Welcome to Boston!

Hey Bimbo
Find a New
home for your
shit box Like
Your
Driveway
Getting tired of this SHIT
you MORON

Good morning to you too! Yes! This is how I started my day. I got up, I showered and dressed. I made my lunch and gathered my things. I headed out to my car, which was parked on the PUBLIC street outside my house. As I approached the car I could see there was something on the windshield. When I got close enough, I realized it was a note. It was in fact a note that read exactly the way I have rewritten it here, including the lack of punctuation and inappropriate use of capital letters (obviously written by a true scholar). Clearly I have a very classy neighbor.

So, let me start by explaining a few things. If you are curious, my "shit box" is actually a 2002 Volkswagen Bug. Clearly they were just attacking me and my car in any nasty way they could, but why? Good question. I am always careful to make sure I am not parking in a place that blocks a driveway or will be in anyone else’s way. The last thing I need is for someone to take a tight corner and hit my car! I was shocked by the note though and walked around the car to double check that I was in fact not blocking any driveway and was not in a position to prevent a person from driving on the street.

I got into my car, as I needed to go to work. I called my housemate and told her about the note. To give you a bit of background, I am fairly new to the neighborhood, only moving here in August, and am renting two rooms in a house owned by a university professor. We do have a driveway, but our schedules are both so crazy that it would be impossible to coordinate to park one behind another (the only way we would both fit) in the driveway. For this reason, I do not have a space in the driveway except when she is away. While we were on the phone she said the person must know where I live, as most of the houses on the street do not have driveways. That is when it struck me. This was written by a person who is upset that I am taking up a space on the street when I live in a house with a driveway.

The parking on the street is crazy and often it is hard to even find a space, but it is still a PUBLIC street. It will never cease to amaze me that there are people in Boston that think they OWN the PUBLIC street in front of their house! I had only seen this once before and it was also in Boston!

Years ago before I left the country I was helping my cousin out at his laundromat in South Boston (Southie) every other Sunday. It was a great deal as I was paid to sit and read a book and give out change while I did my laundry for free. South Boston, as some of you may know, is infamous for the craziness of the parking. If you drive through South Boston at any given time of day you will see cars double parked up and down the streets. It is a mystery to me how the inside cars get out. Also many people use garbage barrels and big orange cones to save their parking spaces on the streets. Obviously this is not legal, but you would be risking some retaliatory damage to your car if you moved an object to park your car there. As far as I was concerned those spaces were off limits!

One winter day after a big snow storm I drove to the laundromat. I could not believe my luck when I drove up to an empty space right in front of the door! Happy Day! I parked my car and worked my five hours. When it was time for me to get back into my car to drive home I noticed a note on the windshield. I do not remember the details of this note, as it was over six years ago, but the note was nasty and told me I was in their space. I do remember that it said, "If you did not shovel the space, you DO NOT park in it!" WHAT? Just the fact that it was a space that did not have snow was supposed to indicate to me that it was reserved? I wrote back to them defining PUBLIC STREET and left it hanging from a pencil on the snow bank. I somehow doubt they ever got it.

I was shocked that a person would feel entitled to a parking spot on a public street. I had not thought about that in a long time until today. Today, however, I decided that to leave a note may provoke someone. I believe that a person with such little class and so much cowardice (as they did not sign their note) would be the kind of person to do some damage to my car.

When I arrived at work, I was still rather shaken up and shared the note with my boss and a colleague. They were horrified, of course, and agreed that a person that would leave such a note may take some other action if I continue to park the car on the street. We agreed that I should take the note to the police and file a complaint, and I did so on my way home today. What I thought was funny is the reaction I got from my colleague, who is from California. She said, "Welcome to Boston!" Now, she loves Boston, but she said she has never heard of another place where people feel they own rights to the street. Apparently mine was not the first story she had heard that had that theme.

As I said, I filed a complaint with the police and I plan to go to a couple of neighbors' doors and talk to them at some point. In the mean time, I have no choice but to continue parking on the street. It is a public street and I have as much right to park there as anyone, even if I did have a space in our driveway! Let's hope there are no more notes or any other actions taken against me or my "shit box" as they called it! Welcome to Boston!