It's time to move the chairs.
Again.
The snow from the most recent storm is all but gone, the ice storm didn't quite materialize and the latest winter blast bypassed us for the Midwest and Northeast. And yet, even now, people are saving public parking spots with lawn chairs.
The snow hit a week ago, and I know crusty piles remain along residential streets. And yes, we here at The Sun just did a story today titled: "Some parts of city still struggle with snowy streets." Some places like Northeast Baltimore's Hamilton neighborhood didn't get very good plow service.
It was a year ago, after back-to-back snow storms, that Baltimore's mayor made a public plea for people to stop saving public parking spaces with lawn furniture and other household items. I wrote that the city looked like a yard sale after a hurricane (the picture here is from last year in Baltimore and was taken by The Sun's Kim Hairston). People were fighting over spots.
It didn't seem an issue during our latest bout with winter. At least that's what I thought until I got an e-mail today, sent out to community folks around Towson. Baltimore County Police Sgt. Stephen Fink, a community liaison, is pleading with people to remove their chairs:
Fink wrote more:
Residents need to know that once they move their vehicle from the parking space it is no longer their space; their space is where ever they park when they return. Leaving unfriendly, angry, threatening notes on a vehicle that occupies a vacated space or actual verbal/physical confrontations are not acceptable and could lead to further Police involvement and actions.
So please inform your residents to do the right things during snowy weather and avoid the wrong things and before you know it Mother Nature is smiling down upon us once again as the calenders read June, July and August and the thermometers show 100 degree temperatures.
Thank You, Sgt Fink