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To my passive-aggressive, nosy old biddy neighbor.

(69 posts)

Started 5 months ago by ronnyj
Latest reply from MrINTJ

ronnyj

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Howdy neighbor!

In case you haven't noticed, Mayor "McSchwinn" has asked all of us Seattle-ites to ride our bikes, the bus, walk and/or carpool to work as many times per week as we can.

Well, I CAN walk, ride, carpool and do so frequently. Then, after work, I might walk down the street to the grocery store, dinner, drinks with friends, etc. Often times my legally licensed and parked vehicle will sit on the city street in front of my home for days at a time.

I know you must be a lonely old broad with no friends but if I ever catch you leaving this note on my vehicle one more time, (you've done it twice to me and once to another neighbor) you are going to wish you didn't have batteries in your hearing aid by the time I am telling you what I think of you.

"You need to move your car Avery(sic) 3 days or you will be ticketed and than(sic) towed. Abandoned vehicles on public properly(sic) 206 684 8763 "

Mind your business lady, that law is on the books to keep the homeless people in your neighborhood from parking their trashy vans in front of your house and living in them. NOT to keep working class folk from leaving their mid-sized sedans in front of THEIR homes while they are off making a living.

Please, go enjoy Wheel Of Fortune and Jeopardy and stop looking out the window; you are going to give yourself a heart attack.

Thank you.

Posted 5 months ago #
eric

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ah neighbors...what, if any, impact could your car possibly have on her?

Posted 5 months ago #
ronnyj

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I actually took a second and thought about that Eric, and looked around. She could be one of two old ladies, in one of two apartment buildings next to me. AND THEY HAVE THEIR OWN OFF STREET PARKING SPOTS! So no impact whatsoever. :/

Posted 5 months ago #
RichY

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Sounds more like your neighbor was just leaving a friendly note letting you know that the city is in fact now ticketing and towing cars much more frequently.

You sound more like an ass-hat neighbor then the one you seem need to belittle and call names.

Posted 5 months ago #
ronnyj

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Oh RichY I am as much of an ass-hat as you are. These are not "Friendly" notes. She's a busy body. The city made that law for the car campers, not the weekly commuters.

Posted 5 months ago #
RichY

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That law has been on the "books" for a long time, presently the parking enforcement has been ticketing cars for overtime and parked in the wrong direction (they seem to be leaving the car campers alone, as they cannot pay)and are patrolling the residential streets, I received an overtime, one neighbor for parking on the curb and about 3 for parking the wrong direction - The city seems to think this will raise income for them, most likely to pay for more public toilets for the car campers

Posted 5 months ago #
great idea

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I thought they didn't ticket you for parking the wrong direction (I'm assuming you mean parking on the left side in the direction of travel)?

I've never gotten a ticket on my street, but would appreciate enforcement of moving cars every 72 hours.
maybe those old ladies have friends that would like to visit and park there.

Posted 5 months ago #
RichY

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GI, so did I, but it is the law - even on small residential streets, I far as could tell it had really never been enforced on side streets, our present mayor seems to thing parking is the fiscal "fat cow"

Posted 5 months ago #
ronnyj

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There is plenty of parking for the old lady's friends, that's not the issue GI.

Posted 5 months ago #
GAM

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The 72 hour law is tough for us folks that are trying to do the right thing and drive less.

I'll leave notes on cars in front of my house if they're crowding my driveway or straddling both spots so no one else can park (a disregard for everyone else that continues to mystify me) but I always sign them with my address so they know who they're from, and an explanation of why (so the dunderheads will realize they aren't the only ones trying to park...). I'm sure some of these notes have been misinterpreted as "quit parking in front of my house". (I try to talk to folks rather than leave notes but there isn't always an opportunity)

I wonder what could be the root cause? Is this a big or tall vehicle that blocks her view of the street? Perhaps it's an older vehicle that's not up to her aesthetic standards? Is she doing this for all vehicles? Or are you her "favorite"? None of that should matter, of course, but perhaps understanding that will help you deal with her.

Also, yes you can can get a ticket for being pointed the wrong way, though it's rarely enforced on single lane streets like most of ours.

Posted 5 months ago #
ronnyj

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Seriously, it's a mid-sized silver sedan; like the other 500 mid-sized silver sedans in Ballard. So was my buddy/neighbors car that she left a note on as well. I am on 24th, North of 67th, on the West side of the street, just south of Townhouse row.

Posted 5 months ago #
phoo

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Ronny: When I lived in Fremont, street parking was so tough that I drove as little as possible. I didn't get passive aggressive notes on my car - there was a particular neighbor who would simply call every time I parked within her sight so the city would come out and leave a nasty note on my car.

It is aggravating, but at least she hasn't taken to calling the city yet.

Posted 5 months ago #
Ernie

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Just like sarcasm on the Internet, it's pretty hard to leave a note on someone's car telling them how to park and have it be considered "friendly". And if the note starts out with "you need to...." You've probably lost your audience right there.

Self appointed block captains are a fact of life in every neighborhood, and its just the luck of the draw whether you fall under their radar or not. I would just ignore her, and maybe park around the corner out of sight of the window she scrutinizes the street from.

Posted 5 months ago #
ronnyj

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Ernie; and walk 100 more feet, in the snow, barefoot, with my half rack, uphill, IN BOTH DIRECTIONS?!?!? ;-)

Posted 5 months ago #
Ernie

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Ha! I guess if it avoids a ticket (or an assault charge) you gotta walk that trail of tears.....

Posted 5 months ago #
great idea

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frankly, I'd be more concerned with this lady's poor english skills than her busybodiness.

just reading the note again made me sic to my stomach.

Posted 5 months ago #
GAM

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Sounds like this is her way of lashing out against the new density and holding onto "the way it's always been", at least in front of her house. I'm sorry - what a pain!

Having previously fought for parking on Capitol Hill, I think we've still got it pretty good.

Yeah, Ernie, note writing like this is a tricky business. I approach it from the perspective that they mean well, but don't realize taking two spots means someone else can't park now (the typical Seattle Driver perspective of being the only one). Overall, I've been blessed with a block of courteous parkers.

gi: HA!

Posted 5 months ago #
nwcitizen

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Here's the official Seattle website that explains some of the Parking Regulations:
http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/parking/parkingregs.htm

In particular, "The City of Seattle has many signs posted around the city that limit the amount of time a vehicle may park on the street (such as a 2-hour limit between 7 a.m. - 6 p.m., etc.). Regardless of whether or not there is any sign posted, the City's Traffic Code does not allow a vehicle to be parked on a city street for longer than 72 hours."

It is my understanding that if your neighbor calls in a complaint, Parking Enforcement will come out and put an orange warning tag on your vehicle. I understand that the 72 hour clock starts then. If your vehicle has not been moved after 72 hours it is likely you will get a ticket.

The safest thing to do in general and definitely at the point you get a warning is to move your vehicle "off the block" for 24 hours or drive at least 1/2 mile before returning to the same location. They do check the mileage so if you've driven 1/2 mile since they put the sticker on you should be OK.

Note: "off the block" really means away from the block so around the corner or across the street doesn't count.

I'm unclear as to what happens if there has been no citizen complaint but Parking Enforcement simply notices you've been parked in the same place more than 72 hours. I would hope you would get a warning and an opportunity to move your vehicle but I don't know for sure.

For more information on the 72-hour On-Street Parking Ordinance, call (206) 684 ROAD (684-7623).

Posted 5 months ago #
great idea

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"They do check the mileage so if you've driven 1/2 mile since they put the sticker on you should be OK."

I'm not sure I understand this. how exactly do they check the mileage of a parked car that is turned-off?

I thought they just use some low-tech method like putting chalk on the tire.

Posted 5 months ago #
GAM

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I'm pretty sure the mileage checking is left over from the old days when the car didn't have to be on to see the mileage. That line should be removed or have "when possible" added if it's actually still included. Last time I noticed (which has been a while) I still saw chalk being used.

Posted 5 months ago #
nwcitizen

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I'm not sure they still chalk tires. Some PEs may still do that but any more I think they just log the vehicle electronically. They have those specially equiped cars that roam around and record license plates to see if vehicles are on the Scofflaw List. Those unfortunates are the ones that can get booted and towed. I expect that technology could be used to monitor a vehicle for having been parked too long in one place.

As far as checking mileage, they can see the odometer on some vehicles. It's possible they can check that electronically too in some cases. Not sure how they would do that, however.

Might be interesting to call Parking Enforcement and ask them.

Posted 5 months ago #
great idea

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the chalking seems more useful for shorter term, say 2 hour parking.
it would probably wash off in the rain after three days.

I hadn't considered how the electronic odometer is a fairly recent feature. I wonder how they came up with 1/2 mile as the threshold for 'moved'.
maybe that's too far for most people to push.

Posted 5 months ago #
phoo

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I know that as of a few years ago they did chalk tires. When I first moved to Seattle, I had an annual trip I went on. I came back with stickers and chalk behind the tires. It was only due to lack of follow through on the city's part that my car was still there. Ridiculous that you have to have a friend constantly move your car around when you go somewhere. In my case, all my friends (yes, all of them) were also on this same trip.

Things got better when I changed my plates to Washington, but there was that one neighbor who would always call the car in if I parked in her sight.

Posted 5 months ago #
great idea

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phoo, there must be someone out there like George Costanza who you can pay to move your car around while you're gone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Alternate_Side

Posted 5 months ago #
Cheese

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67th and 24th? From what I've seen this is not a parking gridlock neighborhood, this should be a live and let live territory as long as the car isn't abandoned and moved periodically. The "don't be a dick" rule always applies. Being a dick in this case would be leaving a passive aggressive note. In a very high density neighborhood (Capitol Hill, UDist, etc.) the don't be a dick rule might be to not to park your car in the same spot for a week so as to give other car owners a chance.

Of course Gladys Kravitz and her ilk will always disagree as the OP has found out.

Posted 5 months ago #
teigyr

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They still chalk. The 1/2 mile thing might be to do with people who just move their car a few feet and think that's sufficient? We have a lot of people leave cars up in hillbillyland (not abandoned, esp, but they think of us as a good place to park their 2nd/3rd/4th car) so I appreciate parking enforcement. Lately it looks like they've been tagging cars that haven't been called in and also have been very diligent about citing vehicles with expired registration.

Posted 5 months ago #
phoo

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GI: I seriously considered it. I can't remember what I did the next year, whether I did pay someone to do it or found a place my car would remain unmolested by parking enforcement.

Posted 5 months ago #
onederfullone

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who, exactly, are you calling an old nosy biddy?

I'll tell you this, if you want to be a greenie weenie, sell your car.

Otherwise, your complaint in Seattle is laughable.

On a serious note, lets just say the 'nosy old biddy' depends on deliveries, from meals on wheels to Safeway, etc. Maybe you need to give up your sweet spot for the good of your neighbor?

Would you?

Of course not, because you are a passive-aggressive prick, thanks for the post.

Posted 5 months ago #
Corvus

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Chuckle. Half wit whack job strikes again.

Posted 5 months ago #
mostobstreperous

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Hell, if you think it's tough now, until the late 1990's cars had to be moved every 24 hours...

Posted 5 months ago #
great idea

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also if you think it's tough now, wait until the rest of Capitol Hill continues to move here (B & O et al).

they will call Ballard "little Cap'"

Posted 5 months ago #
ballardgirl

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I lived on a street in Ballard for many years where parking was a problem due to apartment buildings and little off street parking. I was delighted with the 72 hour rule, since I had lived in Belltown, and was happy to have the free parking! Parking enforcement did do random checks of my street, and would tag cars without anyone calling. Our problems on that street were not homeless people, it was peoples 2nd, 3rd, 4th car, often not running. (Like they were living in an apartment, only had one parking space and were going to fix up that car on the street.) FYI, I biked or rode the bus to work, and had no off street parking. Also, cars left sitting in one place too long can affect property values!

Posted 5 months ago #
Oly

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RJ, I'm with you. If people don't understand that we have cars that may sit for a time on the street because we use mass transit or bike to work etc.. and get a bit pissed because our cars don't move everyday should fuck off. Seriously, some of the responses on this thread are really fucking stupid. As a home OWNER I use the street to park my car, if you don't like my car parked on the street too fucking bad.

Posted 5 months ago #
Oly

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If I offended anyone with my previous post I'm not sorry and kiss my ass.

Posted 5 months ago #
ballardgirl

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Ronnyj and Oly, lets just say that Mayor McSchwinn & co got rid of the 72 hour rule for you guys, so you can leave the car you do not need for work in front of your house. So one saturday, you decide to take your seldom used car for a spin. Then, anyone can plant their car in front of your house, and you would have no way to fight it. Is that what you want?

Posted 5 months ago #
ballardgirl

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Oly, I am also curious as to why, as a homeowner, you do not park your car in your garage or driveway?

Posted 5 months ago #
ronnyj

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Onedefulone: irony equals you calling someone a passive aggressive prick.

Ballard girl: I have left the house 3 times today with no care in the world as to where I park when I get back.

Posted 5 months ago #
ballardgirl

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So Ronnyj, you do not need a car for work, or for the weekend, and do not park it in your own driveway or garage, and choose to store your unused car on the street. Is that correct?

Posted 5 months ago #
ronnyj

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No BG, stop being a typical unrealistic chick. I need my car for many things, but apparently not for the three days that this broad saw my car on the street. You really participate in daily life with a mind that works like that?

Posted 5 months ago #
ballardgirl

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ronnyj, I am trying to be respectful of your situation. I am asking if you would like an end to the 72 hour rule, so you could keep your car parked in front of your house as long as you want. With that would come other cars, perhaps parked in front of your house, for long periods of time. Is that what you want?

Posted 5 months ago #
Cate

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Let's see, the unknown person is automatically a female "biddy" and ballardgirl is a "typical unrealistic chick." I'm beginning to see why you have neighbor problems.

Posted 5 months ago #
ballardgirl

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Thank you Cate.
As a home owner, We are very careful about parking. We use our driveway and garage whenever possible, guests park on the street for 2 or 3 hours, ups and fedex comes and goes within minutes. Storage of unused vehicles on the street is a sore spot for all of us. If you do not need a vehicle every day / every week, why keep one and have to move it around? How about zipcar? We wish we could get by with that, but our jobs do not allow the option.

Posted 5 months ago #
lifeisamazing

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Cheese - You said it perfectly. Common sense! If there is a problem, solve it. If there isn't a problem, let it alone! The word reasonable should be in the law somewhere and cops should use their judgement. They are allowed to in many other instances. On my street there is tons of parking so if someone wants to leave their car what do I care. On capitol hill there has to be more stringent rules. Common sense.

Ronny, other than thinking you could be more polite to those who respectfully disagree with you I'm definitely in your court.

This is one of my pet peeves.
So, let me get this straight. If you don't use your car, which is a good thing, you need to crank that puppy up and drive it a half mile then back to the same spot in front of your house. I wonder how much pollution that idiot move makes when it is collectively required in a city this size?

I used to have my motorcycle trailer parked in front of my house. I got a ticket. You can't have a vehicle that can't move on it's own on a city street. So when I went in to pay the ticket I asked the judge,
"Where am I supposed to put it?"
"You have to find a lot."
"Are you kidding me? I can't use the street in front of my house that my taxes pay for! I have to pay to park it privately?"
"Or you have to have it attached to your car."
"Are you kidding me? You want me to drive all over the city with a trailer attached to my car?"

Meanwhile I had some neighbors who had several cars, sometimes 5 and 6, parked on the street. I figured it's a free country. There was plenty of parking so if they want to have that many cars that's up to them. i think they fixed them up and sold them so made part of their living. No problem.

But I have to say it made no sense to me that as long as they kept moving them they could have 6 cars and I have 2 vehicles in front of my house and that is a problem.

Rant done

Posted 5 months ago #
angeline

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I just presumed from the beginning that ronnyj lives in one of the many houses around here with neither driveway nor garage. While I agree that chick/biddy/etc. is BS and rightfully called out as such, it also doesn't make sense to presume that a car not needed every day is "unused" or not needed at all.

Posted 5 months ago #
ballardgirl

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Thank you Cate.
As a home owner, We are very careful about parking. We use our driveway and garage whenever possible, guests park on the street for 2 or 3 hours, ups and fedex comes and goes within minutes. Storage of unused vehicles on the street is a sore spot for all of us. If you do not need a vehicle every day / every week, why keep one and have to move it around? How about zipcar? We wish we could get by with that, but our jobs do not allow the option.

Posted 5 months ago #
ballardgirl

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Sorry double post...

Posted 5 months ago #
lifeisamazing

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BG I get why not though. What if you do use your car for erratic things but not for work? Maybe someone uses their car for a lot of stuff on the weekend but don't need it but once during the week.
I use my car for work but I sometimes don't have a job for 3 or 4 days. I think the point isn't whether or not other people can judge whether he should have a car but why he can't park his car in front of his house, especially when there isn't a parking problem on his street.
Regardless of how often he uses it, it seems to me he has a right to have a car and to certainly take up one parking spot with it.

Posted 5 months ago #
angeline

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As a side issue, I don't see how zipcar works well for very many people. There are two zipcar locations in my neighborhood, about a 8-10 block walk from my house. Many areas of the city, getting to the nearest zipcar would mean that much of a walk plus a $2.25 bus ride (and of course the same when you return it).

Doable, but not very convenient. The website says zipcar members save $500/month over owning a car in Seattle. I'm sure this varies -- but my car is paid for and older so the insurance isn't so pricey. We have to change the oil, but that is $25 about 3x per year (low mileage). Sometimes we get hit with a big repair bill. Gas is pricey, but I'm still not getting to $500/month and I have a car at my house when I need it. Zipcar costs $60/year+hourly usage or various plans where you get a baseline usage for $50-$250/month.

Zipcar sounds like a great convenience for someone already living car-free. It's just that I think I'd need to make that leap to "no car" first, then enjoy the occasional use of zipcar. Zipcar alone doesn't make it worth giving up my car.

Posted 5 months ago #
LY

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Glad we don't live on your street, ronnyj, although we are at 67th a bit more east. My son has been in China for three months and his car has been parked the whole time. Not in front of anyone's house, but on a cross street. Lots of parking there now (might be different when those apartments are done on 67th and 15th...).

When we see a strange car that hasn't moved for days, the neighbors all ask each other and if we find out it doesn't belong to anyone, then we call parking enforcement. Lots of stolen cars get dropped off on our street (off 15th) throughout the years. One time, my husband just looked at the car and saw it was an Enterprise rental. Called Enterprise. They sure were happy to get it back. Bopped right on down and picked it up...

Posted 5 months ago #
teigyr

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LIA if they were fixing and selling cars, that might have been a problem. Did they have a business license? Were they doing work on the street? Things like that have happened on our street and they get reported.

You don't "own" the street parking in front of your house. If you choose to use the road to park your vehicle, then there are parking rules. If you don't like the rules, then park in a driveway or pay for a spot in a lot. It's not really all that complex.

When a strange car shows up, we do check with the neighbors. My favorites are when the car shows up then the driver leaves in a different car. Driver doesn't look familiar....car doesn't look familiar....after 72 hours the car is definitely reported.

Posted 5 months ago #
angeline

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Our old house closer to downtown Fremont would get the stolen-and-dumped cars all the time. Ironically, as Fremont got popular it got harder to find parking by our house, pretty much solving the dumped car issue. It was a pretty simple matter to keep an eye on strange cars for a few days, ask around to make sure no neighbors had out-of-town guests or new roommates, and then report the car. We'd usually wait around a week.

I can't imagine calling in a car that wasn't right in front of my house unless it had been there a really long time.

Posted 5 months ago #
Ernie

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The stolen car thing is something to consider. In the 10 years we've been in our place we've called in only one car, it was parked in front of our place so long it had developed two flat tires. Probably had been there for 2 months. I found out from the tow truck driver that it was a stolen car, and felt bad I hadn't called sooner. The owner had probably already bought another car by then.....

That said, there's no excuse to hassle someone who you know is your neighbor as in the original post.

Posted 5 months ago #
PDaddymom

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Cate +1. When he used those terms (he also used "broad, old lady"), he lost credibility right away. In addition, using such terminology makes him sound like an old coot ;-)

Posted 5 months ago #
teigyr

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You know, after reading the original post, I was reminded of something. A person I spoke to ages ago (performer) was going on about ageism being the final stereotype/form of acceptable discrimination. She was always a bit outspoken and maybe bookings were down, I'm not sure. I walked away at the time and thought she was just being goofy because she IS goofy. After reading this though, I can see it. Our car parkers (most of them) were not of my ethnicity. They were probably a bit older and I highly suspect they weren't in the country legally. I tried very hard to separate the two issues because the problem I had with them wasn't their ethnicity or legal status, it was the cars.

Might be wise to do the same here. Maybe it's fun to laugh at her and throw out every stereotype that you can think of but really, that's mean. The note thing? Yeah, that's valid. The other stuff? Not so much so.

Posted 5 months ago #
Edog

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Ageism is one thing, and is real. But I think being old enough to remember how the neighborhood was and upset with what it has become and acting out about it in ways others find antisocial is different. I mean I don't get ageism from the op, just frustration expressed in classic myballard b*tch-faced-Seattle-smugfaced fashion. Mind you, I've done it to.... "To the person who [insert blank here], go f*ck yourself"

Posted 5 months ago #
earl danger

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As a condo owner (yes, we pay taxes for those streets too), we own TWO parking spots, because when we bought our place we had two cars. Was it expensive? Sure. Was it fair? Damn straight. If you own a car, you're responsible for playing by the rules - that means if you don't have a driveway or garage, you need to pay to put it somewhere if you can't move it every day. That said, we bus to work every day, have just one car now, and rent out our other spot.

Say, I'll rent it to ya cheap, if it'll keep you from yelling at the little old lady who, while being typically Seattle passive aggressive with the poorly worded note, is in the right.

Posted 5 months ago #
lifeisamazing

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angeline, ly and ernie +1

Posted 5 months ago #
jj

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I went through this a few years ago with an apartment and called the police for an explanation. It's been pretty much explained in this thread.

In my case I told the officer if they would have run the license plate they would have seen the car was parked directly in front of the registered address, but that logic seemed to fall on deaf ears. They told me it's often misused in areas with lots of apartments because people don't know one another (or have a vendetta). Anyway, they said removing the orange sticker on the windshield is proof enough.

In fact, they they recommended if I go on vacation to I have a friend drive by to check on the car to remove any orange stickers just in case.

Posted 5 months ago #
onederfullone

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The neighborhood rules, as it should be.

Maybe if the OP decided to show up for any 'neighborhood night out' or actually talked to any neighbor, like across the street(omg), they'd back off?

Maybe not, but at least your neighbor wouldn't assume you are a prick.

Posted 5 months ago #
teigyr

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I've seen vehicles cited in front of the owners house. One was an RV (not a bad looking one) that had resided there for quite a while. The owner ended up building some kind of shelter for the RV in their yard. I don't think they were pleased but street parking is street parking and homeowners aren't entitled, even if it's in front of their house. (No, I didn't call it in and the vehicle didn't bother me.)

Our parking enforcement officers in hillbillyland (and I assume they are the same as normal city ones?) also chalk tires so simply removing the sticker wouldn't be enough. If anything removing the sticker tells them "yeah, I saw it but I don't care enough to move my car".

Posted 5 months ago #

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To my passive-aggressive, nosy old biddy neighbor.

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