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cars blocking our driveway -- any suggestions?
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Anonymous
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One more clarification -- this is not a hospital, it's more of a long term hospice care type place. And if this were just visitors, we might have more sympathy (maybe a loved one is sick and they are not thinking of other people at the time, I guess I can understand that even if it is frustrating). But there is a parking lot for staff and visitors and it doesn't seem to be full and it seems to be the same cars every day so I really just think that most of thes folks are staff who see the unzoned street as free parking.
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Anonymous
Meant for OP to park in front of her house, in the spaces nearest her driveway. The hospital people couldn't then park in OP's driveway or block them in anymore. |
Anonymous
| Can you park one of your cars at the base of the driveway so people cannot block it, like not pull all the way up? |
Anonymous
| If you can afford it, have the end of your driveway widened. We did that, and it created much more space to enter and exit the driveway and less space for street parking. |
Anonymous
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1. Have you talked to your neighbors re this issue? If enough of you are having problems with the medical center parkers, then you can petition to have the street zoned.
2. |
Anonymous
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I like the trash can idea -- putting a trash can on either side of your driveway.
FWIW, I never block someone's driveway when I park in the city or anywhere. Strange. I had never heard of that, and I've never known anyone to do that. What are people thinking? Also, do you have a Home Owner's Association? The hospital nearby might listen more to a whole neighborhood complaining. |
Anonymous
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sorry . . hit send too soon . . .
2. talk to the medical facility administration---tell them that you don't want to be a jerk, but you want to be able to use your driveway in the house that you paid for. That means that if this continues, you will be vigilant in getting their staff ticketed, and you will lobby for zone parking on the street which will severely limit their parking options. 3. Look for the parking enforcement officer for your street and appeal to them directly. Let them know that there are easy ticket pickings around your driveway on a regular basis. 4. If those ideas don't work, I would become very aggressive about calling DPW and requesting to have offending vehicles towed. |
Anonymous
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No homeowners association, and the way the houses are situated makes our driveway the only one in the back of the houses (everyone else has a driveway on the zoned street in front of us, but ours is the corner lot and the driveway is at the back). We are also the home that is directly across the street from the center so it's kind of our lone battle.
I will keep you all posted on how it turns out, I feel I've gotten some very good tips. Thanks! |
Anonymous
These are especially good tips -- thank you. That's the thing, we don't want to be jerks! We want to be good neighbors to everyone in the community, including the business / health care center. We just do want to be able to use our driveway! |
Anonymous
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OP, in your situation where people are blatantly blocking you in or making it impossible to park in your own driveway, I think the trash can or orange cone idea is a good one and you would be completely justified. In general, though (and I hope this isn't hijacking the thread), I think it is wrong when private citizens take it upon themselves to block off part of public streets simply because they live somewhere where parking is at a premium. For example, in DC there is a residential side street across from a medical building that I go to every so often. Well, on this street are a few public, legal parking spots, yet there is one house that always places orange cones out that block off an entire parking space, that has nothing to do getting into a driveway; clearly they just don't want medical building parking near them at all. Honestly, when I see something like that I think to myself, "look, people, a public road is not your personal property!" and then I get out of my car, move the cones to the sidewalk, and legitimately park my car in the legal, public, non-obstructing spot.
Again, let me be clear: I don't think OP's situation is like that, and she would be justified. I just mean in general, I wouldn't want the orange-cone idea to become too widespread; that would have its own issues! |
Anonymous
| We're only talking about a couple of feet on each side of the driveway, and definitely the driveway itself. I agree with PP about not "saving" parking spaces with cones, but you need to be able to use your driveway. Good luck OP. |
Anonymous
Good point. When I said orange cones, I meant on either side of the driveway as a eye-sight to show where the driveway started (so people knew not to block the driveway) NOT orange cones blocking the street or parking. I think trash cans can do the same thing. If you have a narrow driveway, the problem is you not only need cars not to park and directly block you, but you need a little turning radius also (says the woman who has hit her own trashcan many times). |
Anonymous
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The turning radius is exactly right. The driveway itself is narrow and the street behind my home is narrow as well. So if I don't come out at a very specific angle, I can't make the cut. If cars are right up to the edge of my driveway, it's tricky and if they so much as hang an inch over, we're blocked. I don't want to take away anyone's right to park on the street at all, but I would like about a foot on either side of my driveway. I was googling, actually, to try to see what the exact statute is, and it looks like, in DC, there is no rule on how far away from a driveway one may park. So I'm not even sure I can have these people ticketed when they are not actually encroaching on the driveway. BTW, while googling, I came across this person's solution. Not QUITE the broken glass or dog poo, but I like the aura of mystery and punishment of this sign:
http://joanperry.smugmug.com/photos/483402119_WxnM3-M.jpg Eh, probably not the best idea, but at least it made me laugh. |
Anonymous
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One of the PPs about the orange cones reminded me of when we used to live in Boston. People there put lawn chairs on "their" space on the street (the one in front of their apartment or house). You would never move those because your car would certainly not be in the same condition when you returned. This was especially true in the winter if they had shoveled out "their" space.
OP is not doing this and I agree she needs to be able to use her driveway. I just thought of that experience and figured all of the Boston posters would know what I was talking about. |
Anonymous
They do that in south Philadelphia too & I wouldn't dare park in someone's space for fear of what might happen to my car. Back to the point, though, OP, (I posted before about the construction site I lived next to). Not to dash your hopes, but don't expect too much help from the city. They are useless. Definitely put up your own signs & cones. Sorry your husband got ticketed - that's EXACTLY what I was talking about! |