to her tweeting, you can actually see exactly how long it takes to shovel the spots.

This is no bodybuilder or 18 year old athlete, and she seems to have had no problem shoveling at a FAR faster rate than the "it took me over an hour!" line we hear so much.

[jdiddy]

Originally Posted by Chi-town Native

Humboldt Park woman, sick of 'dibs,' shovels entire block | Voices

A side bonus of this awesome experiment is please note that thanks to her tweeting, you can actually see exactly how long it takes to shovel the spots.

This is no bodybuilder or 18 year old athlete, and she seems to have had no problem shoveling at a FAR faster rate than the "it took me over an hour!" line we hear so much.

Wow, that's great. She didn't even use a very big shovel, so to your point, people need to stop bitching about shoveling parking spots. It's not that hard (for able-bodied people).

[MassVt]

Originally Posted by Chi-town Native

Humboldt Park woman, sick of 'dibs,' shovels entire block | Voices

A side bonus of this awesome experiment is please note that thanks to her tweeting, you can actually see exactly how long it takes to shovel the spots.

This is no bodybuilder or 18 year old athlete, and she seems to have had no problem shoveling at a FAR faster rate than the "it took me over an hour!" line we hear so much.

If it takes someone an hour to simply shovel out his car, then that's more of a reflection on the shoveler than the amount of snow. And then you have these types who are very quick about playing the "dibs" card after such a pitiful effort...

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by MassVt

If it takes someone an hour to simply shovel out his car, then that's more of a reflection on the shoveler than the amount of snow. And then you have these types who are very quick about playing the "dibs" card after such a pitiful effort...

I think people wait too damned long. Yeah, if you tried to shovel out your car after all of the snow froze into ice it probably took ages (or at least felt like it). But that's also a testament to the fact that a lot of people who claim they desperately need these parking spots don't actually need to be driving in the first place.

I dunno, the longer I live here the more annoyed I get with the myopic focus we have on making driving easier. It's a big city, if you want a car, you just need to suck it up sometimes.

My personal beef this year related to that would be the countless businesses in my neighborhood alone that plowed or shoveled out the driveways for their customers, but didn't shovel the actual sidewalks between those curb cuts.

What is wrong with these people? It's bad for business #1, but it's also illegal. Businesses are required to keep sidewalks clear.

Oy. This is also an oldie-but-a-goodie. A voice from reason from Dick Mell of all people!

City of Chicago calls to end “dibs”: the act of putting furniture and junk on streets : The Global Unanimocracy Network

[Drover]

Originally Posted by MassVt

If it takes someone an hour to simply shovel out his car, then that's more of a reflection on the shoveler than the amount of snow. And then you have these types who are very quick about playing the "dibs" card after such a pitiful effort...

How long it takes to shovel out can also be significantly impacted by whether a plow has come through, and which way the plow blade was angled when it did. At least half of my time shoveling this weekend was spent digging out the berm that the plows shoved up against my car and across the entrance to our driveway.

[EduCat0R]

I just moved to Chicago in October, though I've worked in the Chi for 3 years now, and it's been pretty frustrating so far. I ruptured my ACL in December and refuse to do this garbage. As far as I can tell, the dibbers are the laziest of the bunch, as regular folk go around and dig out spot after spot after spot. I don't think I would be disgruntled if I had two working legs (as I'm not a little wussy) but damn this ends tomorrow, at least for the chairs in front of my house. They just expect to keep the spot till what, there's no snow at all? LOL Funny thing is most of the garbage probably comes from the garage, where their car should be.

We even had some asshat snowblow his and his neighbors snow into the middle of the street. What a ****! It's 2014 dig your car out and go! The streets were finally pretty easy to navigate now that the rain has come, and I drive an s10 which has been an utter nightmare so far. When can we expect this session of dibs to be over?

[quigboto]

Originally Posted by Chi-town Native

Humboldt Park woman, sick of 'dibs,' shovels entire block | Voices

A side bonus of this awesome experiment is please note that thanks to her tweeting, you can actually see exactly how long it takes to shovel the spots.

This is no bodybuilder or 18 year old athlete, and she seems to have had no problem shoveling at a FAR faster rate than the "it took me over an hour!" line we hear so much.

Great story, thanks for sharing.
What an amazing young lady!