Parking Chairs

[RebeccaChambers]

What are they for?

 

[Silurian]

Sitting on or to stop people parking where you have dug your car out of the snow

 

[GinandTonic]

How are the chairs not removed by drunks and turned into (drunken attempts at) instillation art? Or just piled up and burnt. Trying to grab public land had had a bad rap since the enclosures act.

 

[warpus]

Okay, so my first thoughts about this whole thing were pretty negative, in terms of people being able to do this

but then I saw this

that I can understand

 

[Whomp]

If only he could spell bury. I like this guys take when someone stole his shovel the other day. Oops.


Link to video.

 

[FriendlyFire]

Being from Minnesota, I would just be totally passive-aggressive and cover their car in snow.

Just return the damm shovel ... and clean up your dog droppings.

 

[Zelig]

If I was in Chicago, I would purposely drive over all of the chairs along my route.

 

[woody60707]

Here is the thing the pictures aren't showing, and the people complaining about this need to understand; there is plenty of parking on these blocks, to anyone who wants to spend 3 hrs shoveling a spot.

It's just selfishness to take spots that someone else dogged out. Nothing is being denied or taken away from you that you would of otherwise had if someone didn't shovel that spot. Does anyone ever think "how rude someone didn't shovel a parking spot for me. But yet magical some people think "how rude someone put chairs in a spot they shoveled".

Spoiler :

This doesn't apply to a block that is all cleared of snow. In general, denying a public spot just so you can use it at your leisure is jerkish

 

[Silurian]

If the snow has melted can you take them to the police station and hand them in as lost property

 

[Theige]

What's the downside to moving the chairs and parking?

Waking up to your windshield being smashed

 

[illram]

It is amusing that nothing brings out the worst (or the best?) in people than parking angst.

I have thought about this and my conclusion is that whoever took your spot dug themselves out elsewhere. Theoretically if no one gets to reserve a spot then there is always another spot. The system in my opinion has too many other holes as well: how long does your hour of manual labor entitle you to the spot? If it doesn't snow the following night, do you get to park your chair there again? Or is it only yours for the day you dug yourself out?

Europeans: do you find similar hilarity ensuing over parking spots? Or are your cars all small enough to fit everywhere fine and dandy?

 

[JollyRoger]

It is amusing that nothing brings out the worst (or the best?) in people than parking angst.

I have thought about this and my conclusion is that whoever took your spot dug themselves out elsewhere.

And if you drive away from your dug out parking spot, are you digging out a new parking space for yourself when you park somewhere else or are you just driving around and not parking anywhere at all?

 

[Cutlass]

Yeah, in the building I live we've lost several parking spaces to the snow piles. And the tenants are stealing each others places and screaming and threatening each other.

 

[Fuzzz]

Europeans: do you find similar hilarity ensuing over parking spots? Or are your cars all small enough to fit everywhere fine and dandy?

Major roads in cities are cleared of snow. In less crowded places there are more parking spots or driveways, so you can pretty much park where it is legal to.

We are also brought up with a collectivist mind, the whole concept seems a bit weird to me. I think this would be frowned upon down here, although I might be able to understand it; the weather conditions are slightly different in Chicago and from what I've seen on the pictures the roads aren't as much cleared from snow as they are down here.

 

[mrt144]

Yeah, this definitely has a gold rush/ claim jumper mentality to it.

 

[GinandTonic]

Europeans: do you find similar hilarity ensuing over parking spots? Or are your cars all small enough to fit everywhere fine and dandy?

Every parking spot is taken and it never really snows enough to make "digging out" a meaningful problem in London. The most we ever really get is a foot of snow which doesnt really require digging out a car-shadowed spot. Presumably people who cant park in the conditions just dont drive.

TBH when it snows hard driving in London gets much, much better. The micro-climate means London always gets much less snow than the commuter-belt, so the commuters cant get in to a far greater extent than Londons road/ parking capacity is reduced. With only the locals driving 20 it's really relaxed to drive and park. Plus I've got an underground garage

 

[Kal'thzar]

Europeans: do you find similar hilarity ensuing over parking spots? Or are your cars all small enough to fit everywhere fine and dandy?

People tend to use cars less. Or at least in Edinburgh the roads were often empty. And companies/Supermarkets clear the snow from their parking spaces.

Perhaps the public transport infrastructre just means its not as much of an issue (although they suffered in the weather).

 

[Formaldehyde]

The biggest problem in the US is actually due to the alternate side parking in the cities. The snow plows come down the middle of the street and shove all the snow onto where the cars are parked.

 

[Zelig]

The biggest problem in the US is actually due to the alternate side parking in the cities. The snow plows come down the middle of the street and shove all the snow onto where the cars are parked.

My former city simply banned street parking at night during the winter.

 

[Formaldehyde]

There would be a revolution if Americans in the big cities couldn't have their usually completely unnecessary private transportation without having the pay for a private garage.

I did the alternate side parking game in Manhattan for a half year after a girlfriend moved in with me and brought her car with her. I was all for leaving it at her mother's house in Fort Lee, less than an hour away by bus, but she just wouldn't hear about it. At first, I made her do it all herself. But that didn't last long. When we moved to a neighborhood with virtually no nearby alternate side parking, I told her it was out of the question. Either pay for a garage space or leave it at her mom's. She finally complied and left it in New Jersey.

I personally think that all private vehicles should be banned from Manhattan. It would drastically free up the streets, and riding a bicycle would become a lot more practical. There could even be entire lanes devoted to their exclusive use.