Need advice...regarding Parking

[WillParkinson]

We live in a house where there is only off-street parking (and that's limited).

Our neighbors rent the house next to us with 3 bedrooms and they have 5 cars! These cars are used to take the 4 parking spaces available in front of our houses. The sad thing is that they take up ALL 4 slots with 2 or 3 cars because they park a 1/4 car length apart (or more!) I have spoken with the landlord of their building. When they originally rented they only had 2 cars. She says that since it's a city street they can't do anything.

I have put a note on their cars reminding them (very nicely) that there are other people who need the parkings slots, too. For a while they were OK. Now they are back to doing what they were before. Now, however, they have company that comes over and parks this huge white van in front of our house that sits there for 3 - 4 days at a time.

I'm tempted to call the cops to have them all ticketed since they are parking overnight with no permit or on opposite days of where they need to park...

Anyone have any good, non-violent advice on dealing with this situation?

[SoCalDem]

1. Try code enforcement

or spike strips :evilgrin:

[Loonman]

2. Keep calling the city or whomever deals with parking enforcement

Eventually the tickets will pile up, and they'll be forced to comply or risk being booted or impounded.

[Beaker]

3. move.

it's a public street, and there's no law saying that people living in a 3-bedroom house can't have 5 cars.
I've lived in urban environments where I routinely had to park 5-6 blocks away from my apartment, and considered myself lucky to get the parking spot.

quitcher bitchin'.

[WillParkinson]

4. Excuse me?

I hardly think I'm bitching to ask a question.

[Beaker]

9. leaving notes on legally parked cars-

sure sounds bitchy to me...

We live on a residential street 1/2 block from a private college- during the days and evenings we have to put up with all sorts of inconsiderate parkers...there's also a person who drives a 15-passenger van for a korean church that parks on the street on our block, and another guy who owns a stretch limo lives and parks on the street as well.
Our street is probably half single-family houses and half multi-family(2 & 3 flats), sometimes I can park in front of our house, but sometimes I have to walk about a half block or so...but where we used to live, it was all apartment buildings(with no private lots), and street parking was a premium, and "first come, first served".
also- some people are bad at parallel parking to begin with, and try to leave extra room between themselves and the next car to avoid being penned in by cars on both bumpers.
Basically, it's part of life in the big city, and you just have to deal with it...otherwise you risk coming across as...well...bitchy.
jmho.

[northzax]

10. if they don't have a permit

then they aren't legally parked cars, right? wouldn't you rather have a note than a boot?

[Beaker]

12. if they're parked illegally-

you call the cops and have them ticketed.

if they're parked legally, but in an inconsiderate manner- you just have to accept the fact that there are inconsiderate people in the world, and let it go. life's too short to get your undies in a bunch over other people's parking habits.

[WillParkinson]

11. First...

The cars were not parked legally. They violated overnight parking with no permits.

Our entire block has 11 houses on it (2 of them are duplexes). One person has his own driveway. There are no other houses on our street or surrounding it.

Leaving a note on a car asking them nicely to remember there are other people on our block that need to park, too, is hardly bitchy. It's asking them to be respectful of others.

And, finally, leaving enough room between cars is one thing. But when they park 8 feet from a driveway (which does not leave enough room for a car behind them) that's being rude.

If you want to think that's bitchy that is, of course, your choice. I am always respectful when I park and make sure that I leave enough room for others. I don't think it's too much to ask for the same in return.

[Beaker]

13. if they're parked illegally, call the cops.

if they're parked legally, but in what you consider to be an inconsiderate manner- you just have to learn to deal with it. unless you've been elected Block Parking Captain, leaving little notes "reminding" people to be respectful of others is just silly(and yes, IMHO, extremely bitchy).

BTW- cars often come and go from unmarked parking spaces, leaving gaps where there were none before. I can park my car with 1 foot between the cars both in front and back of me, and come out the next day, and there are two different cars in front and back of mine, both 3/4 of a car length away from my car, making it appear that I've taken up two spaces...it's a very fluid type of situation, and you just have to learn to go with the flow...

or you can be whiny and bitchy about it...it's a free country.

[WillParkinson]

14. Oh, now I'm 'whiny', too...

Thanks. I appreciate your efforts to educate me on my deficiencies.

Your opinion has been noted.

[Beaker]

16. i never said that you were whiny...

I said that the act of putting little notes on people's cars, when you don't like how they park, reminding them to be "respectful" of others comes across as whiny and bitchy.

you asked for advice, that was mine.

[WillParkinson]

17. I thought that asking nicely...

For a bit of courtesy was better than calling the cops and having them ticketed. Working 3rd shift I never see these people so it's hard to have a face-to-face with them.

And excuse my last post. It's getting really close to bedtime and I'm a bit sleepy.

[Nevernose]

5. Don't leave a note, next time

Talk to them face-to-face. Bring a six-pack with you when you go. Friendliness and beer will solve 90% of your neighbor-problems.

[ConcernedCanuk]

6. I would suggest checking this link

.
.

http://www.mpw.net/Pages/pregulations.html#day

or

http://www.mpw.net/Pages/parkingops.html


Then you can make an informed decision !

[WillParkinson]

8. Thanks for these!

At least 3 of these cars (plus the van) does not have an overnight parking permit.

[northzax]

7. have you considered cocktails?

of the Molotov variety, of course. Perhaps you should encourage the neighborhood hoodlums to start car theft as a hobby.

or, just report them for code violations.

[BlueJazz]

15. Few years ago, a friend of mine had a similar problem

He called up the city and streets dept. (or something like that) and
had them put signs up that stated the regulations:

NO PARKING OVERNIGHT
9PM to 6AM
without permit

The first car that broke the rule, he called the cops and bitched about it. .....That way the offenders didn't have a leg to stand on.
(Oh, I didn't know officer)

[geniph]

18. Almost anyone who lives in the city has this problem

You should see how hardcore some of the neighborhoods in Seattle are. They've finally had to put up signs in most neighborhoods reminding people that they cannot remain in a spot for more than 24 hours, and many neighborhoods petitioned the city to paint parking lines (so people didn't take up two spaces by parking in the middle between driveways). Some neighborhoods paint their own parking lines as a way to remind people not to take up two spaces - sometimes that works.

Unfortunately, one of the realities of having teenagers or young adults still living at home is that they usually all have their own cars. We're in a situation now where my husband has his van and his big work truck, I have my car, both my stepsons have vehicles, and they usually have at least one friend visiting (with their car). It's damned embarrassing to have six cars around the place - makes me feel like the Washington state Clampett family. Luckily, we have two driveways, so we can get at least some of them off the street.

If these folks have teenagers or adult kids living with them, chances are those are the ones parking like dicks. We keep telling my stepsons and their friends not to park facing the wrong way on the street, because if someone complains, they'll get a ticket for it, but they still do it.

Petition the city to paint parking lines and put up No Overnight Parking signs.

[EV1Ltimm]

19. Non-violence has no place in parking disputes!

Kill, WillBowden, kill!