Source: foxnews.com
Vying for a parking spot on a crowded city street after a snowstorm has long felt like going to battle — and now there's a harrowing twist. Many city officials and others are furious about what's happening. They say it's unethical, even illegal. After spending hours in the bitter cold shoveling heavy snow out of parking spaces, many Northeast residents have been laying claim to the small rectangles of asphalt they just cleared away — angering and upsetting other people. KIDS NEED MORE SNOW DAYS, NOT MORE SCREEN TIME, DOCTORS SAY AMID WINTER STORMSFrom Boston to Philadelphia, Baltimore to Washington, D.C., drivers are reviving a time-honored tradition of grabbing anything they can find — chairs, cones, garbage cans and more — and using the items as space savers so that no one steals their spot.Drivers have a dilemma. Massive snow banks, often piled high in urban areas, make already-scarce parking even more limited. While putting a chair in a parking spot may seem like a simple gesture, saving spaces has created friction among residents.The disputes have been referred to as "retaliation, fights and vandalism" by WBUR, a Boston University-owned radio station. TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZLast week, a fight over a space saver involving multiple individuals left a man in critical condition in Philadelphia. Police say one man had a knife and another had a legally owned handgun. Both men "placed their weapons down and continued fighting," according to local police."It's very disturbing," Philadelphia Police Sgt. Eric Gripp said of the situation, as ABC News reported."That's why we do take this seriously. Even though it seems like it's not that serious of an issue, unfortunately, over the years we've seen some really tragic results," he also said. Space savers became a ritual in Chicago after the record-setting blizzard of January 1967, which blanketed the city with 23 inches of snow, according to numerous accounts. Some cities refer to the ph
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