Parking Pickle

My wife and I grew up in the town where we have our home. Several years ago, we woke up to “No Parking” signs on the east side of our street. We live on the west side. Suddenly, people had the right to park in front of our home, but not in front of homes on the opposite side. We were not consulted or notified and it seemed to us, purely arbitrary that the east side got the signs. There is a bar down the street and patrons are loud and troublesome. The “No Parking” signs help provide relief for people living close to the establishment.

New neighbors moved in across the street from our home. They came with a slew of relatives who drive oversized pick-up trucks pulling large landscaping trailers, SUV’s and a variety of beaters They began parking in front of our home for entire days, several days in a row, leaving late at night only to return the next day.

No one else on the street, possibly in the town, has to constantly deal with unwanted vehicles in front of their home. I complained to our city councilor when she campaigned door-to-door and wrote a letter to city hall. Nothing was done.

I’m not going to lie, as long-time contributing citizens of our town, it affected our peace of mind and quality of life. This year, I wrote another letter to the mayor arguing we were being unjustly discriminated against because we lived on the west side of the street and, as law-abiding taxpaying citizens, we were entitled to the same privileges and peace of mind as people living on the east side.

What a glorious time

The mayor met with me on August 3^rd and graciously listened to my story.  At one point, I suggested the city allow parking on the west side one day and parking on the east side the next day, to be fair to everyone.  The mayor decided to put up “No Parking” signs on our side of the street. The signs were put up on August 8th and we were ecstatic; no more unwanted vehicles in front of our home.

What a glorious time!

Yesterday I came home from work to find the neighbor across the street parked in front of our lawn, across from his empty six-car driveway. The “No Parking” sign had been changed and now allowed parking from 7AM to 10PM.

Neighbors had complained. They wanted to be able to park in front of their homes or, in the case of the neighbors opposite us, they wanted to be able to park in front of our home. The mayor had sent me an email explaining there was “a commotion over parking on our street”. As a result, all “No Parking” signs, east side and west side, were removed this morning.  We are back to square one. My wife and I are pretty disappointed. The neighbors across the street once again have the right to park their assorted vehicles, for hours on end, in front of our home. 

The mayor ended his email saying he hoped our neighbors would respect our property. Their driveway was empty yesterday and they were parked in front of our lawn; you have your answer, Mr. Mayor.

All that's left of our peace of mind

I understand our situation is exceptional. I also understand there are far worse problems in life. Still, this is the little aggravating problem we are being forced to deal with by our elected officials. Surely, there are limits to what we have to endure and provisions for reasonableness and fairness. Surely, we are entitled to the same peace of mind and privileges as others in our town who do not have to deal with similar parking issues.

I suggested putting the restricted parking hours on the other side of the street so neighbors and their guests would be able to park in the street and the neighbors opposite us could park in front of their own home.

We have been abandoned by city hall and are on our own again. Living in our town we have always been respectful of our neighbors and we don’t do anything to them that we wouldn’t want them to do to us. Now we’re wondering if we should stoop to parking in front of their home, or start parking in front of our own.