Parking in the Street (house, landscaping, to buy)

[martinez4]

We specifically bought a model that had a three car garage. We do have a lot of storage in the house but having children that eventually will both drive, one does now, having that extra garage means that only on car is parked outside.

[yosoyway]

I know what you mean. We used to park our cars in the garage but our neighbors don't. The main reason I stopped putting 1 car in the garage is because our neighbors have a lot of visitors and they usually park their car in front of our house. It really makes me . So now I always leave 1 car on the street. I hate doing that but I figure if I have to see a car in front of my house, it might as well be mine.

Also, a neighbor that lives on a corner lot, parks his car across the street from his house. So his house doesn't have any cars on the drive way or in front of his house. That leaves me speechless. I'm surprised the person living at the house where he parks his car hasn't told him anything.

[Eleanor Rigby]

The no street parking rule is an Alamo Heights regulation. You can get permission for special occassions if you go to the city hall in advance; we did that one year when we had lots of family in town and not enough driveway space.

Sec. 18-101. Overnight parking--Prohibited.
Overnight parking for storage on any paved street is hereby prohibited. "Overnight parking for storage" is hereby defined as the parking or storing of cars, trucks, tractors or other vehicles on paved streets during the hours from 2:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m., except temporarily disabled vehicles which are protected by flares or other approved signal devices.
(Code 1965, § 20-124; Ord. No. 1245, 11-12-90)

Any person owning or occupying residential premises may obtain a temporary overnight parking permit for visitors or persons temporarily staying in such premises upon written application made and filed with the chief of police prior to the time such automobiles or other vehicles are parked on the street. No such permit shall exceed thirty (30) days, and no more than three (3) such permits may be issued for any premises during any calendar year by the chief of police. To be effective, any such permit shall be in writing and displayed on the automobile at all times when parked on the streets of the city between the hours of 2:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m.

They also encourage you to use a valet parking service if you are having a really, really large party (say, 150 people) in order to keep the chaos down.

ETA:
I wanted to thrown in a link to Municipal Code Corporation - this is a really helpful website that has many cities' municipal codes online for free. San Antonio is one of them. Very helpful when you have a question about what is or isn't allowed.

[majormadmax]

Originally Posted by Chakapu

European homes also tend to be much much smaller than American homes. If you are used to European homes, you're not likely to *need* much space for storage!

I thought that was the whole point of the McMansions: more space for all the stuff?

And garages are smaller now??? I find that hard to believe, it's more like cars are bigger and take up more space in the garage, along with more stuff to put in it.

Yes, most European houses have smaller living areas than American homes, but the two houses we had in Germany and Belgium both had huge cellars which allowed for more storage. And although European homes do not typically have closets (a few are starting to, as we found out when we last moved there in 2002), wall shrunks--essentially standing wardrobes--have been used for years. We used those in conjunction with storing our clothes in the basement, rotating what we needed by season. It worked well.

And yes, comparing the first house we owned in San Antonio (built in 1999) and our second house (built in 2005), the garage is smaller. I could, in a pinch, get both cars we owned in the older house's garage, I can not do so in our new house.

But I agree that most people use their garages for storage. There must be a great need, as if there wasn't you wouldn't see so many self-storage places popping up all over the place...

Cheers! M2

[Montirob]

The title of this thread is one reason I bought a home in an old neighborhood. Yes, we have people park in the street, but I can count on one hand the number of cars - not bad for a 5 block long street. The reason: the garages are at the back of the lot against the alley, which means we have a 125+ foot long driveway. Even if the garage is used for a different purpose (storage, etc.), the length still allows all of the cars to be off of the street.

[rd2007]

Glad to see I'm not the only one that hates seeing a street in a nice neighborhood full of cars and trucks, it's so tacky.. I personally have no choice but to leave one car in the driveway, but that's because there are three drivers in the house and three cars.. There are always two cars in the garage though and the only time anyone parks in the street is when a visitor comes. I also hate it when people I don't know park in front of my house, especially when it's an ugly car or a car I would never even think of owning.. blah

[ChrisSA_wxatUIW]

I only find it anoying to have cars parked in the street when the streets are really narrow. I was in this new neighborhood once where there were a ton of cars in the street, and the street was really narrow to begin with, so only one car could fit/ drive inbetween.

We have a family of six, so we couldn't help using some of the garage for storage, and when I lived there (and had started driving), the only place for me to park was infront of my house.

[Bowie]

My HOA forbids street parking by residents. The residents do it anyway, so the HOA is considering the addition of enforcement via towing to put some teeth into the regulation.

Personally, I prefer street-parking to driveway-parking. I developed this bias living across the street from a guy who parked a dirty old camper in his driveway 12 months of the year.

[sapphire]

We park in the driveway, and I've never lost a moment's sleep over who parks where. I think we have one neighbor in the cul-de-sac that uses their garage to park in.

[LivingLikeAGradStudent]

One (of many) major difference moving back to Los Angeles from Alamo Heights: Everyone in my L.A. neighborhood parks on the street. The 1920s duplexes and fourplexes didn't come with garages, so hello hunting for a place not too far from your entrance.