Has anyone suggested leaving a note yet?
cones, crates, and chairs are mocked in philly. sometimes they work, most times they are placed on the sidewalk and the car is parked. it is a tough town.
my mum did enjoy calling the parking authority on anyone who parked partly or all the way on the pavement. didn’t matter who’s street it was on.
do y’all have a parking authority?
or is it possible for you to have poles placed on your pavement. that is another thing philadelphians love to do. my street has about 20 of them on it. they are placed just behind the curb and make it very difficult to park on or run over the pavement.
I think it’s the other way around in this case: the OP seems to feel (and I agree) that there is a particular right to park in front of one’s home, even though it may seem like an implied easement to coin a term. Granted, there is no real, actual easement from a homeowner to the street in front of her/his house, but there is a legitimate interest on that owner’s behalf on what goes on in the neighborhood which could affect the security of his or her home.
I am not trying to make this seem like a matter of national security–it isn’t. But I read the OP as if a complete stranger wants to use his property as a personal parking spot. If that were occurring to me, I’d want to at least know his reason.
Acting on that reason is a different issue. If he wants to park, I’d be interested to know why.
Tripler
Just my two cents.
I always hated people parking in front of my house, too, but there was nothing to do other than grin and bear it – it was a public street, after all.
Can you go to your city council to have the area ruled as a two hour limit or something? If people are parking there for park and ride, then there’s a legitimate neighborhood interest to limit parking. Of course such a rule would hinder your own neighbors who wish to park there.
Or just, “…I know where you leave your car all day, and some people are interested.”
You mean besides the OP?
I for one do not think leaving a note is the same as asking the person.
For the person with the elderly neighbor who has guests, I bet the guests are all trying to leave the closer in spaces for other elderly people who will arrive later, trying to be courteous to someone they think needs the close space more. I see that quite a bit when our church groups meet at people’s houses. Not saying it makes sense, but I think that’s more likely than your neighbor sending them to you.
Do you have a Vietnamese grocery nearby?
Fish sauce, air intake vents, etc… 
I like the above ideas about personal confrontation, calling the police, leaving chairs or other obstacles.
If that doesn’t work, how about locking his car in between two other cars one day? Should be perfectly legal.
You know, I don’t get it either. I live in a house. If the space in front of my house is occupied, I park somewhere else. It’s not my space. The Chicago tradition of saving your space during the winter with a chair pisses me off, too. It’s not your space. It’s a public space. I don’t understand the territorialism in this thread for a piece of space that does not fundamentally belong to you.
The guy’s making a sacrifice and contributing to the wellbeing of his community by riding a stinky, noisy bus, and the OP’s giving him a hard time.
Sheesh!
Peace,
mangeorge
Ok, folks, let’s distinguish two things.
First, there is the issue of parking in front of the house. I think most people have been of the opinion that there is nothing that can be done about that; it’s a public space. Some tongue in cheek suggestions have been made about things to do about saving the space, but there aren’t really too many running in here to say, “you know, you are right, you SHOULD blow that car up!”
Second, there is the issue of how the person parks (on the sidewalk). That is a separate issue, and should be taken up as suggested, but having an officer of the law check it out. Easy enough to do, a simple phone call and it’s done.
We used to do that to cars parked in front of my fraternity house (its private parking). It works surprisingly well since it forces the person to make that awkward knock on the door to get his car back.
'Snot! not around here, anyway. You can get towed for blocking someone’s car in. Same as blocking a driveway.
I, like pulykamell, live in a house. In the city. there are often more cars than spots, but we generally manage.
Why are so many people in the burbs so uncivil?
[Moderating]
Guys, let’s try to avoid suggesting solutions that are illegal or that amount to harassment of someone who is parking legally, even if annoyingly.
It seems to me that the GQ here has been pretty much answered: if he is parking illegally, inform the police. If he is parking legally, and doesn’t respond to notes, then there is not much you can do without resorting to harassment.
I’m going to leave this open for now, but if answers continue in the vein they have been I’ll probably end up locking it.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
I thought we were in IMHO. :smack:
Colibri:
It seems to me that the GQ here has been pretty much answered: if he is parking illegally, inform the police. If he is parking legally, and doesn’t respond to notes, then there is not much you can do without resorting to harassment.
I’d get up as early as I had to and just ask his intrusive ass what the hell’s going on. Just wait for him and ask him. No need to be nice. No need to be rude. Just approach him like you expect a damn good answer, and your problem should be solved. Face-to-face trumps a note. Worked for me in similar (not identical) scenarios. If that doesn’t work, it’s time to call the cops. If that doesn’t work, it’s time to move, if it bothers you that much.
well in this case I believe the part where you spent a lot of time and effort clearing snow out of that spot is where the “right” to the spot comes from. I know I would be pretty irritated if I cleared a spot of 3 feet of snow in front of my house and came home to find it filled by the guy across the streets car.
but the roads are public, barring the parking on the sidewalk part there is nothing you can do and no point in doing it. (I love it when people tell me its illegal for my students to practice parallel parking with their cars parked on the street, yeah go ahead and call the cops) some people get more defensive than others about this and others couldn’t care less. After a few years teaching defensive driving I definitely fall in the latter category.
Yes, I understand why it’s the way it is. I was born & raised in Chicago proper. I don’t care. I still think it’s stupid and silly. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mess with other people’s spots, but I have never blocked a spot off for myself, even if I’ve dug it out of the snow. I refuse to play this stupid, backwater, immature game.
Talk if you want, but if the notes haven’t helped any I wouldn’t expect much from a conversation. I would also suggest parking your own car in his “spot.” Not against the law and maybe he gets the picture. I also wouldn’t hesitate to call the police, especially if he’s blocking the sidewalk.
While I recognize it’s perfectly legal, I don’t think it’s unreasonable for someone to want to fully enjoy their property and it’s surroundings and I understand how someone with a huge van constantly parking right in front of your property might be an eyesore.
My own neighbors (who I could start a whole thread about) parked their damn camper right in front of our house with the intention of keeping it there all winter. Our neighbors across the street eventually got fed up with having to see it and called the police under the “72 hour rule.” They moved it…they switched spots with their other vehicle and now they park their other car in front of my house every day.
Why not park in front of THEIR house? :::Wait for it::: They have their kids’ basketball hoop set up on the sidewalk so their kids can play basketball in the street. They park in front of our house so they won’t interfere with the hoop.