City, Mayoral Hopefuls A-OK With Dibs (For Now...)

By aaroncynic in News on Feb 4, 2011 7:00PM

We know that the dibs system here in Chicago has stayed the same for decades and regardless of how you feel about marking that space you spent all day digging out, city officials are okay with dibs, for now at least. The Tribune reports Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Thomas Byrne saying of dibs, “At this moment, that's a thing they're (residents) doing and they're trying to save what they dug out and we're not going to take a position on that.”

Almost of Chicago’s major mayoral candidates agree with Commissioner Byrne. Rahm Emanuel’s spokesman said Rahm would claim dibs if his lawn chairs weren’t in the basement. Gery Chico touted it as a civil way to mark parking spaces to the Sun Times and Miguel del Valle said dibs were fine so long as people weren’t holding spaces for too long. Carol Mosley Braun didn’t give an answer when asked, simply saying “Ahhh, that’s an important question because some of our volunteers are helping seniors dig out of the snow.”

In addition to the city shrugging their shoulders at the dibs system, Byrne also said that garbage trucks are beginning to attempt pickup and that the majority of side streets are now open. For those motorists unlucky enough to have cars buried at a parking meter, the city will not issue tickets today.