In shovels' wake: cones, cans, and fists

An odd assortment of knickknacks lay strewn next to piles of two-day-old snow throughout South Boston yesterday afternoon.

Laundry baskets, trash cans, pillow cushions, recycling bins, traffic cones, and wreaths had been placed on roads as a declaration of a reserved parking spot.

But today, South Boston residents, like those in all of Boston, will have to remove their parking-spot savers or risk having the objects removed by Department of Public Works officials.

In a part of town where brawls over the limited parking spots are common, residents said they will grudgingly remove the items, but only until the next storm.

City officials say residents have become too possessive with public parking spots and are leaving the savers out all the time, not just immediately after snowstorms like the blizzard that hit the Northeast on Sunday, said Seth Gitell, a spokesman for Mayor Thomas M. Menino.

''The Public Works Department will remove whatever space-savers people have left out," he said. ''The streets of the city belong to all the people of the city."

By law, Boston residents are allowed to reserve parking spots they shoveled out after a snowstorm for 48 hours by placing an object on the pavement as a space-saver, Gitell said.

But in South Boston, residents are notorious for leaving out lawn chairs and folding tables for months during the winter to ensure a prime spot when they get home.

Most often, the penalty for stealing a spot is harsh words, perhaps slashed tires, but disputes can get ugly.

South Boston resident William Gately, 41, was punched in the face Sunday after he parked in a spot his neighbor had cleared and saved, police said.

''People know what the rules are," said Sean Parrell, 33, who has set out milk crates and chairs to mark his spot since he moved to the neighborhood eight winters ago. ''I would be pretty upset if someone took my parking spot after I took the time to shovel it."

Gately was allegedly punched in the face by a man police said lives a block away on Thomas Park Street after Gately removed an orange cone and parked in the spot the neighbor had cleared Sunday night.

''He has no right to put the cone there," Gately said in a telephone interview yesterday. ''I just said to him, 'Did you just assault me?' "

Gately moved the car and said he will press charges. He said police investigated the allegation and advised Gately to file a complaint in district court.

His was the only report of violence in Boston dealing with parking-spot savers this year, said police spokesman Officer John Boyle.

South Boston residents said they aren't surprised blows were dealt.

''If you park in someone's spot, you deserve to get punched," said Katie Sweeney, 20, who guarded her parking spot near Gates Street yesterday with an old leather pillow.

Ramona Norton said she will remove the yellow cones she placed outside her house today as per city mandate, but only until the next storm.

''There is just not enough parking," she said. ''A lot of people around here get pretty crazy."