We all agree that people who try and get one over on their fellow residents by using a spot saver after a non “Snow Emergency” snowfall are not very good neighbors.
There are several degrees of violation of the Unofficial Rules for Saving a Spot after a Snow Storm.
There is the preemtive spot saver who puts out a cone/chair before the snow is finished falling. We understand how inconvenient it is if you have to go to work or to a party or wherever but you can’t “hold” your spot until you get back – that’s just bad manners.
There’s the non-shoveler. You must shovel. You can’t just plow out of spot and put a barrel or chair there.
Then there’s this person. The person who sees a shoveled spot – shoveled by someone else who knows the “No putting a spot saver out when there isn’t a Snow Emergency” rule and leaves it unmarked- and then this person puts a cone, chair or barrel and claims it as their own.
This might be the worst offender. This exact situation happened in Jamaica Plain and a neighbor called the person out on it. This was captured by the Instagram account Space Savers of Boston:
So a resident shoveled out a spot and left it unmarked (No Snow Emergency) – then discovers the above traffic cone in said spot. So the resident decides to leaving the following note in the cone.
(We couldn’t have written it better ourselves.)
To the violator’s credit, they did write back:
Still….poor excuse for not being a good neighbor but he/she does say they will pay it forward.
A similar situation happened in Southie too.
Just because there is an empty shoveled spot with no marker, it doesn’t mean you can claim it as your own. In addition to vandalism, mean notes, heated arguments, and using a spot saver when a Snow Emergency hasn’t been declared is how we will get space savers banned for good in the City of Boston. Let’s try and be good neighbors during the most stressful season of living in Boston – winter. We have the unofficial rules to make things a little easier and without rules, there is chaos.
Maureen Dahill is the editor of Caught in Southie and a lifelong resident of South Boston sometimes mistaken for a yuppie. Co-host of Caught Up, storyteller, lover of red wine and binge watching TV series. Mrs. Peter G. Follow her @MaureenCaught.
I am an original Southie guy from the old days. I no longer live there because I can’t afford it. But back in the good old days when Southie was Southie, that ever would have happened because either you or your tire would be flattened. Ahhh…the good old days !!
AMEN! Another Southie ex-pat from Delessio Court lamenting the gentrification. It’s hard to explain “spot saving ” to anyone in LA LA land. As Edith used to squeal, “those were the days”.
What does “awaiting moderation ” mean ? A PC review by a committee of apparatchiks?
We still take the tires!