Feud with Neighbors: Updated (YET again)

[dr.girlfriend]

I hope you will all appreciate that I took the time to draw this all out in Powerpoint for you guys.  ;-)  So, we live on suburban residential side street.  Parking is allowed all the time on both sides of the street.  Our house is situated with a side yard, so the whole backyard runs to the left of the house.  The neighbors across the street from us all have their yards behind their houses.  Here is how we usually park:


Neighbor A is an older couple.  They have two college-aged kids who are out of the house but still hang around a lot.  They also have a big Harley and trailer parked in their driveway, so they usually park both cars on the street.  Neighbor B is a couple with two younger kids, the mom parks in the driveway and the dad parks his big truck on the street.  Neighbor C is an old couple who if they have a car they keep it in their garage.  I usually park in our driveway because I load and unload the kid, and Mr.dr.g parks on the street in front of our house.  It's been this way for about 8 years.

About a month ago both our Honda Fits got recalled, and so we can't drive them.  We got two rental cars, and parked the Honda Fits along our side yard.  We made sure to park so that they are not opposite any driveway to make it hard for our neighbors to back out.  Here's the diagram with those cars marked with H's.  :-)


So, neighbor A has always had a problem with us.  We have no idea why, although from comments his wife made when we moved in I suspect it's based in the fact that we're not white.  When our dog was barking during the day (which we were unaware of) he complained about it to the county instead of talking to us.  When a giant storm caused a tree branch to get caught in the tree in front of our house, he harassed us about it constantly even though we told him that we had called the tree service right away and they said that they would get to us as soon as possible.  (His reasoning was that he thought if it fell it would somehow fall all the way across the street and hit his car so he didn't want to park there.  Which was frankly impossible, and he could always just...not park there).  They've also bitched at us when we have a small party (e.g., like 15 people over) because they think people take "their spaces" on the street, to the point where we've had to start putting in our evites that people should only park on our side of the street.  Anyway, about two weeks ago I came home and found this on both Hondas:


I called the police nonemergency line and said, "Hey, this thing is on my car, but it looks fake, can you tell me if it's a thing or not?"  The police officer came by and said that it was not anything the police had done, that the cars were totally legally parked, and were not in anyone's way.  So, pretty immediately I suspected it was Neighbor A, but decided to just shake it off.  I asked the police officer if he thought I should move them, and he was like, "Nah, I wouldn't, if someone has a problem with it it's their fault."  You can buy these stickers off Amazon or whatever and they're supposed to be very hard to scrape off (and they're giant) but luckily it rained the day they were stuck on our cars so they came right off.

Tonight Neighbor A's college-aged son cornered my husband as he was leaving the house and started ranting at him about how rude it was that we were taking up "four spaces" with all our cars.  He kept prefacing his remarks with, "I don't even live there anymore but..."  I told him that it was temporary while the cars were recalled and undriveable, and that we deliberately parked them where they wouldn't be in anyone's way.  He went on and on about how rude it was and that we have a garage so we should park in it and that you could fit two cars in our driveway if you park them back to back.

So, this is driving me nuts.  Obviously, our two cars being parked way down the street from their house has ZERO impact on them.  The two rental cars are parked right where our two regular cars usually are.  Plus, these guys have 2 - 4 cars parked on the street on a regular basis; they know well that this is an unusual situation for us.  DH is very anti-conflict (like, he almost had a panic attack about the kid coming over), and even though he admits they have no logic behind their gripe, he's worried that if we don't respond in some way they'll move on to actually slashing our tires or something (DH is very worst-case-scenario about any conflict).  He wants to park the cars one behind the other in the driveway, at least for now, even though it's a pain when one of us has to leave before the other.

Ugh, this is so long, but back me up here, guys.  This neighbor is just being an ass, right?  Do you think we should stack cars in our driveway just to humor him?  I'm so tempted to get some of those orange stickers, put them on his car, and if he says anything about it be like, "Oh, weird, those were on our cars a few weeks ago too...must be the same guys!  If you find out who did it let us know!"  lol

Update #1: Even though we stacked our cars in the driveway last night to make this guy happy, I came home from work to this.  Yes, he parked his big 'ol truck smack in front of our house on our side of the street (where DH usually parks) where he's never parked in his life, just to be a dick.  He is literally parking FURTHER AWAY from his own house just to be a fucknugget.



Update #2:  As of this morning they moved a second car in front of our house.  They parked it with the bumper exactly even with our driveway.  I could not be rolling my eyes harder at these people.



Update #3:  Came home this evening to a card from a police officer on my mailbox asking me to call him.  He stopped by, and indicated that someone had called our cars in as abandoned because one had the expired inspection AND THE OTHER HAD A FLAT TIRE.  Yes, the cap on the tire of my husband's car had been loosened, letting all the air out.  I explained the situation to the officer -- showing him the photo on my phone of the stickers that had put on the cars, etc.  I tried to be calm but honestly started to tear up a bit at the end which I think flustered the poor guy.  He was very sympathetic.  He agreed that if we had signed something agreeing not to drive them we shouldn't drive them, and that they were totally legally parked.  He did say that the one with the expired inspection could get towed because that's the rationale they use to tow abandoned cars, and so I moved that to the top of our driveway.  I told him about the security camera system (it's supposed to arrive on Thursday) and he agreed that it was a good idea, and told us to report any further incidents.  I don't know where in the timeline the tire went flat...I don't know that I would have noticed it, but I wish we had gotten the cameras sooner.  I would have loved to have had someone on video doing that.

I'm thinking it might be to the point where we need to send a letter to the neighbors letting them know that any further incidences of harassment will be reported to the police.  Even if it's just to let the other neighbors know what's going on...maybe the ones they're buddy-buddy with (Neighbor B) can talk some sense into them.  Ugh, why do people suck so bad!?  I called the Honda dealership today and they say they're still estimating "30 - 90 days" until the fix comes in, and there's no option to store them at the dealership.
____________

Here's an illustration of how much unoccupied space there is in the stretch of street where we had parked the Fits.  That one car is the Fit we left on the street after we moved the other one to the driveway.  The whole length of the fence is our backyard, and where those bushes start is the backyard of the house that faces the street that runs perpendicular to us, so they park around the corner by their front door.

[steph96]

Love the drawings! I personally would tell them to eff off, but if you want to appease them, can you not stack your rentals behind the recalled cars?

[swank]

These people are ridiculous. Start parking in front of their house.

[LoveTrains]

Eff those guys. You are parking in front of of your yard. Park in front of their house just to spite them.

[kalil]

I would NOT move the cars. This pisses me off. My neighbors do stuff like this. I think they feel like they are better than us so somehow special rules apply. He carries his yard waste across the street and puts it on the curb there for the town to collect bc i guess his house is to good to have a few branches or a pile of leaves sitting in front of it for a day or so.

[insominac]

1) they are being ridiculous and I hate them
2) could you park one of Honda Fits that you're not using on the inside of the driveway and then you park on the outside so you can load and unload your kiddo?

[RoxMonster]

I would not appease them. You spoke with the police. The cars are legally parked, so it's not like anyone can come and tow them or anything. And I am saying this as someone who has my neighbors across the street from me park constantly in front of my house instead of their own because they don't want to have to turn the cars around when they drive into our street. But it is totally legal and I have never, nor would I ever say or do anything about it.

If you are really worried about them slashing tires or doing anything else illegal to you guys because they seem to have a stick up their asses about you for whatever reason, can you install some security cameras on your house that point out? I know that would be an added expense, but if it isn't the cars with them, it could be something else, you know? Then I would have no problem telling them to fuck off basically and if they did something to my cars, it would be caught on camera and I would press charges.

[whiskeytails]

I liked your post because it was an amazing bedtime story with great photos. Super appreciated.

While I like to pretend to be tough, I'd be your husband in this situation.

However, if money isn't an issue, I say you set-up a trail cam. Leave the cars there. And catch them in the act of fucking with your recalled cars and then sue them.

I'm white, but I hate nothing more than white trash that are blatantly acting superior.

[House4Me]

I would have outdoor security cameras installed so the next time a "neighbor" stickers my personal property I would have it on video. Then the other thing I would do is move. I wouldn't want to be around these crazy people forever. I moving an option? 

Otherwise, I hope it all works out. You have the right to park as many cars as you want on your street, streets are city property and you follow their rules. 

[yentl]

Ahhhh parking wars. I am, sadly, a veteran.

I wouldn't do anything different, except to possibly attempt to park one of the cars you are driving regularly in the driveway if it's more convenient for you. I wouldn't do any stacking. DO NOT give in to their jerkiness.

[jewel]

They are assholes.

I would put up a camera and KOKO.

[dr.girlfriend]

Thanks, guys. I did think about the security cameras, but I'm guessing if they acted out it would be against the Fits, and so any camera around the house or our driveway wouldn't capture it. This whole areas is much more elongated than I depicted it, probably.  I guess maybe I could mount one to a tree in our yard? We do have a six-foot fence around our yard.

As for parking one Fit in our driveway, I didn't actually think about it because it where the Fits are parked doesn't affect them at all, but now I think it's GENIUS! They want two cars in our driveway, okay. I'll move one of the cars that doesn't affect them at all to our driveway, and keep parking our other car on the street where it's always been.

Ugh, poor DH is so freaked out about this.

[dr.girlfriend]

Jun 2, 2016 21:00:22 GMT -5 imojoebunny said:

What i get from this is that your neighbor is a nut, you are internalizing it, over analyzing it, and need to let it go. YOU ARE DOING NOTHING WRONG.

I don't think that means what you think it means.  :-P

[irene adler]

Do these assholes not realize those 15 lucky guests are attending the best Oscars party in the world?

I hate them on your behalf. I have no advice, and I am sorry this is happening

[niki]

I would like more information.

1. Do you have a garage? If so, why aren't you parking 1 or more cars there? No blame, just wondering.

2. How long have your Fits been on the street?

3. How much longer will they be on the street?

4. Are there lots of kids on your street?

[steamboat185]

I can't imagine getting mad at someone for parking legally. I'd KOKO.

[LoveTrains]

Jun 2, 2016 21:43:26 GMT -5 niki said:

I would like more information.

1. Do you have a garage? If so, why aren't you parking 1 or more cars there? No blame, just wondering.

2. How long have your Fits been on the street?

3. How much longer will they be on the street?

4. Are there lots of kids on your street?

This is all irrelevant.

FYI I have a single car detached garage. I do not park there because it's too narrow for a car. That's typical for my neighborhood (built in 1900-1940).

[aurora]

You are not wrong. Your neighbors are assholes.

Your next step should depend on how unhinged you really think they are. I think the cameras are a good idea if you think they really might slash your tires.

[aurora]

Also I really appreciate the visual.

[aurora]

And because I apparently care a lot about this, in my neighborhood most people park at least one car on the street and never once had it occurred to me that they shouldn't park in front of their own property, even when it is right across from our driveway.

Your neighbors are actually really really bad assholes.

[Pom]

Why must people be such ridiculous douche canoes. I want us all to come over and throw a raging lawn party at your house and wait for these bitches to start some shit. We got your back Dr. G. And those visual aids are the bomb.

[scout8]

Your neighbors are assholes. Fuck them. I would be over there asking them if they put the stickers on my car and telling them never to touch ny car again or I would call the police.

[sfy]

That sticker is making me want to slash their tires. I would not do anything, except consider the camera. The fact that they went to the sticker and then a confrontation makes me feel like this could be escalating on their end. I watch too much ID channel not to recognize the beginning of a "Fear Thy Neighbor" when I hear one.

[vanillacourage]

KOKO but put a sign on the dashboard of the cars in the street. "Smile, you're on camera!" in both English and Spanish. 

[RoxMonster]

And honestly if one of them approaches you again, I would mention that you had already called the police about the unofficial sticker that was put on your cars by someone other than law enforcement. Let them know you already consulted the police about the parking situation and where you are parking is 100% legal, and that if you find out who put the stickers on the car, you will be getting law enforcement involved with a quickness.

[badgergrl]

I would try to work into conversation with them that you 1. consulted police 2. That you are parked legally 3. That someone put a sticker on your car that could have caused damaged which is likely a crime and 4 that you got a new high tech security system so you can prosecute anyone who dares touch your car again (even if you don't)

Fuckers.

[thatgirl2478]

Your neighbors are being jerkfaces.

Your drawings are awesome!

[Balki.Bartokomous]

Now THAT is how you tell a story. Nice visual.

I am pissed for you.

First, I'd put a camera up & point it toward the street in front of your house. Then I'd be an asshole & move both Fits to the street right in front of their house. Then I'd let them know that I would park wherever the fuck I want & that I've already reported this to the police, so if I hear another peep about it or see another gd sticker I will go after them for harassment & make sure that the hate crime aspect of it will be called out as well.

[AAM2012]

Jun 2, 2016 22:52:34 GMT -5 vanillacourage said:

KOKO but put a sign on the dashboard of the cars in the street. "Smile, you're on camera!" in both English and Spanish. 

This is my thought as well.

You could have totally been a jerk and park in front of their house or your house making it harder to get in and out. I am not sure why the son has any say in the "fight" but if I was confronted like your DH I probably would have froze and not have a good response.


Also, there is no way I would have understood what was going on without the graphics. Love it!

[mrsukyankee]

There are times when our neighbours across the street park their car in the driveway and then park two vans on the street which effectively makes it next to impossible for me to get out w/o some serious manoeuvring. And yet I still don't bitch because IT'S LEGAL. I did ask them not to block the entrance to their drive because it's the only way I can turn at times if someone is also parked on either side of our driveway (we have narrow streets in London) but that's just asking them politely and not attacking them. These people are assholes.