Bill Kearney wrote:
I'd love to hear suggestions about how to keep the space next to me
unoccupied.

Call the cops and get 'em towed.

In some rich suburb, maybe. Anyplace else, no matter what they say on
the phone, it is not likely to be treated as a high-priority call. OP
may wait hours, if they respond at all. About the only suggestion I can
offer is to ask someone else to hop in and move the van, but that
requires a whole lot of trust and dependence on the kindness of strangers.

Some places, they are putting the ramp-van slots in places where another
vehicle can't block the ramp landing zone, or walling the landing zone
off with those yellow post thingies, and zebra-striping the area.

--
aem sends...