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I hate to admit it but it would annoy me - disrespecting "my" space like that - I live on a very quiet street with plenty of room to park but it still annoys me when someone parks in front of my house - someones grass cutting co. parks in front of my house all the time - why cant they park in front of the home they came to mow?
I can see why the guy is annoyed - I know they have every right to park there but it is disrespectful and I think that is what the post is really about.
And - forget it - if anyone dared park in my driveway there would be hell to pay!
Here's a thought. Since you know the guy is going to the library, pop in when he's there. See if it's a secret meet up. So he keeps his car out of sight. A sensible guy who borrows books, not buying them, on a regular basis and doesn't park in the library lot. Could be a mystery.
Does he carry books back and forth to the car?
Not everyone who uses the library borrows books, and I can say that with authority since I'm a public librarian.
We have folks who spend ALL DAY in our library, using our computers or even their own laptops with our WiFi. There are also a number of programs for both adults and children, like story-times or book clubs, and a myriad of other reasons one might regularly visit the library. Also, some of them avoid our parking lot because it's kind of a disaster (small spaces and drivers with no regard for other cars/people). My own car has been dented twice in our lot, one of which cost me over $1000 in resale value when I got rid of it. So that might explain this person's desire to park elsewhere.
All of that being said, no you (the OP) do not have the right to control who parks on the street. I've lived mostly in big cities and suburbs, but assume the rules are similar in rural areas. Public street means just that - PUBLIC. Unless it's marked as "private" or permit/restricted, you're SOL. And I guess this falls under "small town problems," because in a bigger city you'd have an aneurysm if you worried about everyone who parked in front of your house. I'm just happy when nobody steals my assigned spot!
The space in front of your house does no belong to you and got claim it as yours makes you are on the wrong side of the law. I did have a problem with a guy blocking my driveway all the time. I talked to him and still he did it. One day he left a window cracked open and I squirted my garden hose into his car until everything was wet. He got the message.However I never feel that only I can park in front of my house. It is public property.
The OP claims to be a college grad who had multiple majors, including English.
The OP has only posted once (a fly-by?) - it was someone else who mentioned multiple majors including English, and how she still wouldn't shame anyone for their spelling. As a former English major myself, I do sometimes judge bad spellers; but only in my head, unless they deserve the public shaming.
I went to pick up my girlfriend from her apartment. As it is always the case, I had to wait. So I parked in a empty spot, where someone had put a sign,. a brown piece of cardboard, handwritten, saying NO PARKING DISABLED LOADING or something to that effect.
I parked, sat in the car and waited. In 2 minutes a very angry woman comes out of the building yelling at me telling me to move... Bottom line, it's a public street.
+1
In addition to it being a public street, unofficial signs--such as that piece of cardboard--have no force of law behind them. And, then we have the reality that you were sitting in your car.
"Parking" implies that one has left his car unattended. Because you were sitting in your car, then your car was "standing", and was not parked.
That very angry woman was wrong--on multiple levels.
I hate to admit it but it would annoy me - disrespecting "my" space like that - I live on a very quiet street with plenty of room to park but it still annoys me when someone parks in front of my house - someones grass cutting co. parks in front of my house all the time - why cant they park in front of the home they came to mow?
I can see why the guy is annoyed - I know they have every right to park there but it is disrespectful and I think that is what the post is really about.
And - forget it - if anyone dared park in my driveway there would be hell to pay!
I think it is a matter of amplitude of annoyance, and lack of perspective. Do I sometimes get a little annoyed when I see some random person has parked in front of my house when they could have parked somewhere else? Yeah, sometimes. It's okay to get a little annoyed for reasons that are not completely rational from time to time, we're all human. But would I write a whole post about it and poll people on whether it should be illegal? No, that's obsessive.
I have no problem with someone parking in front of my house for a short period of time, but I DO resent neighbors - or their adult children who are evidently elsewhere minus their cars - parking their cars in front of my house for long periods of time while their own driveways and street frontage remain empty! I have mature street trees, and I think that's the appeal - cars stay cooler in the shade. But it's a year-round problem.
Such a car has been parked in front of my house since Saturday. Today is Wednesday. Gray Volvo, Kentucky plate, county name faded off the plate and nothing much inside. Not sure whose it is, but suspect otherwise pleasant across the street neighbors whose two grown children who no longer live at home but frequently park their cars close by anyway, making a total of four vehicles for the family. They seem to get new cars frequently, or maybe I'm just not observant enough to notice whose cars are whose.
I don't spend my time policing my front yard, so am not sure exactly when it was left there of who left it. It doesn't block my driveway, but it does make it more challenging to enter and exit the drive.
These neighbors' driveway holds two cars - it could hold more, but they built a fence across it to keep their dogs in the backyard, and failed to install a gate that would admit vehicles. The driveway originally led to a garage in the backyard, which previous residents used. If the gate were not in place, the driveway would easily hold four cars.
Or, it would make more sense to park the kids' cars in the drive and leave the parents' cars on the street, since those cars come and go and wouldn't be parked all day.
Or they could just park in front of their own dang house!
Another neighbor often parks his truck in front of my house when he's out of town. His driveway is shady and the backyard portion of it IS accessible, so I can't understand this, either. The truck would be safer off the road, which is narrow and gets school traffic twice a day. Or he could park in front of his own house.
At least his truck is not in front of my house now - there's no room, thanks to the semi-abandoned Volvo sitting there.
But parking in the nice shady space in front of my house is more appealing. Again, it wouldn't bother me if it was for a day or less, or if the owners would let me know/ask permission/explain - but this is day four that the Volvo has sat there, unused the entire time. Tomorrow is garbage and trash collection day, and the collectors are going to have a difficult time getting around the car to reach the containers on the curb, which are grabbed by robotic arms and tipped into the garbage trucks. Just hope they manage to get the job done and don't assume I'm the one causing the problem.
I get along with my neighbors and don't want this to become an issue, but I do feel rather taken advantage of. I'm here for life (I hope), not moving on in a few years like some of my younger neighbors as they climb career paths. Perhaps that lack of commitment to the area and other residents is a factor... and not really caring if their vehicles get scratched or side-swiped from being parked in a vulnerable place.
If he parked in front of my home, and went to visit a neighbor, or take public transportation to another place, that is different......
How is that different? It's none of your (or anyone's) business why or for how long they're parked, and certainly not your business what they did after parking... unless official city/county signs are posted that say otherwise, of course. Besides, how would you even know unless you followed them? That would be creepy.
When I lived in the city (San Francisco), we'd often park in a residential neighborhood to then catch BART or CalTrain somewhere else. Since the urban subway/train stations rarely have their own parking lots, that is your best option unless you're within walking distance. I even had friends park in front of my house to catch a bus or walk to Candlestick Park, since I lived pretty close and it costs like $40 to park AT the stadium. No skin off my back.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jowel
Apparently there is also a religious holiday that people celebrate by parking in front of others' houses.
The "only allowed on holydays" option.
Well, the High Holy Days (Rosh Hashana & Yom Kippur) are coming up soon - and if they coincide with Shabbat, the observant Jewish people can't drive. So there is that, lol.
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