Neighborhood Parking issues

[Teresa Pitman]

That smiling Barbie in the red box just cracks me up!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I can see the argument however in our neighborhood this is not the case. People park all over the place, some streets are more congested than others. Mine is actually not all that congested, neighbor doesn't want her "guests" to have to walk a few feet or park elsewhere, she feels the spaces in front of her house are hers and since this concept is new to me, thus I posted here. We do use our driveway and garage. Our neighborhood is mostly families with teen/young adult children, empty nesters and retiree's. The families with the teens/young adults have more cars, it is just a fact when a household of 4 or 5 all drive.

My neighbors rant was purely all about her, her space and her guests. IMO she went about this all wrong. I am a fairly reasonable courteous person, when approached reasonably and with courtesy. Neighbor was none of these things, as I shut the door in her face I said to my DH "Its a public street, she can kiss my (you get the idea)"

Yeah I do agree it was the wrong way she went about it all huffing and puffing.

We have vast majority of families with some retirees as well. I understand when a household has more cars due to drivers it complicates things for sure. In the case of ours people are choosing to have their teens/adult children/guests park on the street rather than in the driveway. Now growing up at my mom's house it was a one car garage and driveway..I had no choice but to park on the street.

In my case that white car that used to park in front of my house and the mailbox well we had a chitchat with them and they gave us every darn excuse in the book as to why they park there instead of across the street where there are 3 vacant lots...it was "well there's no light, there could be nails from construction, the kids may vandalize it, etc" We were nice about it but we were also firm about it..we didn't want them parking several nights a week by our house and frankly, as I found out later on, no one liked how they dealt with the parking on the street situation either all neighbors felt they were being rude. Suddenly one day they started parking on the side of the street with the vacant lots...man those excuses sure were just plain excuses..still don't know why the driveway isn't being used at all. Now those lots may sell so I guess they'll just have to hope that the son is out of the house completely by then since the white car is his girlfriend's. I can't see the owner of the homes there enjoying a car being parked in front of their house either.

I realize though that are situations are slightly different for sure.

Maybe see if now that things may have calmed down if you guys could talk it over. Doesn't mean you have to bend to her will or anything but may help clear the air so to speak.

 

[bcla]

We have permits for areas bordering the highway where you can catch buses to NYC (they stop at the entrance/exit ramps). It works.

Residential permit parking is a subject unto itself.

It's a big deal in one city around a transit startion since parking is tight and they now charge for parking at one of the station's lots. They set up certain blocks where one side of the street has residential permit parking and a four hour limit (on weekdays) without a permit. There are whole sections where one can park all day without a permit, but one side of the street gives residents a better chance to get a space. I've seen some cities where

It can be controversial too depending on how many are handed out. I knew someone who shared a room in a house near that station. That wasn't so controversial, but the couple dozen that Danielle Steel in San Francisco for her domestic staff was. After some reporting on that, the city put a limit on the number per house, although individual requests for more could be accommodated. They'd need a good reason, like another family member and not that the serving staff needed one.

 

[bcla]

We have vast majority of families with some retirees as well. I understand when a household has more cars due to drivers it complicates things for sure. In the case of ours people are choosing to have their teens/adult children/guests park on the street rather than in the driveway. Now growing up at my mom's house it was a one car garage and driveway..I had no choice but to park on the street.

We have ample parking, but also several residents who use their garages as storage or work spaces. Also one resident with a couple of boats parked more or less in the front yard. It gets interesting, but for the most part nobody gets upset with the street parking situation.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

It's impossible for me to form an opinion without seeing the actual neighborhood. We've moved a few times. Every neighborhood we've moved to, it was understood that you & your guests would park in front of your home only or in the overflow one neighborhood provided with approval. If anyone has a party, they alert the homeowners in advance that cars will be parked in front of their homes a few hours. We've never lived on urban streets with shared parking, so I don't have experience with that. In our neighborhoods, it's always been considered common courtesy to park in front of your own home only.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We have ample parking, but also several residents who use their garages as storage or work spaces. Also one resident with a couple of boats parked more or less in the front yard. It gets interesting, but for the most part nobody gets upset with the street parking situation.

Yeah it's pretty common here that the 3rd car bay is storage/workshop type. You would only be able to park a boat for 24 hours here in our neighborhood on the street or in your driveway.

It's def. not just my neighborhood by any means around me that would have some sort of gripe about street parking.

People don't care one bit in my mom's neighborhood but with many houses that have 1 or 2 car garage in a neighborhood built in the 50s/60s it's understandable why. It's also understandable that if you have cars parked along both sides of the street in her neighborhood it may not get plowed should there be enough snow. Or even if only one side of the street has cars or the cars are spaced out enough for a plow to come through your car may get plowed in because the street width in her neighborhood doesn't allow for much clearance for a plow to zig zag through cars. When we knew it would snow we would park my car in her driveway and work it out in the morning so she could get to work and I to school.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I'll be honest though from some of the other comments on the thread I'm glad we don't have to deal with very limited timed parking (like a few hours) or parking permits or parking meters.

 

[bcla]

So let me get this straight. If I lived in one of these neighborhoods where the mail carrier won't deliver to a mailbox if they have to get out of their vehicle, I could intentionally block a neighbor from getting mail by parking in front of a mailbox? And since they won't get out of the vehicle they probably won't even leave a note. And there's nothing that anyone could do about it other than illegally tow my vehicle? Gotta love the absolute disregard for common sense or a sense of fairness.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

So let me get this straight. If I lived in one of these neighborhoods where the mail carrier won't deliver to a mailbox if they have to get out of their vehicle, I could intentionally block a neighbor from getting mail by parking in front of a mailbox? And since they won't get out of the vehicle they probably won't even leave a note. And there's nothing that anyone could do about it other than illegally tow my vehicle? Gotta love the absolute disregard for common sense or a sense of fairness.

Interesting points. While I mentioned earlier that the mail person will still deliver if a vehicle is blocking the mailboxes around me there is also a City Ordinance that says:


So I don't know in my situation if you would call the local non-emergency police line either for a police officer to come out and ticket the person or if they would give you advice on having the vehicle towed or whatnot in the event that a USPS worker chose to not deliver the mail due to a car blocking their access.

I don't know though what other cities around me have in regards to Ordinances like that because my mom lives in a different city as me and so does my in-laws.

 

[kimblebee]

Interesting to see how things are done in other parts of the world.

Here, all of our residential streets have only one side of the street for parking but we all seem to make it work. As far as I know, there are no limits on how long a car can stay in the same spot. One truck on our street only gets moved every few months..no one says a word.

Our mailman walks his route every day, walking our mail to our doorside mailbox. They are even delivering the day after a snowstorm or even during it. The city wanted to switch to a one box per street system but there was such outrage that it was scrapped.

Our garbage and recycling pickup is done in the back lane. Very few streets here don't have a back lane, but in that case it's done out front.

 

[bcla]

Interesting points. While I mentioned earlier that the mail person will still deliver if a vehicle is blocking the mailboxes around me there is also a City Ordinance that says:
View attachment 221465

So I don't know in my situation if you would call the local non-emergency police line either for a police officer to come out and ticket the person or if they would give you advice on having the vehicle towed or whatnot in the event that a USPS worker chose to not deliver the mail due to a car blocking their access.

I don't know though what other cities around me have in regards to Ordinances like that because my mom lives in a different city as me and so does my in-laws.

I got curious about where my parents live, since they have a curbside mailbox. Well - not exactly curbside since there typically are no sidewalks where they live. All I could find that mentioned a mailbox was that vehicles for permitted sewer work couldn't block a mailbox, as well as fire hydrants, utility access, etc. They have a section saying that a white loading curb can be placed next to a public mailbox. I can't find any county ordinance other than one saying that a mailbox can't obstruct a sidewalk less than 6 feet wide. It may only apply to unincorporated areas though.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

We have two mail carriers. One will get out of the vehicle & one won't. The one that won't skips our box, if anything is in front of it. She also won't get out to deliver a package. If we get one, she'll leave a note in the mailbox that we weren't here to accept delivery, then take it back to the PO. There have been many times that we were here & know she never attempted to deliver the package. These aren't packages that don't need to be signed for. She just won't get out to carry anything to the door. We can always tell, when the man is delivering on our route. We always get our mail & packages, including the packages that weren't delivered by the woman. Reporting the situation to the Postmaster has done no good at all. Either they don't care or can't fire her. Regardless, she's obviously too lazy to do her job & gets away with it.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I got curious about where my parents live, since they have a curbside mailbox. Well - not exactly curbside since there typically are no sidewalks where they live. All I could find that mentioned a mailbox was that vehicles for permitted sewer work couldn't block a mailbox, as well as fire hydrants, utility access, etc. They have a section saying that a white loading curb can be placed next to a public mailbox. I can't find any county ordinance other than one saying that a mailbox can't obstruct a sidewalk less than 6 feet wide. It may only apply to unincorporated areas though.

That's interesting that for your parents it's a specific clause regarding sewer work.

I also got curious myself and looked up the city where my mom lives. Here is there rule:


what I found was interesting is that they include a rule about being within 6 feet of a mailbox but they did add in a clause about temporary parking. Like I said though my mom's mailbox is attached to her house so for her particular house it wouldn't matter.

The city where my in-laws live the rule is 5 feet of a mailbox:


I live just over 15 miles from my mom and I live just over 6 miles from my in-laws. The hours of prohibited times are the same but they all have slightly different additional rules.

I do like that about this board that you can learn how people's lives, areas, rules, experiences, are all so different with little things here and there being similar. Makes my world seem a bit larger ya know?

 

[Uncranky Donald]

That's what lawn chairs are for.

Or whatever you have handy:

YUP!! And New Haven and Fairfield County CT!! If someone shovels out their spot and someone else takes it, oooooh boy, the -ish I've seen go down, it ain't pretty!!!!

 

[hereyago]

YUP!! And New Haven and Fairfield County CT!! If someone shovels out their spot and someone else takes it, oooooh boy, the -ish I've seen go down, it ain't pretty!!!!

Lol, but they have to shovel out if they need or want to go out. It isn't a "right" to the spot on a public street. Entitled litterers, classy, lol.
What do they do when there isn't snow?

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

Lol, but they have to shovel out if they need or want to go out. It isn't a "right" to the spot on a public street. Entitled litterers, classy, lol.
What do they do when there isn't snow?

You're right... Everyone digs out. But it gets annoying when you move your car, clear the spot after the plow comes by, and someone comes and swoops in and takes that spot (sometimes even houses away from therir own) becauss they're too lazy to do it. Illegal? No. A jerky move? Yes. You don't have to agree, but lots of other people do.

 

[Uncranky Donald]

Lol, but they have to shovel out if they need or want to go out. It isn't a "right" to the spot on a public street. Entitled litterers, classy, lol.
What do they do when there isn't snow?

I don't know and I don't care, I left street parking behind with my 20's, OYE the agita!!! Now I'm just a giggling bystander and call ahead for "princess parking" from my friends who live on streets where I need to hunt and ask, "are there any spots available?"...they're so good to me

 

[jrmasm]

I'll be honest though from some of the other comments on the thread I'm glad we don't have to deal with very limited timed parking (like a few hours) or parking permits or parking meters.

I'm glad my neighbors don't think they own parts of a public street.

 

[penn19]

Maybe it's a Texas thing! My son had to park in front of my neighbors house once. Once. We had a party the night before so when he got home from work the driveway was full and also in front of our house. He parked in front of the neighbors and went to bed. Next day there's a post it note on my sons car kindly asking him to move it as he wanted to do yard work. I felt bad but I probably wouldn't have said anything if it had been reversed

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I'm glad my neighbors don't think they own parts of a public street.

No one around me thinks they "own" the spot in front of their house. It's just a common courtesy and I'm far from the only one who feels that way. Public street or no there is a such a thing as consideration for others.