“Dibs” is when a person who shovels a parking spot on a public street gets to put some random junk in that spot when their car is not there and then no one else can park there. I don’t know if it’s legal or not, but Daley is on record defending it as a Chicago tradition.
When I lived in Roscoe Village I rarely saw people marking dibs. Probably because a lot of people have garages there. >When I was in the East Ukrainian Village neighborhood I saw dibs more. But, never have I seen it as much as I did this week in Logan Square. The dibs photos above were all taken on the same block in Logan Square. And I only walked down half of the block.
Logan Square dibs used to be even worse when I moved here 4 years ago. It’s not nearly as bad, at least on my end of the neighborhood. I suspect as the neighborhood gets more and more gentrified and more and more transplants land here, the dibs thing will die out.
Can’t say I’ve seen dibs before or heard of it
Dibs is really really big in Pilsen. Maybe it is more common in Hispanic communities?
A lifelong south side Chicagoan, I never thought of it as being a ‘bad’ thing. I find it amazing that people have a problem with it, that it’s showed up in the Red Eye, etc. Maybe it’s the difference of growing up in a spacious subdivision vs. a crowded 3 flat. But I certainly wouldn’t wish more gentrification, i.e. segregation and displacement of entire communities, so that it gets ‘better’
for the record, I never said it was bad. ..
My questions is…Does it really truly work though. Locals would understand it I get that. But for anyone out of town who sees it I think would just think it was there by mistake move it and park there. I wonder how many people in a day get ticked b/c someone stole their spot. The pics are funny to see…Living in a rural country area I would have never thought I’d see something like this.
This custom is done in Philadelphia also, but not something a person sees in NYC. It’s all about people respecting the dibs, do unto others…I think it’s a good thing shovellers reserve the fruits of their labor…growing up in Rochester I did plenty of shovelling! But usually drive-ways not curb parking so dibs wasnt an issue.
Look, dibs i think is perfectly respectable. Everyone is so americanized that there even to lazy to shovel there parking spaces, nevermind the sidewalk areas in front of there apartment buildings. I see these phony people try to park at night after the snow has fallen, the majority of the time they just get stuck. 5 minutes is all it takes, continue to have dibs on the shit!
As a born and raise Chicagoan, I grew up with dibs. When you live on a small side streets in a three flat with no parking, it could take a couple of day before the city cleans the streets. Even to today you heard it on the news the issue with the side streets not been clean. If someone is going to take the time to clean a small space, then why not reserve it! Again it is true Chicago tradition for people who grew up in the compacted neighbors. For all does transplants remember this city was build by the hard working migrations that were poor and lived in crowded areas. Acquaint your self with the tradition and respect them. One has to participate in dibs and if you want to take someone’s dibs them, go ahead. But remember for every action there is a reaction, Karma!
This was one of the most puzzling things I had ever seen when I moved here. Where I come from not only do people not claim “dibs” — they don’t even park on the street! EEK!
I think it is cool though. If you’ve got it into you to shovel out a spot it seems fine that you should be able to stake claim for the day.
If you are wondering how it works and people don’t just move the chairs/boxes/whatever someone finds to hold a spot out of the way… you should see what happens to the cars of people who don’t respect it…
And no, it is not legal…
Also, it should be noted that people don’t just claim dibs “for the day”.. our last big snow was a week or two ago and people still are claiming dibs. that’s the only part I’m not sure I agree with. You dig the spot out once and now you can reserve it for weeks on end? And then our friends have no where to park bc all the spots are taken. You should see how people try to extend it into the spring! If you dig a spot out you should be able to claim it for a few days, but at some point you have to just let it go.
Not a fan of junk in the street.
And since it illegal, there’s nothing wrong with picking up the trash. I would however advise picking up the trash from the parkway while the person who wants to claim dibs is already parked, rather than from the street while they’re away.