Chicago Garbage Collectors To Pitch 'Dibs' Items Starting Friday

CHICAGO — Residents who have reserved their shoveled out parking spots by placing household items beware: Come Friday, local sanitation workers have orders to dispose of your belongings without asking permission.

Chicago’s Department of Streets and Sanitation officials announced on Tuesday that garbage collectors will be directed to throw items away used by residents who have called “dibs” on their parking spots.

Items such as chairs, tables, toys and other popular placeholders will be thrown away by garbage collectors working their normal routes, according to a news release. The tradition of calling "dibs" after clearing out a space is longstanding Chicago tactic, but the action has drawn its share of controversy over the years.

City officials said that the time has come for city workers to clean up the streets.

“We ask residents to please be neighborly and pick up any personal items they may currently have on the street,” Chicago Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Cole Stallard said in the news release.

While winter was late in coming to Chicago from a snowfall perspective, a snowstorm last week dumped up to 11 inches of snow in some places around the city. However, city crews have worked to clear local streets, leaving local residents to shovel out parking spaces and call“dibs” on their spots by using items to reserve their spot.

The city said that any residents who have concerns about “dibs” in their neighborhood can report them by calling 311.