Neighbor's Parking Chairs are Driving Me Insane (Pittsburgh: construction, legal)

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by raubre

I thought you were making the opposing point. My fault. (ITA)

Not a problem!

[mrgonk]

Originally Posted by LIRefugee

So how many chairs are out today?

Crazy Guy has his out, as does New Neighbor. Not a single one on the rest of the street. Just not enough snow. I'm going to wait until after the snow melts to start taking their stuff away in case they have legitimate cause to use it in the near future. AM I NOT MERCIFUL

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by mrgonk

AM I NOT MERCIFUL

[SteelCityRising]

I had an experience this evening while working that really rattled me. I was preparing to make a delivery to Harcum Way, a narrow street in the South Side Flats, near South 30th Street. I parked my car in an unmarked on-street parking space that was across the street from our customer. A red pick-up truck parked two cars behind mine. As I got out of the car I noticed a blue-collar-looking middle-aged man standing in the middle of the street staring at me after he had exited the truck.

As I started slowly towards the customer's front steps and felt unnerved I asked him "Can I help you with something?" He retorted "You're in my parking spot!" in a rather accosting tone. I replied "I'm sorry. I didn't see any reserved parking sign and figured it was just on-street parking." He replied "Don't get smart with me, boy!" I once again repeated myself and asked him specifically to show me where the parking was "reserved" for his exclusive use. He muttered something unintelligible towards me, so I just continued across the street at this point to make my delivery. While on the porch (still being watched, mind you) I asked the woman at her front door if the spaces across the street from her were "reserved" for anyone. She seemed puzzled and said they weren't.

I got back into my car without saying another word to that moron and left. Here's a prime example of some of our city's "finest" illegally claiming on-street parking spaces as being their own. This isn't the first time this has happened to me in South Side, either; there must be something in the water in the 15203.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

I got back into my car without saying another word to that moron and left. Here's a prime example of some of our city's "finest" illegally claiming on-street parking spaces as being their own. This isn't the first time this has happened to me in South Side, either; there must be something in the water in the 15203.

I suspect South Side residents are more territorial because they have to fight many area visitors for parking places.

[Squeamish]

This whole thread is a classic example of a culture clash. Typically, somebody goes to a different country where things are done a different way and suddenly he/she is wrong and mad about it when he/she has been born and raised to think his/her way of doing things is correct and the new country's way is wrong. Legality is one thing, but I highly doubt anyone could rightfully say that one or the other side of this argument is "right" or "wrong" except for those who blindly assume anything that's legal is "right" and anything that's illegal is "wrong". This is the exact same thing as somebody going to a different country and getting mad at things being done differently; only this time it's at a local level.

Face it, whichever side you're on, you're neither ultimately right nor ultimately wrong. It entirely depends on who you ask and what their life experiences have been.

[MeinGlanzendMotorrad]

People who use parking chairs are wrong because they're not your spot. Simple as that.

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by Squeamish

...those who blindly assume anything that's legal is "right" and anything that's illegal is "wrong".

Law & order be damned lol

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Originally Posted by Squeamish

This whole thread is a classic example of a culture clash. Typically, somebody goes to a different country where things are done a different way and suddenly he/she is wrong and mad about it when he/she has been born and raised to think his/her way of doing things is correct and the new country's way is wrong. Legality is one thing, but I highly doubt anyone could rightfully say that one or the other side of this argument is "right" or "wrong" except for those who blindly assume anything that's legal is "right" and anything that's illegal is "wrong". This is the exact same thing as somebody going to a different country and getting mad at things being done differently; only this time it's at a local level.

Face it, whichever side you're on, you're neither ultimately right nor ultimately wrong. It entirely depends on who you ask and what their life experiences have been.

While I respect your opinion and insight, I think your view is also an example of Pittsburgher's own tendencies to pick and choose what laws they follow and which ones they completely ignore (and then attempt to justify it). I think it's pretty clear cut: public streets does not equal private parking. Others may disagree, but in the eyes of the law they are indeed wrong.

[BrianTH]

I appreciate the importance of local norms, but this issue ultimately depends on important considerations of land-use and parking policy. Specifically, as the core area continues to revitalize, land in the core area will become increasingly valuable. People who want to use land in the core area for reserved parking spaces--a relatively low-value use--should at least have to pay for such rights, and in competition with what other potential land-users are willing to pay. Of course these particular pieces of land are already allocated to parking, but to the extent people are trying to use them for reserved parking, without having to pay anything, they are trying to sidestep this policy of people having to compete on fair terms for the exclusive right to use land in the core area.

And whether or not you want to call that "wrong" in a moral sense, it would be bad policy.