Does the way you park reflect your culture??

Maybe I was spoiled growing up in “Happy Valley”  but everyone there seems to park in the appropriate places and uncivil parking was never an issue that I thought much about. Of course, State College, Pennsylvania is a suburb and therefore, there is not a shortage of parking places but I don’t think that this is the only reason why residents respect each other.  I’ve noticed that Florentines have to park as close to their destination as possible even when there are large parking lots/garages nearby.  The amount of people who have to park on the pedestrian walks makes me think that people are very selfish. It’s hard enough pushing a stroller through the city and then have people block your passage while you are crossing the street but do they ever think about those in wheel chairs? I would hate to be handicapped in this city. I go to a large gym (Virgin) where there is plenty of parking for everyone. There are always cars parked along the driveway because the drivers are too lazy to park in the back parking lot where they would have to walk an extra 3 minutes to the gym entrance. I could understand if this was a hospital and people had mobility issues but ironically this in a place where people are going to get exercise. One day, I was leaving my parking garage to find a van blocking my exit. There is clearly a “Passo Carrabile” sign and a large electronic door but this did not stop a driver from parking illegally there. This person did not even leave on his 4-ways to signal that he was nearby.  I sat there with two kids in the car honking for 15 minutes until this person finally came back. (Thank god it wasn’t an emergency!) There was a crowd of people who verbally confronted him and he did not even have the courtesy to apologize to me. (Please note that we live 2 blocks from a large public parking garage that ends up being empty most days).  From these experiences, I tend to think that the way we park shows the type of person we are and reflects our culture. Do you think of others before yourself? Are you so self-centered that you can’t leave 5 minutes earlier in order to find real parking? Yes, Italians are very family-centered but they often tend to loose sight of the community as a whole.

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