Mayor Nutter took a second Thursday to opine on the very eastern-seaboard tradition of claiming a parking spot once you've dug out your car. Snow-going Inquirer reporter Troy Graham caught Nutter during a snow-shoveling photo ops in West Philly.
One reporter asked Nutter about the tradition of marking parking spaces with furniture and other items; the lawn chair is a favorite placeholder, followed by milk crate, traffic cone, garbage can. Nutter laughed and said that was something that had been going on in the city since before he was born.
“Look, if you spent two hours digging your car out … ultimately that has to be something respected by the community,” he said.
We would have expected the old Nutter to note that the practice is illegal, then announce a six-month study of the lawn-chair phenomenon, and how it affects traffic patterns, the economy and delivery of services to determine whether a change of the law was in order.
The new scofflaw Mayor is probably in line with a majority of Philadelphians, though certainly at odds with the Police Department's official policy.
"Officially, you cannot put a chair, milk crate, your grandmother…Officially, it’s not your spot, and you can’t save it officially," said Philadelphia police spokesman Ray Evers, whose fondness for the word "officially" translates to: We're not enforcing it unless a fight breaks out. Or until the retaliatory brick lands in your front seat.
Philly is not alone in this practice. Check out takes from Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Boston.
Click here for Philly.com's politics page.
Way to go Mike! good comment from the mayor of a town where people have shoot outs over parking spots— bobg1812- *sigh* Look, Jeff, you're getting paid to write this stuff. "... a six-month study of the lawn-chair phenomenon, and how it AFFECTS traffic patterns..." This isn't hard. Bookmark this: http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/affect-versus-effect.aspx— MaggieL
- MaggieL, our gramma-mamma, that is the proper use of the verb AFFECT. What do you see wrong there?— Country Ro
- ugh. i was hoping he would give people one day and then order the sanitation dept to remove anything in the street that isn't a vehicle.— eaglesfillthesky
- MaggieL, The problem with being pedantic is that it forces you to be correct all the time. In this case, you were not. Sorry!— DonQ
- I'm with Mikey on this one. With this kind of snow it should be good for 2-3 days. I saw my jerk off neighbor pull out of a parking spot (in his four wheel drive vehicle, without clearing out the spot and then pulling into somebody else's who had taken the time to clean it out. Should have let the air out of his tires.— johanna
- Johanna, to be fair, you are commenting on a somewhat different situation. That guy is a jerk. But for people who dig their spots out to think that they have free reign over that spot for as long as they desire is ridiculous. Someone dug his spot out over the weekend and marked it on Monday. I drove past, to be a nice gue. It was marked by a cone again on Tuesday. I parked there. End of story.— mitchesm7
election time!!!! he is running for Office and will be the people mayor until he returns to Office as a self imaged in love with himself mayor again....dont be fooled!!1- dont mind the trash can to save a spot..what i HATE is u people who clean ur cars/sidewalks and toss the snow into the street..IDIOTS!— dwh1
- This would be a non-issue if the streets were actually plowed in a timely and efficient manner. However this is Philadelphia and hard work, common decency, and respect for others is nonexistent.— Carolina Cutie
- here is the solution....when the mark their spot - just throw the snow back into the spot - but leave a foot of clear area around the cone/lawnchair - that will teach them— gogglespaisano
- What a great sight to drive home to in the evening after work and see lawn chairs, cones, milk crates, and garbage cans all along the streets. How odd is it that the garbage can is on the outside, but the trash inside?— jibberjabber
- Nice to see Nutter loosening up from lack of sleep. He's a guy I'd have a beer with.— BlairW
- Wow! What a ridiculous statement. I, for one am a teacher and when I go to work, I will spend at least 20-30 minutes looking for a space and probably will have to walk many blocks to the school as people will have "their " spaces blocked!!!— TeachersRock
Comment removed.
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