Didn't get in a yelling match but
 

I had a parking issue with a new resident in our neighborhood. The guy kept parking in the curb-cut access to my parking lot. That's not a problem unless a delivery truck needs to get into the lot. We had a big truck waiting to unload and I tried to find him to tell him to move his car but couldn't so I had his car towed. He went ballistic on me, which I ignored, and then deliberately parked his car in front of my dumpster for a week. I was out in the street talking to the cops about it and he came out and started yelling. I told him to move his car and keep it moved and he said, "I would be happy to comply if you would apologize for having my car towed."
I told him, "You're going to comply whether I apologize or not and I don't give a f**k if you're happy about it."
The cop started laughing. Then he told me to put up some signs, so I'm having some made. I still crack up every time I see the neighbor.

People often mistake my curb-cut for public parking, but there isn't much turnover in the hood and most residents understand.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1441899996.jpg

Do you mean in front of those little evergreen trees or the obviously a driveway part?

^^
He parked his car in the middle of the space between the yellow posts. After he got towed from there he started parking in front of the dumpster, claiming it is public parking. It ain't, and there is a yellow "no parking" sign on the dumpster.

Can't block a drive way. That'll get you towed anywhere including third worlds...
Let him park in front of the trash, maybe the trash collector will have him towed again...

What kind off assbucket parks in the middle of the driveway, thinks it's ok. And then *****es when towed.

F him.

Nice retort.

Asswipes like that require direct and unambiguous feedback.

Character flaw, I assume...as in a sense of entitlement. ;)

I think it comes from them just moving into the 'hood and acting like the new sheriff in town instead of laying low and getting the lay of the land. I try to be a good neighbor. I used to have "No Parking Weekdays 8AM to 7PM" signs hanging on the rope until some kids spray painted them. Parking is pretty tight back there and there was so reason not to let neighbors park there on the weekends or evenings. I think Dr. Twit and Dr. Mrs. Twit (they are English professors at a local college) saw some cars there on a weekend and decided they could park there any time they felt like it. When they were told different, they got their backs up instead of listening.
The rope is there pretty much all the time because my employees use the adjacent alley to access the lot. Dealing with the parking lot has been a real lesson in human behavior. About once a month someone comes down the alley and takes a short cut and drives through the rope, so I started attaching it to the post with a zip tie. The tie breaks before the rope does. Zip ties are a lot cheaper than rope.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1441934238.jpg


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1441934267.jpg

That strikes me as a rather reasonable deal, sort of offering an olive branch, so to speak. Even if he did come out yelling at first. He likely didn't know you tried to find him before having his car towed and costing him a good deal of money. Might have been a good opportunity to put this to rest once and for all, without alienating your new neighbor.

But, no, Pat likes to keep it classy:

Of course anyone can be a tough guy when he's hiding behind mama's skirt:

Very well put.

Sounds like a continuous problem.
Fix it.
You might need reflective "NO PARKING" signs hanging off a CHAIN.
Buy four or ten of them in bulk.
(keep the zip tie and make it wimpy)
That=BARRIER AHEAD! Warning! Danger! Turn your stupid speeding drunk ash now!

^I wish this were true. People block my driveway on almost a daily basis. Usually the driver remains in the car which we tolerate because they can move when we ask them. Over the years we've lived here there have been several occasions where someone parks in front of our driveway overnight. The record so far was over 48 hours. It took that long to get the city to tow them. That's life with a private garage 2 miles from NYC.

Thanks Jeff. I knew you'd come through.
There had been a note on the windshield for days asking him to move his car. He ignored it. After the trouble he deliberately caused, I wasn't in the mood to hand out olive branches, so that wasn't going to happen. If an apology was due, he should apologize to the truck driver who sat in the street for 45 minutes while we got the twit's car out of the way.
And it did cost him a lot of money. He got a ticket for parking an unregistered vehicle on the street, even though it was partially in my driveway. So he got to pay that and the towing bill.

jwasbury, are there any private towing companies available and legal on-call?
(I'm not familiar with NYC city law)
It's your residence.
And it should be fully within your right.


48 hours? Parked in front of your drive?

You could purchase four(4) wheel dollies and toe that sucker off a major intersection.

You need to take a page from dolly mans book.

If it were my house those people would find their car in the middle of the street.

Watch how fast the city comes and tows them.

Sometimes it pays to fight human nature and sometimes it's easiest just to go with it. A zip tie costs a couple of pennies and it takes a minute once a month to change it. You gotta pick your battles. I am putting the no parking signs back up though. At one point I had the no parking sign and six of those softball size, glow in the dark whiffle balls on the rope. They still drove through it.

^I've considered the dolly thing. Just never pulled the trigger. There are security camera everywhere and physically messing with someone's property (even though they are infringing on MY property rights) strikes me as something that could backfire.

Agree, usually.

But sometimes human nature needs a little bit of help.
Help guide those that are blind onto their proper way.
As you have done:)
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1441939590.gif

^^

Good idea. He is an English professor. I could put a copy of Proust in the trap and he'd go in after it. I could post a CAD drawing of the trap on the wall and he would starve while trying to figure it out.
Brilliant!!

It's not emotional. It's your right.

You are paying huge property tax/rent.
There should be a system in place.
Someone should be available, or held accountable.

Of course a lot of folks would conclude, if a note had sat on his windshield for days, that he probably had not seen that note. You know, like he had not used that car during that period of time. That would be a reasonable conclusion.

But, alas, I forget who I'm speaking with - you seem to think he drove around with it on his windshield, and kept returning to the same parking spot, ignoring the note right in front of his face (and not removing it) just to spite you.

Neighborly relations take work from both sides. And a level of reason and understanding of which you appear to be incapable. I feel sorry for your neighbors.

Register a private towing company in a company name, to a forwarded office overseas.
Install public placard.
Tow the s.o.b. to a yet-undisclosed private holding area with hourly costs.
Fine him enough to at least cover business losses. Or at least few gazillion dollars.
Enact collections process.
Pay up sucka.

Easy enough.

I have only read the first two threads, but what is the fooking deal with apologies man?

One of the girls at work was parked in by some-one whose self-importance far exceeded their actual value. She wrote "Don't park here" in lipstick on the offender's windscreen. I gather it's a real b.. to clean off. Seemed to work.

The other technique I've hear of is petroleum jelly ("Vaseline") on the windscreen wipers. Revenge a bit too deferred, and a bit too potentially dangerous, for my taste.

I've heard of that with motor oil.

All my life I have taken this approach, but no more.

The saying that nice guys finish last...maybe not but I've been walked over a few times too many.

I'd like to be the nice guy, I really would, but you see, I have this new policy, and it's not up to me anymore. If not for this policy I would let the guy park there, but , you know, its the policy not me.

I now subscribe to the laws of cause and effect. Both are out of my hands. The parker did it to himself. Yelling at me will do him no good, and listening to him will do me no good.

oh, and as a cop said to me once in one situation, let us be the bad guys.

Well said Wayner.

Not all people are rational. Some are more rational than others. It would be logical to me in the land of guns to avoid confrontation as these situations can quickly get out of hand.
It seems like the number of whackos in this world are increasing. Take care out there....

If you leave a car without notice or contact info on someone else's property - and don't check on it, don't be surprised to find your abandoned car gone.

The same thing happens everywhere, side of interstates, etc. Police make a note, drop by each daying adding a strike to the note, run out of strikes, your car is towed.

If I left my car in the driveway of the place next door at work, I wouldn't expect to come back in a week and find it there either.

That is a good one, cracked me up...

The guy left an unregistered vehicle on the street.

That alone will get you towed in a lot of places.

Patrick is not responsible for the guys irresponsibility.

You're nicer than I am - I would have used a chain (also for visibility purposes though).

Still bustin’ my chops eh? :D

And then what? Tell the truck driver to go back to the depot because we cannot find the owner of the car parked in the driveway and it would be discourteous to have it towed? You are very generous with my time, and that of the truck driver too.

I know that for a fact. The (expired) license plates were in the back seat and the tires where half flat. It looked exactly like an abandoned car to me. When the police ran the plates it had last been registered to a woman who lived in a city 50 miles from here, so even they didn't know who left it sitting in my driveway.

Even if he had parked it in a legitimate parking spot the car was inoperable, unregistered, and he had violated the 72 hour parking limit by several days. Dr. Nozzle is a tool.

No, see you put it under the driver's door handle. Instant revenge, not dangerous and now they have to find a way to clean it off.

It's part self preservation. The post is just a piece of 4" PVC stuck in a socket in the ground. I pull it up and get it out of the way when a truck needs to get in. If I went medieval with a chain etc they'd be breaking my post off. I had those softball sized whiffle balls on the rope for a while. They degraded in the sun in about 6 months and crumbled. The rope was a reflective material that, to be honest, needs to be replaced because it's not reflective any more. I may try a light chain held on with the zip ties next.

Some people just tie rags to the chain/rope for visibility

The day glow color wiffle balls are even better, but people still drove through it.

College English prof? No wonder you had problems with him, sounds like a real passive aggressive jackass. I would have probably given him the left handed apology.
"I am sorry your lack of consideration forced me to have your car towed." I don't for a moment believe that Mr Higgins would have apologized in a similar situation.

Slightly off topic but Wdfifteen, I've been meaning to tell you this for a while...

Every time I glance at your avatar out of the corner of my eye, I see a guy in a captains hat wearing a yellow life preserver with white reflective stripes. Odd.

I'm serious!:D

A number of cities that have high density and poor urban planning which includes cramming multiple families into SFRs actually have driveway parking permits for the residents.

So, yes third worlds DO allow parking that blocks a driveway. Hermosa Beach and Isla Vista comes to mind.

That's, uh, rather disturbing.

Actually, I took it from this photo of a Martian ogling my wife at Niagara Falls.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1441983892.jpg

A man could throw himself over the falls if he couldn't have that. No wonder he is now wearing a life vest!!;)


NOTE:
There it is again!
I looked at my quote in your post, and when I read the words "captains hat" my peripheral caught him in his outfit again, but its gone as soon as my eyes shift.

Damned Martians.
Spooky...

Patrick, WTF is wrong with you?

Why didn't you get they guy's car registered for him?