Ahh, winter.

[moominmolly]

[Poll #672301]

If you're lucky enough to not live in a city where this happens, pretend you do for the purposes of the poll.

Comments

[contessagrrl.livejournal.com]

I never used to do it, until this past winter. I hate doing it, but I'm unsure what else to do.

As you know, I do live in the city where the parking can be limited. The problem with my neighborhood is the day commuters. Our neighborhood is not resident only and there's no parking meters. This means many people drive in and park in our neighborhood to take the T. Normally, not a problem. However in the winter when the number of parking spaces are cut in half due to snow banks, it becomes a big problem. After the second time last winter that I literally could not find parking after work in any walking distance and was forced to park literally ON a corner, in an snowbank, waiting to get hit, I decided I'd had enough. I would be one of those people.

The problem is the day commuters (for whatever reason) don't come back until 7-7:30pm, two hours after I'm home.

But really, I hate that I do it. And it's really OK with me for other people to hate that I do it, too. It won't stop me, however.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

This year, I'm struggling with hating the whole practice in 90% of cases^[1] but having a young baby, making it hard to shovel out a new spot whenever I park.

[1] I think that your case, and the cases of people who for one reason or another just can't/shouldn't walk that far, are much clearer. You get to do it.

[contessagrrl.livejournal.com]

That's a tough spot to be in, IMO, since you generally dislike the practice.

Probably not surprisingly, I think when you have an infant and don't always have someone else there to care for her while you shovel a new spot, it's perfectly acceptable to hold your space.

We're hoping to buy a house in the next year, and parking is pretty much on the top of my list. I either want at least one off-street space, or a neighborhood with plentiful parking.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Heh -- whereas I figure that I'm able-bodied and just too lazy to do the work of arranging time to shovel extra, and therefore I don't get to do it.

Are there people with off-street parking who tend to park on the street? Where do all the extra cars *go*, in the winter? Our municipal lot has about eight or ten spots in it. :/

[cutieperson]

my neighbors to the left have a driveway that comfortably fits two cars. they almost always only have one in it, and the other on the street.

[signsoflife.livejournal.com]

In Arlington, legally, every living unit is required to have a dedicated parking space; also, parking overnight is generally illegal (though temporary exceptions can be made.) However, often those parking spots are "tandem" -- one car parks behind the other, and you can't get out without moving your neighbor's car. Or, you may have more than one car in a unit -- like my next door neighbors -- and are therefore more or less guaranteed to have tandem parking. So a lot of people, the first thing they do in the morning is pull their cars out of their driveways to put them on the street.

[niqui.livejournal.com]

The problem with my neighborhood is the day commuters.

that was also the case the only time i lived in a neighborhood where i participated in this practice -- we were about a block from the Ravenswood Metra stop. heaven forfend people pony up the couple bucks to park in the actual commuter lot when they could park for free in our residential neighborhood. :/

i'm much happier now that i have a lot to park in so i don't have to worry about the moral dilemma of whether or not to participate in spot-saving, since i really hate the practice but sometimes it's really impossible to park. i think the part i hate most about the practice is that in certain neighborhoods you're basically required to take part in it, if you drive at all.