Park place: Digging it out doesn't give you monopoly

Spaces become prime real estate on snowy streets

Rosa Ramirez And Daniel J. Chacon, Rocky Mountain News

Published January 26, 2007 at midnight

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Maria Pachecano and her husband spent an hour and a half breaking up hard-packed ice and spreading salt to clear a parking space in front of their duplex apartment on West First Avenue near Galapago Street.

But, Maria Pachecano said, as soon as her husband left for work, neighbors would rush to park in the spot. When he arrived home, he'd circle the block in search of parking.

The couple devised a plan.

They put an old white, plastic lawn chair on the snow-free parking space, with a sign, "DO NOT PARK HERE."

Now, other residents on their block and in neighborhoods throughout the city who rely on street parking are using chairs as space-holders after they've cleared the snow.

Denver's right-of-way enforcement division hears about it "all the time," said Ann Williams, a spokeswoman for the Department of Public Works.

"Have they received any complaints lately? No," she said. "But it's not something that necessarily happens with the snow, although you could see why it would happen more. Apparently, there's a lot of competition for parking spaces in town."

Williams said the city has an ordinance that makes it illegal to encumber the right of way. Violating it is punishable by up to a year in jail and a $999 fine, she said.

Detective Virginia Quinones, a police spokeswoman, said common sense and consideration can go a long way in these situations.

"The city street's are public roadway," she said. "When it's a public street, you do not have reserved parking."

Moving other people's chairs from the right of way is not a crime, she said.

"It might certainly cause some ill feelings between the neighbors," she said, "but it's not a criminal act."

Pachecano, 42, said if you shovel snow from a parking space in front of your home, it should be there when you need it.

"It's not right that we cleared out our space and others just come and park," she said. "It was a lot of work. My husband still has chunks of ice that we cleared on the back of his pickup truck, waiting for it to melt."

Pachecano said the chairs worked - for the most part.

She said her husband, on three different occasions, knocked on neighbors' doors and asked them to move their vehicles.

"They get irritated, but they move," Pachecano said. "It's not the parking that we're fighting, it's the fact that we worked to clean it."

It appears she's not the only one.

"It's difficult for people who come home from work after 9 p.m.," said Francisco Gonzalez-Gonzalez, who lives on Pachecano's block and also holds a spot with a chair outside his house. "All the parking is taken by people who don't want to take the time to clean."

The Denver forecast:

• Today: High near 45 degrees, with a low of 14. Northwest winds will be between 6 and 9 mph.

• Saturday: Snow likely, with a high of 26. Seventy percent chance of snow in the evening.

• Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high of 29. Lows in the low teens.Source: National Weather Service

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