My neighbours put chairs out to reserve plum parking spots

Saving a space on the street—whether with pylons, recycling bins, hockey sticks taped to milk crates, or balloon-bedecked chairs marked “Party Parking”—falls into the totally-illegal-but-rarely-punished category. Offenders are technically “encumbering the streets,” a violation of bylaw 313. Penalties, however, are hard to dole out because the infraction is beyond the mandate of Traffic Police Forces: no vehicle means no license plate, which means no number to write on the ticket. Rather, enforcement falls to the Traffic and Right of Way Office, which doesn’t have regular patrollers. To tattle on your neighbours, you’ll have to call in a complaint, after which an officer will, in the words of Traffic Planning Manager Angie Antoniou, “bring a notice of warning to the door, politely seeking compliance.” If this doesn’t stop them—and who wouldn’t be scared straight by a polite request for compliance?—a second snitch could garner a $100 fine.

• Question from Elaine Brundage near Yonge and Eglinton

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