Patch Answers: Can Parking Spots Be Saved?

Several Charlestown readers have expressed frustration over even tighter parking around town after the Feb. 8-9 blizzard dropped more than two feet of snow on Boston.

When the city lifted the snow emergency and parking ban on Tuesday, Feb. 12, it meant residents who had been parking in temporary free or low-cost lots, like MGH's Building 199 in the Navy Yard, had to fight for spots on the street amid huge piles of leftover snow. For many, the solution was to shovel out a spot on the street and leave a chair or traffic cone to "save" that spot until things cleared up.

Today, two weeks after the storm, that tactic is still being employed by some, leaving others frustrated.

One reader sent this email to Patch:

What's being done about the people abusing the right to save parking spots?Feel like if I can get a parking ticket for being on a crosswalk they should get [a] ticket or the parking attendant should remove their place holders. It's more than a week after the blizzard and something needs to be done!

So what is being done? For the answer, Patch turned to Danielle Fitzgerald, Charlestown's community liaison in the Mayor's Office.

Her reponse: "Space savers were allowed for 48 hours after the snow emergency and will now be picked up along with trash on trash days."

Fitzgerald also directed Patch to the city's page on parking rules, which include the following "don'ts":

• Don't use space savers more than 48 hours after a snow emergency has been lifted.
• Don't park within 20 feet of an intersection or further than 1 foot from the curb.
• Don't park in crosswalks or in front of fire hydrants or ramps.
• Don't park in front of driveways or extend your car from the driveway over the sidewalk or street.

Understandably, with lots of space taken up by snow, these rules limit residents' options when it comes to parking. This Patch editor left her car at a relative's house south of the city for the past two weeks because of limited parking near my home. I've been getting by on the MBTA system since then, although I know others may not have that luxury or an out-of-town parking option.

With no official advice from the city on what you can do, does anyone around town have any other good ideas on where residents can put their cars for now?