Pittsburgh Chairs (to rent, living, bus)

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by trlstreet

We have many lazy people on our street who would rather poach a spot than shovel out their own driveway and park there.

We have a handful of lazy people on my street too. What's funny is they all seemed to come home at the same time. Sunday night around 9pm, I heard lots of tires spinning out. I went outside and discovered that there were four cars causing traffic jam because they couldn't find somewhere to park.

Other neighbors came outside too. We started asking people where they lived and they pointed to houses with driveways that had two feet of snow in them because they weren't snoveled.

As a group, the neigbhors started solving the problem for these four lost souls. Neighbors dug out 10 foot sections at the end of two driveways so they could just barely get their cars off the street. Another neighbor pulled his car into his garage so the other two cars could park in his driveway until they shoveled their own driveways for their cars.

Seriously, we did respect that they must have been stuck elsewhere for the weekend and were only returning on Sunday night. But why they didn't think to get out of their cars and start shoveling is beyond me.

Many might find it strange that our neighbors work so well together on these problems. We view it as a necessity for the safety of everyone in the neighborhood. About 10 years ago, an ambulance couldn't get to a house of a lady who had a stroke because people were parking on the street instead of shoveling out their own driveways. As a result, we take the parking in our neighborhood very seriously during a storm.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Incidentally, as the discussion flies back and forth, it is really seeming to me like Boston has the right idea. I don't think this practice should generally be allowed, but I do think it makes sense for something like 48 hours after a major snow emergency.

Originally Posted by AaronClark

I'm going to preface this by saying I am not from Pittsburgh. I am a transplant.

When the streets are clear of snow completely:
No....parking chairs are ridiculous.

When there are 20+ inches of snow on the ground and you spent hours digging your spot out:
Go for it. Put that chair out there. You earned it.

I completely agree with both of you.

I'm not a proponent of saving parking spaces during nice weather. But I feel it's almost necessary during a snow storm.

Someone could die of a heart attack shoveling out an extra parking space because someone took the one they already dug out.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Hopes

But why they didn't think to get out of their cars and start shoveling is beyond me.

To be fair, we've been trained under normal circumstances to get our cars parked and out of traffic as soon as possible. I agree that in these circumstances you may have to adopt a different mindset, which may well involve leaving your car in the middle of a street while you shovel out a space, but I think it is understandable that people don't immediately adopt that attitude because they have been trained otherwise.

[hnsq]

Originally Posted by Hopes

During a snow storm, I don't think anyone should need to save a parking space. People should just honor that someone else dug it out.

I think this is more of a problem in areas where there are more rental units.

People aren't as respectful of their neigbhors because they don't have a long term committment to getting along with them.

In neighborhoods were most houses are occupied by homeowners, residents are more respectful of where they park their cars.

OK Hopes, so where am I supposed to park? If every single spot is off limits, should I just leave my car in the middle of the street?

I have a snow shovel in the trunk of my car. I have spent a lot of time digging in the last few days. That is just city life. I am not going to 'honor a space' because my neighbor is too lazy to walk more than 20 feet after parking. Saving a space is showing a blatent disregard for anyone's wellfare but your own. Again - an a*shole thing to do.

[BrianTH]

And to pull some thoughts together--I think the parking-chair practice may also help people adopt the right collective approach to these situations. Again, we are not accustomed to the idea of taking our time to shovel out a space before we can park, but in these circumstances that is often what people should be doing: getting out the shovel and clearing another space, rather than taking one which has already been cleared. If everyone did that the first time or two they were looking for parking, presumably more spaces would be cleared more quickly, and then we could get back to normal parking rules.

Edit: As an important caveat, obviously this "clear a new spot" mentality won't work if you literally run out of clearable spaces in the relevant parking zone. But my sense of how this rule should work is that once all the clearable spaces are cleared, then the parking-chair practice should be void and it should be back to normal parking rules.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by hnsq

OK Hopes, so where am I supposed to park? If every single spot is off limits, should I just leave my car in the middle of the street?

You don't have a driveway or a parking space in front of your own house?

If you live in an apartment building, I feel sorry for you. Maybe it's time to consider home ownership and move to an area where

Originally Posted by hnsq

I have a snow shovel in the trunk of my car. I have spent a lot of time digging in the last few days. That is just city life. I am not going to 'honor a space' because my neighbor is too lazy to walk more than 20 feet after parking. Saving a space is showing a blatent disregard for anyone's wellfare but your own. Again - an a*shole thing to do.

You're missing the point that shoveling snow is very dangerous for some people.

Your making someone dig out an extra parking space could literally kill them.

[SlurmsMcKenzie]

Originally Posted by hnsq

OK Hopes, so where am I supposed to park? If every single spot is off limits, should I just leave my car in the middle of the street?

I have a snow shovel in the trunk of my car. I have spent a lot of time digging in the last few days. That is just city life. I am not going to 'honor a space' because my neighbor is too lazy to walk more than 20 feet after parking. Saving a space is showing a blatent disregard for anyone's wellfare but your own. Again - an a*shole thing to do.

If indeed every single spot is taken and you have no choice, I wouldn't get too heated. Its more the people who will take my space rather than clear out another one who irritate me.

Its not a matter of laziness, more of principle. I spent 15+ hours this weekend shoveling my space, my neighbor's space, their sidewalk, and the public alley the city couldn't get to. I think we are all just tired of shoveling!

[hnsq]

Originally Posted by Hopes

You don't have a driveway or a parking space in front of your own house?

If you live in an apartment building, I feel sorry for you. Maybe it's time to consider home ownership and move to an area where


You're missing the point that shoveling snow is very dangerous for some people.

Your making someone dig out an extra parking space could literally kill them.

lol, I DON'T have a parking space in front of my own house. I live in a house without a driveway (not an apartment) and I dug out a space over the weekend. Because I am actually considerate of other people, I didn't save the space. It was taken when I got back so I took a different space.

It could kill someone? How many snow shoveling deaths are there every year? Give me those numbers. You are using that as an excuse to win this debate. If someone feels that strongly about not having to shovel more than one space then walk, take the bus, or pay for a private space. It is a public street, not your own private parking lot.

You say someone could die from shoveling? What about someone having to park half a mile away from home because some jacka*s decided to save a space and someone has a heart attack walking that far in the cold? Don't try to win this debate by playing the sympathy card because it works both ways!

I walked over half a mile to get to my car this morning because people like you can't stand to stay out in the cold long enough to park farther away from their house. It is unbelievable how self centered your attitude is.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by trlstreet

Its not a matter of laziness, more of principle. I spent 15+ hours this weekend shoveling my space, my neighbor's space, their sidewalk, and the public alley the city couldn't get to. I think we are all just tired of shoveling!

Exactly! We had to do our entire street. There was three inches of ice under all that snow. We had to crack it with ice breakers. It was back breaking work.

That's something hnsq might not realize.

If it weren't for the people living on the street where he is stealing spaces, he might not have been able to even drive down that street to steal the space to begin with.

[South Range Family]

I grew up on a large chunk of land, and I have always owned houses with several acres. Saving spaces with chairs, and not having your own driveway was something new to me, and I don't like it.

When I lived in Beaver County, I would cross the Ambridge bridge, and make a left at the library to get back on 65. The road along the library is narrow, and you have to weave around the parked cars when other cars are coming at you. There were a few people in the row houses that weren't happy with just blocking the road with their cars, they would also put out lawn chairs, and orange cones with brooms in them. This was year round.

I was driving a gas company truck with a large steel bumper that stuck out for mounting a winch. It was built like a tank. I can tell you that I always made it a point to destroy every chair, and every blockade in the road at every opportunity I had. Those people have a lot of nerve blocking a public road, because they were to stupid to buy a house with a driveway.

If anybody on here knows those people in Ambridge, tell them that I said they can cram those chairs where the sun doesn't shine, and then give them a twist.