Neighbor's Parking Chairs are Driving Me Insane (Pittsburgh, Erie: rental, new house)

[gg]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Although all those places may count as fairly dense by suburban standards, there is a big difference between a place like Point Breeze--where there are a decent number of garages and generally much bigger lots which means more street spaces per residential unit--and Bloomfield.

That said, I also think local residential churn explains why you don't see as much of this in the South Side anymore, or the tighter parts of Shadyside, and so on. In fact, I'd bet if you could track it, you would find less of this in the parts of Lawrenceville with more newer residents than the parts with fewer, and so forth.

Sharpsburg is VERY dense and there are some places that you will see "the chair". Parking in Sharpsburg can lead to fights. No kidding. Point Breeze doesn't have a parking issue, but Shadyside does and you don't' see the chair much there. Parking is very tight in Shadyside on many of the streets. Sure not on Devonshire or Westminster, but parts of College and around Walnut, it can be very hard to park at any hour.

It is an interesting study, but I suspect the more educated people, won't put some chair in front of their homes. The less educated feel they have that right.

[airwave09]

Originally Posted by Hopes

But you chose to buy a house where there was no parking, off street or on street. That was a choice you made.

Are you even kidding trying to use this argument hopes? The street is for public parking, nothing more even needs to be discussed other than that.

[mrgonk]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

Sharpsburg is VERY dense and there are some places that you will see "the chair". Parking in Sharpsburg can lead to fights. No kidding. Point Breeze doesn't have a parking issue, but Shadyside does and you don't' see the chair much there. Parking is very tight in Shadyside on many of the streets. Sure not on Devonshire or Westminster, but parts of College and around Walnut, it can be very hard to park at any hour.

It is an interesting study, but I suspect the more educated people, won't put some chair in front of their homes. The less educated feel they have that right.

This thread turned far more anti-chair than I expected, especially given its vaunted place in the pantheon of Pittsburgh traditions.

And that's what I think really makes up the difference - tradition.

I don't think it's much of a secret these days that Pittsburgh has a burgeoning young population (at least, compared to the last 45 years, when it had basically no young population) in the city, and young Pittsburgh is very, very different from old Pittsburgh. Obviously, that probably covaries a lot with education - Young Pittsburgh consists overwhelmingly of college-educated technocrats, young artists, and professionals in the medical, education, research, technology and energy fields. Old Pittsburgh was built out of work-a-day joes who overwhelmingly held blue-collar jobs and were, relatively speaking, vastly less educated.

I think with the old-timers there was a stronger tradition of self-governance that supports stuff like "respect the chair," where young Pittsburgh probably feels less connected to or involved in the lives of the people physically near them. I happen to know a lot of my neighbors, and on my block most people seem to know most other people, young and old. But I'd bet that force was stronger when it was a bunch of blue-collar families who all owned in the 1940s and 50s.

For the record, these guys are renters (I'm an owner). One's old enough to be old, but I don't think he's an old-school neighborhood guy. The other guy is also a renter who literally moved in like a month ago and immediately started putting crap in the street to mark his spot. My guess is he's not much of a Pittsburgh city veteran and is just doing it because he sees his neighbor doing it successfully.

Hence my little crusade here. I didn't like it when it was the one guy, but my one confrontation with him revealed that he's an old-ish crazy dude, and as long as it was just him, I wasn't pleased, but it wasn't worth it to make a conflict out of it. But now it's spread to his neighbor, and I'm afraid of that spreading further because people think if they don't reserve their spot someone else is gonna take it. If that happens, A) I'm screwed because I don't have parking in front of my own house (neither does anyone on my side of the street) and B) Frankly, our block is going to end up looking like it's full of the kind of ignorant yinzers that give the people of this city a bad reputation (to whatever extent it has one) in the first place. Maybe Old Pittsburgh cherishes that vibe, but Young Pittsburgh lives here too - and we hate it.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by mrgonk

B) Frankly, our block is going to end up looking like it's full of the kind of ignorant yinzers that give the people of this city a bad reputation (to whatever extent it has one) in the first place. Maybe Old Pittsburgh cherishes that vibe, but Young Pittsburgh lives here too - and we hate it.

Thank you!

[Debbie1125]

Originally Posted by PeterRabbit

Respect our traditions. They are unique to Pittsburgh.

Maybe it's a Pennsylvania tradition? I live in Philadelphia and the same thing goes on in just about every neighborhood.

Every winter especially, you'll hear about fist fights and even people getting shot over saving a parking spot. Chairs seem to be the most popular item to use. Although I did see an old washing machine used once.

[jay5835]

Originally Posted by mrgonk

For the record, these guys are renters (I'm an owner). One's old enough to be old, but I don't think he's an old-school neighborhood guy. The other guy is also a renter who literally moved in like a month ago and immediately started putting crap in the street to mark his spot.

Well, since you're an owner, why don't you mark the space off with a chair?

Oh, wait. No one owns the parking spaces.

[mrgonk]

I'm going to just go out and start planting flags that read "I NOW OWN ALL PARKING SPACES EVERYWHERE" like every 15 feet or so. In all caps, too.

[airwave09]

Originally Posted by mrgonk

I'm going to just go out and start planting flags that read "I NOW OWN ALL PARKING SPACES EVERYWHERE" like every 15 feet or so. In all caps, too.

Do it and take a picture lol, that would be hilarious!

[airwave09]

That wikipedia article about the parking chair is great:

The practice is often most effective when accompanied by the threat or actual occurrence of a "look of consternation" from a vigilant, often elderly neighbor who "keeps watch" in their neighbor's absence.

The scene that brought up in my head was funny as shiite

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

Actually, you got Brian first disagreeing with you. Hence, Brian and I are in agreement.

But you were one I was expecting.