Boston.com / News / Local / Mass. / City cracks down on Boston tradition of reserving parking spaces
People in Chicago do the same thing. They shovel out enough room for their own car, leaving a huge pile at either end that is somebody else's problem, put rusty lawn furniture on the street, and say this 20 feet of public property is now their private little paradise until spring. Then if somebody moves the junk and parks in "their" spot, it's fight time. Seems like unlawful conversion of public property to a private use, without compensation. Sort of a reverse takings clause situation.


BOSTON -- There's an unwritten code of urban etiquette on Boston's narrow neighborhood streets: You shovel a parking space and it's yours until enough snow has melted to unclog the streets. But this year, the city is cracking down on this age-old rule and warning residents that it will no longer tolerate the garbage cans, chairs, boxes and even Christmas trees that litter the streets, saving spaces for those who put in the sweat to clear them.The change is not coming without a fight.
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