Darby Township To Issue Fines Over ‘Saved Spots’(after digging car out of snow)

philly.cbslocal.com ^ | January 12, 2011 9:57 PM | Todd Quinones, CBS 3

[fella]

Dang it! While I was writing my short screed you beat me to the Lockean punch. And a much better one at that. Every American should read Locke, Adam Smith, The Federalist and Anti-Federalist papers to get a proper understanding of where the founders were coming from.

[PeteB570]

“...back out....” is not the same as just moving it around out in the street.

That law is to get those who shovel their walks out into the street thinking the snow plow will get it - instead it turns into walls of ice after the plow throws it up against the parked cars.

[ASOC]

“people just could not accept that these are public streets and they do not own the part of the street in front of their house. “

My platted proerty line runs to the middle of the street in front of my house. I DO own the street. In return for the public easement, they plow the road.

And if you park in front of my house, I will call for a hook.

This in the ‘big’ city of Anchorage.

I live across from a park, and I get tired of not being able to park in front of my own home. Don’t know how it works in Philly.....

[JimRed]

Move the marker, take the spot, then file an insurance claim for the damage to your vehicle.

[pnh102]

I DO own the street.

Indeed. However, in this jurisdiction that is not the case. As long as the streets are publicly owned, no one can lay claim on any part of it.

[Wuli]

It is not only a tradition in parts of Philadelphia but in much of the Northeast and particularly in neighborhoods with houses that do not have garages.

While it is true that local streets belong to “the public”, not individuals, it is a civil thing to consider who are they - the local streets - really built for with that “public money” and whose “public” money was it.

Local roads in residential neighborhoods were built for the residents living there, for people visiting them and for delivering public and private services to them. And, THEIR property taxes, predominately, paid for their portion of the revenue to build and maintain those roads.

And, while none of those residents has a LEGAL right to the space in front of their house, civil respect between neighbors suggests a social obligation to not covet the space in front of your neighbor just to please your self and at their expense.

And yes, when your neighbor clears the snow from the space around their car, parked at the curb in front of their house, so that that space is cleared for parking, then yes, you, their neighbor, have a SOCIAL obligation to NOT make your life easier and save yourself some work by parking there, at the expense of their efforts to clear the space.

Really good neighbors are not offended during snow season by chairs or other objects marking spaces their fellow neighbors have cleared. It is not a matter of law. It is a matter of civil and social respect for each other. Most of the neighbors where this tradition takes place understand that.

People making laws against the practice are stupid and reckless. The law should not be used for such issues.

As for the chairs and other objects and the work of the snow plows; they are not blocking any space that would not be blocked anyway if a car was parked there. They are no more a “hazard” than the parked cars themselves.

My neighbors and I would defend this tradition, up and down our street, against any move to “outlaw” it; as I believe most of the residents of our New Jersey town would.