I hung out with neighbors, and we helped dig out many a car/parking space. We shared many a meal, and a few drinks. Yesterday I was walking with a friend when we came across a couple of women who I recognized as Argonaut patrons (I think they are Gallaudet students). They had gotten stuck in a snow bank, but I had a shovel on me. They were able to quickly dig out using it. I was glad to provide it, and even happier that I know how to say "You are welcome" in ASL. Sometimes I really love living around here. Any good snow stories to share?
64 comments:
Downside of city life.
Neighbors (long, 20+yrs, and short-term, less than that) and I dug out 1/2 block + crosswalks -- all to have someone vandalize car parked in someone else's 'dug out spot' 20 meters away given that the other cleared spaces were taken.
I vote citizen ticketing powers for diagonal parkers (MD Ave), those who shovel snow into street, skip their sidewalk (G St) or who generally bitch and moan while waiting for someone else to remove the white stuff that should not be snorted (Linden Place).
The piles of snow made burying dead hookers so much easier. Thank you frager's for the large "quick job" shovels.
Serving drinks to grateful customers as the white stuff came tumbling down.
Walking down Maryland Ave to the Capitol as the first blizzard was still in progress.
5 little angels from a local church helped me dig my car out of the frozen muck as part of their monthly community service.
I street residents claiming their parking space by putting up a chair. How wonderful and considerate towards people visiting Atlas District.
Can we lobby for Fresh Market to come to the grocery store space at 3rd and H?? It would be an amazing fit. It's even better than Trader Joes, if you can believe that.
http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2010/02/15/daily23.html?surround=lfn
Let's get some good old-fashioned neighborhood activism going!!
Not a good snow story
I saw a neighbor take her dog down the street to relieve himself on unshoveled sidewalk. The sbow emergency does not mean you cannot clean up after your dog. You would think a lawyer would know better. Nasty!
It's not like going to haiti, but i think frozen tropics and the bars on h were troopers through this whole blizzard expeience. Certainly the reserved, dug out spots are ridiculous and the unshoveled sidewalks are annoying but this dopey weather was the kind of communal event that is pretty rare and should mostly be enjoyed. I'm glad so many people came to the pug to fight cabin fever, althoufh i'm not sure i'll ever be able to figure out why people waited in line in the snow that first friday.
tonyt
thepug
p.s. when i'm walking my dogs in the summertime, i remember which house don't shovel their sidewalks in the winter, and i let the dogs leave behind mementos of my gratitude.
Meeting and helping neighbors I'd never met before. Drinking alot. Eating alot. Gaming alot. Enjoying the shoveling. Noticing how everyone seemed happy.
If all you have is bad blizzard memories maybe you need to work on creating better ones.
Are you kidding? The sidewalks were shoveled to a far greater extent than I ever experienced in Chicago. Lots of shovel-sharing and neighbor-helping. Great job guys!
Overall positive: Neighbors helping neighbors, and agree that it is amazing how clear most of the sidewalks were.
But seriously, people "saving" parking spaces is bugging the hell out of me. What a small-minded and selfish thing--as if digging for 15 minutes gives someone a right to the space. Here's a thought: If everyone digs out and shares the space, then all will be clear, won't they?
Only real negative experience: Driving down a two-way road with only one lane clear: Two oncoming cars in a row obstinately refusing to back up and being seriously ugly about it. The second time I even got stuck between two cars where both childishly, stubbornly refused to budge for 20 minutes (One giant Range Rover head-on, and a Minivan behind me). I take solace in the fact that in all three cases the license plates said "Maryland." The snow brings out the best in most people -- it is fascinating how it can also bring out the worst in a small set of bad-attitude people.
I am more than happy to share spots with my neighbors. But what really irks me is that out-of-towners (VA and MD plates) have been camped out on our street since the snow and show no sign of budging. We are too far west for them to be visiting Atlas District venues and appear to have just left their cars. Does anyone know how we can get the 2 hour limit for non zone 6 parking permits enforced?
As far as saving parking spaces - I think it's perfectly reasonable - considering it's technically your responsibility to maintain that slice of the sidewalk out to the road. I'm fortunate enough to have off street parking yet still went ahead and shoveled out my area of the street as well as sidewalk. I didn't "reserve" my space, however, as well as assisting my elderly neighbor dig his car out I made sure he was able to save his spot in front of his house.
Anyone that is visiting an area in the city in these conditions for a f**king cocktail can either walk a little further or get angry at the city for not shoveling out the public parking spaces along major thoroughfares. We residents may not "own" the parking in front of our houses, but if we work to clear it, you suburbanite carpetbaggers can just wait until the Spring melt to get your city-life fix.
I'll be damned if I didn't spend two hours shoveling out my car to go to the grocery store before the second storm only to have a car from MD in the spot the rest of the day. I will never make that mistake again. As long as we're under a snow emergeny and I spend the time to dig my car out I will put a chair in the spot to reserve it.
The Post ran a story on this and said some cities had passed a law making this legal. We should do the same.
Thank you Argonaut for being open during the snow storms. It was a wonderful reprieve from my house. You guys are the best!
In regard to parking and saving spots....
I unfortunately parked in a space along I Street where the sun rarely shines and the snow plow decided place all the snow from the whole block directly in front of my car. Not only did it take me several unbelievable back breaking hours to shovel but I also gave a kid some money to help me. And after all that I still had to do another car. So, yes, I think I have every right to save my parking space at least for a little while. And, yes, I helped my neighbors, lent my shovel, was generous with the snow melt. Saving a parking space is a very common thing in places like Chicago and Boston where parking is scarce and digging out is a normal activity during winter.
I don't think it's reasonable to hold parking spaces with chairs if all you do all day every day is sit on your front porch staring out into space. And then they have the nerve to come knocking on my door asking me for money to shovel my sidewalk. I give them money every month from my taxes.
wow, way to turn a fun column into another bitter pill. is it a good deed because you do it or is is a good deed because you tell everyone about it. remember, if you leave furniture in the street it's abandoned property. i'm thinking about going to upper northwest and grabbing some nice deck/porch furniture. i've got dc tags so i'll be able to sneak right in, load up my truck and jet.
tonyt
This is a public forum - a place for people to rant. If you can't take it don't read it.
Didn't say it wasn't a place to rant anonymous, just figured since we mostly had electricity, toilet paper, and places to drink beer all week it seems like it was a decent enough week. You want a ranf? I'm willing to bet most of the people(not all, but most) of the people bitching about the suburbs aren't from this neighborjood originally. Buy a big enough vehicle so you can punch through the snow banks and not worry about shoveling. Me i had fun the last couple weeks, despite all the douchebags talking smack about dc and snow, and despite the fact that many of my fine friends from the suburbs had no power and couldn't come in for cocktails. Was that ok for a rant?
Oh yeah, that was brought to you by tony t. i cannot figure out how to put my name at the top of the post.
I'm always amazed at how many trivial things people find to bitch about on this board. So somebody took your parking spot after you dug it out? So what? Same thing happened to me and, yeah, I cussed a little when I got home but I didn't make a big deal about it. And guess what? I found another parking spot. Amazing, right!?!
In the giant scheme of bad things that could happen during a blizzard getting your parking spot taken is pretty trivial.
Personally, I'm glad that DC has underground power lines and that I had power (and heat) through the whole storm. Lot of people in MD and VA can't say the same thing.
I'm also glad that I'm within walking distance of H St. and that all those FLINTY H St. proprietors kept the burgers and beers coming when the cabin fever became unbearable. Hosanna's to you kind barkeeps!
I'm also glad that I had a next door neighbor who I never met before come out and help dig out my car when it got stuck in the middle of the street.
After we dug out my car, we then went and dug out another neighbor who was stuck in the middle of the street. She couldn't stop thanking us and it was all really cool that neighbors were helping each other out.
So yeah, in conclusion: parking spot theft problem -- kinda immaterial and lame to be complaining about on this board.
yes tony, nice rant. Don't you feel better now?
I'm not sure what "being from this neighborhood originally" has to do with anything. But still a nice rant nonetheless.
Since everything had 2+ foot of snow above it, the local stray cats seemed to have a hard time finding food and were not happy. I provided temporary food and shelter for them. I'm hoping others did the same!
my favorite moment was when some d-bag shouted at me from his car "get off the f*cking road!" and seconds later skidded into another car parked at a red light :) I walked by the car with the biggest grin on my face you could imagine.
J. J. Come by the pug tonight i'll buy you a shot.
Tonyt
the pug
anonymous i'm sure you lived in the city your whole life, but it seems to me there's an awful lot of folks who complain about suburbanites when they're only two or three years removed from suburbia themselves.
In fact that's what we'll do tonight. If you come to the pug after 9 tonight and tell me you had fun during the blizzard, i'll buy you a shot if you buy a beer. We'll call it snow much fun i can't believe it night. Inked i'll buy you drinks tonight to thank you for posting during the blizzard and letting me run an ad on frozen tropics.
Tonyt
the pug.
My neighbor and his sons built a snow-luge on the side of the sidewalk. It was a good use of snow. It was a little narrow, though, and my boyfriend got stuck on his way down (on his stomach). Funny Shiz.
a bit off topic but can anybody tell me why the bars along H ST (except for H ST CC) don't have any games? A lot of us 30 somethings are from the nintendo generation and love to play games at bars while drinking. My friends and I noticed that while some of the bars were deserted during the "blizzard." It doesn't even have to be a video game, just throw up a dart board or two on the wall.
Is it a rant if you bitch about other people's ranting?
I mostly enjoyed the snow and neighbors helping neighbors.
For those of you who dug out and didn't want to preserve your hard work, all I have to say is good for you, you're more generous than I am. For a couple of days, on the occassional errand, I'm putting a chair in my spot. I don't want to get in another neighbor's hard earned spot. If you want to get out and move my chair, then you're less considerate than I am.
I know the pug has a bunch of board games, and i've brought my own sometime. I'm hopeing that TonyT can move some of the barstools next snow and we can set up a motorcycle drag race from the back door to the front window.
On the digging out, I'm surprised at how many people in DC get all indignant about people reserving dug- out spots. It's a tradition in other snowbound big cities like Boston and Chicago. In fact, it was such a common thing to do in Boston that the city council codified it.
Lou - the issue is that getting indignant at others IS DC's tradition, codified by our council.
did the city council codify it or did a councilman have a girlfriend do it behind closed doors. maybe this snowstorm was a secret stimulus plan hatched by the lawn furniture industry. maybe the h street businesses should pile lawn chairs and buckets in front of the business that mounded up snow in wylie alley after we paid to have it cleared.
ranting about bitching,
tonyt
the pug
I had a lot of fun not doing anything. I didn't have to work. I don't care much for driving, so my car stayed underneath the snow. Power never went out, groceries were open, I got a lot of sleep.
It was great that alot of the businesses did drink specials. I think every night of the week, I was out somewhere on H. I live on the Western side of H, by Sidamo, but am looking for places in Trinidad.
i hooked up with a couple of cute guys. i think the snow blinded them.
i hooked up with this one chick and gave her herpes
kill two birds with one stone, put out your garbage bin in your parking space. :P
Speaking of games, Tony, any chance of replacing the old Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots game you used to have at The Pug?
tonyt - you crack me up. thanks for calling out these fools.
Inked, have you ever posted anonymously? Just curious. Be honest :-)
My gf and I spent about four hours digging her car out, and the first time we were gone for any length of time, someone took the spot. You know what? Too bad for us.
For god's sakes, there's not enough parking in our neighborhood to begin with, and I frequently have to park blocks away from my house when there's no snow at all. What makes it not OK to "reserve" spaces under normal circumstances, but OK to "reserve" a space now? Because you shovelled? News flash: you didn't dig a space out -- you dug your car out. Big difference. And you dug your car out so you could drive somewhere. After all, it's easy to make sure nobody takes your space -- just don't drive the car anywhere. But the idea that digging your car out so you can drive somewhere also allows you to make perpetual claim on the parking space is just silly.
help me to understand why people think they can reserve a public parking space for the own use.
i will have a new rock em sock em by this weekend. ( i think)
tonyt
the pug
if you reserve the spot, do you have to fix the potholes as well?
These people that don't think it's ok to "reserve" your dug out parking space are hilarious! Clearly they don't have a car or don't use the one they have. As has been said, it's codified and sanctioned in many snowbound cities. WTF? Please give me your addresses and I'll personally by you a one way ticket back to your hamlet in whatever village from whence u came. And I definitely can't stAnd the MD and VA peeps that chill in our dug out spots AND don't ever get ticketed. Let alone I hate the fact that they all say they live in DC. GOD don't get me started in that. Although.... When these hick trucks park in our hard earned spaces, they are a great place to dump your trash..... Seriously.
Anon 5:22:
No, why would I? I ask others to use user names. It would be pretty hypocritical of me to post anonymously (and posting as someone else on your own blog is a bit sketchy and dishonest anyway).
I have been confiscating all the crap that people are leaving in public space to "saving their" parking. I have chairs and garage cans and all sorts of stuff. Please come out of your house to confront me if you dare.
Mike
poo's mom: so you're saying you don't have an explanation or a justification. Gotcha.
Oh, and the hamlet I moved here from was Boston; and despite what people here have said, the actual law there does *not* codify reserving parking spaces. What it does is make legal the placement of physical objects to claim a space for a certain period of time during (and until 48 hours after) a declared snow emergency. That doesn't legally reserve the space; it doesn't make it illegal for someone to move the stuff and take the space your car used to be in. Mind, in some neighborhoods, if you do that, there's a good chance your car won't be able to move out of that spot when you return to it. But those neighborhoods tend to be the same neighborhoods where no one calls the police when they hear gunshots, so it's not so surprising.
Pupu platter, crumudgeon, where you been. I was feeling like i might have to turn this into a racial conversation by myself. Crumudgeon, maybe boston's not a hamlet. Definitely an irish village, but what i think pu pu is saying, and i agree with is, it's a bit tiresome to hear about what everybody's home town does in the snow. Once again i will reiterate, the blizzard was a lot of fun for us at the pug. Plenty of people came out, and then when it seemed impossible to drink anymore, a ton of prople came out for the anniversary party. Rockem sockem on friday.
I love this neighborhood!!
A shout out to SOVA, who were open in a very FLINTY way through the snowiest of days.
We had some negative experiences...fill in the blank w/ a**hole behavior, laziness, but for every bad story there was a neighbor sharing salt, or information. And last Friday every X2 was completely full so I walked to Eastern Market so I could get to work and it was such a beautiful walk.
"But seriously, people "saving" parking spaces is bugging the hell out of me. What a small-minded and selfish thing--as if digging for 15 minutes gives someone a right to the space. Here's a thought: If everyone digs out and shares the space, then all will be clear, won't they?"
First, for many of us it was considerably more than 15 minutes of shoveling, particularly for us that are a bit older.
Second, the problem with your premise is that many people won't dig out and move their cars for weeks.
Why? Because they know the second they leave another car (probably not a neighborhood resident) will take the space.
I got no problem with reserving the space, with conditions. If you shoveled the space and you are going on a short necessary errand, reserve the space. If you are going to leave all day, that's probably not justifiable.
And the reservation system should only last for a day or two, or until at least half the spaces on your block have been shoveled and the cars are actually leaving from time to time.
As others have noted many Northern cities practice this regularly.
It's FAR more selfish to leave your car unshoveled for the next month or so, denying anyone else the use of the space for weeks.
It's sad to me how many DC residents are absolutely livid over this practice. What's even sadder is that most of those most livid don't even drive a car in the city. They are just mad that they see someone else getting something they don't get.
On another note - I was happy to see the city actually using front-end loaders and dump trucks to remove snow yesterday.
I used to get irritated on my walks to the Metro after heavy snowfall because there were so many who refused to dig out their portion of the sidewalk... but then I realized that the majority of those who refuse to have good reason.
In the areas with smaller roads, generally the plows simply push through one lane, leaving a line of snow along the curbs, but not one terribly large - making it a fairly simple task to clear off one's section of sidewalk and dig out their car. However, on roads like Florida Avenue one could wake up to find that the front of their house now has six feet of snow embankments covering their sidewalk. More to the point, if one were to attempt to single-handedly clear off their portion of the sidewalk... where would they move the snow to? Back onto the road? Into their neighbor's yard?
The city's response to the snowstorm in regards to getting the streets cleared fairly quickly was commendable - but I'm curious to see how long it takes to clear off pedestrian access routes.
All in all, I had a very positive experience with the storm and how folks got out and helped. I come from an area where if we didn't stay on top of the snow by removing as it came down we would be snowed in until spring. It drove my wife nuts that I would suit up and go out every few hours, but damn if I didn't have the cleanest half block in the area and I even kept the street down to pavement for the bulk of the storm (about 100 feet of it).
My only negative experiences were the asshat Maryland drivers that invaded the streets immediatly after the first snow fall and were honking at the neighborhood residents trying to get around and help each other.
I worked with others to unstick a number of cars, but guess what... if you were a Maryland asshat, we didn't help you.
hillman,
i'm not livid, i'm not even mildly annoyed, i've got a truck, i haven't shoveled once. i just thought there might be a few more stories, and adventures from the snowstorm, and not just bitching about the lawn furniture. i'm also a touch confused about the complaining about people from other neighborhoods and the suburbs taking parking spots. i thought one moved to the suburbs so one would always have a place to park.
tonyt
ranting about bitching
see, that's what i'm talking about. having fun and hanging out, meeting your neighbors. but seriously asshat? where can i get one of those? i'ld like to wear one on the next date night with my wife. even if it didn't say fan of tony t, asshat is spectacular! i am definitely going to call a customer asshat on friday night. since i grew up in dc and pg, i will try to use it on a virginian
Asshat
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=asshat
excellent, my wife thinks i've been wearing an asshat for years.
tonyt
To answer a few of the spot saving questions/ rants: MPD has asked that all objects placed in the street to reserve spots be removed ASAP. These items will be confiscated by DDOT and DPW. It went out on the MPD listserv.
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2010/02/18/parking-spot-hog-park-here-and-you-better-have-a-spare/
Copied from the above link. It pretty much sums it.
"I understand that you have spent hours digging out your car so that you can drive it and park somewhere else in a spot dug out by someone else who spent hours digging out their spot for you!"
"I understand that you have spent hours digging out your car so that you can drive it and park somewhere else in a spot dug out by someone else who spent hours digging out their spot for you!"
Not really. It could also include you parking in a downtown parking garage, a suburban metro parking garage, a space on a snow emergency route that the city plowed, a space at any number of employers lots that they plowed relatively easily, a space in your elderly Mom's driveway that you plowed, etc.
We watched the snow fall, shoveled our walks many times..and in your picture I see my house..smile
Hillman: Are you implying that the people who claim their spot by putting up chairs etc. will be fair enough not to park in a spot cleared by someone else? I doubt it. Besides, living in the city means invariably you are more than likely to use street parking than any other modes of parking (such garages, employer parking ..). In my case I use street parking more than any other modes of parking 90% of the time. It makes sense because we are paying taxes in DC aren't we? By being selfish about parking gives the neighborhood a bad rep and doesn't help the local businesses either. I would think twice about going to Georgetown and would consider it a pain if they were to restrict parking only to Georgetown residents. It's just too much hassle especially if the neighborhood is not metro accessible such as ours.
I was overcome with waves love from my partner and friends. I couldn't have found a better group of people to spend such a strange and wonderful time with. I am truly blessed. I love them all.
-Robby
Plagiarist:
I was simply saying that assuming that anyone that has shoveled their car out will automatically be going to another street parking space is a bit silly.
Case in point: I shoveled my space out, and it was to visit the elderly mother of a friend, who has her own offstreet parking in the burbs.
Was that sort of trip the norm? Probably not.
I'm just saying that the statement as written was stupid and presumptive.
As for selfishness, I'd say it's FAR more selfish to not shovel out and instead leave your vehicle parked for weeks.
But that's what people here do, in part because they know that without the 'chair system' available for at least a day or two that they are essentially punished for shoveling out their space, as someone else will take it the second they leave.
Hillman:
I see your point however, by not allowing people to reserve parking spot by putting up chairs we give some folks a choice to have an option to park when they do not have the luxury of parking in employer provided parking, reserved offstreet parking or parking garages. This is true especially in a city like DC unlike Bethesda where there are more than 6 parking garages/lots within a 1 mile radius.
Another point of view is that a lot of people are putting up chairs on their parking spot and leaving for extended periods of time (8+ hours) (such as going to work) during which it's unfair to have that spot just vacant when someone else from some other zone could have easily parked there for a few minutes to a few hours. In fact most people who are from Zones other than 6 cannot park for more than 2 hours anyway. If only people would be more considerate and think a little outside the box we would not have such rude posters like the one Citypaper listed. If this is something not acceptable to one then they are welcome to live in a 2 car garage homes in the suburbs.
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