City Parking

I've been having several discussions with people regarding the saving of parking spots lately. Personally, I stand firmly in the "Don't save spots" camp, along with, from my crappy guess based on the friends and co-workers I've talked to, about 60% of people. Many, including myself, seem to be pretty fervent about their believes on the matter one way or the other.

It was all academic until the end of this week when I unwisely got myself into a mini battle-by-note with a spot saver who claimed a spot that I had been using, *after* I started using it.

I could try and explain the whole saga, but instead I'll just mention that there was a note flame war in which I was called a jerk, and which I hope to end with the following letter:

I'm sorry that you are offended at where I chose to park. My note the other day was probably more inflammatory than it should have been. I had a frustrating day earlier.

However, I will be clear in saying that claiming public spots is illegitimate, the big reason for this is that makes the parking situation in the city worse than it would otherwise be.

Despite this, as a gesture, and not as a duty, I intended to avoid the (only) spot that had been shoveled out (the one I previously parked in has not been shoveled), except that there was a car in the space I had been taking, and I had been blocked from several other parking spaces by tractor trailers at the same time that I was required at work at a specific time for a meeting. But this is not meant as an apology nor do I feel bad for parking there.

Let me explain: I too live in the city, and I too have cleared away spaces to park on more than one occasion these past two weeks (as have many, many people). The difference is that in each instance that I have cleared snow to park, I have never attempted to save that spot for myself. The reason is that city parking only works because of the principle of "hot racking". People move around inside the city. When they do they have to find parking at their end points. If people were to save spots (regardless of the weather) at 2 end points (home and work) it would double the number of spots necessary to allow those people to park. For this reason saving spaces is always a problem unless there is an overabundance of parking (which there is not). When parking is reduced for whatever reason (unmanageably large piles of snow from snow plows and surrounding shoveled out spots) it becomes even more of a problem. You may have spent a lot of time clearing a spot, but most of us have had to do the same. The snow came down on all of us we all had to dig our selves out. But each one of us who saved a spot reduced the number of available spots in the city by one made the "hot rack" parking situation worse.

Yes, not saving a spot may mean that occasionally you will have to drive around for a few minutes and possibly park a few blocks away, but you will always be able to find a spot as long as they have not been claimed by people who are not using them. This is precisely because, with few exceptions, everyone had to dig themselves out at some point and because people have different schedules. Me, living in the Southside, I can almost guarantee you that this happens to me way more often than you, regardless of the weather. It's just an annoyance of city living.

I must also mention as a point of order that the space that I parked in on Mon, Tues, Wed and Thursday was never cleared, and in fact I had to shovel it a bit to get my car in and out each day. The spot in front of it wasn't cleared until wednesday, and on Monday neither spot even had markers attempting to save it.

So I hope you don't consider me a jerk, and I apologize for being rude in my first note. But I do not apologize for taking the spot, and I hope you understand why.

Now this letter is overkill for such a small matter, but it lets me get out my frustration and thoughts about the idea in general.

Anyone have a rebuttal?