So I have an asshole living on my street (most of us do, but this one is especially assholey)
Posted by
Covington (aka CovingtonCat)
Nov 13 '15, 10:59
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I live on a street that's just one block long. The street is closed at one end by a big iron gate that's always closed. It's not locked but I've never seen anyone use it. It's main function seems to be to provide access for fire vehicles should the need arise (if other trucks are blocking access from the other end).
The street is narrow (basically two cars wide). There are signs saying "tow zone". There's a sign on the inside of the gate that says "fire lane, tow zone". Two houses on the street have driveways. Nearly everyone else has a parking space in the lot that has a driveway kind of across from my house.
People park cars on the street for short periods ALL THE TIME. Service people come and go, parking in front of the houses they're servicing.
I don't park my car in front of my house because it can impede the SUVs and pickups that use the lot. (They need the space in front of my house to do the wide turn into the driveway.) I do stop in front of my house to unload stuff. I'm never there longer than a couple of minutes and I always have my flashers on. I unload, then park in the lot.
I've had service people here at various times over the two years I've lived here. Always have them pull down past my house and the driveway. There are no other houses between mine and the gate (probably equal to 3 house lots). Never had a problem. Until today.
I just started having a cleaning service come over once a month. Today is the 2nd visit. She parked all the way to end of the street, near the gate. I didn't worry about it because there have been many cars that parked there for short periods over the past 2 years.
Today I happened to notice a Covington police car turning around in the driveway. They don't usually patrol the street - only come when there's an issue. I had a bad feeling so went out to the maid's car. It had a ticket for parking in a tow zone marked fire lane. $30. I took the ticket and told the maid I'd take care of it and had her turn around and pull up to a spot between my house and my neighbor's (which wouldn't impede the driveway across the street).
About 30 minutes later I notice a cop car behind her car. I see an officer writing. I go out and ask if she's writing a ticket. She says there have been "several" calls today about the car parked on the street. All anonymous. I ask if we can avoid another ticket if I have the car moved. She says yes, but there's tow truck coming. I look up and it's backing up to the maid's car.
After some back & forth between the cop, the tow driver & myself we agree she will tear up both tickets if I pay the tow driver $45 (show-up fee).
One of my neighbors had just parked his car in the lot and we got to talking when he walked by. Turns out at least two other people have been ticketed recently.
I suspect the caller is the son or daughter of the old guy who lives directly across from me. They live about 6 houses down the street. The old guy has never spoken to me since I moved in. I said hello many, many times but do not bother any more after never getting a response. The (gay) guy I bought house from told me at the closing that he (old guy) told him (gay guy) that it used to be a good street until all the fags moved in. (The three houses to his left were all owned by gay couples, the one next door was sold recently to a very crabby older woman, but that's another story.) Lloyd (old guy) was not home at the time of the calls to the cops. Crabby woman was not home. But while I was talking to my neighbor I saw Lloyd's son come out and look up the street, then go back inside.
I have another neighbor who is known to be on medication who sometimes stops taking it. He has had anger issues and accosted another neighbor, prompting a restraining order against him. He's off probation now. He has issues with the other owners on the street because the driveway to the parking lot is actually his property but there's an easement that was placed on it before he ever bought the house. A few months ago (before he accosted the other guy) he called the cops & I heard him ranting about how the partners (the home owners have an LLC which owns the parking lot) won't give him information. He's never asked me any questions so I don't know what info he might have wanted. The cop told him he should calm down and forget it. Earlier that day the guy took blue and orange spray paint and painted all the cracks in the driveway (and has since refreshed the paint). The neighbor I talked with just now said he called another neighbor fag. But, as far as I can tell, neither he nor his mother (who he lives with) is home now.
There is free street parking on the other side of the gate so I'll have anyone visiting me park there from now on. As I said, it's not far from my house. It's just very annoying that after two years there's all of a sudden drama on what was a pretty quiet, friendly street. It will be interesting to see if the calls continue when other houses have cars parked in front of them. There's a cop who lives near the other end who parks his (private) vehicle in front of his house for hours at a time. The crabby woman across the street has been having work done on her house and various trucks have parked in front of her house or on the other side of the street - partly in front of my house. (She got into a verbal altercation with my next door neighbor after he told a service person to please remove his truck from his sidewalk.)
Crazy.
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