I’m not even talking about those idiots with their gas backpack blowers that sound like a jet plane taking off 6 feet from my ear, although they deserve a special place in hell too. What I’m mad about is lawn care trucks with their attached trailers parking on the street, giving absolutely no fucks about the glaringly obvious “No Parking” signs or the total traffic backup they are causing on the busy two lane street. Why the fuck do they think they are special and can just park their huge trucks filled with polluting lawn care equipment wherever the hell they please? They seem to be on every other street around me these days with fall cleanup in full swing.
One of those lawn service trucks w/ trailer likes to park at the end of my street making it difficult for people to enter or leave the neighborhood. Just park a few feet further, my man.
Geeze you sound smug.. it’s somebody’s thankless, misserable, soul sucking manual labor job. They’re not doing it to piss you off and you don’t own public streets anymore than they do. Maybe they should be more careful where they park their vehicles but the smug “don’t park your smelly work truck with all these polluting lawn care chemical near my house” just reminds me of all the things I hate about HOA’s and why I don’t live in one.
I sound smug because I think they should obey traffic laws like everyone else? I sound smug because it annoys me that they disregard the traffic congestion and danger they create by illegally parking? I sound smug because I don’t particularly care for the noise and air pollution they generate? ok buddy…
Certainly if the lawn care trucks are parked in violation of the parking restrictions, you could call the non-emergency police line to report them. They may need to find other places to park, however inconvenient.
Understood, but without them, we would have to mow, trim, and de-leaf our lawns ourselves either after a tiring day at work or on the weekend when we’d rather be watching football or going out with friends. LOL
I’m waaayyy too lazy to do that. I much prefer to just complain on anonymous internet forums!
No, you sound smug because you make up your own arguments and scream into the cyber netherworld about it. I said none of those things. What I did say is you sound smug because you’re throwing yourself into hysterics over the “polluting chemicals” in someone work utility truck. This was the portion of your remark I actually addressed. Your neighborhood is not being polluted because someone parked their work utility landscaping truck near your house. Your precious lawn will be quite alright.
Are there places on these busy roads they should be parking that they are not utilizing?
I have seen some Seattle urban streets where those places for parking trucks with trailers do not exist from what I can see. I think your ire should be pointed at your asshole neighbors that are too lazy to do their own yard work or if they are going to pay someone to do it for them, provide them parking on their property.
The neighbor to my east lives on the corner. She’s an old lady who finally hired lawn service last year, and this year she’s in assisted living but her children hired a new lawn service.
Anyway, her driveway is hard to pull in to and get out of even in a sedan, let alone a truck with a trailer. So I can see why lawncare folks are hesitant to pull in or back in. But also, I have seen them do it. I’ve also seen a couple trucks drop off dumpsters, so it can be done.
When faced with the options of pulling/backing in, parking further down the street in front of my house, or parking in front of her house - directly in front of a blind corner (covered by hedges) - they sometimes choose to park directly in front of her house. So someone making a right onto our street needs to immediately swerve around them to avoid slamming into the back of their trailer. Also, causing a backup if someone is stopped at the stop sign in the other lane.
I finally did go over and talk to the first guy, asking him to please either park in the street in front of my house or park in my driveway. It is literally no problem for me. And that worked out well, until he was fired (because he did indeed suck in many other ways).
Now there’s a new company and for the most part they come park in front of my house (safer option and not a problem), or sometimes they park in her driveway. But sometimes I guess someone else comes out, and they park in front of her house, causing the dangerous situation.
I do empathize with the OP - until he gets into the polluting equipment part. That’s just life in the suburbs, man.
But terrible parking habits? Yes. It’s bad. I honestly think it’s 80% people not knowing how to maneuver with a trailer.
And also, saying that people who hire lawn care are lazy assholes is a shitty thing too, @wguy123 . We have a ton of seniors in our neighborhood, and a ton of widows, who have done their own lawncare for the last 50 years. If they want to stay in their houses, they have to hire it out.
I was being sarcastic and keeping in the spirit of complaining about the people simply trying to do their jobs. I know folks need help. But I also know people that help need to park…SOMEWHERE.
I’ve seen plenty of neighborhoods where that parking simply doesn’t exist. Does that mean the people needing help shouldn’t be able to be provided help?
I have a lot of empathy for the working class, having done those sorts of jobs in my life. I usually greet gardeners or roofers and others when I’m walking in the 'hood, and have a very good relationship with the staff in this building. A lot of what they do is thankless and you might be surprised by the education level of many of those immigrants who are doing the menial work. Yes, they should obey local laws about parking, etc., but the OP may be assuming that they know those laws or can read the signs that are in English. Oh, and all leaf blowers should be confiscated and burned.
I hereby decree (?) that the customers who hire lawn services or other contractors to work on their property for specific limited periods should provide said workers temporary accommodation in off-street parking on their own property for said period. (Or if the workers’ vehicle is really too big, the employer should make arrangements with the relevant municipal authorities for allowing temporary on-street parking in a proper location.) There, problem solved!
After all, the contractors are working in the grounds of this freestanding property because the owner of the property hired them. The owner should take some responsibility for making sure their own (contracted) employees are not making life too miserable for their neighbors.
(Source: my next-door neighbor who recently hired roofers with a big-ass truck that wouldn’t fit in her small driveway, so she politely asked me if they could use empty space on my parking pad next door for the couple of days they were there. I was happy to agree, the roofers were very grateful and brought me homegrown garden vegetables in appreciation. Everybody’s happy.)
no hysterics here bub. I find the chemical and noise pollution somewhat annoying, but it’s part of being in a residential neighborhood. Easy enough to put up with. As I made crystal clear in the OP, and which you’re conveniently not addressing, my major issue is the illegal parking, which creates backups and dangerous driving conditions on the streets.
Well I definitely don’t agree with someone parking their vehicle any way they wish especially in violation of the law and said as much in my initial message to you. I think maybe some of your anger is misplaced, the problem is not so much some poor manual laborer driving a uitlity truck, but maybe your inconsierate neighbors. That poor landscapping guy is most likely just doing whatever his boss told him to do, it wasn’t his idea to just show up at your neighbor’s house and start raking their leaves… and yes he should absolutely follow the law while doing his job.
This is not a valid excuse. If they really can’t read English signs, they probably shouldn’t be driving big trucks and trailers where all the signs are in English. Bi-lingual signs are a possibility, but really the property owners hiring individuals, and the route managers (or whatever they might be called) within the landscaping companies are responsible to make sure those folks on the ground know where they are allowed to park and where it is dangerous. The neighbors need to be tolerant of some inconvenience, but there is a limit to that. And if I were a neighbor pushed past my tolerance, I would all the company before I would call the police, if possible.
Possibly. But there are a lot of seasonal workers and other low-paid workers whose English is marginal. Should we deny them employment because of that?
We should insist on minimal traffic safety. I say again, the employer should be responsible for making sure their employees are able to drive and park safely.
you only need one guy to drive the truck. He needs to be able to do so legally (licensed) and competently (be able to understand traffic signals and signs). The other workers have no such requirement.
It’s quite likely that there are laws in place for that, but it’s also likely that enforcing them is way down the priority list for most police departments. An occasional parking ticket when someone complains is probably small potatoes for most companies.