Accessibility links Skip to main content Keyboard shortcuts for audio player Open Navigation Menu Newsletters NPR Shop Close Navigation Menu Home News Expand/collapse submenu for News National World Politics Business Health Science Climate Race Culture Expand/collapse submenu for Culture Books Movies Television Pop Culture Food Art & Design Performing Arts Life Kit Gaming Music Expand/collapse submenu for Music The Best Music of 2025 All Songs Considered Tiny Desk Music Features Live Sessions Podcasts & Shows Expand/collapse submenu for Podcasts & Shows Daily Morning Edition Weekend Edition Saturday Weekend Edition Sunday All Things Considered Fresh Air Up First Featured Embedded The NPR Politics Podcast Throughline Trump's Terms More Podcasts & Shows Search Newsletters NPR Shop The Best Music of 2025 All Songs Considered Tiny Desk Music Features Live Sessions About NPR Diversity Support Careers Press Ethics Would you give up a freshly-dug parking space? The ethics of spot-saving in the winter Your car was buried under the snow, you spent hours digging it out: Are you now going to give up your parking spot without a fight? Not in Baltimore you won't. National Would you give up a freshly-dug parking space? The ethics of spot-saving in the winter February 1, 20268:05 AM ET Heard on Weekend Edition Sunday By Scott Maucione Would you give up a freshly-dug parking space? The ethics of spot-saving in the winter Listen · 2:30 2:30 Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed "> <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5693057/nx-s1-9630573" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript Your car was buried under the snow, you spent hours digging it out: Are you now going to give up your parking spot without a fight? Not in Baltimore you won't. Sponsor Message
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Parking has become such a nightmare in the snow, and some people aren't going down without a fight. From Baltimore, Scott Maucione of member station WYPR looks at the ethics of spot-saving in winter weather.
SCOTT MAUCIONE, BYLINE: Sometimes it's folding chairs. Other times it's bright orange cones. People will even cordon off their prized real estate with caution tape. The most cavalier will just leave a shovel sticking up in a leftover patch of snow like a sword in a stone. These efforts send a clear message - I shoveled it. I'm keeping it. The matter's contentious here. Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott had a simple message for residents on WBAL-TV.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BRANDON SCOTT: Don't do it. If I see your chair, it's coming with me and going into the trash.
MAUCIONE: The issue of parking's especially heated after near-record-breaking cold has refrozen the snow. Today, Baltimore is a graveyard for plastic shovels.
(SOUNDBITE OF SHOVELING SNOW)
MAUCIONE: Kelly Hunter (ph) hired some neighborhood kids to clear her residential sidewalk and the street, and says staking a spot is fair game.
KELLY HUNTER: I say if they shoveled the spot, it should be their spot 'cause they cleaned it out. That's where their car was.
MAUCIONE: Ned Sparrow owns a bookstore in the busy Station North neighborhood. He still remembers the last time he took a blocked-off spot.
NED SPARROW: So there were garbage cans on the car when I woke up in the morning.
(SOUNDBITE OF TRAFFIC RUMBLING)
MAUCIONE: Scott Pennington's in his van all day and is done with parking politics. He dug out multiple cars over the last week, but says it's just too much work to save a spot.
SCOTT PENNINGTON: I gave that up a few years ago because I had two incidents where I saved my seat, but somebody took it anyways. And so now I just shovel enough to get my vehicle out and don't clean it up too much, so that if somebody takes it, I only put so much work into it.
MAUCIONE: During a snowstorm, parking can verge on a moral crisis. What if the person taking a spot or reserving a spot has a broken leg or is 8 1/2 months pregnant or just needs to make a quick trip to the store? But much like the Wild West, it's vigilante justice in the world of frozen city streets. Emily Heleba waited all week to shovel her car out. Now, halfway through the job, she has no hope she'll actually be able to keep the spot.
EMILY HELEBA: I've seen a lot of stories of people who do that, and then their neighbors come out and throw their chairs out and steal the spot anyway. So...
MAUCIONE: Temperatures are forecast to remain below freezing for many more days, so the parking battles will continue.
For NPR News, I'm Scott Maucione in Baltimore. Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. Facebook Flipboard Email Read & Listen Home News Culture Music Podcasts & Shows Connect Newsletters Facebook Instagram Press Public Editor Corrections Transcripts Contact & Help About NPR Overview Diversity NPR Network Accessibility Ethics Finances Get Involved Support Public Radio Sponsor NPR NPR Careers NPR Shop NPR Extra Terms of Use Privacy Your Privacy Choices Text Only Sponsor Message Sponsor MessageBecome an NPR sponsor (function () { var loadPageJs = function () { (window.webpackJsonp=window.webpackJsonp||[]).push([[22],{1166:function(e,n,c){e.exports=c(323)},323:function(e,n,c){"use strict";c.p=NPR.serverVars.webpackPublicPath,Promise.all([c.e(1),c.e(2),c.e(3),c.e(4),c.e(84)]).then(function(e){c(3),c(1140),c(116),c(94),c(52),c(493),c(239),c(102),c(104),c(1141),c(143),c(1142),c(238),c(48),c(1143)}.bind(null,c)).catch(c.oe)}},[[1166,0]]]); }; if (document.readyState === 'complete') { loadPageJs(); } else { window.addEventListener('load', function load() { window.removeEventListener('load', load, false); loadPageJs(); }); } })();