(from chicagoist.com)

Winter is in full, frigid swing, which means that parking—even more than usual—is squarely on the brain. Remnants of the weekend blizzard have been more or less shoveled out of the way, but the dibs vs. no-dibs debate has nevertheless re-raged, especially among those poor souls without off-street parking (i.e. most of us).

But a relatively new Chicago-based startup, ParqEx, has been working on a workaround. The app, which is headquartered in the West Loop and launched last year, allows users who have an unused parking space to it rent it out to those who need one, thereby sparing us all the indignity of so many patio-set-strewn streets. (MORE HERE)

This app looks cool and might be really great, but I have to say I’m a bit disappointed that it’s not just a kid and his little brother willing to save your spot for an hour for $5. Also “ParqEX” sounds so sophisticated, THE DIBS APP would’ve been everything!!