Chicago Snow Brings Parking Woes! Is it Legal to Save the Space You Dug Out?
Monday, December 7 marked the first day snow grabbed hold of Chicago city streets. And today, exactly one month later, we're getting hit again with predictions of up to 12 inches by Friday afternoon.
With each blast of wintry weather you may notice a curious behavior that coincides with the heavy accumulation of snow. Whether you have been a participant or simply a witness to this behavior, most likely you have seen "spot marking" along the city streets. Every year it happens we are left to wonder "is this legal?" followed by the notion that "my neighbor's doing it, and I just spent 2 hours chipping ice and removing snow with a broken shovel, so why shouldn’t I?"
According to a letter Alderman Richard F. Mell (33rd Ward) sent out to his constituents last winter, this phenomenon began circa 1930. That's 80 years of lawn furniture reservation! In his letter Alderman Mell states that this practice is "clearly forbidden by existing Municipal Codes, has been tolerated for certain pragmatic reasons”. The letter goes on to say, “Unless a police officer or authorized agent of the city actually observes someone placing markers in the parking spaces, a ticket cannot be issued. In addition, the Department of Streets and Sanitation does not have the manpower to remove all the impedimenta from the streets." In other words, it's illegal, but much like J-walking it’s a big shoulder-shrug for city officials.
In his letter, Alderman Mell recognizes the risk that people face by removing the "impedimenta" or junk themselves. He recounts a large range of retaliation that has been recorded over the years (none of which sounds inexpensive to the brave souls who moved the junk to park in a spot reserved by the owner of said junk). He also states that with the growing number of cars per household and the finite amount of space the city has for parking he is at a loss for how to combat this phenomenon.
Given this knowledge, it seems that the choice is being left to the citizens of our snow covered city. What are your thoughts Chicago?
Posted at 11:10AM Jan 07, 2010 by Bob Billimack in General Comments[0]
