After hours of digging out from the latest snowstorm, some drivers in Paterson are marking their territory the old-fashioned way—using whatever they can find to save the parking spots they’ve shoveled out.

Chairs. Traffic cones. Garbage cans. Even cardboard boxes and full living room furniture were used to save parking spots.

On snow-packed Paterson streets, it’s become a kind of extreme winter real estate market: shovel it, claim it.

“People shovel it. People break their backs. People pay other people to shovel, so that’s my spot,” said Mike, a Paterson resident, defending the practice.

If you walk down the block, you’ll see just how creative people are getting. Beyond the usual cones and bins, there are benches, a computer chair and even a full recliner holding space for cars that aren’t there.

For some, it’s about fairness. They did the work, so they feel they deserve the spot. But others say it’s selfish, especially in a city where parking is already scarce.

“Everybody isn’t fortunate enough to pull up in a driveway and a garage. It’s bad out here. I have seen fights over parking spots,” one neighbor told News 12.

The problem? No matter how hard you shoveled, that spot isn’t actually yours.

This is extreme winter real estate. People say that once you shovel out your spot, that makes you the temporary owner. The only problem? The city says the street is public property, so doing this is illegal.

Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh says the city has started cracking down.

“We have issued warnings. We’ve had to remove some items as well,” Sayegh said. “There was a recliner. There are other parts of people’s homes that are out here—foreign objects or whatever you want to call them. We’re going to send a stern message to these individuals that you are violating an ordinance in the city, and it will be enforced.”

So while the unofficial winter rule in some neighborhoods might be “shovel it, claim it,” the official rule is clear - the street belongs to everyone.