CHICAGO — The City of Brotherly Love officially hates dibs.
Actually, the friendly folks in Philadelphia call the practice of leaving construction cones, broken furniture and other junk to claim parking spots during snowstorms “savesies,” which is so cute it almost makes me puke.
As in Chicago, in Philadelphia it’s technically illegal to claim dibs — forgive me, I just can’t call it “savesies” — but for generations it wasn’t enforced.
Starting last year, though, Philly police started cracking down and writing tickets after parking space confrontations led to fistfights, vandalism and even shootings.
But that wasn’t very effective.
So Philadelphia Police Sgt. Eric Gripp took to Facebook and Twitter with a creative social media campaign to warn its citizens that leaving junk in the street to save a parking space is against the law … and they will catch you.
“Savesies has never been something we flat-out ignored, but things have unfortunately have gotten out of hand the last few years, with arguments, fights, confrontations and we even had shootings, unfortunately,” Gripp said.
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“The [social media] philosophy is that the whole concept of using the cones seems silly to people, and it’s something that we seemingly have ignored for a long time, and police are saying they want to [enforce it] now," Gripp said. “Humor seems to be a great way to communicate with people. It gets us a positive response.”
With Gripp’s nerdy video game humor, a warning and some funny hashtags — #NoSavesies and #GameOfCones — Gripp continues to spread the word that saving parking spaces is a no-no.
In one of his Facebook posts entitled “A Song of Ice and Parking … A Game of Cones,” Gripp wrote:
“Hark, fellow Philadelphians! Know that your Police Department is well aware of the trials and tribulations of parking in the city after a snowstorm. We shovel among you, and know all-too-well the pain of a sore back and blistered hand. … But alas, … that spot belongs to us all! Any legally registered vehicle can park there — snow or not. Please don't fight over parking. Call 911, and the Police will come out to handle the situation. Don't be a parking King Joffrey — remember: #NoSavesies.”
In Philly, the orange construction cone is the popular item, along with lawn chairs and recycling bins, Gripp told me.
That's why he mentions the cone in many of his tweets, including a recent post sent before a coming storm to warn people not to claim spots when the snow hit.
Gripp riffed on the 25-year-old Japanese video game called “Zero Wing” — which had a terrible English translation — by changing the game’s butchered opening line, “All your base are belong to us” to “All your cones and lawn chairs are belong to us.”
That post had been shared nearly 2,200 times and gotten nearly 2,700 likes on Facebook as of Thursday night.
“It worked well for us. Just as many people spread the message on Twitter because they thought it was a terrible grammatical error,” he said. “But we were glad that word got out … and the message is getting across.”
Chicago police didn’t respond to my questions about whether a dibs crackdown and a funny Twitter campaign are on the horizon in our town, but I think it’s safe to say that it won’t happen — especially during an election year.
Still, as the annual dibs argument rages on, the people of Philly are a warning that some traditions might not last forever.
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