City needs a real `space' program

2 February 2005

Today could kick off Round Two in the national spotlight for City Councilor Jimmy Kelly. Squeezed in amongst news about the vote in Iraq and the State of the Union address, we'll have the South Boston pol holding forth on the rights of the people to shovel and defend their parking spaces.

He's on TV, of course, because this story is a curiosity, an amusing counterpoint to the grim tedium of everyday news. For the one-time anti-busing firebrand and seven-term Council president, it sure seems a comedown. And for South Boston, it marks yet another moment of acute embarrassment.

Except for one thing: Kelly is right. A mayor who is normally adept at balancing the everyday difficulties of city living has blown this one, creating a mountain out of snowhill, needlessly antagonizing residents who are, after all, simply looking for a spot to park their cars.

Apparently aggravated by reports of tire slashings and fights over parking spaces, Mayor Tom Menino announced in December 2003 he was fed up with the long-time practice of "you-shovel-it, you-own- it." A year later, he started enforcing his edict. Some 48 hours after a snowfall the trash trucks would be out, picking up the detritus residents put out to mark their spots. Menino gave a little more time with the most recent blizzard, but today at 8 a.m. the ban begins.

The policy seemed aimed directly at South Boston, and provoked much comment about that neighborhood's insularity and inclination to make and live by its own rules. Much of that comment came from people who have their own driveways and remain aloof from the trials snow poses for those who must park on the street.

In fact, however, space-saving is hardly unique to South Boston. Drive around Somerville and Cambridge, for example, and you'll find residents on side streets marking their spots. Indeed, the phenomenon extends beyond the region. Park in a shoveled space in northeast Philadelphia and you'll soon have a neighbor knocking on your door, politely asking you to move your car.

The key is politeness. The problem with space-saving isn't, as a mayoral spokesman said, "The streets of the city belong to all the people."

Space-saving works well in neighborhoods where people know each other. The real problem is that South Boston is changing. An influx of newcomers, most with more money and more education than the community's long-term residents, has created tensions. The tight- knit fabric of the place is fraying and new residents are often unaware of the unspoken rules that once governed behavior. Some old- timers - likely resentful of the newcomers - started holding on to spaces far longer than reasonable, becoming aggressive when challenged.

The battle over parking in Southie, very real and urgent to those who live there, is exactly the kind of concern that calls for discussion and collaboration among residents and their elected representatives. How about more residential parking restrictions? Could residents move their cars right after a storm so secondary roads could be better plowed? Could the city make available additional off-street parking? Could residents agree among themselves about "rules" that would govern the use of space-savers?

That hasn't happened. Instead, Menino issued an order and Kelly fired back. Rather than solving a problem, both sides simply created new ones. Menino has been quick to belittle Kelly's impassioned defense of space-saving; "I'm so glad Jimmy Kelly has decided to take up such a substantive issue," he mocked last week. For many residents, however, this is exactly the kind of substance they expect from their city government.