I had to run an errand for my wife Christine today as our first storm of the year wrapped up. One of her clients is an absentee landlord and it was reported that his rental unit had no heat. Nice. Why does it always happen in the middle of a snow storm? Nevermind, I know why…it’s not profound, just a pain in the ass that heating systems always go kaputt at the least convenient time.
It’s like they’re mocking us. “How you like me now?” the client lives in NH so it’s just a favor to go check out the place for him. (That’s just the kind of operation we run here.) Anyway, I enjoyed my walk across town. It was beautiful and people were coming out to walk their dogs and shovel. I reminded everyone I passed that was shoveling to remember to bend their knees. They all seeded truly appreciative. The snow was frenzied and occasionally defied Mother Nature herself to reverse direction and hang out inside my hood.
The walk brought to my mind the longstanding Boston feud. Oh, yes. We have one too. I thought I was leaving all that behind when I left the Ozarks. Nay, Beantown has it’s own version of The Hatfields & The McKoys. Back home it was The Yokums & The Gideons. Who knows why these people were really feuding but the rumor has it it was about land. Specifically a piece of land with a silver mine. I’m not sure it ever produced more than they required for the fillings in their teeth but nonetheless, that’s the story. Oh yes, and how can we forget the Sneetchs or even better, the Zax?
Yes Boston is no exception. Ours is a battle over real estate as well. It has divided friends, neighbors, even lovers. I’m curious what you think? If you shovel out after a snow storm – do you have right to the spot indefinitely? Do you prefer everyone respects the public way? Here’s a couple of differing points of view. Leave yours in the comments…
“The King of parking space savers”
Elvis space saver
By Globe Staff
Elvis Presley may be gone, but a bust of the King lives on — as a parking space saver.
Reader Jon Titone took this photo on P Street in South Boston, in response to a recent Globe story about the proliferation of space savers that violate the city’s 48-hour rule.
Without adequate enforcement, the space savers remain. That means law-abiding drivers must find another place to park or move the savers — which are often much less creative than Elvis — and live with the fear that their car could be keyed or their tires slashed.
According to the City of Boston’s website, space savers are only allowed after the declaration of a snow emergency, which hasn’t occurred since Dec. 18. Most drivers, however, use space savers after digging out from any plowable snow.
The enforcement of the 48-hour rule resides with city sanitation workers on regular rounds. Trash pickup occurs once a week, which means that at best space savers will be tossed once every seven days. Garbage pickup in some neighborhoods, however, occurs prior to 9 a.m., with sanitation trucks making the rounds well before drivers have left their parking spots.
That means some step stools and buckets can remain virtually undisturbed, saving a parking space from now until Opening Day on April 6.
Dot Joyce, a spokeswoman for Mayor Thomas M. Menino, said earlier this week that any parking space savers that remain on the street should have been removed long ago. The city, however, has not received enough complaints about space savers from a specific neighborhood to necessitate the dispatch of a special public works crew to collect the cones, chairs, and shovel-and-box combos, Joyce said.
The mayor’s office urged people to report illicit place savers by calling the 24-hour constituent services hot line at 617-635-4500.
Have an stubborn space saver on your block? E-mail a picture here with a precise description of the location.
After Wednesday’s snowstorm, the 48-hour rule was reset. By Friday or Saturday, the Globe will be looking for additional illicit parking space savers.
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Then check out this great thread on the Yelp forum. Very entertaining stuff. The “no spot saving” crowd is definitely outspoken here.
Another fun article is on Universal Hub called:
Whatever you believe is the best plan of action is your business. All I have to say is that on my street there’s no space saving. We all dig out immediately and deal with the cards we’re dealt just like every other day. Sometimes we help shovel each other out and have a few laughs while we’re doing it. If you put out a lawn chair on my street – it’s toast. Bring it on.
