UPDATE on page 4 - I want this to be JAWM, but I'll take opinions.... parking issue.

[Cinder]

tangent, but:  where are people getting mail delivered twice a day?

 

We just got 2 mail deliveries on Monday. Not sure why, it's never happened before. Occasionally a second mail truck will come through with just package deliveries but this was letter type stuff both times. We didn't get 2 deliveries yesterday though, so I'm sure Monday's occurrence was an anomaly.

[aggie96]

We had this happen years ago.  After receiving a nasty-gram from the mail carrier, we put a nice note on the neighbor's car window.  Twice.  Then, when that didn't work, we left a note for the mail carrier explaining that it wasn't our car,  but we were working on it.  We noticed that the mail carrier then left a note for the neighbor.  When that didn't work, we left a more strongly worded note on neon pink paper on the window.  Twice.  When that didn't work, I knocked on the neighbor's door to talk in person.  They were home but did not answer the door.  Three different times.  So, we set the sprinklers to come on at the street when they left for work each day.  They had to go through running sprinklers or wet grass, and their car was wet.  Crazily, it took three mornings of this before they finally stopped parking in front of our mail box/house.  All they had to do was park along their own empty curb a few feet back from the mail boxes.  Sheesh.  It was nuts!

[sassenach]

We had this happen years ago. After receiving a nasty-gram from the mail carrier, we put a nice note on the neighbor's car window. Twice. Then, when that didn't work, we left a note for the mail carrier explaining that it wasn't our car, but we were working on it. We noticed that the mail carrier then left a note for the neighbor. When that didn't work, we left a more strongly worded note on neon pink paper on the window. Twice. When that didn't work, I knocked on the neighbor's door to talk in person. They were home but did not answer the door. Three different times. So, we set the sprinklers to come on at the street when they left for work each day. They had to go through running sprinklers or wet grass, and their car was wet. Crazily, it took three mornings of this before they finally stopped parking in front of our mail box/house. All they had to do was park along their own empty curb a few feet back from the mail boxes. Sheesh. It was nuts!

That is hysterical and brilliant.

[alisoncooks]

So, we set the sprinklers to come on at the street when they left for work each day.  They had to go through running sprinklers or wet grass, and their car was wet.  Crazily, it took three mornings of this before they finally stopped parking in front of our mail box/house.  All they had to do was park along their own empty curb a few feet back from the mail boxes.  Sheesh.  It was nuts!

 

I'm enjoying this mental image way more than I should.  Justice served!

 

 

On a related note:  I only once have had parking issues.  When we lived in a townhouse, the 2 spots in front of each unit were reserved for the residents.  Guests parked at the end of the lot.  Our neighbors, for several days in a row, had a guest or co-worker or something that parked a large work van in my spot.  Not only parked in my spot at my front door, but parked crooked and took up DH's spot also.  I left a polite & apologetic note asking if they could move the vehicle.  I received back a profanity-laced, grammar-absent rant, calling me all manner of names and telling me to never touch their car again.  

 

I let it go because we were moving in a month...but if I'd had to live there longer, I would've taken it to the manager of the complex.

[Carrie12345]

It would annoy me, even as a person who has been the annoying party.

 

For a few months, we had 6 drivers in my family home.  Our driveway fit 3 cars, and we could fit 2 more in front of the house.

Our neighbors across the street had a double lot, the empty part directly across from ours, their house to the right.  When a 6th driver would be home, we'd park that car in front of the empty lot.  My mother got a "talking to".

Those neighbors could fit 8 cars in their driveway + garage and line 5 more up along the road if they wished. And they couldn't even see the car from their house windows!  But they sure hated us, anyway.

 

I'd still be annoyed if people were parking in front of my house for no real reason.  Not that they could. Our current community has a no street parking rule.

[Lady Florida.]

- about 1 foot from our mailbox.  (Our mail carrier travels by car, not on foot.  He has to park, get out of the car, and put mail in the box.) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our mail carriers can be temperamental.  If they decide mailbox access is not easy enough, they have been known to just drive by without delivering the mail.  When that has happened, it has been because of other people parking in front of my house.

 

 

 

Ours too. When we got a new roof the roofers parked in such a way that the mail carrier's vehicle couldn't get to our mailbox. We did get our mail that day, but also got a notice that no more mail would be delivered if a vehicle was parked there again. We would have to collect it at the post office. From what I can find, it isn't illegal to block a residential mailbox, but carriers have the right not to deliver your mail if they can't access the box while remaining in their vehicle. Some cities have added ordinances against blocking access, but it's not a USPS rule.

 

If it really bothers you, maybe you can ask them not to park there so that you are sure to get your mail delivered.

[Amy in NH]

Any way to have their car towed to an impound lot somewhere?

[Word Nerd]

Any way to have their car towed to an impound lot somewhere?

 

Really? As a first step? SMH.

[clementine]

Any way to have their car towed to an impound lot somewhere?

 

The car is driven every day, so no reason for impound.   

 

Their car was parked in their driveway last night since our car was in that spot.  I have moved our car back to our garage to allow the mail carrier to deliver.  I'm just planning to wait & see what happens this afternoon - I'm hoping they got the hint.  

[albeto.]

Maybe because in lots of cases like this, a mail carrier won't continue to go out of their way to put mail in the box, when the path should be clear for them to do so.

 

So is the OP incensed on behalf of the mail carrier? Surely this type of situation comes up in mail carrier training.

[clementine]

So is the OP incensed on behalf of the mail carrier? Surely this type of situation comes up in mail carrier training.

Nope.  I just don't want to miss delivery of our mail if their car is blocking our mail box.   I'm sure the mail carrier thinks the car is ours, so I just don't want to look inconsiderate.  

[albeto.]

Nope.  I just don't want to miss delivery of our mail if their car is blocking our mail box.   I'm sure the mail carrier thinks the car is ours, so I just don't want to look inconsiderate.  

 

In your OP, you said your neighbor added a third car about two months ago. You said, "instead of parking it in front of their house... it's parked in front of ours - about 1 foot from our mailbox." This gives the impression the mail carrier has not been inconvenienced for the last two months, but you're just irked and your patience has run out. I don't understand why, unless it's just a matter of you and this neighbor really don't get along, so anything either of you does is interpreted by the other as particularly nasty. 

[clementine]

In your OP, you said your neighbor added a third car about two months ago. You said, "instead of parking it in front of their house... it's parked in front of ours - about 1 foot from our mailbox." This gives the impression the mail carrier has not been inconvenienced for the last two months, but you're just irked and your patience has run out. I don't understand why, unless it's just a matter of you and this neighbor really don't get along, so anything either of you does is interpreted by the other as particularly nasty. 

 

The car is gone some days during daytime hours.  Some days it is there at delivery time, some days it is not.  It is parked in front of our house consistently from afternoon til morning if not more often.  It has been this way for about 2 months.  Yes, I am irked.  Yes, I have lost my patience.  

[kitten18]

In your OP, you said your neighbor added a third car about two months ago. You said, "instead of parking it in front of their house... it's parked in front of ours - about 1 foot from our mailbox." This gives the impression the mail carrier has not been inconvenienced for the last two months, but you're just irked and your patience has run out. I don't understand why, unless it's just a matter of you and this neighbor really don't get along, so anything either of you does is interpreted by the other as particularly nasty.

It's rude to park in front of the neighbor's house if you have your own spot to park in.

 

She is irritated by their rudeness.

 

It's really not that complicated.

[albeto.]

dp

 

[albeto.]

It's rude to park in front of the neighbor's house if you have your own spot to park in.

 

She is irritated by their rudeness.

 

It's really not that complicated.

 

It's a public street. In my area, it's not a matter of rudeness to park on the street in a place that isn't closest to your home. That's done all the time here, and not considered a matter of rudeness. Everyone's got a reason for doing what they do, kwim?

 

It's not a matter of complicated, just a matter of opinion. 

[ksr5377]

Our neighbor did this to us and I agree, it's irritating.  I understand the street is public.  I don't understand parking in front of my home, walking across my driveway and most of his front yard, instead of just parking in front of his own home.  There were never any cars parked along his property.  Apparently his house looked nicer that way?  We were passive-aggressive and just started parking there instead.  

[Supertechmom]

That is so weird.

Did the realtor have an explanation?

 

 

WTH? Did they tell you WHY they did that? That's just weird.

 

Nope. Never got an explanation.  They did stop using my drive so the realtor must have put a note on the realtor listing to use the driveway that belonged to the house and not block my drive.      Even had one person tell me they would just be a few minutes and I could wait couldn't I?   WTH was an understatement. Sometimes, you can't wait a few minutes to use your drive.

 

and i think the OP is in a neighborhood like mine where the street is really just access for the people who live there.  It is a public street but yet only those who live here are on it.  So no random people using the street for parking like in the city.   Park in front of a house here and people will step outside and ask you what are you doing.  Yea you have the right to park in front of my house but it is such an oddball thing that I have the right to find out why you would do that and have the police buzz by and ask you if need any help. They can't make you move as it isn't illegal to park but they can inform you you have no business here.      

[Shellydon]

I live in neighborhood with large 1-3 acre lots, 2-4 car garages required and big driveways.  It would make me totally crazy if someone parked in front of MY front yard.  They have plenty of room to park by their own front yard. 

[8circles]

Nope. Never got an explanation. They did stop using my drive so the realtor must have put a note on the realtor listing to use the driveway that belonged to the house and not block my drive. Even had one person tell me they would just be a few minutes and I could wait couldn't I? WTH was an understatement. Sometimes, you can't wait a few minutes to use your drive.

 

and i think the OP is in a neighborhood like mine where the street is really just access for the people who live there. It is a public street but yet only those who live here are on it. So no random people using the street for parking like in the city. Park in front of a house here and people will step outside and ask you what are you doing. Yea you have the right to park in front of my house but it is such an oddball thing that I have the right to find out why you would do that and have the police buzz by and ask you if need any help. They can't make you move as it isn't illegal to park but they can inform you you have no business here.

Wth? What kind of neighborhood would this be? I live in a subdivision far from just about everything except a golf course. I live in a cul-de-sac with 9 houses on 1/2 - 1 acre lots. I can't imagine calling the police to question someone parking on my street.

[DesertBlossom]

I think it's weird and a bit rude if there are other places to park.

 

Years ago we lived in a small, crowded college town and if we ever had friends park in front of our ornery neighbor's house, even if just for a couple hours, she taped nasty notes to their cars. We had to warn people to park anywhere but there. She claimed it made it hard to see to pull out. But her giant, overgrown bushes in between our houses that really did block the view she wouldn't let us trim.

[shage]

I have a theory that it is easier to ignore a car in front of your house if most of your living space is toward the back and you rarely look out the front windows.  It is harder when your grand sweeping vista is....the side of a car.

 

Granted, there is no way to test my theory.

 

And I am pretty sure my neighbor who run an AirBnB would disagree.  She is a parking stickler based on the deep rooted fear that someone will again turn her into the city for not paying hotel taxes. it wasn't me, people.  I have illegal chickens and prefer to mind my own business.  :-P

[Tsuga]

Re: 2x day mail: Seattle and environs and Sunday's during the holidays or for Amazon overnight. I don't know where else. But lots of people do their business from home so 2x days delivery is necessary. Between USPS, UPS and FedEx, someone gets something every couple hours or so during the holidays.

[marbel]

Re: 2x day mail: Seattle and environs and Sunday's during the holidays or for Amazon overnight. I don't know where else. But lots of people do their business from home so 2x days delivery is necessary. Between USPS, UPS and FedEx, someone gets something every couple hours or so during the holidays.

But the OP is talking about a blocked mailbox, and UPS and Fedex are not putting stuff in there.

[Lady Florida.]

From the variety of responses there are obviously different feelings about this depending on location and type of city or neighborhood.

 

In my city it's illegal to park on a residential street if driveways/garages are available, but people do it anyway. Most people consider it a minor annoyance and I've never heard of anyone calling the city to complain (though I'm sure some people do).

 

It's considered quite rude to park in front of someone else's home around here, even if your car is only a foot or a few feet over the "line" (yes the street is public but the property line is imagined to go into the street). The exception is when someone is having a gathering and guests park in front of neighbors' houses. In that case it's generally accepted as long as the driveway and mailbox aren't blocked.

[Lady Florida.]

  I have illegal chickens and prefer to mind my own business.  :-P

 

When you have illegal chickens you're supposed to bribe your neighbors with free eggs. ;)

 

I had a friend who lived in a nearby city where backyard chickens were not allowed. She always gave her neighbors eggs and no one ever reported her. Of course it helped that she didn't have a rooster, so noise wasn't a factor.

[Element]

This would bother me. In our neighborhood, we all have long (3-4 car) single-width driveways, and enough room for 1-2 cars to be parked along the road in front of each home. Most people (including us) have one car in the long driveway and the second car on the road, in order to not block the person in the driveway. When we have guests, they pull into our driveway or park in our second spot in the road before parking in front of someone else's house.

 

It's not illegal to park in front of someone else's house, but it's just frowned upon when you have available space in/near your own driveway/property. I wouldn't take any action, but I do understand your frustration. It's one of those, "Really? Who does that?" things!

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

It's a public street. In my area, it's not a matter of rudeness to park on the street in a place that isn't closest to your home. That's done all the time here, and not considered a matter of rudeness. Everyone's got a reason for doing what they do, kwim?

 

It's not a matter of complicated, just a matter of opinion. 

 

According to Clementine, the neighbor has spare driveway space. There are almost no cars parked on the street, so parking is not at any kind of premium. There is no one parked in front of the house that is precluding the driver of this car from parking in front of their own home. These people live next door to Clementine, so it's not that the driver of the car is parking in the opposite direction for some kind of convenience WRT to pulling in or pulling out. And the car is parked so close to someone else's mailbox that the mail carrier has to disrupt his or her normal day in order to deliver the mail, thereby potentially disrupting not delivery of their own mail, but of their neighbor's.

 

What perfectly good reason could the neighbor have for doing this that makes it anything other than discourteous? Yes, it's not illegal. But there's nothing about this situation that makes for good neighbor relations. Is there? I would love to hear why dissenters think this kind of behavior is justified. 

[Frances]

According to Clementine, the neighbor has spare driveway space. There are almost no cars parked on the street, so parking is not at any kind of premium. There is no one parked in front of the house that is precluding the driver of this car from parking in front of their own home. These people live next door to Clementine, so it's not that the driver of the car is parking in the opposite direction for some kind of convenience WRT to pulling in or pulling out. And the car is parked so close to someone else's mailbox that the mail carrier has to disrupt his or her normal day in order to deliver the mail, thereby potentially disrupting not delivery of their own mail, but of their neighbor's.

 

What perfectly good reason could the neighbor have for doing this that makes it anything other than discourteous? Yes, it's not illegal. But there's nothing about this situation that makes for good neighbor relations. Is there? I would love to hear why dissenters think this kind of behavior is justified.

Could there be something in front of their house they are trying to avoid? We have trees in front of our house and the sap leaves a light film on the windshield that is very difficult to remove. Because of this and our sprinklers, after my college age son bought his first car, he did not want to park in front of our house when he came to visit. So he talked to our neighbors around the corner, and they said they were fine with him occasionally parking in front of their house.

 

And he couldn't park in our driveway because there is an incline up from the street and his VW doesn't have enough clearance to avoid damage. Our neighbors are so nice that when he was going to be gone for a month this summer and wanted to leave his car in our garage, they helped him to carefully drive his car over their lawn and onto our driveway to avoid the incline.

[Shellydon]

It's a public street. In my area, it's not a matter of rudeness to park on the street in a place that isn't closest to your home. That's done all the time here, and not considered a matter of rudeness. Everyone's got a reason for doing what they do, kwim?

 

It's not a matter of complicated, just a matter of opinion. 

 

In all of the neighborhoods here, it is crazy rude to park in front of someone's house, in many subdivisions, it is against HOA rules and you can get towed.  It just isn't done. 

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

Could there be something in front of their house they are trying to avoid? We have trees in front of our house and the sap leaves a light film on the windshield that is very difficult to remove. Because of this and our sprinklers, after my college age son bought his first car, he did not want to park in front of our house when he came to visit. So he talked to our neighbors around the corner, and they said they were fine with him occasionally parking in front of their house.

 

And he couldn't park in our driveway because there is an incline up from the street and his VW doesn't have enough clearance to avoid damage. Our neighbors are so nice that when he was going to be gone for a month this summer and wanted to leave his car in our garage, they helped him to carefully drive his car over their lawn and onto our driveway to avoid the incline.

 

Sure, I can totally see this. But in your situation, your very polite son spoke to the neighbors who were affected and received their approval. Whether or not it was actually necessary from a legal standpoint, speaking to them about it went a long way toward maintaining goodwill. Also, you mentioned that this is an occasional situation, not daily as in the OP's case. And I presume that your son isn't impeding the neighbors' mail delivery in any way?

 

I agree that the reasons you mentioned are valid. I don't see the resulting situation as at all analogous to the one in the OP though. 

[KungFuPanda]

I have a theory that it is easier to ignore a car in front of your house if most of your living space is toward the back and you rarely look out the front windows. It is harder when your grand sweeping vista is....the side of a car.

 

P

Wouldn't a car only block your view of the street? I like my neighborhood and all, but I'm not sure I'm attached to seeing every inch of asphalt on our street.

[kristi26]

This thread made me think of a parking issue we had once. At our old house, they clean the street one day a month so you can't park on our particular street that day. On those days, everyone parks on side streets. That's what dh did too, of course.

 

So he parked the car and we actually left it there a few days. No law against that in our area as far as I know. It was still close to our house, we just didn't use it for a few days.

 

I went over to it to use it after that and there was a note on it. The note was from a disgruntled neighbor saying we were taking up two spaces- seriously, it's a Camry, there's no way, lol- and that we had better move it because they were having it towed the following day since it had been parked there for ten days now. It hadn't been anywhere close to even a week at that point. It was nutty.

 

We also had a lady that was attached to us who would get upset when people parked in front of her house. We lived on a street where parking is at a premium. You parked where you could.

 

All that said, op, in your situation, I totally agree with you and would be annoyed as well.

 

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

[NotSoObvious]

In all of the neighborhoods here, it is crazy rude to park in front of someone's house, in many subdivisions, it is against HOA rules and you can get towed.  It just isn't done. 

 

 

Yep. This was totally unacceptable in our last neighborhood, which sounds similar to OPs. Everyone has plenty of room to park in front of their own homes. 

[J-rap]

(I haven't read all of the responses.)  It would really bug me!  We don't have a driveway in front, only the street in front of our house.  I park there many times a day, right in front of our house, right next to the little sidewalk that leads from the street to the public sidewalk to our front steps.  I'm constantly carrying things back and forth it seems like, from our car to our house and back again.  If suddenly, someone else began parking there regularly, when there is actually plenty of room right in front of their own house, I'd feel like it was weird and rude. 

 

I think that most sensible people would agree that the place right in front of their house is generally meant for their own cars, when parking on a regular basis.  Of course it's city property, and of course there are exceptions (parties, visitors), and in a crowded big city neighborhood it's probably different.  But in your situation, I'd agree with you.  I'd talk to them.

[kroe1]

Parking stories like this is one reason I live in one of those immaculate communities with harsh rules and fines.

[skimomma]

It is annoying but since it is not illegal I don't think you can really do anything....except maybe get a formal complaint from the mailperson.

 

It is a parking free-for-all where I live which means I am often staring at a beat-up rust-bucket sitting on the road that is 8 feet from my dining room window.  I am over that.  If I could get the neighbors to not park on the sidewalk, on top of the stop sign, and to take their couch off of the sidewalk, I would be a happy woman.  All of those are "illegal" and I have several cops as neighbors but they have far bigger fish to fry.

[zoobie]

I might plunk down $100 for a really ugly beater car and park it in front of their house.

Definitely for the white work truck poster! :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Cosmos]

What perfectly good reason could the neighbor have for doing this that makes it anything other than discourteous? Yes, it's not illegal. But there's nothing about this situation that makes for good neighbor relations. Is there? I would love to hear why dissenters think this kind of behavior is justified. 

 

1. Maybe there is tree sap/pollen/bird droppings, as someone mentioned above.

2. Maybe the street is slanted in front of their house but flat in front of clementine's.

3. Maybe there is a blind curve just before their house and they are afraid a fast car might hit their parked car there.

4. Maybe a disabled person in the house regularly is picked up by a handicap bus and needs access.

5. Maybe their neighbor across the street has a tight turn to back out of his driveway and has asked them not to park there.

 

And so on. We don't know the reason. Clementine doesn't know the reason. It may their reason is just selfish and inconsiderate. It may be that their reason is perfectly reasonable and they have no way to know it bothers clementine.

 

[albeto.]

According to Clementine, the neighbor has spare driveway space. There are almost no cars parked on the street, so parking is not at any kind of premium. There is no one parked in front of the house that is precluding the driver of this car from parking in front of their own home. These people live next door to Clementine, so it's not that the driver of the car is parking in the opposite direction for some kind of convenience WRT to pulling in or pulling out. And the car is parked so close to someone else's mailbox that the mail carrier has to disrupt his or her normal day in order to deliver the mail, thereby potentially disrupting not delivery of their own mail, but of their neighbor's.

 

What perfectly good reason could the neighbor have for doing this that makes it anything other than discourteous? Yes, it's not illegal. But there's nothing about this situation that makes for good neighbor relations. Is there? I would love to hear why dissenters think this kind of behavior is justified. 

 

The mail carrier apparently hasn't been disrupted for two months. Two months. This has been going on for some time, and the mail has not been affected. Presumably there's a lesson about how to handle the challenge of inconvenient mailbox access at some point in mail carrier training, and the mail carrier was prepared. For all we know, this happens to them 30 times a day and is no big deal. In my neighborhood, people do park cars in front of other people's homes all the time, and people don't get upset. I parked my car in front of my neighbor's yard last month for over a week. There was space in my driveway. My neighbor didn't know my reasons, and as we're quite friendly with each other, had this bothered her I can assume she would have asked me to move it. People have parked in front of my home, just in the spot I would assume someone to get out and walk up to my front door, but never do. They're just parking there because it's convenient to them. So I think this is a cultural thing. In the culture of my region, complaining about someone parking in the "wrong place" on a public street because "it just isn't done" would be interpreted as a bit of a Gladys Kravitz kind of offense. I get now that this is a more serious subject in other regional cultures. I never would have guessed.

[TechWife]

I totally understand this. Our next door neighbor routinely parks in front of our house. It just ruins the view. I've never said anything to them and wouldn't. It's just an irritant. They have room in their driveway and they actually have a  longer front yard than I do, so more curb space in front of their home. It really bugs me. It's silly, I know. It's legal for them to do so, I know. 

 

This year we added a third car and needed the space in front of our house. Between not blocking the fire hydrant, which is in our yard, and mailbox as well as allowing the neighbors across the street space to back out of their own driveway, there really isn't much room for a vehicle. So we just crammed the car right up against their bumper. They started parking in their driveway more, but other times they would just park their car in front of our house in a way that didn't allow my son to park in front of our house at all. 

 

It's one of the things that secretly drives me bonkers. But, like I said, I realize what they are doing is perfectly legal, so there you have it! First world problem, definitely. 

[poppy]

This is the most nonsensical and petty thread I've ever seen here.  Oh my goodness. It's the road

I'm really surprised. I could see this being a person's quirk, but to have it be a big deal to a lot of people is .... I don't get it.

[ChocolateReignRemix]

Nope. Never got an explanation.  They did stop using my drive so the realtor must have put a note on the realtor listing to use the driveway that belonged to the house and not block my drive.      Even had one person tell me they would just be a few minutes and I could wait couldn't I?   WTH was an understatement. Sometimes, you can't wait a few minutes to use your drive.

 

and i think the OP is in a neighborhood like mine where the street is really just access for the people who live there.  It is a public street but yet only those who live here are on it.  So no random people using the street for parking like in the city.   Park in front of a house here and people will step outside and ask you what are you doing.  Yea you have the right to park in front of my house but it is such an oddball thing that I have the right to find out why you would do that and have the police buzz by and ask you if need any help. They can't make you move as it isn't illegal to park but they can inform you you have no business here.      

 

Legally they cannot.

[TechWife]

nm 

 

[TechWife]

 

and i think the OP is in a neighborhood like mine where the street is really just access for the people who live there.  It is a public street but yet only those who live here are on it.  So no random people using the street for parking like in the city.   Park in front of a house here and people will step outside and ask you what are you doing.  Yea you have the right to park in front of my house but it is such an oddball thing that I have the right to find out why you would do that and have the police buzz by and ask you if need any help. They can't make you move as it isn't illegal to park but they can inform you you have no business here.      

 

Actually, if you live on a public street, the street is access for everyone, not just the people who live there. Anyone can drive on the street or park legally on the street. You actually don't have the right to find out why someone is parking in front of your house. You can ask, of course, but they certainly don't have to tell you. If they are parking legally on the street and not engaging in any suspicious behavior, then the police also have no right to intervene. Their "business there" is that they are parking. 

[stephanier.1765]

This year we added a third car and needed the space in front of our house. Between not blocking the fire hydrant, which is in our yard, and mailbox as well as allowing the neighbors across the street space to back out of their own driveway, there really isn't much room for a vehicle. So we just crammed the car right up against their bumper. They started parking in their driveway more, but other times they would just park their car in front of our house in a way that didn't allow my son to park in front of our house at all. 

 

I'd have your son start parking in front of their house when their car makes yours unavailable.

[Shellydon]

I'd have your son start parking in front of their house when their car makes yours unavailable.

 

This.  I would park on the street in front of their house. 

[shage]

Wouldn't a car only block your view of the street? I like my neighborhood and all, but I'm not sure I'm attached to seeing every inch of asphalt on our street.

 

It depends on window size, distance from window to street, angle of house to street, size of trees, etc.

 

I have posted on this thread mostly in jest.  I care less where people park and I live in a laid back part of the country.  Yet neighbors have flared over this issue.

 

Years ago we had a request from a woman caregiving for her elderly mother in a front room not to park on the street because of the view issue.  We happily complied.  However, our neighborhood has become increasingly congested because of home based businesses and subleasing of rooms.  I would count myself in the home based business category because of activities and classes hosted at our home.  For several years there was a lawn based business (truck plus trailer) in the neighborhood.  Also a day care, an accountant who has clients come to the house, several eBay based ones which require frequent deliveries, and a religious leader with frequent home events.  Then there are houses with 2 or 3 tenants, and one with an AirBnB.

 

Late afternoon and evenings, the street is pretty much a parking lot.

 

And yes, periodically someone will kvetch or leave notes or call the city.  There are no city or HOA rules, so it is perfectly legal to park anywhere.  Only thing city will crack down is if they suspect a business is not properly licensed or not paying appropriate taxes. This became a big hairy deal last summer.  A neighbor complained to the city about cars in front of her house due to the AirBnB and the city responded not to the parking complaint, but by sending out an attorney to demand the hotel tax.

 

I would not in a million years call our city over a parking issue because of how this ties into the home based business issue.  I am a-okay with people working to earn money within their homes even if there is minor inconvenience to the neighborhood as a result.

 

But I also avoid parking in front of neighbors' houses unless I ask first.  It honestly bugs some people and, for the most part, there is no reason I can't use my own driveway or curb space.

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

1. Maybe there is tree sap/pollen/bird droppings, as someone mentioned above.

2. Maybe the street is slanted in front of their house but flat in front of clementine's.

3. Maybe there is a blind curve just before their house and they are afraid a fast car might hit their parked car there.

4. Maybe a disabled person in the house regularly is picked up by a handicap bus and needs access.

5. Maybe their neighbor across the street has a tight turn to back out of his driveway and has asked them not to park there.

 

And so on. We don't know the reason. Clementine doesn't know the reason. It may their reason is just selfish and inconsiderate. It may be that their reason is perfectly reasonable and they have no way to know it bothers clementine.

 

 

Tree sap/bird droppings/pollen fall into the "that's your problem, not mine" category, IMO. Don't like it? Park in your own driveway or remove your trees. I'm reasonably sure that Clementine would be aware of a slant, blind curve, handicap pickup, or awkward driveway, but those are good thoughts for her to consider. None of this addresses the proximity to the mailbox. 

 

For many of us, our home is our refuge. We don't want to listen to other people's music, hear other people's barking dogs (don't even get me started), stare at other people's garbage, or look at other people's cars in front of our houses for no apparent reason on a daily basis. It's simply discourteous and not neighborly. Judging by the response on this thread, a pretty good majority of people feel this way. Lots of towns have ordinances about street parking, and most HOAs have rules about it. That must mean that it matters to people. It's absolutely a first-world problem, but so are lots of things that annoy us on a daily basis. We post about a lot of them here. 

[Word Nerd]

Actually, if you live on a public street, the street is access for everyone, not just the people who live there. Anyone can drive on the street or park legally on the street. You actually don't have the right to find out why someone is parking in front of your house. You can ask, of course, but they certainly don't have to tell you. If they are parking legally on the street and not engaging in any suspicious behavior, then the police also have no right to intervene. Their "business there" is that they are parking. 

 

Honestly, if anyone called the police or tried to have a vehicle impounded for parking in the street because it "ruins the view," I'd consider that person the crazy, unreasonable neighbor in this scenario.