BOSTON -- There's an unwritten code of urban etiquette on Boston's narrow and often-snowy neighborhood streets: You shovel a parking space and it's yours.
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, the chairs, the boxes and the Christmas trees that people put out along the curb to reserve the parking spaces they sweated to clear.
Mayor Tom Menino is giving residents 48 hours after a snow emergency ends to remove their placeholders. After that, sanitation workers are supposed to haul the junk away.
The reaction in Boston's neighborhoods has been frosty.
Frances Rizzo, 67, stood on a snowy sidewalk in South Boston last week and waited for the sanitation workers. The cherished neighborhood tradition works, she said, and she was ready to replace her 72-year-old neighbor's traffic cone with a bag of garbage to preserve the parking spot.
"I think it's ridiculous," Rizzo said of the city's crackdown. The mayor's "got a driveway. What does he care?"
It is the second straight year that the mayor has taken on the practice. Menino says it is an issue of safety and civility, citing disputes that have erupted into violence and property damage, such as tire-slashing.
But residents say their informal rules work just fine and are vital in preserving peace during tough New England winters. According to the code, a few hours of sweat earn you a parking spot.
"If you don't do it, you don't park. You have to go along with it, even if you don't agree with it," South Boston resident Deanna Cusack, 52, who nevertheless acknowledged some people abuse the practice by staking claim to a space long after the snow has receded.
The practice is not unique to Boston. Various crowded suburbs have similar rules, as do packed cities such as Philadelphia and Chicago. But it is rare for a city to try to break the tradition, given the vigor with which residents defend it.
In Boston, sanitation workers moved a trash barrel from a spot belonging to City Councilor James Kelly, a vocal opponent of Menino's policy. Within minutes, a neighbor had dragged it back.
Residents speak with disdain about the "yuppies" and the commuters headed for the bus stop who want to take parking spots without working for them.
Tom Farnkoff, 64, blames the young professionals who have migrated to gentrified South Boston's new condos and apartments. "They come home, they won't do anything, and they want the spots," he said. "They don't give anything to the community at all."
First Published: January 2, 2005, 5:00 a.m.
