Sidewalk Parking

[fleetiebelle]

Originally Posted by RogersParkTransplant

Thanks guys -- do you have a link for the assessment page, or can you tell me more?

YOu've never gone down the rabbit hole of the county real estate portal? Have fun.

Real Estate | Information Portal | Allegheny County

[RogersParkTransplant]

Originally Posted by fleetiebelle

YOu've never gone down the rabbit hole of the county real estate portal? Have fun.

Real Estate | Information Portal | Allegheny County

Thanks! So many rabbit holes, so little time...

[PghYinzer]

Here in Brookline, on some of the narrower streets people simply put flower pots or planters along the curbs in front of their house. That keeps people from parking on the sidewalks.

[theta_sigma]

Originally Posted by lprmesia

Hello,

There's been a lot of fighting on a local Facebook group page (Mt. Washington News) about sidewalk parking. This has been going on for some time but recently has gotten out of hand with people calling the police to issue citations, telling other people to move, sell their car, etc...

Just like many city neighborhoods the streets are narrow, few houses have off street parking, and the neighborhood is made up of a large number of people who have cars without off street parking, people who have cars WITH off street parking, and people without cars that have no off street parking.

The major gripe seems to come from the people who don't have cars complaining about the people who do have cars with no offstreet parking that park either partially or almost entirely on the sidewalk. There's a few different fights here:

1. Homeowners complaining that they have to replace the sidewalks.
2. People stating they need to park on the sidewalks to avoid getting their mirrors knocked off.
3. People stating they need to park on the sidewalks to allow enough width for emergency vehicles to get through.
4. Walkers complaining that they have to walk in the street because the sidewalks are blocked.
5. Walkers complaining about the condition of sidewalks from the wear and tear of cars creating poor conditions for people with strollers or in wheelchairs.

What's it like in your neighborhood? Is there just as much infighting? Are there solutions?

Everyone sidewalk parks on my street. It's really the only way to have the street be wide enough for cars to get through and still allow on-street parking (many of the houses have driveways big enough for one car, but the garages have been converted to finished basement rooms and if you have more than one car, or people coming to visit, etc, it's street parking). The sidewalks are pretty broad though, I've rarely encountered a car parked so far onto the sidewalk as to impede pedestrians, even pedestrians with baby strollers and such. Most people will just park a foot or two onto the sidewalk, not all the way up to the front yards. If people parking on both sides park 1-2 feet up onto the sidewalk, there's ample room for emergency vehicles (I know because my nextdoor neighbor is a city firefighter and every now and then he gets dropped off or picked up in a firetruck) or two cars to pass one another, and no one's mirrors get knocked off.

No one seems to care at all. It's just the way it is here.

[brother_rebus]

Idk man. I called many many times, and had a bunch of other people call, all about the same strip of sidewalk, and eventually, there was city trucks, and city workers out there replacing it. maybe the private property owner contracted the job out to the city... but I know what I saw.

[guy2073]

Originally Posted by brother_rebus

Idk man. I called many many times, and had a bunch of other people call, all about the same strip of sidewalk, and eventually, there was city trucks, and city workers out there replacing it. maybe the private property owner contracted the job out to the city... but I know what I saw.

It could have been a city property, or corruption. My company does sidewalk replacements for city tree damage, the calls have been fewer and fewer each year. The city may not even offer it anymore without a threat or two by the homeowner. Even when the city does do city tree repair, the only people who come out are two guys with a city pickup, trailer and a stump grinder. They are only on the job for 1/2 an hour.