Neighborhood Parking issues

[cabanafrau]

Since it's a public street, of course, you're within your rights to park wherever.

However, posts like this make me thankful we live in an neighborhood where it's considered common courtesy to not park in front of someone else's house.

Like another poster mentioned, I'd hate for the view out of my front window to be someone else's car in front of my house.

FWIW, I'd never extrapolate that to a city street -- the custom in my area is for quiet neighborhood streets. The kind with cul-de-sacs and no through traffic -- that describes about 75% of the neighbohoods where I live.

What about a case where someone can't park in front of their own home because of something like OP described? I have a friend in that situation who has a fire hydrant in front of her home, blocking all access to parking in front of her home. If they have more cars than fit in her driveway is it too bad, so sad?

 

[pryncess527]

What about a case where someone can't park in front of their own home because of something like OP described? I have a friend in that situation who has a fire hydrant in front of her home, blocking all access to parking in front of her home. If they have more cars than fit in her driveway is it too bad, so sad?

It's just a custom, not a law -- I'd expect people to understand in that situation.
But, I'll also say, to the more cars than fit issue -- at least in my region my realtor actually said that people owning more cars that fit into a driveway tended to lower property values. Since it's not something I have experience with, I'd definitely think twice about buying a home in a neighborhood where I had to fight for street parking because people owned more cars than they could fit in their space. But then, I'm not a city girl either I remember the Seinfeld episodes about fighting for street parking in NYC, lol

 

[ImDMous]

I live on a cul-de-sac in a suburb and we park wherever. There are usually not very many cars parked on our street at all since we have 3-cars-wide driveways, but our next door neighbor's housekeeper or sister are usually parked in front of my house. i would never think there was anything odd about that, it's a public street. Someone who lives 5 miles away could park there if they wanted to, no big deal.

I guess it's just a regional thing or something.

 

[bcla]

I've been through this before. I was living short term in a house where I didn't have garage parking (two previous tenants had dibs) and I parked my car on the street. There was an ideal space between the driveways that would fit two normal vehicles, but not if one was parked in the middle. I would typically park close to a driveway if I got there first, there was one person at the house next door who would typically park down the middle, and I'd end up parking maybe around the corner. One day I didn't feel like leaving enough space for another vehicle and I parked down the middle. A half hour later I heard the doorbell ring and it's the neighbor asking what the hell I'm doing parking in her space. I note that she normally parks down the middle if she gets there first, and she say OK she'll stop doing that and we call a truce. Within a week I found that her car was parked down the middle again.

Certainly if there's a lot of visitors, like a party, what can anyone do? Spaces on a public street are hardly reserved. In my neighborhood there's a casual understanding about who normally parks in certain street spaces, but there's really no enforcement. My next door neighbor did ask that maybe move my car once, but it wasn't an angry confrontation.

 

[cabanafrau]

It's just a custom, not a law -- I'd expect people to understand in that situation.
But, I'll also say, to the more cars than fit issue -- at least in my region my realtor actually said that people owning more cars that fit into a driveway tended to lower property values. Since it's not something I have experience with, I'd definitely think twice about buying a home in a neighborhood where I had to fight for street parking because people owned more cars than they could fit in their space. But then, I'm not a city girl either I remember the Seinfeld episodes about fighting for street parking in NYC, lol

The setup of my friend's home allows for hers and her husband's cars to fit in garage and driveway. They're a couple more years from their oldest driving and having a car and are already concerned about having to get two in garage with yard equipment, bikes, etc. to leave space for another on the driveway. Second will be immediately on the heels of the first, at which point they are definitely out of on property parking & cannot park in front of their home. Not an urban setting. Nice suburban neighborhood with homes situated on a court.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

My neighbor has 5 cars at their house on a regular basis, and another 3-4 that come by on Sundays. I had to ask them to stop parking in the space in front of my house during the week because the mailperson wouldn't deliver if they couldn't reach the mailbox. Their driveway can park 4 if lined up in two rows; same with mine, and my other neighbor has room for 6 single file.

The way our houses are set is on a small semi-circle. there is the road coming in, and the road going out set at a 90 degree angle, and we are on the point. It's so close, for the front yards. it's like this:
their mailbox, their driveway, my mailbox (about a foot from their driveway), my driveway (a foot from my mailbox), a foot of grass, then another neighbor's driveway.

There is room to park on the incoming streets, but not in our circle.

 

[nene0182]

We live on a one way and cannot directly park in front of our house because of the way the street runs. We are also the only house on our street without a driveway, but have a garage and parking space behind our house in the alley. I park in the alley but my husband can't because he drives a truck and there's not enough room for him to back out. So he parks across from our house on the street. There's an older lady that lives there that has called the police on us multiple times, saying it's an abandoned vehicle, a suspicious vehicle, hasn't moved for days (even though it has), has yelled at him from her house while he's leaving for work, etc. Basically she's just a pain.

 

[Poohlove]

My neighbors and their guests used to routinely park in front of my house and directly across the street from my driveway leaving the front of their house and driveway wide open. I get that it isn't illegal but it's rude. They are used to my house being lived in by an older lady that didn't drive and then it was empty for a while. I spoke to them and they have gotten better. I will often park in the street when I get home so that my kids can park in the driveway then park my car last because I'm the first to leave in the morning.

It seems odd that an otherwise friendly neighbor came over half cocked like she did, I wonder why she reacted so extremely.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Reason #437 I love having property.

 

[diznygirl]

My neighbors and their guests used to routinely park in front of my house and directly across the street from my driveway leaving the front of their house and driveway wide open. I get that it isn't illegal but it's rude. They are used to my house being lived in by an older lady that didn't drive and then it was empty for a while. I spoke to them and they have gotten better. I will often park in the street when I get home so that my kids can park in the driveway then park my car last because I'm the first to leave in the morning.

It seems odd that an otherwise friendly neighbor came over half cocked like she did, I wonder why she reacted so extremely.

I'm blaming the boyfriend - he probably thinks that's HIS spot for his huge truck. He yells at her, then she yells at the neighbor.

At least, that's how I'll write it in my novel.

 

[mamacatnv]

Since it's a public street, of course, you're within your rights to park wherever.

However, posts like this make me thankful we live in an neighborhood where it's considered common courtesy to not park in front of someone else's house.

Like another poster mentioned, I'd hate for the view out of my front window to be someone else's car in front of my house.

In our subdivisons, the main living areas of the house face the backyards, the only room that views the front is a bedroom.

My neighbors and their guests used to routinely park in front of my house and directly across the street from my driveway leaving the front of their house and driveway wide open. I get that it isn't illegal but it's rude. They are used to my house being lived in by an older lady that didn't drive and then it was empty for a while. I spoke to them and they have gotten better. I will often park in the street when I get home so that my kids can park in the driveway then park my car last because I'm the first to leave in the morning.

It seems odd that an otherwise friendly neighbor came over half cocked like she did, I wonder why she reacted so extremely.

I know, we were completely taken off guard and flabbergasted. We have no idea. We are decent neighbors, we are not loud, don't throw wild parties, keep the yard neat and clean, don't block her driveway, don't leave our dog in the yard to bark, don't come and go making noise at all/odd hours and have brought her escapee dog home more than once. We have no idea what brought this on

 

[mamacatnv]

I'm blaming the boyfriend - he probably thinks that's HIS spot for his huge truck. He yells at her, then she yells at the neighbor.

At least, that's how I'll write it in my novel.

You might be onto something here. I bet it will be a great novel

 

[Klayfish]

Reason #437 I love having property.

No kiddin'. We currently live in a typical suburban HOA bubble...cul-de-sac (well, we live on a tiny path off the cul de sac), .8 acre property. We have a 2 car garage, but I purposely had my house pushed to the back of the building "envelope" to make my driveway a bit longer and also had it widened. If needed, I can fit 6 cars in my driveway, plus another one in my walkout basement. However, prior to this home, we lived on 3.5 acres in the countryside. I had a 3 car garage, a mega sized driveway and tons of land. I could (and did) easily park 7 or 8 cars on the property...3 in the garage and 5 outside. That was a piece of cake. During xmas time, when I have my mega light display running, I created a parking area on our lawn for cars to stop and watch the show. It was great. Now, in this subdivision, as word of my show is spreading, parking is becoming a bit of an issue. Sigh... I so much wish we could go back to having land. But this community is so much better for our kids. In the countryside, it was hard for them to find friends to play with...here, they just walk outside and play.

Once they're in college, we're out of here.

 

[loves to dive]

I have mixed thoughts on this. As another person asked, is there a reason you can't park in your driveway? We live in a subdivision but have a 2 car garage and a wide driveway with a turn around area so we can fit 3 cars parked side by side on that, with one of them slightly on our grass. We also have a bump out, boat drive in area into our basement so could park a vehicle down there if necessary. Our neighborhood HOA does have the no cars on blocks, no boats in the driveway, no cars on the grass rule but no one really follows the no cars on the grass and no boats in the driveway part. While none of us permanently has cars parked on the grass, if we have family over, one car might spill over to the side of our driveway on our property. We never park on the street, we just line people up down the driveway if we have company. No one in our neighborhood permanently parks on the street, only if they are having loads of company. I partially think she is right, but part of me agrees with you in that it's a public street.

 

[Poohlove]

In our subdivisons, the main living areas of the house face the backyards, the only room that views the front is a bedroom.

I know, we were completely taken off guard and flabbergasted. We have no idea. We are decent neighbors, we are not loud, don't throw wild parties, keep the yard neat and clean, don't block her driveway, don't leave our dog in the yard to bark, don't come and go making noise at all/odd hours and have brought her escapee dog home more than once. We have no idea what brought this on

Maybe she was hitting the tequila, I hear that can make otherwise mild mannered people crazy

 

[cvjw]

I live in a quiet, suburban cul-de-sac, and it is customary to park in your own driveway before parking in the street. My next door neighbor runs a business out of her basement and had all her workers park in the cul-de-sac instead of parking in her driveway.

It was so annoying. It got so bad that you could barely get out of my driveway and my mail lady could not get to my mailbox. One of the neighbors called the police on her and that problem was solved. In my state, you can't just park your car in the streets for more than 24 hours at a time. You can get a ticket for it.

While it may be legal for your family to park in front of your neighbors house, I would not like it if I were the neighbor. I would want everyone parking in their own driveway.

 

[Hikergirl]

I'll never understand why people that don't want to look out of their window and see a car parked there move into a neighborhood where their house is facing a street or on a street where people can park. That is a risk you take when you do, if you really didn't want the risk you should have moved to a house that is far off the road, or in a place where people aren't allowed to park on the street.

I grew up in the city, parking was first come, first served. If you wanted to stay parked in front of your house, you didn't move your car.
Now I live in the suburbs, and my driveway will fit 4 cars, which is what is in there now. I will eventually have 2 more cars and they will be on the street. My next door neighbors have the same issue, more cars than space in their driveway. I couldn't imagine being mad at them because they park in front of my house. That would be MY problem, and one that I have to fix by either accepting it or moving.

OP, you are not in the wrong. Your crabby neighbor is.

 

[hereyago]

She will have to deal. It's a PUBLIC street.

People are funny with their "front of my house " territorial crap.

I could care less of someone parks in front of my house, just don't block my driveway.

 

[mamacatnv]

I have mixed thoughts on this. As another person asked, is there a reason you can't park in your driveway? We live in a subdivision but have a 2 car garage and a wide driveway with a turn around area so we can fit 3 cars parked side by side on that, with one of them slightly on our grass. We also have a bump out, boat drive in area into our basement so could park a vehicle down there if necessary. Our neighborhood HOA does have the no cars on blocks, no boats in the driveway, no cars on the grass rule but no one really follows the no cars on the grass and no boats in the driveway part. While none of us permanently has cars parked on the grass, if we have family over, one car might spill over to the side of our driveway on our property. We never park on the street, we just line people up down the driveway if we have company. No one in our neighborhood permanently parks on the street, only if they are having loads of company. I partially think she is right, but part of me agrees with you in that it's a public street.

We have 4 drivers and for another couple of months 5 vehicles (Son works in home health so he has the "work" car the small Honda that gets all the mileage), and then his truck which he just bought and sometimes son's GF comes to the house in her own car so 5-6 vehicles on the weekends can happen. Our driveway is a narrow double wide, and the garage is a standard double wide - my van and hubbys Honda cannot fit in the garage side by side so only Hubby's car goes in the garage. Then my van and son's truck are in the driveway since the truck is at our house pretty much all the time, the truck is partially on the grass because its freaking huge. (the plans will change in April when son, his truck and GF leave to become traveling Physical Therapist but until then, the new truck is in my driveway and due to its size, we don't put it on the street). That leaves DD's small suv on the street in the 1/3 area that is in front of our side yard. When son shows up in his Honda he generally parks right behind his sister (in front of the neighbors house) still leaving room for neighbors Boyfriends truck even though half of her driveway is vacant. When son's GF shows up she goes further up the street to park where there is more room.
We tried double stacking the cars in the driveway but to do so blocks the sidewalk and that is a known no-no in our HOA.

 

[tvguy]

Seems a bit off the wall, but it is a public street. Although some cooperation is nice.
I have 5 cars, 2 in the garage, 2 in the driveway and 1 on the street, leaving 2 other slots on the street, and the only time there is a parking crunch is when the people 2 doors down have their every other month Wednesday Noon bible study. Those folks have to have religion they way they park.