Mysterious Bitchy Neighbor, should I do anything?

Invite the neighbors over to meet your new friends

I would set all of my neighbors garbage on fire, including mine but leave the suspected complainers alone...

Kind of like smashing your own mailbox to confuse authorities in school. Not that I would ever have done that...

Impressive sleuthing John! I am continually impressed by the solutions that the hivemind can bring together.

I would contact the mayors office and let them know that you are working with the local law inforcement to bring your property up to code. Let them know that you would appreciate their support and understanding that it will not happen overnight, and that further action by this one complainer will be considered harassment. Certainly the Mayor does not want to be an agent of harassment on the part of any one citizen toward another.

Oh, and good luck Corey! This sounds frustrating as all hell.

moparman76_69 wrote:

This ties to my original belief that your complainer does not like your double row of cars parked in from of your house which makes it a little more challenging for them to back out. You see it as "allowed" and maybe the cop does too but clearly it is "different" and when the cop wont site you for that they neighbor went hunting for more. Considering the angle of her driveway, backing out and heading toward Broadway requires a pretty big turn of the wheel. MAP Many people are terrible at backing. When she leaves her house does she back out and point herself toward Broadway or does she take the easy way out (of less difficult backing) and depart by way of the alley?

I can see that, but he has been in the house 3 years. Did she just recently move in? If not did someone (child, grandchild) just move in with her? On the map posted by John, there is a blue car parked the wrong way in front. Do you consistently park there? That could make backing out of the drive difficult.

3 years? I missed that. The county website says Corey has owned the place for less than a year.
Th old lady across the street has lived there for a long time with no record of transfer/sale on the county website.

The "3rd car" is often parked there. It is additionally, often accompanied by a 4th car.
In Corey's original posting, he gave this google map (which is different than the Bing Map I gave.)

I used to live near an old fart who would never turn his wheel while backing out of his drive. He would go back till his car was stopped by the curb from across the street then turn his wheel once in forward, drive gear.
The challenge was that there was legal parking across the street from him, like here. He would raise a ruckus if people actually parked there and hampered his lazy style of driving.

JohnRW1621 wrote: 3 years? I missed that. The county website says Corey has owned the place for less than a year. Th old lady across the street has lived there for a long time with no record of transfer/sale on the county website. The "3rd car" is often parked there. It is additionally, often accompanied by a 4th car. In Corey's original posting, he gave this google map (which is different than the Bing Map I gave.)

I just skimmed the thread again looking for that, and didn't see it. I thought it came up, but I could have confused this thread with another. My money is on the old lady across the street or one of her sons as mentioned earlier in the thread.

ClemSparks wrote: You know...the easiest way to get the compliance sticklers off your back? Comply. In my neighborhood...neighbors don't even have to complain. They send out a "task force" looking for code/ordinance/health violations.

Yep. I know who mine is, he lives across the street. Perfectly civil to my face, but he'll call in for anything and everything he can. He's a neat freak and a control freak.

All 100% legal. There is no harassment for calling in violations, just like there is no harassement for calling in crime reports. It can be done once, it can be done a thousand times. Calling in fakes is different. But if it's real, the person placing the call is golden.

It still looks to me like you have stuff parked on the sidewalk...

OK, just to clear a few things up. I have actually lived here for a little over 15 years. My ex bought it back then, and when we split in '05 I bought it on contract from her. The deed transfer from a year or so ago was when I paid it off.

The old lady across the street has lived there pretty much her entire life, but she doesn't drive. Her kids have no problems getting out of the driveway. MOST of her kids are friendly. Her daughter actually told me a while ago (when I was selling a car) specifically "Don't get rid of the maroon one (the '66 Fastback), my daughter LOVES that car!". Her sons always wave, but one of them doesn't seem too friendly. I could see him being pissed about stuff in front looking bad, but I couldn't see him going out of his way to look for stuff to call on.

I thought that dude on Broadway's name was Jeremy! I knew it started with a J, since his license plate is JOUTLAW, but wasn't positive what his first name was. I've never really met him, but most of the neighbors know him because his dad grew up in the neighborhood. In fact most of the people in the neighborhood grew up in the neighborhood, and I'm good friends with most of the families that have literally been there for generations. He doesn't have a dog, and has absolutely no reason to use the alley, of even come down my street at all. That being said, I have seen him drive by. No idea why.

And yes, Dwight is getting screwed on the property thing. We've actually joked around about putting an arm and a toll booth in his yard. If this continues, we just might.

Streetwiseguy, I promise I"m not parking on the sidewalk. The pics are deceiving. I can take some new pics if you'd like.

Datsun1500 wrote: Anything you can report him for?

Having a ridiculous vanity plate?

Here's a slightly better pic of how the graveled area meets up to the street, and my sidewalk is recessed quite a bit. I don't ever park like this. It was just for the awesome '80s effect. Also, the 944 is all one color again, and has clean Fuchs wheels instead of the filthy cookie cutters.

Here's another pic that shows it a little better, although the grass has been taken out and more gravel has gone in.

WA-wa-wait...you own a DeLorean?

Appleseed wrote: WA-wa-wait...you own a DeLorean?

Yeah... more on this. Go back in time and sucker punch his Dad in front of his Mom?

If you bought that at mecum last year I'll punch you in the taint for not saying hello

yamaha wrote: I'll punch you in the taint

Gross!

So many better places to punch people...

Appleseed wrote: WA-wa-wait...you own a DeLorean?

The DeLorean is gone, and it wasn't actually mine to begin with. I was working on it for a guy I know, and it lived at my house for a year or two. Nobody complained when the DeLorean was parked illegally! Last I heard it got sold at an estate sale after the owner died, then I saw it at a car dealer/salvage yard in Henderson, KY. for sale. Last time I was at the yard the DeLorean wasn't, so I'm guessing he sold it.

Dang, I was really hoping for a build thread on the Delorean. I am disappoint.
Edit: Oh berkeley, there's one on craigslist near me.

Corey...

The complaining, nasty neighbor, and other things many of us do not like are completely irrelevant.

Your neighbor has a right to complain about you when you are not in compliance.

Get in compliance.

And I STRONGLY doubt the officer was within the regs and guidelines when he told you enough about the neighbor's email address to identify him. The reason they are not supposed to identify complaints is for public protection. It's to try to avoid people going postal. If you were charged, it would not be the neighbor vs. you. It would be the town vs. you.

Burning garbage, nasty looking fences, tarp walls, and messages burned in the lawn are being every bit as big a d1ck as your neighbor is being.

Get in compliance, then the officer will not be able to do anything.

The fact that he is siding with you may be cool, but it is not actually his job, and can border on being inappropriate. He was giving you a hint when he told you the neighbor would win if he pushed. Take the hint. It's not a gray area.

Oh, and BTW, fences generally require permits.

EastCoastMojo wrote: Dang, I was really hoping for a build thread on the Delorean. I am disappoint. Edit: Oh berkeley, there's one in my driveway that was on Craigslist a few hours ago!

Sweet!

Datsun1500 wrote: In reply to SVreX: A nasty looking fence gets him into compliance. I think that's ok to do. The rest, not so much. It's also ok with me if he wants to make sure the guy complaining is also in compliance...

Go find some free pallets, and a few misc. colors of paint? Boom! Privacy fence.

SVreX wrote: Corey... Your neighbor has a right to complain about you when you are not in compliance. Get in compliance.

But that's just it, I've been told by two different officers that I was in compliance. BUT, the vehicle under a tarp within public view (and what constitutes "public view") thing is not clearly defined in the ordinance. And if he argues hard enough, they might see it his way.

And I agree, I'm sure the officer let a little more info slip than he was allowed to. But he probably realized that Colleen and I are reasonable people, and if we were able to resolve this without getting the authorities involved it would be better for everyone. If I could just talk to the guy and find out what the actual problem is I feel we could finish this civilly. He even said that it looked like a personal thing, considering 3/4 of the neighborhood looks WAY trashier than my property, and I'm the only one with a complaint against them. Especially since you can barely see the car in question. The dude is obviously grasping at straws and looking for something to complain about.

I have a new theory. What about someone that doesn't even live near you? Someone that just wants to make you a little miserable. Maybe someone you sold a car to that wasn't completely satisfied? Maybe someone from work? Somewhere along the line you must have pissed someone off.

Datsun1500 wrote: In reply to SVreX: A nasty looking fence gets him into compliance.

Maybe.

That depends on the permitting/ inspection process and local maintenance regs.

In reply to 16vCorey:

Not really.

An alley is a public roadway. If it is visible from the alley, there is not much to argue about.

If it was a clean car cover, you might be able to stretch the regs a bit. But a tarp, unlikely.

Most local ordinances read something like " all vehicles must be operable, display current tags and stickers, or be properly stored in a garage". Tarps don't count.

Why don't you READ the ordinance, and SEE if you are in compliance?

Or, we could all just argue about the bastard.