Parking Chairs

[woody60707]

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

Where did people park then, in their cake?

 

[Zelig]

Where did people park then, in their cake?

Driveways, parking garages, parking lots... you know, those places you can park other than on the street.

 

[mrt144]

Where did people park then, in their cake?

They must have adapted.

 

[GamezRule]

Ridiculous.

 

[Bamspeedy]

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.

?

So with cars (and chairs) on both sides of the street, the snow plow doesn't have to "come down the middle of the street and shove all the snow onto where the cars are parked"?

If I was in charge of snow removal I would just plow the chairs out of the way.

 

[Formaldehyde]

Are you under the impression that many of the streets of US cities are littered with chairs instead of stuck cars after big snowfalls, frequently made much worse by snowplows ?

 

[Bamspeedy]

Are you under the impression that many of the streets of US cities are littered with chairs instead of stuck cars after big snowfalls, frequently made much worse by snowplows ?

And that is a picture of cars parked on both sides so the plow can only go down the middle..

If cars weren't on the one side of the street the plow could remove all the snow on the one side all the way up to the curb. Thus, you just need to get your car shoveled out and then have all the room to park you could want on the other side.

 

[GamezRule]

I don't remember ever seeing a chair in a parking spot.

 

[Whomp]

I know Downtown occasionally reads The Chicago Reader and has probably read "The Straight Dope" column which answers all questions that need answering.

Here's Cecil's summary on the morality of the great "dibs" question.

Is dibs good or bad? To judge from the philosophical woolgathering, this is one of the great questions of our times. Heavy thinkers have invoked Hobbes and Locke. U. of C. law professor Richard Epstein has written a 37-page treatise (PDF btw) on the private-property implications.

Don't worry, I'll spare you. The moral implications of dibsing can be concisely summarized as follows:

• If you've spent an hour digging out a parking space, absolutely, you've got a claim on it.
• That doesn't mean you own it till the robins come again.
• Etiquette my arse — dibsing is mainly an excuse to be a jerk. If you want your own private parking space, move to fricking Winnetka.
• I'm not saying it ranks up there with the budget crisis. However, if I were mayor, once I got the side streets plowed, the Drive open, and the buses running again, I'd say: OK, muchachos, the crisis is over. Now get your crap off the street.

http://chicago.straightdope.com/sdc20110203.php

 

[Formaldehyde]

And that is a picture of cars parked on both sides so the plow can only go down the middle.

What do you think caused that area in the middle of the road with much less snow? Why do you think the snow on the side of the cars is so much deeper than that on the top of the cars?

If cars weren't on the one side of the street the plow could remove all the snow on the one side all the way up to the curb. Thus, you just need to get your car shoveled out and then have all the room to park you could want on the other side.

You do realize that alternate side parking doesn't typically mean that one side is always clear of cars, with the possible exception of your tiny city and others like it? it means that one side is clear of cars once or twice a week for a few hours so it can be cleaned. Not to mention lots of areas cancel alternate side rules when there is a large snowfall, as I already stated.

 

[Cutlass]

I know Downtown occasionally reads The Chicago Reader and has probably read "The Straight Dope" column which answers all questions that need answering.

Here's Cecil's summary on the morality of the great "dibs" question.



http://chicago.straightdope.com/sdc20110203.php

Seems kind of contradictory advice....

 

[Whomp]

Seems kind of contradictory advice....

Here's the post-script to his advice.

Eric Zorn's column in today's Trib (2-4-2011) about getting together with his neighbors to clear their block, thereby heading off incipient dibsiness, inspires me to make the following proposal. The problem with the dibs vs. anti-dibs debate is that the pro-dibs element has invested some sweat in their spots (excluding the pusballs who put a chair in a spot cleared by somebody else), whereas the anti-dibsters tend to make an ivory tower, for-the-good-of-society argument. Chicago being what it is, this gets you nowhere. The solution, and I'm volunteering the Chair-Free Chicago people to help with this, is as follows:

1. Get together with your neighbors and shovel/snowblow out as many spots as you can, or, if you're really ambitious, the entire block.
2. Put up the following sign next to each spot:
   THIS IS A COMMUNITY-CLEARED PARKING SPACE if you claim dibs on it, don't expect to see your chair again.

You see what I'm saying? You have to fight muscle with more muscle, preferably a neighborhood's worth. It's the Chicago Way.

 

[Cutlass]

What share of Chicago's population has to park on the street?

 

[Whomp]

What share of Chicago's population has to park on the street?

I don't know the answer to that but my guess is it's predominately apartment dwellers. IE people who live in 2 and 3 flat buildings where the landlord has the garage space. Too residential for a parking lot or structure.

 

[Cutlass]

I think there's a business opportunity in maybe knocking down one building a block and putting in a garage for rent..

 

[Formaldehyde]

How is that going to compete with free? You need a much higher density to justify that sort of expense. And even if you ban parking on that particular street to get people to use the garage, there will be those who will try to alternate side park in other nearby neighborhoods.

 

[Whomp]

I think there's a business opportunity in maybe knocking down one building a block and putting in a garage for rent..

Hah! Maybe on your block but it's not going in on mine.

There's no chance that would work in any neighborhood except where there are mid or high rises around or going up. It would be a miserable failure since people would still avoid paying and park free. Not to mention, it would be a political impossibility. Not even Rahm Emanuel could recover from putting up a parking lot monstrosity in someone's neighborhood. It would be like a mayoral candidate putting ketchup on a hot dog.

In fact, when asked his camp said.

Rahm Emanuel doesn’t have access to his house at the moment — it’s rented out until this summer.

“He’d love to [claim dibs] but his lawn chairs are still in his basement,” said Emanuel spokesman Ben Labolt. Emanuel supports the practice because “It’s a long-standing tradition.”

 

[Bamspeedy]

What do you think caused that area in the middle of the road with much less snow? Why do you think the snow on the side of the cars is so much deeper than that on the top of the cars?

Well, duh.

You do realize that alternate side parking doesn't mean that one side is always clear of cars with the possible exception of your tiny city. Right? it means that one side is clear of cars once or twice a week for a few hours so it can be cleaned, not to mention lots of areas cancel alternate side rules when there is lots of snow.

Alternate side parking for the street sweeper is stupid, alternate side parking for snow when there is none or the streets have been fully plowed is also stupid.

The way we do it is from 1-5 AM or whatever. The plows comes down one side and the next night will go down the other side. Only once or twice a year do they actually mark off the street so they can do the heavy duty removal of snow to clear the snowbanks that accumulated from the space between the curb and the sidewalk. While here they enforce it every day (from nov 1 to march 1) even when there is no snow, I only see the point of enforcing it after the snowfall ends until the streets are fully plowed on all sides.

You would have a point if it was just my city, but Milwaukee isn't a 'tiny city':

http://city.milwaukee.gov/mpw/divisions/administrative/parking/ParkingRegulations.htm

Racine and Madison, though much smaller than Milwaukee, but much bigger than my city have it as well.

http://www.journaltimes.com/news/local/article_9e0d2a62-df9e-11de-933d-001cc4c03286.html

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f19/rant-alternate-side-parking-enforcement-46305/

I could find several more if you want me to.

 

[Formaldehyde]

Milwaulkee ranks 39th.

It still appears to be a local thing with relatively tiny cities and likely greater snowfall than most urban areas experience. There are simply too many cars in high density areas like the Eastern Seaboard to make a daily alternate side parking strategy even feasible. That is why they use a different approach, replete with parking chairs in some areas.

Many people who live in cities don't even bother to shovel out their cars under these circumstances. They just let them sit there until the snow eventually melts.

 

[Abaddon]

I am confused why bored teenagers haven't gathered these up an torched them