I can’t believe we are just now getting to “talk to the guy.” Is our society so insular that we’d rather call the cops than knock on our neighbor’s door?
The best way to solve any problem is to bring it up directly in an open and honest fashion with the person you have a problem with. They probably park there for some stupid reason and it never occurred to them that they are making other people’s lives more difficult. Anyway, let them know it sucks for you and see if you can work out a solution. Chances are they will respect you as a human being (which they wouldn’t if you left a note) and do what they can. Bring cookies. It’s always a good plan to be on good terms with your neighbors.
I also think you should just ignore it. If you called the police and they ticketed him, he might move the truck to the other side of the street, in front of someone else’s house. And that’s a crappy thing to do to him/her because some people get really irritated with cars parking in front of their house every night.
No you call the cops and report it without giving your name. Call from a pay phone.
A note only escalates the situation. The guy reads it and says “Damn busybodies can’t mind their own business.”
Then he igonores it and your problem isn’t solved so you call the police and he gets a ticket and says “Damn busybodies are NOW costing me money.”
Call the cops report it without a name and the guy thinks. “The cops drove by and saw it.”
This way he learns a lesson and the community gets revenue.
Do you really think this guy doesn’t know he’s doing wrong. Of course he does and he’s ignoring it. This guy will only learn if the lesson comes out of his wallet
I question how much of a “chore” it could have been “steering around” a truck parked up against the curb. Unless your street is exceptionally narrow, curved, hilly, or the ice was especially treacherous, I doubt it was any significant inconvenience.
Which is not to say that you oughtn’t be vexed at this guy’s parking practices. IMO this typifies the most frustrating type of “neighbor issues.” Yeah, it is a minor matter, but what the other guy is doing is wrong. And for whatever reason it bothers you. But if you take any steps to make him change, you fear you will be painted as being the jerk.
As I see it, you have but 2 options: either find a way to live with it, or call the cops every night he parks on the street. I have some folks down the street from me who EVERY NIGHT park in their driveway so as to block the sidewalk, causing an inconvenience when I walk my dog. But I have gotten to the point where I perceive so many inconveniences imposed upon me (knowingly or un-) by others, that I’m able to no longer be bothered by this small act of rudeness.
And I have had far too many instances in which what I thought was a reasonable request of my neighbors was met with unpleasantness, such that I generally do not consider a personal approach to be an option unless I already have decent relations with the person.
I’m thinking that in your situation I’d try to find a mindset where I could ignore this. Since I question how legit your concern is about steering around the parked truck, I question how seriously your neighbor would take your concern.
It’s exceptionally narrow. Also, the road was so icy, I wound up turning around and going home after a couple of blocks. As I said, no real issue up to that point. If this was a cut and dried case of him always being in my way, or never a problem, I would handle it appropriately. This is more of a grey area.
In that case, I guess I would consider a personal request, either in person or via a signed note. Something short and simple, saying you’d really appreciate it if he would park in the driveway when the roads are icy, as it is difficult getting in and out of the cul-de-sac. If I were on the receiving end my preference would probably be a knock on the door - seems a tad less “formal” than taking the time to write a note.
If you knock, I’d do it on the icy day, say “Hi”, introduce yourself, say you live at the end of the cul-de-sac and are sure he doesn’t realize that on icy days it can be dangerous/difficult getting past the truck, and you’d appreciate it if he would park in his driveway on such days. Hopefully he will be reasonable.
Ya know? I love the dope; but threads like this sadden me. even sven is spot on, and it’s ridiculous that the thread went this far without the consensus of asking your neighbor, “Hey, when you park there, it’s difficult to negotiate the cul-de-sac, and it’s a fire danger since their trucks can’t turn around in the space if there’s an emergency.”
I recently moved into a house at the end of a cul-de-sac, and when friends came over, they would park at the end of the cul-de-sac when my driveway was full. One day, the neighbor came out as I had parked there when there were people in my driveway and said, “Hey, when you park there, it’s difficult to negotiate the cul-de-sac, and it’s a fire danger since their trucks can’t turn around in the space if there’s an emergency.”
Problem solved.
Or you can do something passive aggressive like piling all your snow in that spot, leave an anonymous note, or call the cops.
Yes, it is. If you want to be on “good terms” with your neighbors, the first time you have a face to face talk shouldn’t be to discuss his illegal parking problem. I don’t care if you bring cookies or not, there’s always that slim chance you’ll wind up in a confrontation, and I’m not in the habit of getting into fights with people I don’t know over minor issues.
My take on this whole situation is to let it lie. Don’t call the cops, don’t write a note, and just deal with the occasional chore of going around him when it’s icy. At the most, ask him to park in his driveway if it’s going to be bad weather, because you have trouble getting around him and don’t want to have an accident, then drop the issue whether or not he agrees to it.
I think this will be the result. We are friendly with the neighbors just across the street from this guy, and I suspect that if I do something that would result in him parking directly across the street, then our likable neighbors would have a truck parked right in front of their house in perpetuity.
Why not? You just have to approach it in the right way. If you go over there as Mr. Confrontational, you’re going to get confrontation. If you go over as Mr. Friendly, you’ll get the result you want. Smile, say hi, and then state the problem in a non-confrontational way. You might just make a friend.
I’ve done this a number of times with noisy neighbors. The last time was less than a week ago, and the girl couldn’t have been nicer about it. Many years ago I made an awesome friend in this way.
No, because cars farther down the street park on the correct side. So I have to go around his truck, then move back over to continue down the road. Not a major issue normally, a slight issue in ice.
If he parks on the other side, then I can just head down the street without any swerving.