Okay, folks in snowy cities, is anyone shoveling by you? A RANT.

[grace0418]

I've lived in Illinois all my life, I've lived in Chicago proper for almost two decades. The whole thing with people putting chairs in the street to save their parking spots used to really piss me off, but I would prefer it to what we have this winter. At least when people put a chair in a spot, it means they actually took the time to clean out one spot. Now people just sit there and spin their wheels until they finally bust through the snow and get to the street. The result is that the whole city is a driving, parking and walking nightmare. We take public transportation whenever possible but even that is such a chore because walking to the stop is so treacherous.

We have two cars, one in a garage space that we rent and the other parked on the street. When it snows, we clean the driveway, the sidewalk, the street at the end of the driveway (so the plows don't make a big ridge when they come through), then we clean off our car parked on the street. When I say we clean off the car parked on the street, I mean we clean the car (not just the windshield, I HATE being blinded by snow flying off the cars in front of me) and the street around the car so we can pull out.

Unfortunately, this winter we appear to be the only people willing to clean off our car or clear out a parking spot. So if I were to pull out, I would never get a clean parking space again until spring. It's ridiculous, you should see what the streets in my neighborhood look like after getting a foot of snow this weekend. And the rest of week is supposed to be below zero so all those deep ridges and ruts are going to get as hard as cement.

Do people not get the concept that if everyone cleaned out one space thoroughly the whole street would be in much better condition? They're in such a goddamn hurry they don't want to be bothered shoveling, but they'll sit there spinning their wheels and making all kinds of racket for 20 minutes to get out of or into a spot (not to mention the waste of gas).

Earlier this winter the city of Chicago said they wouldn't be plowing the side streets as often due to budget cuts and people got all bent out of shape about that. The weather ended up being so bad that the city relented and is now plowing regularly. So last night on the news there was a guy complaining that the plows made it too hard for him to get out of a parking spot. I mean WHAT THE FUCK? Clean out the goddamn spot you idiot.

Sigh... it's going to be a looooooong winter.

:rant:

[SacredCow]

1. It's this time of year.....

that I'm glad to be in the deeeeeeeeep south. Humankind was not meant to shovel their mode of transportation out of the snow.

[grace0418]

2. Believe me, if I were single I would've moved to California years and years ago.

But I'm married, I love my husband, he has a super good job here, and he wants to stay. So here I stay. I really love Chicago for the most part, but the weather fucking sucks.

[Sequoia]

9. I live in Nor Cal and this morning I looked out the door window

to check on the temperture. Usually it's been 29 or so but when I looked this morning I thought the temp gauge was broken because there's no way it could be 62 degrees at 6:45 am. But sure enough it WAS warm and now it's totally warm outside, like I was living in Santa Monica. I don't know if I could ever get used to snow again like when I lived in Spokane, WA but even they are having nightmare weather. At least Chicago is a hip city with plenty to do and fab places to eat.

[Taverner]

13. You can tempt him ya know

Right now, it's almost seventy, blue skies and comfy

Just talk him into it :)

[grace0418]

21. I've tried that tactic so many times in the last 15 years, I can't even count. But now I'm

unemployed so I have no leverage since he's supporting the both of us. He's not much of a risk-taker and asking him to quit his very stable job in this economy would be met with incredulous stares, I'm sure.

[LaraMN]

3. On my side of the street, the entire next block down is comprised of

sidewalks that have not been shoveled in weeks, if at all this winter.
My neighbors have effing snowblowers and can't be troubled to clear their sidewalks so pedestrians don't have to walk in the street.
I just have a freaking shovel, and I manage to clear my sidewalks consistently.
People are dipwads.

[grace0418]

4. It seems like they're more dipwaddy than usual this year.

I hate winter.

[tigereye]

11. I have a corner house and a huge sidewalk - I try most days to shovel and salt

but seriously, from now on I want my son to do it on the weekends...


Today it melted after I shoveled, so I didn't have to salt. :bounce: yes, my life is that dull at times.

[surrealAmerican]

15. I walk everywhere, so I really hate it when ...

... nobody bothers to clear their sidewalk. That said, it's actually been pretty good this winter. Despite all the snow we've had, most sidewalks are more-or-less walkable, if you can get to them. The huge mounds of snow at intersections nobody seems to clear.

[IndianaJones]

5. more snow today? nt.

[grace0418]

6. Yeah, I just went to the grocery before it hits. It sounds like I won't be leaving the

house tomorrow except to take my husband to the train. I guess it's a good time for me to be unemployed, no commute! I'm loving it other than being broke.

Anyway, I hear it may be another 10" of snow. Then tomorrow the temps will drop to around zero. Everything will turn to rock hard ice. Yay! :eyes:

[IndianaJones]

7. I'm in NW Indiana. Hopefull we don't get the full brunt of it. nt.

[grace0418]

8. The one on Saturday stayed further north. We got a foot of snow while my in-laws

in the south suburbs only got about 6". Let's hope this one stays further north yet for both our sakes. I don't have too many other places to put the snow at this point.

[tigereye]

12. we were supposed to get 5-9 inches on Saturday

but we lucked out and got next to none. It was very weird. :crazy:

I was glad since we actually had tix to see a cool concert and had lined up childcare....

[grace0418]

23. We got only about an inch or two tonight, but I heard more is on the way Wednesday.

I hope they're wrong about that too.

[tigereye]

31. yeah, some of the temp numbers were down-right scary across the west

and midwest- :scared:

If we get down to -2 it's usually a big deal here. Although I remember one day when it was -20 back in the early 90s. I refused to leave the house and made giant pots of soup.

[tigereye]

10. people here usually clean out their spot and guard it...

Wow, it just seems like laziness and lack of consideration for other drivers to not bother to clean out a spot. But I can also see how the plows would seal people in, with all that snow. That often happens with our garage when the plow goes by after a big snow.


I've never heard of people not bothering to shovel out their spot, but then i live in Pittsburgh! (and have a garage, thankfully)

[sniffa]

14. Which is why we move our vehicles to a parking garage

before the storm hits. The private spot then gets plowed out (or in one case snow-blowed out) which is nice but the side street(s) I have to park the car on are atrocious; everyone pulls that shit of pulling out of plowed in spaces and then the snow remains and gets frozen and makes actual parking spots hard to come by.

[mainegreen]

16. The city fines you if you don't shovel your sidewalk, and tows cars on parking ban nights.

Parking ban nights are when they clear away all the snow from the road, including the street parking.

You do not want to be towed. Very expensive. The failure to shovel ticket is pricey too.

[Blue Diadem]

17. We get the fools here who shovel/plow/snowblow their snow into the street.

The other day I saw one of my neighbors blowing the snow from his driveway onto his neighbor's truck in the driveway next door to him! We had maybe 8" of snow but that truck looked like we got about 18". The other 1/2 of the driveway snow went into the roadway.

I'm at the edge of town, no regular curb parking here. We deal with the snowmobiles coming through though and really messing up the cleaned sidewalks. I have my property set up so I don't deal with them too much anymore due to strategically placed landscaping. They'll go straight down my cleaned sidewalk which messes them up some, but at my elderly neighbors, the snowmobilers race back and forth from the road into the neighbor's front yard and back to the road again which throws and packs down snow all over their clean sidewalks.

I remember the street parking problems from when we lived in the city. You're right, it's going to be a very long winter.

[grace0418]

19. Yeah, I saw that too. They clean off their cars then dump it right in everyone's way.

What the hell is wrong with people? I swear it's worse this winter than any winter I've experienced in Chicago. Are people just getting dumber, lazier, and more inconsiderate by the day?

[Fran Kubelik]

18. The fucking rental house across the street...

The guys they hired to plow their driveway plowed it straight out of their driveway and halfway up our lawn. :mad: :grr: :nuke: I'm sure the grass is all torn up under the huge mountain of snow. Fuckers.

[Withywindle]

20. Howdy neighbor.

I hate those bastards too. Strange - I'm not seeing as many chairs and milk crates and other odd items to mark spaces as I used to. I'm a hillbilly transplant to Chicago and seeing all that furniture around outside made me feel at home. :hi:

At my part-time (the only job I have now) we already have one lady who broke her arm in so many places she needed pins put in, and a set of cracked ribs on a different lady, because of the ice. :mad:

[grace0418]

22. Hi yourself! There's not as many chairs and milk crates this year because nobody's bothering

to clear off a space. I've never seen this before, it's bizarre.

I'm sorry to hear about those poor ladies at your job. It's only going to get worse this week with more snow and below zero temps. I'm SOOOO OVER this winter. It needs to go away.

[mopinko]

26. the city stopped allowing the chairs after that fight

a couple years ago. wasn't there a bloody fight over a parking place? i remember ritchie on the teevee reminding people that they didn't own the streets. i think they even starting taking those chairs. since then i have not seen many chairs out there.
but you are right, people are not gonna shovel. half the walks on my block haven't been shoveled.
really people, if you can't do it yourself, hire someone. there are always guys knocking on my door if i am slow to get out there. my alderman also recently sent out an email to remind people to shovel, and said they had a list of people who would do it for you. maybe you should call your alderman's office.

[grace0418]

28. Yeah, I remember that one. I remember Richie having the trucks go around and

pick up all the chairs and milk crates and such. I was pretty happy about it at the time. Now I long for the days when people would take the time to clear out at least one spot thoroughly, even if it was to save it with a crate.

My alderman sends out similar emails. I think for the most part people have been complying with the sidewalks to varying degrees (most do the bare minimum, a few get really obsessive about it-yay them!). But I don't there is a way to enforce having people clean off their cars/spaces. In Evanston, they will actually tow all the cars on a street, completely clean the street, then tow the cars back. It sounds insane to me but the streets are completely clear of snow. Can you imagine what people would do if that happened? LOL!

[mopinko]

30. no, can't really imagine.

but then i can't imagine paying evanston's property taxes either.
i can, however, imagine paying evanston's parking tickets. i have one sitting on my desk that i got for being at a half hour meter for 32 minutes. yowsa they are harsh with that shit.

[riverdale]

24. We don'thave the option of not shoveling

In East Lansing we have to shovel our sidewalks or the city will come by and fine our asses. And being out of town in no excuse.

[grace0418]

25. Yeah, that same ordinance exists in Chicago, so people do the bare minimum

on sidewalks (although some ignore that altogether). But the streets and parking spaces are a different story. I think it's too impossible to enforce that people clean of their cars.

[Nye Bevan]

27. No problems here in Honolulu....

in my dreams (unfortunately). In reality I am in CT and it sucks here too.

[grace0418]

29. Don't kid about such things!

LOL! Good one.

Seriously, I'd love a vacation somewhere warm right now. But at this point, I'm sure that O'Hare would be shut down due to weather the day we're supposed to fly out.

Well, that, and the fact that I'm unemployed and can't afford to take any vacations. :)

[zanne]

32. I've never heard of that chair thing...

Interesting. If somebody tried that around here, there'd be alot of busted chairs. When you
live in a city where the buildings were built without cars in mind (about a hundred years ago), you just take any parking place you can steal.

[grace0418]

33. Well, Chicago was certainly built before cars. Some blocks are worse than others

depending on the ratio of apartment buildings to single-family homes on a block. But there have been cases where fights, damage to cars, and all manner of idiocy have occurred if someone dared to move someone's chair. My brother *LOATHED* the practice, would get absolutely livid about people doing that. His work often had him home during the day, when the chairs would be out, so he would go up and down the block and throw ALL the chairs into the snow banks. I was worried he was going to get beaten up.