A little topic of discussion for you to debate:
Is your orange cone still marking your territory or did you chuck your beach chair to free up your parking spot? 48 hours have come and gone since the last snow storm but clearly Southie residents are still saving spaces. We realize the 48 hour spot saver rule – implemented by Tom Menino as a way to keep the chaos somewhat manageable – is only a rule of thumb. The guideline is this: you can save your spot for 48 hours after a snow emergency ends. It’s not a law so really there’s no way to police it other than having a city worker remove the spot saver after the 48 hours are up. Right now, the City of Boston has bigger fish to fry with the giant mounds of snow they are trying to remove and improving our city streets.
Mayor Marty Walsh even respected the space saver in one of the many snow related press conferences. He urged neighbors to treat each other with respect and that in certain circumstances maybe 48 hours isn’t long enough. So is this one of those circumstances. After a baker’s dozen of snow storms and spending the equivalent of a week shoveling out your car, we wouldn’t dare move a spot saver? Residents are hanging on by a thread these days and it’s liable to incite a riot.
The South End implemented a ban on space savers this winter. They picked a doozy of a winter, right? So how’s that working out for that neighborhood? Exactly how you’d think – vandalism and unshoveled spots. If you can’t save your spot, why bother taking the time the shovel it? Car owners are just pulling out of the snow and leaving it. There are no neat and orderly igloos or snow barrier parking spots like in Southie. In the South End, drivers then just pull into the snow-covered spot on an angle all willy-nilly-like. It’s parking pandemonium.
An now it’s snowing again. It’s not a snow emergency situation and a parking ban has not been implemented but people are still protected the fruit of their shoveling labors with giant Barbie dolls and old vacuum cleaners. So when do we give them up? The fact of the matter is Southie is in parking crisis mode. The luxury of having your “own parking spot” clearly outweighs the 48-hour guideline. The spot saver improves the overall quality of life in Southie when it comes to parking. What do you think?
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The problem with the space savers is we have a minimal amount of parking as is right now. So people put a space saver up and go to work for 8 hrs and now that much needed spot is empty for 8 hrs and no one else can use it because someone else shoveled themselves out of it 5 days ago… Isn't making as much sense as it could, in my opinion. At this point it's just people taking dibs on a spot that's really public property. I think the South End is on to something
In the words of Rick Astley "Never going to give you up"
Then move to south end
What about leaving a note with your work hours on your space saver and allowing someone to park there while you are at work? You could ask them to kindly replace the spot saver when they leave and leave their info incase you come home early. I know it is risky but it is just a thought.
Since I was away when the first blizzard hit in January, I was unable to get a spot and I've been unable to park within a mile of my house for a month now. I fear there is no end in sight and figure people will keep their spot savers until the parade at this point (you give an inch and people take a mile). There has been a car parked in a cross walk for the last month (without a ticket) in front of my house and a car with South Carolina plates across the street (no tickets). Situations like this, I am just grateful my house has limited damage and my roof is still attached. Trying not to think about or dwell on the parking issues for my health and sanity.
I believe the enormous mounds of snow should be removed prior to having markers taken out of spots. Parking is limited in South Boston and there are many cars that owners haven't even attempted to even start to shovel them out. There 2 cars completely covered in front of my house and the house next door, don't you think these owners have marked parking spots but not shoveling them out? Nobody seems to be concerned about this or how long will they sit there. So I'm searching for parking when I arrive home from work due to following the parking ban and not parking on the snow emergency routes because I wasn't lucky enough to have a spot on a non-snow emergency route when the parking ban(s) where put in place while these cars haven't moved since the end of January.
On people holding spots while at work. My son is fortunate enough to have a spot. He shoveled for hours in all types of weather & temperatures, throwing snow onto a snow mound that was at one point 15 ft high or carrying it about 20 ft away from his car and creating our own snow farm in our front yard. When I arrived home the other day from work, there was a construction van in his spot who was about to leave. I nicely asked if they would remember to put his marker back in the spot and they not only said they would, they thanked me for allowing them to use the spot. So spots are being utilized while people are at work.
My concern is more on the one-way streets, in particular East 8th Street between Dorchester St and Old Harbor St. I've been traveling East 8th St to work since the one-ways have been implemented. Since schools re-opened this week, there are school buses driving from Dorchester St to Old Harbor St to pick up children. I don't understand why they are ignoring the clearly posted one-way signs on poles on each side of East 8th St when they are taking the right and crossing the other side of Dorchester St to make the turn onto East 8th St. These buses are putting many people's lives at risk by not abiding by the one-way routes.