Winter parking (car, street, people)

[Attrill]

Originally Posted by jdiddy

It's a sensitive subject.

I typically don't mind it if we have a real snowstorm, maybe 8 or more inches, where its actually work to shovel your car out of its spot. Then its okay to claim it with a chair for at least that day, while others have the chance to dig out their spots too.

Staking claim to a spot for longer than that, or with less significant snowfall, and you're being an *******.

Yeah, I generally try not to discuss it much because people seem to have strong feelings on both sides of the subject. I grew up in Boston (where it's done as well) and don't feel to strongly about it at all.

In general I understand both sides of it. After a big snowstorm about 10 years ago I ended up having to park about 20 minutes from my house. There was an open un-shoveled space in from of my house that I spent about 2 hours digging out (it got plowed in again about halfway through digging it out). I put a couple chairs in the space and walked back to my car. When I got back someone had taken the spot. After almost 4 hours of searching for parking spaces, digging out spaces, and trudging around in the snow I understood why people get kind of crazy about saving spaces. That said, It blows my mind that people still are saving spots weeks after a snow fall, and some people take things way too far.

It can get really crazy - I know someone who had their windshield smashed in and the car filled with snow after taking a saved space. I had someone scratch obscenities into my car after I parked in an open space. I think someone else had removed junk saving the space and driven off. The person saving the space must have thought I had done it.

[aragx6]

WOW ... Snow makes people grumpy

[jessiegirl_98]

Originally Posted by Attrill

I had someone scratch obscenities into my car after I parked in an open space. I think someone else had removed junk saving the space and driven off. The person saving the space must have thought I had done it.

That's the part I hate. Am I parking in a spot where someone else had moved the junk? Then you may be retailated against!
Again, I didn't see it as much (or at all) where I lived, but I saw it in other areas of the city.

[Fishtacos]

Originally Posted by aragx6

WOW ... Snow makes people grumpy

You're not in the Lou anymore kid. It's a different animal.

[Attrill]

Originally Posted by jessiegirl_98

That's the part I hate. Am I parking in a spot where someone else had moved the junk? Then you may be retailated against!
Again, I didn't see it as much (or at all) where I lived, but I saw it in other areas of the city.

Yeah, it does get dangerous and dumb. The first year I had my license I yelled at a woman in Boston for taking my space. She started crying saying she never would have taken it if she had known, offered to move her car, etc.... I felt like an idiot about it, apologized profusely, and relaxed a lot about the saving a space thing after that.

I generally don't drive much at all, but when I am looking for parking after a large snowfall I avoid the really clean spaces with chairs/objects on the snowbanks nearby.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by jessiegirl_98

Residential. I generally haven't seen it on the north side, but when I worked at Mt. Sinai, it was a lot of fun to try to find a parking spot with all the chairs!!!! I wished there were signs like "returning at 5" on the chairs, so I could just park there during work hours :-)

It still happens on the north side; the only places it doesn't happen is places such as Lincoln Park or East Lakeview where parking is so scarce that nobody is willing to move their car for any reason because they know the spot will be taken when they get back even if they try to "save" it -- the kind of places where nobody moves their car in the summer, much less the winter, unless it's absolutely necessary. Get away from the lake where parking is looser and the "save the spot I shoveled" nonsense happens on the north side too. I saw it all the time when I lived in Andersonville, for instance. In fact it once caused a spat between my neighbor and me that nearly landed her in jail for the night.

[scarletneon]

wow, if only homeowners were so careful about shoveling the sidewalks in front of their homes as they were about taking a stupid parking spot seriously.

once again, glad I don't have a car.

[jdiddy]

Originally Posted by supernerdgirl

wow, if only homeowners were so careful about shoveling the sidewalks in front of their homes as they were about taking a stupid parking spot seriously.

once again, glad I don't have a car.

So true!

[Chicago60614]

Here's what I've observed.

1) If it snows less than 3-4 inches, people don't mess with the chairs and stuff to hold places, and if they do people get annoyed with them. It's almost...cheating just to keep your spot. If you can get in your car and drive away without much effort, than you don't get the spot.

2) If it snows more than that (and the more it snows the more this applies), than many people will throw something out in the spot once they get it all shoveled out. The more it snows and the colder it is, hence the more you have to work to get your car out, than the more you will see people trying to save spots.

3) After say 3 days of a snowfall, give or take, most spots will have been cleared out and people will be driving a lot more since the roads will have been plowed and the re-plowed snow against your car will finally make its way off the street for good. Once this happens the chairs usually tend to start disappearing since normal parking situations are coming back into reality.

4) At some point maybe 5 days after a snow the officials will finally tell people to "let go" and give up their chairs and spots. At some point you need to free up a street for normal functioning, or people would use the opportunity to hog spots they've cleared forever just to have a "permenant" spot. Normally the mayor will make an announcement that police are going to start removing crap from the city streets.

The chairs are illegal to be placed in the street, but the "common law" of the city has tolerated it up to a mutually agreed upon point where it just needs to stop. That depends on how bad the snow was and how cold it was/is, how clogged the streets are.

This really only happens for between 0 and 2 snows a year. Don't expect some 6 month situation with snow and chairs all over. The snow here tends to melt away within a week or two, at least on the hard surfaces. It's not like we get huge snowstorms more than once or twice a year on average. I think I lived here for two full winters before I ever saw my first chair in the street. It really depends on where you live. If you live in some dense area of Lakeview/Lincoln Park, it's much less tolerated than some quiet side street on the northwest side or south side. If you live on the northwest side where parking is easier and there's not much movement, people won't care if you tag your spot for a few days. If you live on Diversey and Surf where it takes 40 minutes to find parking on a good day, people will have no patience to see spots sitting there empty with chairs in them when they've been searching forever. Then it's just accepted that you live in parking hell anyway, and you need to deal with it - no one owns a spot.

[Costa Rica Chica]

Originally Posted by jessiegirl_98

Residential. I generally haven't seen it on the north side, but when I worked at Mt. Sinai, it was a lot of fun to try to find a parking spot with all the chairs!!!! I wished there were signs like "returning at 5" on the chairs, so I could just park there during work hours :-)

Ugh, I can't believe people do that! Hey, anyone need a free lawn chair? If someone left some crappy wooden furniture in a spot, you could remove the furniture and leave a sign thanking the person for the free kindling. (You may find your car damaged upon return, though.)