Parking on street in residential neighborhoods (San Antonio, Alamo: insurance, house, gated)

[Chaka]

Just so I'm clear on this before I do anything, a public street in a residential, non-gated neighborhood, with no NO Parking signs or paint on the curb is open for parking, provided the vehicle does not block access.
Correct?

[sapphire]

And it can't block a bike lane or be in front of a fire hydrant, as far as I know.

[slaleman]

^^ Can't block a bike lane...that's a good one. Wish they'd actually enforce that!

[Primo]

If you are familar with reading contract language...you can read the actual city codes here:
City Municipal Code Search on the San Antonio Community Portal

There is a lot of stuff on parking. Technically you can't leave a vehicle parked in a street for more than 24hrs....that is considered storage. But you will be hard pressed to find a policeman that will enforce some of these little known parking laws.

[Chaka]

Thanks...

Some newcomers to a high density/commerical bordered area think the street is their private property....just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something. We have cars parking in front of our house all the time. I never thought to go yell at them (except the one time they didn't respond to their car alarm in a timely manner).

[cjw]

I know you aren't asking about Alamo Heights but I'll post it here anyway in case it can help anyone. In AH you cannot park overnight on the street or you can be ticketed. You can park on the street overnight if you call the city for permission and give them your license plate number. You can also be ticketed in AH for parking in the wrong direction on the street. Ask me how I know - or should I say ask my kids how I know. They have received several of each.

My son had his pickup parked in front of our house one night and a lady ran into it. She tried to get out of her insurance company paying for the repairs by saying his pickup was parked the wrong direction. Like it made a difference that the parked car she hit was from the front end or rear end? Haha -

[Turtle_Mom]

A friend of mine has neighbors who insist that the curb in front of their house is designated their parking, and will throw a fit when she throws parties and people park in "their" spot. She is kind, and obliges but I say it's public parking and they need to just suck it up.

I read the codes - or at least tried - and didn't see anything about that. Anyone see anything I didn't?

[sapphire]

Originally Posted by Turtle_Mom

A friend of mine has neighbors who insist that the curb in front of their house is designated their parking, and will throw a fit when she throws parties and people park in "their" spot. She is kind, and obliges but I say it's public parking and they need to just suck it up.

I read the codes - or at least tried - and didn't see anything about that. Anyone see anything I didn't?

Sorry, I have to agree with your friend's neighbor. Common courtesy should prevail and people should ask first if it's OK--I mean, surely they know she parks there every day. Of course, it doesn't "belong" to her, but she uses it all the time and your friend knows that.

[gwrober]

We have a guy up the street from us with a big truck and a big rv that parks in the street. I lost all visibility in that direction - I can't see the cars that fly over the hill. I have to back out of my driveway very carefully...

He doesn't do it all of the time, but when he does it's usually 1-2 weeks. I may have to go talk to him about it...

[Primo]

Originally Posted by gwrober

We have a guy up the street from us with a big truck and a big rv that parks in the street. I lost all visibility in that direction - I can't see the cars that fly over the hill. I have to back out of my driveway very carefully...

He doesn't do it all of the time, but when he does it's usually 1-2 weeks. I may have to go talk to him about it...

I have come across the same issue before. From what I understand, it is against the law to store an RV/Boat/trailer in the street. City code provides allowances for loading, cleaning, light maintenance, but I would consider anything more than 24 hours a nuisance. Sometimes police are responsive to this issue, other times they don't seem to care. Call the non-emergency 207-SAPD and report it.