"Dibs."

–[OnlyInPhiladelphia.com]— First come, first serve. That was basically the rule behind acquiring any of the free metered parking spots up offered by the Philadelphia Parking Authority this past Valentine’s Day weekend, if you could find one. That was shoveled out. And didn’t have a trashcan blockading it.

After a Nor’Easter blizzard came flourishing through the northeast corridor of the United States and a snowfall measure was recorded of 70+ inches for the 2010 winter season (with another 2-4″ expected as I blog) things such as on-street parking have evoked a lot of negative emotion out every other motorist.

Regardless of the free meter parking and reduced costs at PPA authorized garages, ‘parking desperation’ was the name of the game for plenty of local Philly motorists that have struck a chord with those in “possession” of the shoveled-out street spots.

“The [personal] policing of these spots have been protected by a simple key scrape against the individuals who supposedly ‘steal’ these spots,” said Sean, a South Philadelphia resident who has witnessed the act first-hand.

“I have been hearing about lots of people getting their tires slashed, cars getting keyed, among other things.”

One South Philly lady was unfortunately one of the more severe instances– her tires were slashed on all four due to parking in a “claimed” parking spot that someone placed a trashcan on to mark their territory, so to speak.

“I saw that trash can there and I’m like ‘I have no choice, I don’t want to drive anymore,’ so I pulled into it,” Jen told CBS3.

Lawn-chairs and trashcans are nothing new, and to claim snow parking dibs in designated spots that have been plowed or shoved out, usually by one’s own efforts, is a popular pastime. The Philadelphia Mayor himself acknowledged the embedded tradition a few days ago.

“Uh, yeah. That’s been going on since I was a kid.” Mayor Nutter told KYW while shoveling snow this past Thursday.

After hours of back breaking shoveling everyone certainly has the right to throw a fit for someone taking your parking spot, especially after deliberately obstructing their path with an object of your choice.

While saving spots is a tradition and may feel justified at the time, the act is still illegal and those who offend could face a ticket.

Some of the objects used to blockade spots are trashcans, traffic cones, kitty litter containers, chairs, tires, rims and one of our favorites, a skateboard quarterpipe.

Do you think digging out your own spot should automatically give you dibs for a certain time-frame for shoved on-street parking spaces?

Although it can be really annoying when someone pulls up into your “called” space, we should take the Philadelphia Mayor’s advice for the next isolated snow parking dispute:

‘It’s not worth getting into an argument about it.’

Related: Parking Ettiquette & Philadelphia Parking Authority Speads the Love…

Related: ‘Spread the Love’ Septa Discounts

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