# Why get upset if someone parks in front of your house? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 28, 2011, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-get-upset-if-someone-parks-in-front-of-your-house/597874 "2011-09-28T13:18:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-get-upset-if-someone-parks-in-front-of-your-house/597874/21 "2011-09-28T14:38:51Z")
> [@Wallenstein](#): > > There’s a street near the hospital my wife works at with a “[no hospital parking](http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/8154/pichw.jpg)” sign, but I have no idea whether it’s a legal sign or not. It’s not backed up with any permit restrictions or other parking control, and I sometimes wonder whether the residents just put it up themselves. In the spirit of the Dope I just called the local countil and they said it wasn’t one of their signs. I’d never park there because I’d end up with rude messages scraped into my paintwork, but it’s interesting to know! ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-get-upset-if-someone-parks-in-front-of-your-house/597874/22 "2011-09-28T14:42:24Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > A couple anecdotes about this. I currently live on such a street - I’m relatively close to a major college stadium, and on football saturdays, my street will fill up with cars. It’s a standard residential street, such that if cars are parked on both sides, it ends up being a de facto single lane 10mph street on game days. It never bothered me, but I’m young and generally don’t freak out driving in tight spaces, but there’s a lot of old folks in the neighborhood and I guess some of them complained. Last year they started restricting parking to one side of the street via the temporary signs you’re talking about. I have no problem with this – like it or not, I pay property taxes for a police department that has every right to shut down streets to make the taxpayers happy. It’s not like anyone parking here actually lives in the neighborhood, after all. I live in such a neighborhood too. Just this year people started parking on both sides of the street. The way our neighborhood is set up, there’s only one entrance/exit so it’s pretty annoying that EVERYONE has to go through that gauntlet of cars to get in or out on game night. I had to drive it and I did call the cops. I knew there was nothing they could do at the moment (way too many to tow) but the next week they had cops keeping people from doing it and the next week they had erected permanent signs. I mostly worried about emergency vehicles not being able to get through. There isn’t enough shoulder for people to park very far out of the street so the area left in the middle was quite slim. Hard enough to navigate my mini SUV through, can’t imagine a fire truck. Anyway, I’ve lived in this neighborhood 32 years. First time I called the cops on game night. We’ve got a new stadium so people are getting weird about parking. The worst thing about cars in the street is the fact that there’s no sidewalks here and walking the dog around parked cars is scary - on a night like game night when there’s a lot of traffic. I had a friend from “the city” over the other day and she mindlessly passed up my driveway and parked on the street 2 doors down. Because that’s how she parks at home. I made her retrieve her car and come park in my 80’ driveway 😛 ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-get-upset-if-someone-parks-in-front-of-your-house/597874/23 "2011-09-28T14:44:26Z")
It must be frightening to live in a world where a random car, parked on a public street, creeps you out, but it takes all kinds to make a world. If it does creep you out, why would you choose to buy at that location? As for seeing in your windows, can’t you just close your curtains? Do people truly believe the whole world should bend, to accommodate their individual issues? ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-get-upset-if-someone-parks-in-front-of-your-house/597874/24 "2011-09-28T14:47:20Z")
I totally understand people’s issues with local street parking being displaced, by event parking, near venues. But isn’t that really a municipal issue? Isn’t the number of required parking spaces, per venue capacity, set by the municipality, pre development? It seems to me, the displaced citizen’s should take it up with city hall. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-get-upset-if-someone-parks-in-front-of-your-house/597874/25 "2011-09-28T14:47:27Z")
In Pittsburgh it is common for people to shovel the snow from the parking spot in front of their home, then to place lawn chairs to “save” the space. It is also common for others to move the lawn furniture and park there anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-get-upset-if-someone-parks-in-front-of-your-house/597874/26 "2011-09-28T14:49:46Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > It must be frightening to live in a world where a random car, parked on a public street, creeps you out, but it takes all kinds to make a world. > > If it does creep you out, why would you choose to buy at that location? > > As for seeing in your windows, can’t you just close your curtains? > > Do people truly believe the whole world should bend, to accommodate their individual issues? ? I just said it was a minor creepy feeling. You really do like to exaggerate your case, I’ve noticed. Really, where did I say I expected the whole world should bend? Or even a small part of it? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-get-upset-if-someone-parks-in-front-of-your-house/597874/27 "2011-09-28T14:53:02Z")
My landlord goes Yosemite Sam-\*insane \*when anyone parks in front of our house. Me, I get ticked-off when people park half-in and half-out of their driveway, forcing me to walk into the street or on the wet grass (or snow) to get by. I started leaving “_please do not block the sidewalk_” Post-Its on their windshield, but then realized, “Oh, god, I am turning into my father” and stopped doing that. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-get-upset-if-someone-parks-in-front-of-your-house/597874/28 "2011-09-28T14:53:10Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > I totally understand people’s issues with local street parking being displaced, by event parking, near venues. But isn’t that really a municipal issue? Isn’t the number of required parking spaces, per venue capacity, set by the municipality, pre development? It seems to me, the displaced citizen’s should take it up with city hall. In my case, the stadium is on campus property, which is in the Big City limits, whereas my neighborhood is technically One Small Town Over, if that makes any sense. Two different municipal governments. Furthermore, the university runs a shuttle from some of their larger parking lots, but people prefer to park closer and not have to deal with waiting for a bus. I really don’t see the problem with the solution my city came up with. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-get-upset-if-someone-parks-in-front-of-your-house/597874/29 "2011-09-28T14:56:01Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > In Pittsburgh it is common for people to shovel the snow from the parking spot in front of their home, then to place lawn chairs to “save” the space. **It is also common for others to move the lawn furniture and park there anyway.** Do that (the second sentence) in Chicago and you’re likely to end up with a broken window or several. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-get-upset-if-someone-parks-in-front-of-your-house/597874/30 "2011-09-28T15:06:55Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > Do that (the second sentence) in Chicago and you’re likely to end up with a broken window or several. Pittsburgh as well. There are also yearly news stories of fist fights, etc over lawn chairs/parking. ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-get-upset-if-someone-parks-in-front-of-your-house/597874/31 "2011-09-28T15:09:58Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > Do that (the second sentence) in Chicago and you’re likely to end up with a broken window or several. Frankly, it depends on the neighborhood. We don’t all act like people in Bridgeport or Beverly. ---
**Author:** ![Vihaga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Vihaga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vihaga)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-get-upset-if-someone-parks-in-front-of-your-house/597874/32 "2011-09-28T15:12:53Z")
The only time it bothers me is when someone does it in such a way that it keeps me from being able to get out of my driveway easily. As I live on a narrow street that isn’t super densely populated, this is rarely an issue. I also think it’s odd when someone chooses to park in front of their neighbor’s house rather than their own, like their own view of the street is too precious to clog up with cars but their neighbor’s is not. Luckily, none of our neighbors do this, but I know of several people down the street from us do it to their neighbors. It’s kind of bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-get-upset-if-someone-parks-in-front-of-your-house/597874/33 "2011-09-28T15:17:11Z")
I certainly can understand getting upset if event parking takes over your neighborhood, or if someone parks in such a way that it blocks your driveway, but I’ve seen people get upset about someone parking in front of their house when the homeowner didn’t need the space, I just don’t get that. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-get-upset-if-someone-parks-in-front-of-your-house/597874/34 "2011-09-28T15:24:10Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > People who feel so entitled, always say, ‘It’s rude!’ No it’s not. It’s public space. Period. Legal/illegal and polite/rude are essentially orthogonal concepts. > [@](#): > > If you think it’s rude, that’s on you and your sense of entitlement, in my opinion. What’s rude and what’s not is a matter of social convention. It’s always more or less a matter of one’s sense of entitlement. If I go to a restaurant (and I’m including fast food, cafeteria, diner as well as white-tablecloth places) I think it’s rude if the guy at the next table is picking his nose. I think I’m entitled not to see that while I’m eating there. But legally, I have no such entitlement. Does that mean the other guy’s not being rude? ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-get-upset-if-someone-parks-in-front-of-your-house/597874/35 "2011-09-28T15:28:30Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Legal/illegal and polite/rude are essentially orthogonal concepts. > What’s rude and what’s not is a matter of social convention. It’s always more or less a matter of one’s sense of entitlement. If I go to a restaurant (and I’m including fast food, cafeteria, diner as well as white-tablecloth places) I think it’s rude if the guy at the next table is picking his nose. I think I’m entitled not to see that while I’m eating there. But legally, I have no such entitlement. Does that mean the other guy’s not being rude? Unless you can point to some well-known and specific taboo, like the ingestion of bodily products, our laws are taken to express the boundaries of social convention (after all, that’s what laws and regulations are: certain formalized social conventions). We are particularly disinclined to take the instinctual sense of rudeness from someone who has a vested interest in the classification. ---
**Author:** ![Borzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/43a26b/32.png) [@Borzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Borzo)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-get-upset-if-someone-parks-in-front-of-your-house/597874/36 "2011-09-28T15:30:52Z")
This thread surprises me. I never thought grown adults would have so much trouble with sharing a public space. And the lawn chair thing… that’s just weird and terribly inappropriate. I’d get my friend with a pickup to drive around the neighbourhood collecting all the free lawn chairs until people stopped putting them out. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-get-upset-if-someone-parks-in-front-of-your-house/597874/37 "2011-09-28T15:35:36Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > I totally understand people’s issues with local street parking being displaced, by event parking, near venues. But isn’t that really a municipal issue? Isn’t the number of required parking spaces, per venue capacity, set by the municipality, pre development? It seems to me, the displaced citizen’s should take it up with city hall. Bingo! This is my point. Take it up with city hall, get official posting up, write tickets. I can live with that. Otherwise, telling me something is illegal, when it isn’t - sounds illegal to me. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-get-upset-if-someone-parks-in-front-of-your-house/597874/38 "2011-09-28T15:35:48Z")
> [@Borzo](#): > > And the lawn chair thing… that’s just weird and terribly inappropriate. I’d get my friend with a pickup to drive around the neighbourhood collecting all the free lawn chairs until people stopped putting them out. I grew up in an area where [this was common](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parking_chair), and thought it a worldwide behavior.😃 ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-get-upset-if-someone-parks-in-front-of-your-house/597874/39 "2011-09-28T15:36:10Z")
> [@Borzo](#): > > And the lawn chair thing… that’s just weird and terribly inappropriate. I’d get my friend with a pickup to drive around the neighbourhood collecting all the free lawn chairs until people stopped putting them out. The first time you spent an hour shoveling a spot clear on the street and some jackass took it before you could get your car into it, you’d put a lawn chair out as well. There’s a lot of these local customs that exist for a reason. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-get-upset-if-someone-parks-in-front-of-your-house/597874/40 "2011-09-28T15:38:00Z")
> [@Borzo](#): > > This thread surprises me. I never thought grown adults would have so much trouble with sharing a public space. > > And the lawn chair thing… that’s just weird and terribly inappropriate. I’d get my friend with a pickup to drive around the neighbourhood collecting all the free lawn chairs until people stopped putting them out. We don’t do that where I live, because there’s plenty of parking for everyone, but it’s cultural in a good many places. Shoveling is hard frickin work, and sometimes it does take an hour or two, especially when it’s your fourth time this week and the plow has made it all frozen and heavy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-get-upset-if-someone-parks-in-front-of-your-house/597874.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-get-upset-if-someone-parks-in-front-of-your-house/597874.md?page=3)