Where To Park When There Is Nowhere To Park In Andover??? (Minneapolis: for sale, renter)

[mxhideout]

Originally Posted by northsub

Why not ask a neighbor with extra driveway space if you can park in their driveway? I'd offer to pay a small fee and/or bring cookies over when you ask. Or maybe agree to shovel their driveway in exchange (or whatever deal you can make).

lol, nice one. Yeah, it's just something I'll have to deal with by squeezing in the driveway sideways or something. Oh, and they use all of the vehicles in their driveway for whoever said to sell the junk ones.

[tvdxer]

You can always bike over, at least in the warmer months. Think of it as an adventure.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by mxhideout

lol, nice one. Yeah, it's just something I'll have to deal with by squeezing in the driveway sideways or something. Oh, and they use all of the vehicles in their driveway for whoever said to sell the junk ones.

I'm curious. How many cars fit in the garage? How many in the driveway?

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by northsub

Why not ask a neighbor with extra driveway space if you can park in their driveway? I'd offer to pay a small fee and/or bring cookies over when you ask. Or maybe agree to shovel their driveway in exchange (or whatever deal you can make).

I'm going to predict every other neighbor in a 30 block radius is going to have extra driveway space. That's because I don't see driveways continuously full of cars in Andover unless it's a rental situation stuffed with people or full of 2nd and 3rd car junkers.

I know the city doesn't care about cars being occasionally parked overnight. The reality is some neighbors don't appreciate a cluttered look and they complain when it spills into the street.

We live in a nicer neighborhood. It seems there is always one neighbor that paints their house purple or doesn't mow etc. We had a neighbor with 6 cars in the driveway (of course zero were in the garage). It was an eyesore. That neighbor had a car parked out in the street for several months and it didn't move. Myself and others didn't like the look but it no one complained. One day, I noticed the drivers side window was broken and they didn't clean-up the broken glass on the street. This went on for about 2 weeks even after it rained. Finally I called the city and complained. The next day the junker was off the street. I proceeded to call and complain a few other times during that year about how many cars they had (there are rules based off the number of drivers). They were forced to clean-up their act.

I'm saying that the Andover parking rules are enforced when people take issue with it. Rules like not having RV's in the driveway and several others are broken all of the time. That's because they don't bother the people in that neighborhood. I strongly predict the neighbors are bothered by the amount of cars in the driveway and are drawing the line in the sand for it spilling out in the road. So if the OP is being ticketed, someone is complaining. Therefore, you might be delivering cookies to the person who doesn't appreciate the look.

Just as people think it is their right to raise chickens in their backyard, others think it is their right to stuff cars in their driveway "because it is their property". Well, Andover residents on average like chickens in their freezer and cars in the garage. So the solution maybe to reduce the cars, park in the garage or move.

[Clifford63]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

Well, Andover residents on average like chickens in their freezer and cars in the garage. So the solution maybe to reduce the cars, park in the garage or move.

There you go. This is the true reason for the ordinance.

One thing that I notice is people that don't have enough parking almost always have some or all of the following, ATV, RV, Boat, snow machines, garage packed full of stuff, or a lot of people with cars in one house. Makes more sense to me if they address the real issue than using parking ordinance. I believe Richfield but in an ordinance that bans camper/RV parking a few years back, but you can still park cars on the street.

[mxhideout]

Originally Posted by tvdxer

You can always bike over, at least in the warmer months. Think of it as an adventure.

I sometimes do.

Originally Posted by Clifford63

There you go. This is the true reason for the ordinance.

One thing that I notice is people that don't have enough parking almost always have some or all of the following, ATV, RV, Boat, snow machines, garage packed full of stuff, or a lot of people with cars in one house. Makes more sense to me if they address the real issue than using parking ordinance. I believe Richfield but in an ordinance that bans camper/RV parking a few years back, but you can still park cars on the street.

Pretty much all of the above. And for all that say the simple solution is to get rid of the vehicles and/or put them in the garage...... lol, that just isn't a possibility for some people. Not everyone has the money to get a 6 car garage. Why do we even have driveways if we don't use them anyway??

[tvdxer]

Exactly.

Although I can see the broken car windows being a safety hazard, laws like this are usually made to appease delicate, fastidious, fidgety people who want everything just perfectly how they imagine a neighborhood "should" look like, which is usually very bland. Who cares if there are cars in the street? (Isn't that part of what a street is for? Parking?) Who cares if the neighbor has an RV parked in their driveway? Heck, who even cares if a car is out on blocks, at least if it's not long-term? I know I wouldn't, and I certainly wouldn't complain. In fact, I'd feel more comfortable in a neighborhood that has all of these things and more than I would in a sterile subdivision. At least I know that people in that neighborhood aren't antsy nitpickers who like to dabble in others' freedoms.

[ManBearPig1]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

I'm going to predict every other neighbor in a 30 block radius is going to have extra driveway space. That's because I don't see driveways continuously full of cars in Andover unless it's a rental situation stuffed with people or full of 2nd and 3rd car junkers.

I know the city doesn't care about cars being occasionally parked overnight. The reality is some neighbors don't appreciate a cluttered look and they complain when it spills into the street.

We live in a nicer neighborhood. It seems there is always one neighbor that paints their house purple or doesn't mow etc. We had a neighbor with 6 cars in the driveway (of course zero were in the garage). It was an eyesore. That neighbor had a car parked out in the street for several months and it didn't move. Myself and others didn't like the look but it no one complained. One day, I noticed the drivers side window was broken and they didn't clean-up the broken glass on the street. This went on for about 2 weeks even after it rained. Finally I called the city and complained. The next day the junker was off the street. I proceeded to call and complain a few other times during that year about how many cars they had (there are rules based off the number of drivers). They were forced to clean-up their act.

I'm saying that the Andover parking rules are enforced when people take issue with it. Rules like not having RV's in the driveway and several others are broken all of the time. That's because they don't bother the people in that neighborhood. I strongly predict the neighbors are bothered by the amount of cars in the driveway and are drawing the line in the sand for it spilling out in the road. So if the OP is being ticketed, someone is complaining. Therefore, you might be delivering cookies to the person who doesn't appreciate the look.

Just as people think it is their right to raise chickens in their backyard, others think it is their right to stuff cars in their driveway "because it is their property". Well, Andover residents on average like chickens in their freezer and cars in the garage. So the solution maybe to reduce the cars, park in the garage or move.

How arrogant

[Cruz Azul Guy]

Originally Posted by ManBearPig1

How arrogant

I kind of agree with this. I get it that on every block there is usually "that guy" that does something to his property to make it an eyesore for everyone else. However, at the same time I tend to be one with the mindset that people should have a certain amount of freedom to do what they want with their property. If it causes an eyesore, then go over and tell him so. Ultimately though, it should be at the property owner's discretion on if he wants to have 12 cars parked there, or let his grass grow long or leave ugly lawn ornaments there. For me, having the flexibility and freedom to choose what I want to do with my yard that I paid for is worth having to put up with eyesores from neighbors every now and again. So, as a result I'd never be interested in living in a townhouse development where they have all kinds of rules about what you can do with you property...it goes against my principles.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by Slig

I kind of agree with this. I get it that on every block there is usually "that guy" that does something to his property to make it an eyesore for everyone else. However, at the same time I tend to be one with the mindset that people should have a certain amount of freedom to do what they want with their property. If it causes an eyesore, then go over and tell him so. Ultimately though, it should be at the property owner's discretion on if he wants to have 12 cars parked there, or let his grass grow long or leave ugly lawn ornaments there. For me, having the flexibility and freedom to choose what I want to do with my yard that I paid for is worth having to put up with eyesores from neighbors every now and again. So, as a result I'd never be interested in living in a townhouse development where they have all kinds of rules about what you can do with you property...it goes against my principles.

If my post sounded arrogant, then the town of Andover must be arrogant. Like many towns, the people of Andover felt it necessary to create common sense rules. The amount of cars that you have in your yard and how it looks is common sense and basic neighborhood courtesy.

This house in my neighborhood picked the most good awful paint color. Not my favorite or even in the top 20,000 colors but it is their right (we don't have a covenant specifying color). Also, they don't water their sandy grass or have any landscaping. Their yard is also full of tree stumps.

But when you permanently park old cars on the side of your yard and in the back of your yard (and three others on the "grass") that violates simple common sense. I let it slide for years but when you leave a junker in the street with the glass on the side of it, that was what topped it for me. They cleaned up their act after each complaint but it went back to the same look after a year. Things have looked much better for several years because they finally got the message.

If someones yard looks like a junk yard, it takes down the whole neighborhood. That also translates to lower resale value for everyone. That's because 95% of us "arrogant" people don't want to live next to WT. Having an o.k. looking property is common sense and common courtesy. I don't need to personally tell them that their yard looks trashy. If I felt obligated, I would then need to educate them on 10 other common sense topics. Our fine city enforces those rules for a reason and I am glad that they do have them on the books.