Dibs on dug out parking

I'm courious on what other sometimes drivers, most of the time cyclists think about this:

Ive dug out 2 spaces so far and that didnt bother me. What bothers me is the guy who didn't dig out his van for a week but when he finnaly did he marked his spot. Dibs only count the day or two after the storm, any longer and your a lazy ass

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Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on February 17, 2011 at 11:43am

Huffington Post states Dibs are over.

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Permalink Reply by T.K. 3.5 mi on February 5, 2014 at 11:57am

I worked from home today and decided to have some fun with Dibs.

Twitter Here

The best part is that after I removed the bikes (because, duh that would be a horrible idea to leave them out there) one car took up both the spot I cleared and the one that was reserved with the white lawn chair. I do not own a car and only did this for fun and neighborly support.

Dibs still lives.

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Permalink Reply by Liz on February 6, 2014 at 4:38am

That's fantastic.

I like that someone else claimed "dibs" on the spot afterwards.

I find dibs to be most prevalent in the neighborhoods where parking is never a problem any other time of the year. Because EVERY spot is claimed as a dibs with a huge amount of space on either side, it become difficult to find an "unclaimed spot"

The fear of the tire slashing keeps most people from violating the "tradition".
T.K. 8.4 mi said:

I worked from home today and decided to have some fun with Dibs.

Twitter Here

The best part is that after I removed the bikes (because, duh that would be a horrible idea to leave them out there) one car took up both the spot I cleared and the one that was reserved with the white lawn chair. I do not own a car and only did this for fun and neighborly support.

Dibs still lives.

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Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on February 6, 2014 at 4:45am

Hilariously funny. I want to frame that picture. May have to put this one in this weeks newsletter.

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Permalink Reply by Tom Dworzanski on February 6, 2014 at 8:23am

It would be awesome if there was an ordinance that allows people to legally install semi-permanent bike racks in front of their homes if they promise not to own cars.

T.K. 8.4 mi said:

I worked from home today and decided to have some fun with Dibs.

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Permalink Reply by Tony Adams on February 6, 2014 at 10:49am

Yes! definitely!

I've very proud of my otherwise very south side block. No-one ever does dibs here even though a lot of us shovel out spaces on the street.

Julie Hochstadter said:

Hilariously funny. I want to frame that picture. May have to put this one in this weeks newsletter.

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Permalink Reply by Andy J on February 6, 2014 at 12:43pm

That is genius Tom!

How about a bike rack with a city sticker on it? Who could argue with that?

Tom Dworzanski said:

It would be awesome if there was an ordinance that allows people to legally install semi-permanent bike racks in front of their homes if they promise not to own cars.

T.K. 8.4 mi said:

I worked from home today and decided to have some fun with Dibs.

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Permalink Reply by Reboot Oxnard on February 7, 2014 at 12:00am

For the cost of a cheap bike you can buy a snowblower and a gas can. Every time it snows, spend an hour clearing the sidewalks and parking spaces of six of your closest neighbors plus the little old lady at the end of the block. You'll be the neighborhood hero and, if you play your cards right, might even get some of the neighbors to chip in and help with the purchase and the labor.

I did it years ago and found that instead of the snow and the parking spots being something to fight with the neighbors over, dealing with it became something that helped pull us all together.

You can still put the garage sale junk in the street if you want but you won't need to.

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Permalink Reply by Liz on February 7, 2014 at 4:29am

One of my neighbors has a snow blower and has been super awesome this winter. Its been wonderful to walk down the cleared sidewalk on my block.

Reboot Oxnard said:

For the cost of a cheap bike you can buy a snowblower and a gas can. Every time it snows, spend an hour clearing the sidewalks and parking spaces of six of your closest neighbors plus the little old lady at the end of the block. You'll be the neighborhood hero and, if you play your cards right, might even get some of the neighbors to chip in and help with the purchase and the labor.

I did it years ago and found that instead of the snow and the parking spots being something to fight with the neighbors over, dealing with it became something that helped pull us all together.

You can still put the garage sale junk in the street if you want but you won't need to.

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Permalink Reply by Carter O'Brien on February 7, 2014 at 8:07am

I *love* the picture.

And just for the record, there are a whole boatload of born-and-raised Chicagoans who think dibs is stupid beyond belief.

It is a fact of physics that dibs reduces parking, both in the sense that people who want to park during the day are discouraged from so, and also because for dibs to "work" you need a few feet on each side of you car to get in and out, so people save way more space than a single car needs. It's like the old fixed parking meters which were positioned based on massive 1970s GM cars.

I shovel out my garage and the alley behind it, my sidewalks, parking spaces, etc. It is nowhere near as difficult and time consuming as people claim - if it takes you an hour to shovel out your car, you are doing something wrong. But most likely you're just exaggerating, a lifetime of observation suggests it takes maybe 10 minutes, unless you wait a few weeks and it has hardened into ice. What once upon a time was a "tradition" reserved for a few days after a 1979-sized Great Blizzard, is now a bunch of selfish people who think they are entitled to the parking space in front of their home. And I fully agree with the people saying it's mostly the neighborhoods with single family homes who are accustomed to being to park in front of their house. I will tell you that from what I've seen over the years, the vast majority of these folks have garages, and use them for storage.

So dibs supporters = territorial people stuck in the Dark Ages.

People that shovel because its the right thing to do = evolution's favorites