Lack of parking and awful neighbors

[Alex Bock]

Hello fellow BP'ers.

Found my dream house and bought it 4 months ago (First purchase, go me!). It was on the market for over a year. I now understand why..

The realtor that sold the house advertised the house as having parking in the back alley. There is a ordinance in my city saying you're not allowed to park in the alleys. I am at the end of the dead end alley, and my neighbors houses and parking pads are right next to said space. The second night I parked in the alley, I was greeted by my terribly annoying neighbor yelling in the general direction of my inanimate house. I came outside for him to tell me to move my car as I couldn't park there. Keep in mind this is the first time I've met this guy.. Long story short, after a long battle with both of my neighbors, police (They felt the need to call them twice in a high crime city, first officer didn't care we were parked there)  and the city admins themselves, The city has informed me that I nor anyone else is allowed to park there due to the proximity to the neighbors houses and parking pads (Both neighbors took a vote on this). I know this is bogus because there was a short amount of time the city allowed us to continue parking back there. In this time, everybody was able to get out of their spaces comfortably and ultimately did not cause any disturbance. Both of my neighbors are friends and were definitely in cahoots on this. An elderly woman lived in the house before and they didn't have a problem with her parking back there. In the time the house was empty, said neighbor was parking his car back there as well. I busted him out to the city using google maps, but they didn't seem to care. I would suspect since I'm 21 years old in a nice neighborhood, there is some jealousy and sense of self-entitlement. As far as parking in the front goes, you cannot park on one side of the street, the garage does not fit a car, and my house sits atop a VERY long hill which has stairs going up it. The only fix I can think of to this is to pour a driveway up the hill and have spaces in my yard. The problem with this is that it will obviously be very expensive. Could I form a lawsuit or maybe pull some strings with the city to make something happen? As it stands right now, they refuse to escalate the matter to the city council since the neighbors both already said no to anyone parking in the alley. They even went as far as to say if the city granted alley parking, they would be contesting it. In the mean time, they seem to feel entitled to occupy the same space no one is to park in with the rear ends of their cars because they don't feel the need to park properly on their respective pads. I am SO ANNOYED and I don't want to lose money or potential tenants on this house because of these fools! What do you think?

[Meghan McCallum]

Alex, this sucks. Approach the city about buying the alley. It DOES sound crazy...but then they wouldn't have responsibility for it. Maybe its crazy enough to work. I would suggest offering to purchase the exact space  that would allow you to park your car. Then its not parking in the alley. t alleviates the city in having to maintain and hold liability for the area. If they disagree with your strategy then ask if they would waive any or all fees for permits to add a parking space at the front of your house. Last, call the cops every time they park back there. If I was the cop who had to keep responding then I would start writing tickets and be pissed at the people who gave me extra paperwork to do. The cops can't allow them t do something and deny it to you. Perhaps even meeting with your neighbors before you launch your strategic plan...they may change their minds. If everything fails...go to the city council meeting and blow this picture up and tell the city council you have tried remediating the problem on your own and no one is listening...so you feel you are being ignored because you are young. BUT, if this is soon to be a rental property...I may forego the nuclear option and just put in a short, one car front drive and then ave a lease for your next renter that parking besides the one pad is not guaranteed.