While much of the country basks in early-spring sunshine, as they have for the past, oh several million years, others of us in northern climes have been struggling to survive yet another arctic blast or polar vortex or whatever they are calling it this time around. Yes, it snowed again today in Salt Lake City, and no, I’m not bitter. I am relieved that I didn’t have to clear any snow, or silently curse my neighbors for taking my one on-street parking space again. Why is that important? In my neighborhood, I either have enough room for one car or our two trash bins at the curb in front of my very narrow house. Not all three, or even one car and one bin. So I generally leave the garbage cans out significantly longer than is usually accepted in a modern society. If only there was such a civilized place where one could reserve their on-street parking spot. Wait, there is. Pittsburgh. While my garbage can chicanery extends throughout the year, Northeasterners have been deploying strategic bits of furniture to achieve a similar purpose only during the eight or nine winter months. Due to the lack of parking in many urban areas and the incredible amount of time and effort it takes to clear a foot or two of snow from a 10×20 foot space, the general practice is to leave a chair or other similar marker in your freshly-cleared spot, ensuring it’s availability when you return from work in the evening. Does it work? All signs point to “Yes!” The existence of not only a Wikipedia Page dedicated to the parking chair, but a t-shirt, photo gallery “museum” an etiquette guide and other articles point in that direction. There is of course, no legal basis for any of this strategic littering. The parking chair “reservation” is generally enforced by the neighborhood busybody or just respected out of habit. Most streets are public property and as such, if any municipality wanted to shut down the practice, city workers could simply come down the street with a truck and pick up all the “abandoned furniture” left behind in the wake of the storm. But who is it hurting in the long run? The community benefits in a couple of ways. Not only do parking space “owners” clear those spots for their own cars, they remove snow that would otherwise have to be cleared by city plows. In cases of emergency, responders will be able to travel safely down a street that does not have cars parked into the travel lanes because of haphazardly-piled or freshly-fallen snow. Many work together to clear more than one space at a time, creating perhaps the greatest benefit – a sense of community. When something that your neighborhood or city does is a cool enough thing to create websites and t-shirts and folding furniture in honor of, well that’s a win-win in my book. In my neighborhood, I will continue to shuffle garbage cans, beater cars, landscaping boulders and small children to maintain my parking space. Because that’s how we do it here.