Shared Parking
I live in Jersey City, but am hoping that my question is broad enough that the Brownstoner community might be able to help. I live in a row of townhouses that has a shared parking lot in the back. My neighbors on both sides use their garage space as living space and often will park…
I live in Jersey City, but am hoping that my question is broad enough that the Brownstoner community might be able to help.
I live in a row of townhouses that has a shared parking lot in the back. My neighbors on both sides use their garage space as living space and often will park directly in front of their home (parallel to where the garage would be). I, however, use my garage to park my car and have difficulty maneuvering into and out of the space due to my neighbors parking their cars too close. I have lines painted on the ground to designated how much room they have to park before they block my garage, but despite repeated requests they regularly park too close and I either have to do a 9 point maneuver to get into/out of the garage, or ring their doorbell and ask them to move their vehicle.
How do I find out if it is illegal for them to park there? There are spaces against the fence for everyone, but because they have too many vehicles they can’t fit them all in (or can’t be bothered to do so). Also, there is a fire hydrant near one of the townhouse garages further down; can I call the fire department to say that these cars are blocking access?
Thanks.
Thanks for the info. Mr. Parking Idiot is a renter so we will be sending a letter to his landlord to inform them of his unneighborly-like conduct (this worked in the past when we couldn’t convince Mr. Idiot that grilling inside the garage was A) a great way to burn down the house, and B) the fastest method of filling our own house with smoke). As for the owners on the other side that also park like Helen Keller was their driving instructor, I have had words with the woman of the house (who said I needed to “get with God”), but when my husband last spoke with the man of the house he said that a new parking configuration would be taking place that should keep them from parking against the house in the future. Not hedging my bets, but am hoping. Would you be surprised to know that all these folks are related?
Anyway, thanks again. Hopefully this gets resolved before I personally increase the Jersey City crime rate.
Legally, there’s not much you can do in terms of code violations. You can call FD but I believe that maybe limited to cars that are directly near the hydrant. You can, however, file a civil suit against the people that are impeding you from freely accessing your property. Think of it this way, if a car parks perpendicular in the alley preventing from reaching your garage then you’ll have some civil recourse in the courts. Even though the cars aren’t on your property, they do, in fact, prevent you from full and free access to it.
In Jersey City, if you want to park in front of your driveway, you need a permit from the parking authority to do so. However, since the situation you describe seems to be taking place on private property and not on the street, this probably doesn’t apply. You can probably bring the fire hydrant issue to the FD’s attention and see what happens.
Find out if the garage conversions are legal. Drop a dime with the building dept.
Are they on your property when they park “too close?” If so, you are right to be pissed and should do something about it.
The comments above are perfect. Nicely done.
Sounds like a civil matter. There is no criminal statute that forbids one from being a dick.
Wait, I though all the stupid, inconsiderate people lived in Park Slope. Apparently I’m misinformed.
Apologize in advance for side swiping their car…