pinhead neighbor alert

[opabinia]

I was just angrily confronted by one of those people who put their trash barrels out in the street in front of their house in order to keep people from taking "their" spot.

(From his *roof*, where the porch would be if he had one)
"Hey! Did you move that barrel?"
"That barrel? Yeah."
"Would you put it back where it belongs?"
"It *is* where it belongs."
"Don't give me that jackass comment. Show some common courtesy."
"Nobody on this street is entitled to any particular spot."
"Don't give me that jackass comment."
"We all have to deal with the same thing, and you're not entitled..."
"Don't give me that--"
(I turn and walk away, which makes him yell louder.)
"HEY!!!"
(I leave him yelling on his roof.)

Comments

[tk7602.livejournal.com]

hopefully your car will be ok when you get back. people get keyed, tires slashed, etc.. over that sort of thing :-/

[lepidosiren.livejournal.com]

My car is no showpiece, and I know where he sleeps.

[lepidosiren.livejournal.com]

Oh, and my car is actually far down the street, buried in snow. See, somebody had the balls to park in my (and anechoic's, and mrzero's, and fusion_waste's...) space in front of the house, a spot that space-stealing bastard certainly didn't shovel out...

;)

(I had a good reason to move the trash barrel for somebody -- I wasn't just being all righteous and shit.)

fucking medford

[mvoid.livejournal.com]

only living in medford did i witness such bullshit. people would shovel spots and then lay claim to them... let me know if they mess with your car. if so i'll come and spraypaint 'STUPID FUCKER' on their house.

Re: fucking medford

[jasonlizard.livejournal.com]

Somerville does this as well. Cambridge doesn't (for the most part).

Re: fucking medford

[eeyrg.livejournal.com]

Southie is worse. TONS worse...

The apartment I had lived in for years with [Bad username or site: captain grim @ livejournal.com]. He did move a chair once. And his car got promptly trashed. The funny thing is that if you call the local police & tell them you've been bitched at by neighbors threatening you or your car on a street that has no permits or no reserved spots all they do is remind you of that and tell you if your car or any other damage is incurred, come down and file a report. But only if you witness it.

Re: fucking medford

[eeyrg.livejournal.com]

course, that's supposed to be captain_grim.
heh. need more coffee.

Re: fucking medford

[eeyrg.livejournal.com]

one more, they also would put things out in spots BEFORE the snow, if they left the house. Just in case.
or the people who were at home (like siblings, room-mates, wives, husbands) and had someone in the house with a car, they'd block of an empty space (or sometimes two). Just at the threat of snow!

[aidenraine.livejournal.com]

/me gives you the thumbs up.

[arcanus.livejournal.com]

you should've said "funny, that's what i was going to say." ;)

in chinatown in chicago, i would never move a barrel, bench or whatever the fuck they put there. getting your car keyed would be a blessing compared to a smashed window.

i hear they're pretty territorial in dorchester too.

[lepidosiren.livejournal.com]

in chinatown in chicago, i would never move a barrel, bench or whatever the fuck they put there. getting your car keyed would be a blessing compared to a smashed window

Right. That's where you hammer concrete nails into the asphalt and snip off the heads*. Can't tell they're there until you pop your tire on 'em...

[arcanus.livejournal.com]

what you need to start doing is stealing the cones, chairs, or whatever people put out there. don't even take "their spots." :)

[eeyrg.livejournal.com]

hell yeah. see my other comment above!

[vicissitude.livejournal.com]

sorry ruben, but aside from the guy's attitude and yelling, i have to say i disagree with you. i get irritated when people do this when we get a little snow, but when i spend about 6 hours shoveling snow to keep my car from getting buried in a car crowded neighborhood, i don't want to spend an hour looking for parking when i take a ride to the grocery store. for that matter, i don't want to have to park a mile away period when i've spent that much time shoveling. when there are no longer 7 foot high, 10 foot long piles of snow taking up potential spaces i'll stop putting a chair in my spot when i drive my car. everyone in my neighborhood (including the state rep for Jamaica Plain who lives across the street from me) follows this unwritten rule with little argument.

[damiel.livejournal.com]

If you neighbors in JP have such an agreed-upon unwritten rule, and everyone is happy to abide by it, then all the power to you guys (you guys!). However, I fail to see the controversy in this case, or that this is a matter to agree or disagree with: the streets do not belong to lepidosiren's neighbor. Yes, it may suck having to unearth your car from a pile of snow only to let go of a spot, but that's your choice. You can leave the car there if the spot means so much to you (I realize this may not be for a long term if the city wants that side of the street cleared regularly for cleaning, etc.). As a driver you know you face these inconveniences.

[mvoid.livejournal.com]

street == public
public == don't put your crap in the road

no matter how many hours you spend shovelling it does not entitle you to a private space on a public street.

[jasonlizard.livejournal.com]

If everyone shovels a space out for a car, then everyone has a place to park. It's about community. Either your for it, or your for yourself.

[vicissitude.livejournal.com]

i think this is the way it works on my street which is more "community" than simply dog eat dog "public".
We all live on this street. We all waved and smiled to each other when we were out shoveling during the blizzard and we all happily leave each other's spaces be. Unlike some of my neighbors, i will only block off a space when there are fewer spaces because of piled up snow because that is the real issue to me. If you spend hours shoveling in your community, you should get a spot somewhere. I don't mind shoveling a spot for my neighbor if my neighbor shovels a spot for me. But I am damn well getting a spot in my area if I've shoveled one.

[lepidosiren.livejournal.com]

I dunno... Everyone has to deal with the same snowfall. Everyone has to dig their car out. Everyone faces the possibility of having to park far from their front door. A person's property ends at the sidewalk. If my car is not in a parking spot, then that spot should be available for use by somebody who needs it right now, especially if parking is scarce. I think that's the fairest use of limited resources, and it's also the legal thing to do.

[vicissitude.livejournal.com]

every neighborhood has a different dynamic and in general i agree with the idea of leaving a spot for people who need it now. people have blocked off spaces several times already this year and this is the only time i've done it. the reality of where i live is that no one is even driving down my street unless they live here and i really don't have a problem with residents getting a space closer by and visitors having to park further away.

[liza.livejournal.com]

I've never even heard of such a thing, since in the city no one has any expectation of getting a parking space even remotely near their home (unless they pay for a reserved spot).

The way I see it, you have three choices: you have a car and you pay extra for parking or a place with a driveway, you have a car and you put up with shoveling and street parking, or you don't have a car and you put up with some extra inconvenience of not owning your own vehicle.

The street is public property, end of story.

where did you guys grow up?

[saturniidae.livejournal.com]

I've got to agree with Rich. If I've busted my ass shoveling my car out of a foot of snowfall plus the wall from the plough, I'm damn well putting a barrel in the space. I would not be pleased to find the space occupied by one of my lazier neighbors or their overnight guests. Note that this does not apply to any snow you can just drive over, and is generally not done in anticipation of snow, but rather in the aftermath. I grew up in Somerville, and this has been the unwritten rule as long as I can remember. It's unfortunate that some people abuse it by putting stuff out to save spaces "just in case" or whatever. My father was a plumber, and he rarely had a problem moving people's barrels and "borrowing" their spaces to do a job during the workday, so if someone actually really *needed* a space, it shouldn't be a problem. As Rich also pointed out, it is a matter of community and neighborhood, but I do not disagree with the practice. I think the two hours of work I did making the parking space useable does give me a temporary right to it.

Re: where did you guys grow up?

[lepidosiren.livejournal.com]

Um. To get my car out, I had to shovel. To get my car in, I had to struggle. Nevertheless, the property I'm in possession of ends at the sidewalk. If everyone on the street agrees to a barrel policy, great. I do not. Several others on this street do not. While I'm driving around, I'm not using "my" parking space. Someone else can and should use it. They probably had to shovel their space out, too, and maybe someone else parked in front of their house.

Barrel policy only works effectively with 100% compliance. One bad apple, or one philosophic difference, and it's toast. :)