Neighbors who park along your street...

[69Charger_440]

Just wanted to hear what some of you all think about this issue. 

I have a neighbor who now has two roommates (I'll call them RM1 and RM2).  These two roommates park alongside the street right next to my house and my neighbor's house.  At first it was o.k. because it was only RM1 living there and he would park nearest my neighbor's house.  Just a few weeks ago, RM2 moved in.  Now that RM1 and RM2 are living there, RM2 is now parking right in front of my house.  At first it didn't bug me too much, but at the same time it started to irk me since my neighbor has a driveway that can fit three cars.  I never said anything since it is a public street and they can park there.  It's just that if I were to have company someday to, my visitor's would more than likely have to park in front of other neighbor's homes.  And that would only be a one time deal, not an everyday thing.  Anyhow, today I arrive home and RM1 and RM2 have their cars parked in the aforementioned location, but now there is a third car parked there and it is blocking my driveway.  Not all of it, but a small portion of it.  Enough to where if I were to try to back out, I would have to maneuver around it.  As of right now, my blood is boiling  .  I hate the fact that whoever parked there doesn't have the common courtesy of saying, "Oh, I'm blocking this person's driveway.  Let me move my car."  There is plenty of parking on the opposite side of the street or one house down.  I know for a fact it isn't a neighbor.  It is someone who is visiting.  If I wouldn't get arrested, I would grab my tow rope and drag this idiot's car right into the middle of the street and leave it there.  However, I'm a law-abiding citizen and can't do that..........yet. 

I know I could call my roommate and ask him if it is someone he knows, but he is at work and I don't want to bother him for something so minor.  I also don't know if the car's owner if visiting RM1 and RM2.  It could be that someone is visiting the neighbor who lives directly in front of me.  I could go knock door-to-door until I find the owner and ask them to move it, but I am seriously too pissed to do it right now. 

My wife said I should just park my truck there from now on until my neighbor gets the hint.  My argument is that I shouldn't have to resort to childish games in order to get my neighbor to understand that parking in front of my house, although not illegal, he should at least respect me enough to ask his roommates and others to not block my driveway, IF it is his visitor. 

Anyhow, could it just be that I am overreacting?  I could be an @hole neighbor, but I don't want to be.  I just want the same courtesy I extend to all my neighbors  .   Anyhow, would would you do?

[lisiecki1]

I think I would just back into the car blocking my driveway and be done with it.

No laws against blocking someone else's driveway?  Do you have a HOA?

[69Charger_440]

I think I would just back into the car blocking my driveway and be done with it.

No laws against blocking someone else's driveway?  Do you have a HOA?

Yes, I feel like doing that, but it's not worth it.  Not sure what you mean by, "No laws...."  Yes, I have an HOA, but as I said, I know I can't do anything legally for the two parked cars that are not blocking my driveway.  It's the fact that the idiot owner of car number three decided to block my driveway.

[lisiecki1]

Sorry, basically I was asking "Are there laws against blocking a driveway" where you live?

I know you can't do anything about the other two, but maybe if you have #3 towed they'll get the point?

[defiance]

Exactly.  Have him towed.

There are two sides to this one - I know a guy who was parking on the street in front of somebody's house (never in the way, never causing trouble) when he would go to classes in the evening.  The b!tc4 living there hassled him for a while, and he ignored her, then she keyed his truck (new truck).  Completely unreasonable.  On the other hand, I've had people park in front of my house and dump trash (including baby diapers) in my yard.  Seriously!  Nasty stuff.

Take the reasonable approach, and for the ones that aren't blocking or doing any harm, leave it, it's their right, as annoying as it is that they aren't using their own driveway. 

But when they step across the line, do all that is within your rights.  Don't try fixing it, just call 311 and have them towed.  Hundred bucks or so later they'll think about it next time.

[69Charger_440]

I do believe it is illegal to block a driveway.  As a matter of fact, I found out who the idiot culprit was.  It was the dumb gf of RM1.  She gave me a sorry excuse of, "Sorry, I just stopped really quick to drop off some medication."  1.) That must have been the quickest hour and a half I have ever seen.  My neighbor isn't home so his driveway was completely free of cars.  F***en idiot people.    

[69Charger_440]

Exactly.  Have him towed.

There are two sides to this one - I know a guy who was parking on the street in front of somebody's house (never in the way, never causing trouble) when he would go to classes in the evening.  The b!tc4 living there hassled him for a while, and he ignored her, then she keyed his truck (new truck).  Completely unreasonable.  On the other hand, I've had people park in front of my house and dump trash (including baby diapers) in my yard.  Seriously!  Nasty stuff.

Take the reasonable approach, and for the ones that aren't blocking or doing any harm, leave it, it's their right, as annoying as it is that they aren't using their own driveway. 

But when they step across the line, do all that is within your rights.  Don't try fixing it, just call 311 and have them towed.  Hundred bucks or so later they'll think about it next time.

I hear you.  I would never key someone's car or intentionally damage it, annoying as it may be.  I should have called 311 and had the dumb witch's car towed.

[moparguy01]

next time she does it dont give it a second thought. just call and have it towed off. If questioned by the neighbor later say that your patience ran out the last time they did that and you talked to them.....

[Brock Samson]

welcome to my world,.. since the latest wave of immigration here, the garages have been converted into apartments, they even have rented out the living rooms and dining rooms and the people directly next door to me have converted the stairway into a small bedroom,.. so homes that used to have three of four residents now have as many as ten or twelve - what number of them have cars?.. Most.
During the day it's not too bad as most of them have gone to work, but by 6 PM if you haven't got a parking space already good luck trying to find one...
Folks have paved over the front lawns and park as many as three cars there,.. but they still have two more cars that get parked on the street...  on either side of the house and so blocking those houses from having parking access...    

Folks use cones to "reserve" the spot in front of their home. I've had to resort to that on occasion myself. what pisses me off,.. is these folks moved in within the last yr or so and are hogging all the parking on the block... hard for me to talk though since i have three, incl. the R/V and my friends have a couple cars and are always here. but it's a real issue, and sometime you hear folks laying on their horns when they can't get in the driveway which happens a few times a week. during Tett (the Asian new year) it was a zoo as each house had several cars visiting and all the spots were taken and people were running around door to door trying to get cars moved.. it was a real circus. I usually ask nicely the first time, that they refrain from doing that again, often they don't or claim not to speak english. that's why these little furrin' cars are so popular here in the inner city.
To add to the problem twice a week we have "Street Sweeping" and I use that term loosely as they dont really sweep anything. It's an excuse for the city to send Metermaids out and ticket any car blocking the sweeper $65.oo
so all the cars have to be moved from one side of the street to another.
SUCKS!!!!   I have a system I have perfected to shuffle my cars around the streets twice a week to avoid the $130.oo in fines...

[Back N Black]

One thing missing here, Communication! talk to the guy and tell him how you feel about the situation and I'm sure it can be resolved when he has you side of the story. Its too easy to turn it into a shit storm.

[Old Moparz]

One thing missing here, Communication! talk to the guy and tell him how you feel about the situation and I'm sure it can be resolved when he has you side of the story. Its too easy to turn it into a shit storm.

I agree. Some people are just oblivious to the dumb things they do. Why? Well, because they're dumb. 

You could simply go knock on the door & ask them if that's their car that is blocking your driveway. If it is, just say that you don't want to risk damage getting in & out to either car & that they should please park it elsewhere. If it isn't theirs, then at least you pointed out that nobody should park there. It shouldn't be too hard to figure out who's car it is & get the owner to move it. If it happens again, the best thing to do is call it in to have it ticketed or towed.

Is it worth a nasty confrontation over a parking problem?

[Silver R/T]

You know neighbors across the street did the same (they've moved out, thank God) and what their next door neighbor did is he would park his car right at the spot where their territory ended. This way when they had company and everyone would grab a spot they wouldn't park on his part of the street. Poor guy still does it even though asshole neighbors moved out and new owner only has 2 cars that he always parks on the driveway.

[1969chargerrtse]

My neighbor rents her house out now.  They pay 2,200.00 a month and park one of their cars in the street.  I hate it, and don't understand it    I truly feel your frustration.  We have 1 1/2 acres each and long driveways, why they park on the street, is odd.

[resq302]

Well, working for a police dept, here is what I can offer.  If the vehicle is indeed blocking your driveway, call your local pd and they can have it towed due to blocking your access.  As for the vehicles parked legally curbside really nothing you can do since it is a public roadway and they are parked legally.  If you don't want them parking there, park one of your vehicles there curbside.

[Richard Cranium]

Well, working for a police dept, here is what I can offer.  If the vehicle is indeed blocking your driveway, call your local pd and they can have it towed due to blocking your access. 

And if it isn't blocking your driveway, go out & move it with a floor jack so it partially blocks your driveway, them call then call the police & get it towed.   Of course, take a picture of the car for proof.

[resq302]

nah, take too long and too much effort.

[chargermike]

why not just talk to the rm 1 and rm 2 and tell them your problem. i bet they will understand. i had a neighbor like you once. we told him if there was a problem to just let us know and we would fix it. but no he just became a cop calling asshole. as far as calling the police. good luck with that. if they cant make money at it they wont care. the police are a joke. and hoa cant do anything to a person who doesnot own the house. its a public street. when you talked to the girlfriend did you ask her not to block the driveway. just talk to them and leave the local  money collectors to writing money tickets.

[resq302]

Why risk talking to them and getting into an altercation with them?  Granted, if you know them and they are friendly, sure, approach them.  If it is someone you don't know, call the local authorities.  Most of the time, cops take the extra effort to have the problem remedied without having to issue a ticket or summons.  Seems like you had a bad deal with a cop at one point.  I am not a cop but am a Communications Officer for a police dept.  Especially since you do not know who the person is that blocks your driveway, this would be all the more reason to call your local PD since they can look up who owns the car and try to reach out the them to move it.

[69Charger_440]

One thing missing here, Communication! talk to the guy and tell him how you feel about the situation and I'm sure it can be resolved when he has you side of the story. Its too easy to turn it into a shit storm.

I agree. Some people are just oblivious to the dumb things they do. Why? Well, because they're dumb. 

You could simply go knock on the door & ask them if that's their car that is blocking your driveway. If it is, just say that you don't want to risk damage getting in & out to either car & that they should please park it elsewhere. If it isn't theirs, then at least you pointed out that nobody should park there. It shouldn't be too hard to figure out who's car it is & get the owner to move it. If it happens again, the best thing to do is call it in to have it ticketed or towed.

Is it worth a nasty confrontation over a parking problem?

I do agree that it would be best to communicate to this person that she is/was blocking my driveway; however, I also feel that as an adult, she should have more common sense and courtesy to no block a person's driveway.  I just feel that I shouldn't have to go around asking adults with at least half a brain to not block my driveway.  The irritating part is that my wife's Tahoe was approximately 8ft from where this lady parked.  There is no way that she could not have noticed that if my wife backed out, my wife would have been backing directly into the back half of her vehicle.  This lady could have simply parked in my neighbor's driveway, which was completely empty.  I dunno, maybe I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill.  Oh well, she moved.  If it happens again I'll just call the city and have it towed. 

[twodko]

It is frustrating when folks don't exercise common curtesy toward one another. Many are indeed just clueless. These folks just will not "get it" no matter how neighborly your attempts are. Choose the high ground. Speak with your neighbor(s) as a neighbor, its the best first option IMO. After that take advantage of the locals laws regarding "blocking access". Everything has a price.........your family's well being comes first so watch your six.



Brian you must live out in the Avenues........been there, done that and got the tee shirt!

[69Charger_440]

why not just talk to the rm 1 and rm 2 and tell them your problem. i bet they will understand. i had a neighbor like you once. we told him if there was a problem to just let us know and we would fix it. but no he just became a cop calling asshole. as far as calling the police. good luck with that. if they cant make money at it they wont care. the police are a joke. and hoa cant do anything to a person who doesnot own the house. its a public street. when you talked to the girlfriend did you ask her not to block the driveway. just talk to them and leave the local  money collectors to writing money tickets.

I would, but if they were to be smartasses it would certainly escalate.  I live there permanently, they don't so that would not be good.  Besides I can live with both parking there as long as they don't block my driveway.

[69Charger_440]

It is frustrating when folks don't exercise common curtesy toward one another. Many are indeed just clueless. These folks just will not "get it" no matter how neighborly your attempts are. Choose the high ground. Speak with your neighbor(s) as a neighbor, its the best first option IMO. After that take advantage of the locals laws regarding "blocking access". Everything has a price.........your family's well being comes first so watch your six.


Brian you must live out in the Avenues........been there, done that and got the tee shirt!

.

Exactly!  Oh well.  I think they got the hint yesterday when I spoke to them, and hopefully it won't happen again.

[Steve P.]

I feel your pain. When we bought our present home we were tickled pink with the driveway and garage's and our wrap around back driveway. Being a corner lot we can come in one driveway and go out the other. Our situation is different here as there is NO PARKING on ANY STREETS in our entire county unless specially marked for it. So in a nutshell we SHOULD never have this parking issue. The community we live in was built in the 70's for retired folks. Small properties and small roads. Only 20 feet curb to curb. Much of our county was built this way and the no parking on the street law is due to emergency vehicles needing to pass quickly.

Well, in the past month we have new neighbors across the street and directly across from our South driveway. They only have 1 vehicle at the moment so they are not normally in the road, but he is a tattoo artist and has many people there all hours of the day and night. These people are continuously parking DIRECTLY across from my driveway. As if it doesn't exist.. My truck is long and eats every bit of the road and my driveway turning in and out of here and I feel violated that I have to deal with this BS. I OWN and pay more taxes than anyone else within a mile or more. They rent. Don't care. Owners live a few houses away and don't care. Topping everything else off this guy is forever in front of his house yacking away on the cell phone to who cares about nothing but drama while his kids, (3) and all small, are continuously falling off their bikes in the street, getting hurt and screaming at the top of their lungs!!!! So much for having nice weather and leaving the windows open!!!!

One day I am going to be in a hurry leaving here and have a small accident going out my driveway and it ain't gonna be pretty.... Jesus, there's one of them SCREAMING NOW!!!!

[69Charger_440]

I feel your pain. When we bought our present home we were tickled pink with the driveway and garage's and our wrap around back driveway. Being a corner lot we can come in one driveway and go out the other. Our situation is different here as there is NO PARKING on ANY STREETS in our entire county unless specially marked for it. So in a nutshell we SHOULD never have this parking issue. The community we live in was built in the 70's for retired folks. Small properties and small roads. Only 20 feet curb to curb. Much of our county was built this way and the no parking on the street law is due to emergency vehicles needing to pass quickly.

Well, in the past month we have new neighbors across the street and directly across from our South driveway. They only have 1 vehicle at the moment so they are not normally in the road, but he is a tattoo artist and has many people there all hours of the day and night. These people are continuously parking DIRECTLY across from my driveway. As if it doesn't exist.. My truck is long and eats every bit of the road and my driveway turning in and out of here and I feel violated that I have to deal with this BS. I OWN and pay more taxes than anyone else within a mile or more. They rent. Don't care. Owners live a few houses away and don't care. Topping everything else off this guy is forever in front of his house yacking away on the cell phone to who cares about nothing but drama while his kids, (3) and all small, are continuously falling off their bikes in the street, getting hurt and screaming at the top of their lungs!!!! So much for having nice weather and leaving the windows open!!!!

One day I am going to be in a hurry leaving here and have a small accident going out my driveway and it ain't gonna be pretty.... Jesus, there's one of them SCREAMING NOW!!!!

  I guess I don't have it too rough!!

[Chris G.]

Are you more upset about the daily parking in front of your house, or the girl who blocked your driveway?

Also, do they have a wide driveway or do the cars need to be stacked in line to park in it?