Neighbor Continuously Parked in Front of my House

[Scott Douglas]

There is a 'pecking order' across the street in which certain cars are always parked in certain places in the driveway and on the street directly in front of the house. The 'other' cars in the household are left to their own devises of finding parking spots.
Because of the way my neighbor next door parks, when the across the street ones park in front of my house, they invariably end up taking two spaces. This happens because they don't want to be accused of 'blocking' my next door neighbor in.
There have been times when I'm tempted to park my car in such a way that a lesson would be taught, but my wife doesn't want me causing waves.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by speeder

Wow, sorry to hear about Long Beach. I knew that it wasn't the greatest place but what I've seen of it wasn't that bad. I live in a crowded but trendy neighborhood and it's nothing like you describe. Not a sewer and no need to carry a gun, at least not for 28 years.

LB was rated the 5th poorest city in CA at one time for cities with a population >100,000 behind places like Fresno and Oakland. Apparently these figures have been obscured from public record as I don't see that particular metric anymore.

Here are some stats that you can interpret anyway you wish.

With the overwhelming lack of native residents (meaning born here (in Long Beach) at any time in the last 10,00 years (that would include Tongva descendants), it is easy to see why there are no traces of neighborly behavior left. Hell, at one point in history the city population voluntarily coughed up extra tax money to further the development of the port.

Even I found that to be pretty pro-city as nothing like that has ever occurred in my 80+ years of living here.

[vash]

I'm getting older.

I have learned a conversation is the best jumping off point.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

This is one of those, you make the world you want to live in threads. do you live in your own world being mad at/resenting the guy or plotting his demise or just have a well-planned discussion. Vash's cookies are a great idea for an opener.

Some people are jerks, some people are oblivious, some people are just inconsiderate but everyone should be given a chance to do the right thing. Goes without saying that if they fall short of taking on that gift, most bets are off. But best to start off thinking they will.

[KNS]

Thanks for all the replies.

The elderly owner of the home is a fairly nice guy (probably close to 90), it's his live-in son and his girlfriend that are parking in the street. Sort of ne'er do wells.

The dolly is a nice idea but I'm on a hill and the car would roll away...

Being on a hill, the son mentioned above had his truck slide on ice and take out my mailbox one winter. I came out to find my mail box knocked over with no explanation. WTF? It wasn't until his dad told me (and apologized) that his son's truck had slid on the ice and took out my mailbox that I knew what had happened. While it was an accident, if that were me I would have immediately told my neighbor what had just occurred.

I have a feeling when the father dies the son will inherit the home.

[LWJ]

The options are: 1) Do nothing. 2) Do something. 2a) do something that is potentially confrontational 2b) do something that isn't confrontational.

I really like the red paint story above. I also like the black mold pressure wash overspray above. I had a professor at UO that said something about "benevolent sabotage." Except it wasn't benevolent. The example was putting an open face peanut butter and jelly sandwich into a bed when the parent makes a bed for a child after asking repeatedly. In other words, some sort of consequence.

So the answer I would look for is to change the scenario so that parking their car in front of your home is less pleasant. I don't know how to do this without making YOUR home less pleasant. Things like nasty grease on road, roofing nails, and similar nuisances will also serve to annoy you.

I guess as a last resort, there is the Tanya Harding pivot. Meaning, I grew up on the East Side of Portland. It isn't always pretty or upper class. Tanya is from my 'hood more or less. I used to have people I knew that could break a kneecap or similar unsavory type activity. Not anymore. But perhaps you do? Slide them $100 and tell them how much you don't like a certain car in your neighborhood?

Keep us posted. This is a tough one.

[john70t]

Originally Posted by KNS

The dolly is a nice idea but I'm on a hill and the car would roll away...

The dolly thing was a joke, don't do that seriously. But they do look handy. Coulda used that a few times.

Once long ago the movers ran over my mailbox. Probably damaged their truck and stoned kids got fired. Company promised to fix it a couple times. Ended up putting in something much stronger in a better location so it was probably karma talking.

Don't stew too long over it. You're more important than that. Just mention it nicely and go from there.

[GH85Carrera]

Back at my old bachelor pad house, it was a 950 sq foot house as were most of the houses in the "Sky View" neighborhood. Mine still had a garage, as that was a major reason I was willing to buy it. Most of the neighborhood had converted their garages to living areas.

I had many different friends come to visit, and I liked to have them park in front of my house as it was easy for them. My next door neighbors had a family of four drivers, so four cars and a garage full of $100 worth of crap. They could get two cars in their driveway, but two were on the street.

I know the street is public, but it did not make me happy. One of my friends was a used car dealer, and he had an old beat up Impala four door that just barely ran. He brought it over, and parked it in my driveway and gave me the keys. When the spot in front of my neighbor's house was open, I moved the Impala to that spot, and left it for weeks.

It is illegal to park on the grass in front of a house, but they did that for a while until the police issued some tickets. After a month they asked me about that car. I said I could not park it in front of my house, and one of your family was always in front of my house.

They moved their car, and I parked the Impala there, making sure the tires never went flat. I would drive it around the block, and park back in the same spot so it was obvious it was a working car. After a couple more months, they poured a wider driveway to be able to get four cars parked there. I gave back the Impala.

[LWJ]

^^^Master!!!

[onewhippedpuppy]

Go over, ask nicely, see what happens. If that doesn’t fix the problem then come back and we’ll help you develop plan B.

[Zeke]

I really want an old PU ratty as hell to park around to make my point. The real reason I never did this is because of insurance. Don't say Haggarty or the like because USAA does not allow it if you carry an umbrella. The do have their own classic car ins but the costs are almost the same as full boat.

Let's not start an ins rant. I was only commenting.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Milt, you can’t do super cheap liability insurance on a beater?

[KNS]

Well, I went over and talked to my neighbor. He was 50/50ish receptive (I was as friendly and diplomatic as I could be).

He stated that the non running truck (parked in front of the house on the other side) will be sold in the near future. Not sure how long that will really be. His minivan that's newly showed up in front of my house will be moved back to his driveway. He stated the leaking Honda will probably still be parked in the street - in front of my house. I emphasized a couple of times that I was not happy about the oil stains and could he do something about it (I, like many here, couldn't put up with my car leaving oil stains and would have crawled under the car a long time ago and addressed it). He kinda blew off the leaks.

I didn't bring up the fact that the city considers the oil leaks an environmental issue and it could be towed for that alone. I want to maintain a reasonably good relationship with my neighbors so I'll leave that be for now. If things were to get ugly I could save that for ammo in the future. I don't want to go there.

It remains to be seen if any of this really happens...

They say you can't choose your neighbors. Contrasting all that is my neighbor on my other side who is an absolute prince. Nicest guy in the whole world and we get along famously.

[Alan A]

Is it a private road or a public highway?

The latter he can park where he wants, your feelz are irrelevant…

[KNS]

It's a public street. True, there's not much I can do about him parking there. He can and should do something about the leaking vehicle.

People are crappy humans when they have three empty driveway spaces and choose to park three cars on the street.

[rwest]

Good work Kurt,

You were decent to them and because of that, there is a good chance they will try to accommodate your wishes.

I always say you can be nice to people as many times as you like and get mean if needed, but it doesn’t work in reverse! Once mean, you rarely get a second chance.

I think many people like parking in the street, because it is a quick in and out, no backing in or out, just hop in and drive away.

[LWJ]

I would be calling the oil spill in if it is there in 5 days.

You were nice and polite.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by KNS

Doing a little delayed research on the subject -

Within 24 hour period the car must move on the street. Like go to work and come bck and park in front of your house. Legal.

Wounded/dead soldier. Nope.

[unclebilly]

You city people have WAY different problems than me…

Did you do something to pizz them off? I ask because I considered parking a 5hitbox in front of my brother’s azzhat neighbor’s house a few years ago. As long as the plates are current and in moves every 3? days, they can’t do anything about it.

[onewhippedpuppy]

I would give it a few days to see how things actually pan out. If it were me I’d be seriously annoyed if the guy has spots in his driveway but parks a POS in front of my house. There’s no excuse for that.