Mysterious Bitchy Neighbor, Part B - Should I do anything?

So as not to hijack... In this thread, I am the bitchy neighbor.

Setup: slightly nicer than average suburban neighborhood (I hope). Everyone has 2-car garage and driveway. On street parking is unusual but not unheard of for an extra car. We're newcomers within the past year or so, and we've met some but not all of the neighbors. We're friendly to all, but not friends with any.

There's a mid-90's Corolla parked in front of my house. Not mine. It has been there since June and hasn't moved. I'm pretty sure it belongs to a large family diagonally across the street who have a big family and might have six to eight cars parked overnight on a regular basis.

Code around here is that a car needs only to have up-to-date tags. The Corolla's expired yesterday.

One of the (admittedly minor) reasons I sold my last house is because my neighbor had too many cars and they spilled over - I had one or another of his inoperative cars parked in front of my house for 12 years. Here we go again.

If I make a fuss, the car owner just has to renew the registration and the car can sit there for another year. Been there, done that.

What would GRM do?

EDIT: I thought about offering to buy, and then flip the 'yota but I have bigger fish to fry.

Datsun1500 wrote: Ask them to move it? That's usually the first step.

Mrs. BDT says 'good berkeleying luck with that plan' but I'm gonna try. There is a bit of a language obstacle.

This is not a big problem in my life, but it does kinda irk me that someone would park a car in the street for that long. The dead car(s) in his driveway don't bother me a bit.

Get a set of dollies and move it to their side of the street......for better effect to do it at night. That'll berkeley with them.

Have it towed to a random location and dumped there? Maybe cut up for scrap?

Ask, other than that probably nothing. Starting a war with neighbors over something that small probably isn't worth it.

wow, glad I live in a slightly snowy part of the continent.

All of the cities/towns/regions around here have a 3 hour limit for street parking, after witch they can ticket/tow you (but it's only normally enforced on major routes and by bitchy neighbours via the snitch line) this can work for or against you. But I think it's a nice balance vs having someone's jollopy parked in front of your pad for weeks/months at a time.

berkeley developments is all I can say.

Shotgun.

Actually I would use the dolly idea, but I would randomly move it around and park it in different places, as if SOMEBODY was driving it. That would freak them he berkeley out.

I would be a grown adult and knock on their door. You might come away with a friend.

Next I would write them a polite letter (so they could get it translated) and mail it to them from across the street, you don't want to touch their mailbox dropping it in.

Depending on the response I would either move it for them. Or have a tow truck place it around the block at night paying cash.

Call and have it ticketed and towed. Where do you live.......city, state?

I'm beginning to think I'd rather live in a cheap place in the city where the two worst problems are the city and the hoodlum than in the suburbs where I spend good money on a house only to have some buffoon throw his trash everywhere.

bludroptop wrote: EDIT: I thought about offering to buy, and then flip the 'yota but I have bigger fish to fry.

This ^ which will maintain or improve neighborly relations and end things quickly with less stress. Even if you loose some of your time or money doing the flip. What would it be worth not to have it in front of your house? 100.00? 200.00? 300.00? 500.00? Maybe they'd only want slightly more than scrap value and you could just scrap it to save your time with only minimal expense to get the car off the street.

bludroptop wrote:

Datsun1500 wrote: Ask them to move it? That's usually the first step.

Mrs. BDT says 'good berkeleying luck with that plan' but I'm gonna try. There is a bit of a language obstacle. This is not a big problem in my life, but it does kinda irk me that someone would park a car in the street for that long. The dead car(s) in his driveway don't bother me a bit.

This sounds strangely familiar to a house near a friend of mines in St. Paul..... MAN those dudes can cook some wicked BBQ.

Please do the community minded thing and talk to them before you do anything else. Smile. Bring a plate of cookies, Anything that avoids a prolonged, nasty BS drama that makes you worry about your neighbours in addition to all the other things to be concerned about in life.

I bet it is broken, and can't be moved easily. Money may be tight (hence the large number of residents in the house). Seems like an extraordinary opportunity to build community in the place you chose to live.

ZOO wrote: Please do the community minded thing and talk to them before you do anything else. Smile. Bring a plate of cookies, Anything that avoids a prolonged, nasty BS drama that makes you worry about your neighbours in addition to all the other things to be concerned about in life. I bet it is broken, and can't be moved easily. Money may be tight (hence the large number of residents in the house). Seems like an extraordinary opportunity to build community in the place you chose to live.

If the neighbors are of the ethnic descent I think they are, it's a cultural thing. S'why I thinkin' it sounded like a place close to me, super cool folks, badass BBQ, bout 23 Toyotas on the property and in front of it at any given time.

Rad_Capz wrote:

bludroptop wrote: EDIT: I thought about offering to buy, and then flip the 'yota but I have bigger fish to fry.

This ^ which will maintain or improve neighborly relations and end things quickly with less stress. Even if you loose some of your time or money doing the flip. What would it be worth not to have it in front of your house? 100.00? 200.00? 300.00? 500.00? Maybe they'd only want slightly more than scrap value and you could just scrap it to save your time with only minimal expense to get the car off the street.

I like this idea. Go tell them you've always loved those cars and would be grateful if they would sell it to you. Maybe they do need the money and would love to see it go. Win-win.

Datsun1500 wrote: Just so I'm clear: in this thread http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/mysterious-bitchy-neighbor-should-i-do-anything/61080/page1/ the guy has an issue with the neighbor complaining about cars parked on the street and everyone says the person who complained should have just said something direct. There are many suggestions on how to retaliate on the guy that complained. In this thread you are the guy who has the issue and everyone is saying just have the cars towed. You do realize you are the neighbor in the other thread, right? If he came on and posted that the guy across the street had his car towed, we would be saying you're a dick.

I was thinking the exact same thing. If it's a minor annoyance, let it go. If it's a major annoyance, go talk to them. If the talk doesn't go well, have it tagged. I'm that guy in the other thread (except my car is in front of my house) and I would want to be given at least that much respect.

except my car is in front of my house

This is the big exception. My neighbors across the street live like berkeleying pigs and their yard is full of E36 M3; cars included. Sucks for my property value, but none of my business until it spills over into my yard.

EVIL version of "offer to buy" plan: Print bright orange "you have so many hours to move" sticker. Position so neighbor can see it. Wait a day or two, then be captain good guy "Hey man, I noticed the sticker on your car. I'll give you $100 for it." Haul to scrapper. Profit.

poopshovel wrote:

except my car is in front of my house

. EVIL version of "offer to buy" plan: Print bright orange "you have so many hours to move" sticker. Position so neighbor can see it. Wait a day or two, then be captain good guy "Hey man, I noticed the sticker on your car. I'll give you $100 for it." Haul to scrapper. Profit.

Me likey

Datsun1500 wrote: You do realize you are the neighbor in the other thread, right?

Um... yeah. That's kinda why I started this one - because it was sort of the opposite point of view. Perspective and all of that....

Just to be clear, the options I was considering before I started this discussion were:

A) Ask them nicely to move it.

B) Do nothing

I've tried A in the past and didn't have much luck.

I did like the idea of using dollies to move it over to their side, but I'd probably end up getting shot given how trigger-happy folks are becoming these days.

poopshovel wrote:

except my car is in front of my house

This is the big exception. My neighbors across the street live like berkeleying pigs and their yard is full of E36 M3; cars included. Sucks for my property value, but none of my business until it spills over into my yard. EVIL version of "offer to buy" plan: Print bright orange "you have so many hours to move" sticker. Position so neighbor can see it. Wait a day or two, then be captain good guy "Hey man, I noticed the sticker on your car. I'll give you $100 for it." Haul to scrapper. Profit.

Just don't put a phone number on the sticker.. keep them guessing.