I don’t get it, though.
Where was their car before they shoveled out the space?
Why aren’t they parking in the space after they shovel it out?
How long does etiquette say they can reserve an open space they shoveled out!
The problem with that, it seems to me from someone who has no experience with this, and therefore no bias, is that it is wasting a space to park if they shovel it out but then leave it open for hours on end.
That’s like cheating.
That presupposes no one else would be able to have dug it out.
I’d think, yes, you dig it out, it is your space, but you have to park in it.
I am not talking about space stealing where, say, someone digs out a space and before they can move their car over to park in it, someone takes it. That is wrong.
It’s a public street, it’s fair game. If these whiners want a spot, they should park in their garage, driveway or rent a spot.
I don’t get it, though.
Where was their car before they shoveled out the space?
(Parked on the side of the street and covered with snow.)
Why aren’t they parking in the space after they shovel it out?
(They do. The chair, usually stashed in the trunk, is left behind in the cleared spot as a place-holder when the car is moved to go to work/store/etc.)
How long does etiquette say they can reserve an open space they shoveled out!
(This gets tricky. Usually snows in Boston melt down pretty quick so things return to semi-normal within a week. The past month as been anything but normal with snow pilled on snow and no melting in-between. The chair thing will go on until the first good thaw, whenever that occurs!)
The problem with that, it seems to me from someone who has no experience with this, and therefore no bias, is that it is wasting a space to park if they shovel it out but then leave it open for hours on end.
(Any chair-reserved spots I’ve ever seen are always in the residential neighborhoods; not the tourist areas and certainly not on the main street. Every urban residential street in Boston typically settles out so people have their expected parking spot in more or less the same place; usually in front of their house or nearby.)
That’s like cheating.
(Technically, reserving a public parking spot with a chair is not legal, but after John Q Public just shoveled the 4th 12” snow pile off his car, it would likely cause a riot if the Police started cracking down on the chairs. It might also lead to more of the alternative, and legal action, of simply letting your car get buried in snow on the street until Spring comes.)
That presupposes no one else would be able to have dug it out.
I’d think, yes, you dig it out, it is your space, but you have to park in it.
I am not talking about space stealing where, say, someone digs out a space and before they can move their car over to park in it, someone takes it. That is wrong.
“Where was their car before they shoveled out the space?”
Most snowstorms hit at night, so their car was probably buried in that space until they dug it out.
“Why aren’t they parking in the space after they shovel it out?”
They have jobs.
“How long does etiquette say they can reserve an open space they shoveled out!”
That depends, but sometimes until the next melt, sometimes just a couple days, until there are more available spots dug out. When the snow doesn’t melt quickly, people do tend to abuse it and try to hold the spot forever.
“The problem with that, it seems to me from someone who has no experience with this, and therefore no bias, is that it is wasting a space to park if they shovel it out but then leave it open for hours on end.”
Well, these are in residential neighborhoods. There is only a high parking demand at night, when everyone gets home from work. During the day, you’ll find open spots all up and down the street.
“That presupposes no one else would be able to have dug it out.”
No, they just didn’t actually do the work to dig it out. Think of it as “sweat equity”. If someone wants a spot, they can always dig another out themselves, there are plenty of buried spots around.