{"id":7429,"date":"2015-03-04T14:39:02","date_gmt":"2015-03-04T19:39:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myparkingsignblog.com\/blog\/?p=7429"},"modified":"2026-02-11T01:03:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T06:03:32","slug":"lawn-ornaments-no-longer-entitle-bostonians-parking-spots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\/lawn-ornaments-no-longer-entitle-bostonians-parking-spots\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawn ornaments no longer entitle Bostonians to parking spots"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christmas decorations, traffic cones, deck chairs, children\u2019s outgrown toys and old appliances: Following record snowfall, Boston residents have been using whatever they can get their hands on to claim their shoveled-out parking spots while they\u2019re not using them. The unofficial rule, as NPR reports<\/a>, is \u201c[W]hoever takes the time to dig out a parking space gets to keep it for 48 hours.\u201d Yet, as the city recovers from being pummeled by 100 inches of snow — and anticipates another snowy hit later this week — that informal decree is being upended by the city\u2019s mayor.<\/p>\n

\"space<\/a>

In Boston, shoveling the snow out of a parking spot no longer entitles you to sole usage of that spot until the March\u00a0melt-off. Image from pjmorse<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n

Mayor Martin J. Walsh ordered the city’s public works department to begin removing parking space savers this past Monday. “I’m asking residents to remain respectful of their neighbors and their property as the process of space saver removal begins, and as we continue to clean up from nearly 8 feet of snow in less than 30 days,” said Walsh. (Check out a sampling of the miscellany people have been using to save their sought-after spaces in this photo<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Some residents have also posted signs on their space savers, reading, for example<\/a>, from the weary \u201cOld people dug this out. Please don’t take!” (attached to a lawn chair) and “Please shovel your own spot. This was exhausting!” (written on a paper bag attached to a wooden chair) to the threatening, “Out of respect you don’t park in a spot that you haven’t shoveled out. If so there will be a price to pay! Thank you.”<\/p>\n

Parking is precious in many of Boston\u2019s \u201ctightly packed\u201d neighborhoods, reports WBUR<\/a>. Neighbors have retaliated against space-stealers in a number of unsavory ways: nasty notes placed on windshields and snow purposely piled on top of cars, or even keyed cars, punctured tires and smashed windows. The problem isn\u2019t common only to Boston: Space-saving drivers in Philadelphia have been warned by the police department that the practice is illegal there.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019m going to pay $40 to have this dug out it\u2019s gonna be mine \u2014 believe me!\u201d 73-year-old Arnold Gatto told the Boston Globe<\/a>. Gatto lives on a street in South Boston where the space savers will be removed at the end of this week. \u201cIt\u2019s always been you have [two] days. It\u2019s supposed to snow tonight. I should have [two] more days.\u201d Thirty-year-old resident Matthew Wall agreed, saying he wasn\u2019t planning on removing his orange cone. \u201cI don\u2019t understand why if we put that much work into it we can\u2019t keep the spot until the snow is gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because of this year’s snowfall, city officials have allowed residents more than the average 48-hour period to remove their space savers, and the city hasn’t ticketed anyone, “even when workers seize them \u2014 as code enforcement staffers focus on getting sidewalks clear and passable,\u201d notes the Globe. But following the mayor\u2019s announcement, the public works department has begun removing space savers in the North End, Beacon Hill, Eagle Hill, Wellington Hill, Oak Square and Fort Hill.<\/p>\n

Some public works employees are worried about potential spats with residents over their marching orders. As the Globe reported, trash collector Vladimir Diaz said that he had once been threatened with a knife after taking away a parking space saver. \u201cYou see this? They use anything,\u201d he said, pointing out a cooler stocked with ice and sand. \u201cThey think we won\u2019t take it away, but we have to take it away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other residents, however, welcome the mayor’s dictate. \u201cIt\u2019s time for them to go,\u201d Mark Nadolny told WBUR<\/a>. \u201cI guess the mayor could have waited another week or two, but you\u2019ve got to do it at some point.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christmas decorations, traffic cones, deck chairs, children\u2019s outgrown toys and old appliances: Following record snowfall, Boston residents have been using whatever they can get their hands on to claim their shoveled-out parking spots while they\u2019re not using them. The unofficial rule, as NPR reports, is \u201c[W]hoever takes the time to dig out a parking space […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,9],"tags":[204,588,986],"class_list":["post-7429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-municipal","category-regulations","tag-boston","tag-marty-walsh","tag-national-weather-service"],"yoast_head":"\nLawn ornaments no longer entitle Bostonians to parking spots - MyParkingSign Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Christmas decorations, traffic cones, deck chairs, children\u2019s outgrown toys and old appliances.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\/lawn-ornaments-no-longer-entitle-bostonians-parking-spots\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lawn ornaments no longer entitle Bostonians to parking spots - MyParkingSign Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Christmas decorations, traffic cones, deck chairs, children\u2019s outgrown toys and old appliances.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\/lawn-ornaments-no-longer-entitle-bostonians-parking-spots\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MyParkingSign Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parkingsigns\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-03-04T19:39:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-11T06:03:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.myparkingsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/space-saver-note.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"375\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Katy B. 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