Sun-Times: Chicago crews to start dibs demolition

Photo via Chicago Dibs

 Thankfully over the past few days most of the snow has melted away, but expect the city to remove your "dibs" from the street on Monday. This news probably would've been appreciated earlier in the weekend, but hopefully if you're able to you should probably remove your items from the street tonight!

Dibs isn’t dead in Chicago, but it’s about to take a break after one last weekend.

On Monday, the Department of Streets and Sanitation will begin a job nearly as painstaking as side-street snow removal: carting away the lawn chairs, beat-up couches and discarded toys that have helped Chicagoans stake claim to cherished parking spaces they have cleared of snow.

Chicagoans were urged to spend the weekend removing their space-saving items or risk having city crews do it for them.

The time is right to declare a final weekend of dibs, the controversial but time-honored tradition that City Hall has condoned with a wink and a nod.

In a winter that has featured a relentless barrage of snow and cold and the fifth-highest snow totals in Chicago history, there appears to be a break in the action. There are cold temperatures but no major snowstorms in the forecast until March 2.

That gives Streets and San crews that have been piling up overtime a rare chance to clear the streets so they don’t look quite so tacky.

“As is the case with each winter season, crews remove items from city streets near the end of the winter season,” Streets and Sanitation spokeswoman Molly Poppe said Friday.

“With weather conditions improving and the snow melting, Streets and Sanitation crew will begin to remove the ‘dibs’ debris and other obstructions from the public way, beginning next week.”