Posted February 7, 2011 - 3:43pm by Well Community
Every year it's a hot debate, but in the days after a blizzard, it can mean war — We're talking about "saving" parking spots on Chicago streets after you shovel them out. Does the shoveler have "dibs"?
At least one group of Chicagoans, doesnt' think so: http://www.chairfreechicago.org/
But what is your take?
Comments (5)
http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/The-312/February-2011/If-You-Didnt-Call-Dibs-Remember-Where-You-Dug/
"Saving your parking spot with a folding chair or a cone or a box of diapers may be part and parcel of winter here, but the whole practice strikes me as a very un-Chicago thing to do. It is basically saying to your neighbors, the people with whom you are presumably on pleasant terms the rest of the year: “I don’t trust you, so I’m going to screw you before you screw me. And if you screw me anyway and park in ‘my’ spot, I’m ritually entitled to turn your car into a Toyota-sicle.” Call me idealistic, but that’s not how neighbors ought to act."
February 11, 2011 - 10:50amCall me naive, but I kind of like the "good karma" feeling of leaving my spot unclaimed. You never know the circumstances of the next person who will use it... maybe you've really helped to make someone's day better. Granted, my neighborhood has some go-to spots where I can always find parking, so even when I'm circling around, I never feel "desperate." I could imagine I may feel differently about reserving a spot if I lived in a more congested area?
February 10, 2011 - 1:54pmI agree with the two previous posts. I would not save my spot or steal someone else's spot. I also think after a week passes you shouldn't be saving your spot any longer. I've actually seen people save spots that they didn't dig out themselves. There will always be a disagreement on this issue among many others.
February 9, 2011 - 1:18pmThis is a really tough one for me, because I can see both sides of the story. You start getting desperate when you're driving around looking for a spot and all you see are saved spots.
Ultimately, I would not park in a spot that had a chair or other placeholder in it. However, I have never saved a spot that I've shoveled myself out of in the decade+ that I've lived in the city. I feel bad for the next person that comes around looking for a spot...why not have mine if I'm gone for the next 10 hours?
February 8, 2011 - 10:49amI agree with Sweet Jenise. I can't help feeling like all the buckets and chairs lining the street are kind of an eyesore (and a reminder of how much snow there really is out there!). But it isn't really the "saving" spaces that bothers me, it's the stories you hear about people getting in fights and retaliating against eachother that are disheartening (Like hearing about a woman who used her snowblower to block in a car that had moved her chairs).
February 8, 2011 - 11:33am