Settle this street parking debate

[Anonymous]

The segment of the street is bout .15 mile long, between the street corner and alley. Homes are townhomes, and an averaged size vehicle can match up to the townhome's width (with a little extra space), but obviously some cars are much longer and much shorter than average (our is average). We live 3rd from the end, and if space is free, we like to park in front of our townhouse with enough space so that 2 cars can park behind us.

Brother thinks we should just pull up forward as much as possible, instead of calculating vehicle space for 2 cars behind us (that would comfortably fit the vehicle size owned by those 2 neighbors).

Our thoughts are that we can decently estimate the space needed for cars and it isn't necessary to just pull forward to the next vehicle.

What do you guys think?

[Anonymous]

Just park in front of your house. No one cares.

[Anonymous]

If your neighbors have issue they’ll tell you, hopefully. But don’t take advice from someone who doesn’t live there.

Fwiw, I do what you do and always have.

[Anonymous]

Of course you should pull forward as much as possible. What, you can’t handle an extra 20 steps to your vehicle? Plus, your “calculations” can be off, not to mention the fact that it’s perfectly legal for other cars to park there that AREN’T your neighbors cars.

We recently went to dinner in Annapolis, and only street parking was available. As we were pulling into a perfectly legal space, a man literally jumped into it, holding a cone. His wife came up and said, “This is our house, and we are just leaving to pick up our daughter from the Naval Academy, and we’ll be right back and need to park in front of our house.” Because we saw other spaces, a few hundred feet ahead, we rolled our eyes and complied—not worth arguing over. But if we hadn’t seen other spaces, we would have waited right there until they left, and moved their illegal and unfair cone. Such entitlement.

[Anonymous]

I think everyone on the street doesnt have to line up nose to nose behind the first car there in order of arrival. That's just not how people park and if you are the only ones following that rule, you will constantly be annoyed at your neighbors but you wont be able to tell them because you'd look petty and weird.

BUT obviously if there are any other cars parked, don't leave a too small slot between you and waste a space so someone else has to park on another block.

[Anonymous]

Read what you wrote, OP. Do you not realize how ridiculous it is? Yes, you should pull forward and make space for as many cars as possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Of course you should pull forward as much as possible. What, you can’t handle an extra 20 steps to your vehicle? Plus, your “calculations” can be off, not to mention the fact that it’s perfectly legal for other cars to park there that AREN’T your neighbors cars.

We recently went to dinner in Annapolis, and only street parking was available. As we were pulling into a perfectly legal space, a man literally jumped into it, holding a cone. His wife came up and said, “This is our house, and we are just leaving to pick up our daughter from the Naval Academy, and we’ll be right back and need to park in front of our house.” Because we saw other spaces, a few hundred feet ahead, we rolled our eyes and complied—not worth arguing over. But if we hadn’t seen other spaces, we would have waited right there until they left, and moved their illegal and unfair cone. Such entitlement.

Tourists suck.

[Anonymous]

Is parking is very tight I would try to allow more cars to aprk otherwise, I would just park in fron of your house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of course you should pull forward as much as possible. What, you can’t handle an extra 20 steps to your vehicle? Plus, your “calculations” can be off, not to mention the fact that it’s perfectly legal for other cars to park there that AREN’T your neighbors cars.

We recently went to dinner in Annapolis, and only street parking was available. As we were pulling into a perfectly legal space, a man literally jumped into it, holding a cone. His wife came up and said, “This is our house, and we are just leaving to pick up our daughter from the Naval Academy, and we’ll be right back and need to park in front of our house.” Because we saw other spaces, a few hundred feet ahead, we rolled our eyes and complied—not worth arguing over. But if we hadn’t seen other spaces, we would have waited right there until they left, and moved their illegal and unfair cone. Such entitlement.

Tourists suck.

Let’s let the restaurants and shop owners decide that, shall we? And by the way, I live in NW, so I’m no stranger to street parking. But I get what my Zone sticker does and does not entitle me to when it comes to neighborhood parking.

[Anonymous]

If you aren’t parking with the goal of allowing as many people to park in the area as possible, you’re a jerk. Plain and simple. If parking closest to your house was a priority, you’d live in a place where you have a garage, a driveway or a dedicated spot.

Street parking is not just for those who live in the houses. It is for the neighborhood, and that does include shops, restaurants and businesses. I’m glad that people in my SW neighborhood get that. We need our restaurants, coffee shops, businesses and local points of interest to help our neighborhood thrive. What we can do is park in ways that allow for people to live AND visit our neighborhood as comfortably and conveniently as possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of course you should pull forward as much as possible. What, you can’t handle an extra 20 steps to your vehicle? Plus, your “calculations” can be off, not to mention the fact that it’s perfectly legal for other cars to park there that AREN’T your neighbors cars.

We recently went to dinner in Annapolis, and only street parking was available. As we were pulling into a perfectly legal space, a man literally jumped into it, holding a cone. His wife came up and said, “This is our house, and we are just leaving to pick up our daughter from the Naval Academy, and we’ll be right back and need to park in front of our house.” Because we saw other spaces, a few hundred feet ahead, we rolled our eyes and complied—not worth arguing over. But if we hadn’t seen other spaces, we would have waited right there until they left, and moved their illegal and unfair cone. Such entitlement.

Tourists suck.

People enjoy the area just as much as you do. You don’t own the parking space near downtown whether you live there or not. As long as people aren’t being jerks or rude, you should be lucky there are tourists to enjoy the local small businesses so they remain open and you have amenities to enjoy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you aren’t parking with the goal of allowing as many people to park in the area as possible, you’re a jerk. Plain and simple. If parking closest to your house was a priority, you’d live in a place where you have a garage, a driveway or a dedicated spot.

Street parking is not just for those who live in the houses. It is for the neighborhood, and that does include shops, restaurants and businesses. I’m glad that people in my SW neighborhood get that. We need our restaurants, coffee shops, businesses and local points of interest to help our neighborhood thrive. What we can do is park in ways that allow for people to live AND visit our neighborhood as comfortably and conveniently as possible.

So if there are a lot of open spots, do you always choose to park as close to another car as possible regardless of distance to your destination?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you aren’t parking with the goal of allowing as many people to park in the area as possible, you’re a jerk. Plain and simple. If parking closest to your house was a priority, you’d live in a place where you have a garage, a driveway or a dedicated spot.

Street parking is not just for those who live in the houses. It is for the neighborhood, and that does include shops, restaurants and businesses. I’m glad that people in my SW neighborhood get that. We need our restaurants, coffee shops, businesses and local points of interest to help our neighborhood thrive. What we can do is park in ways that allow for people to live AND visit our neighborhood as comfortably and conveniently as possible.

So if there are a lot of open spots, do you always choose to park as close to another car as possible regardless of distance to your destination?

+1

I don't understand the point some people are making. So pull all the way forward even though there are other spots open, like in front of your house?

imho, I park in front of my house if the spot is free. Everyone can do the same. If you have more than 1 vehicle and demand that single-car households make room for you, then you're then one who's an asshole.

[Anonymous]

You pull up to maximize how many cars can park on the street. I would never leave a gap between my car and the next car that wasn't big enough for a car to fit -- it's so rude! It's not like the ONLY people who ever park on the street are home owners. People have guests, contractors, nannies, etc. who might come and go, and having street parking available for those people is really helpful. I'd be annoyed if I had a plumber coming to fix something and they couldn't park on our block because my neighbors think they should be able to line the door of their car up with their front door. So selfish.

I was originally going to say "well, it depends on how tight parking is on your street" but then I thought about it and -- no, don't leave weird gaps in street parking. I've been in the situation too many times where I was looking for a spot somewhere I needed to be and there were all these weird 6-10 foot gaps around that are too small for a car but probably reduced the parking capacity on the street by several cars. I think people get used to doing this in the suburbs where there's lots of off street parking, but in a townhome neighborhood, it's not acceptable.

[Anonymous]

So... does the person on the end also pull up way ahead even if the space is empty in front of their townhouse on the end?

If you can calculate two spaces behind you, what's the issue in doing what OP is doing?

Like let's say there's space for 10 average sized vehicles.

First 3 spaces: full
Next 2: empty
Next 2: full
Last 4 (from the end): empty

why can't you park 3rd from end - why is it necessary to pull up to that 4th from the end space? The same amount of cars can fit (again, provided they're averaged size and not some enormous pickup. If you have an unusually large car, well you shouldn't live in the city)