Neighborhood Watch

[An Haddock]

Is this the town with the "famous" diamonds to be found on the beach?

I think my wife bought her wedding dress in a little Victorian boutique there

It's a colonial-era town in South Jersey, on the west side of the state.

[An Haddock]

Sounds like the nuts that lived next door to my parents. They had their own "laws."

For example, you weren't allowed to park on the street in front of their house. If you did, you'd get a lovely note under your wiper demanding $3 for parking. If you did it again, you'd get a visit from the borough's finest. Of course, I'd park there just to torque them off. As long as I didn't damage their shrubs or block the driveway...there wasn't a damn thing they could do about it

This reminds me of the town my and parents lived in before we moved.

Even in the mid-70's, when not everyone had 2 or more cars per household, parking was at a premium. To make things worse, we didn't have a driveway so it was all on-street parking. Both my parents worked so we were the unlucky ones with 2 cars.

There were some old folks (75ish) who lived 2 doors down from us. And despite having a perfectly usable driveway, the old guy only parked on the street and he would put out trash cans to block off "his spot".

I don't recall all the vitriol aimed at him from my parents and the other neighbors, but it cheesed them all off to no end. Not just blocking off part of the street but because he refused to use his own driveway.


I've since drive past our old house a few times and the new homeowner put a driveway in. decimated our poor lawn to do it, but parking is a lot more convenient to them, at least.

[XCashier]

This is why I never want to live in a neighborhood with a Home Owners' Association. Far too many power-hungry Nosy Nellies using HOAs to boss their neighbors around and go on a power trip.

Garbage in the yard, knee-high weeds, okay, I can understand not wanting that, and I would totally comply. But if I'm too under the weather to mow the lawn that week, or if I want to paint my house blue instead of beige, or if I want snapdragons instead of roses, I don't want someone calling the police on me. The police have far more important things to do, and I really don't want my neighborhood to be a series of bland, boring little boxes.

[fireheart]

Am I the only one who thought of that crazy-ass lady in Over The Hedge who was trying to get rid of the animals?

[Rapscallion]

Didn't stop them from trying to get us into trouble. But, that backfired--the letter we got was a forgery. They'd tried to intimidate us...by piecing together an official-looking letter on doctored county stationery, complete with authentic signature. Nothing happened--my parents called the county official in question, and he couldn't have done a damn thing.

No prosecution for fraud?

Rapscallion

[An Haddock]

This is why I never want to live in a neighborhood with a Home Owners' Association. Far too many power-hungry Nosy Nellies using HOAs to boss their neighbors around and go on a power trip.

Garbage in the yard, knee-high weeds, okay, I can understand not wanting that, and I would totally comply. But if I'm too under the weather to mow the lawn that week, or if I want to paint my house blue instead of beige, or if I want snapdragons instead of roses, I don't want someone calling the police on me. The police have far more important things to do, and I really don't want my neighborhood to be a series of bland, boring little boxes.

The X-Files had a great episode about that... if you defied the homeowner's association the guy in charge would summon some sort of Tibetan plant monster to kill you. Funny episode.

[TheCheerfulTreeRat]

He needed to repaint his porch, and planned to paint it red. When he went to the tool shed to look, he had half a can of red paint, and half a can of white. He figured that the porch should get two coats anyway, so he mixed the two and painted the porch pink as an undercoat. The plan was that, come the following weekend, he'd pick up the red paint and finish the job with a second coat.

Operation Petticoat!

[protege]

No prosecution for fraud?

Anyone on the block could have sent that letter, so we couldn't prove it. But, we all know who did it. It was very typical of their antics. They didn't have the balls to confront people--they left that to others. When confronted, they'd back off.

For example, I was leaving for work one morning, when the husband came over and was giving me grief about my car. Seems the blue exhaust on start-up was "killing the plants." Never mind that said plants really shouldn't have been planted so close together He threatened to call the cops over it. I got in his face, and I told him to go right ahead. But, if he did...I'd be filing charges for harassment and trespassing--he was standing in my driveway at the time. He left me alone after that, and never did call the cops.

I forgot to mention that the wife was certifiably crazy. She lost her job at one of the hospitals because of her mental state. Because of that, when the cops did come, they always sent two or more officers...and they would not enter the house.

I remember one afternoon, when she called the cops, claiming that my brother...was in her attic Never mind that he'd moved out months prior, and rarely came home. Maybe it was the "ghost entity" that lived in the front bedroom? Who knows.

Speaking of the "ghost entity," there was one bedroom that they would not enter. Supposedly, the ghost was previous owner, who had died in that room...and would attack anyone in there. As such, the windows had been painted over and the door nailed shut. A bullshit story, since I've lived on the same street over 35 years, and nobody has died in that house.

[Canadian In Maine]

There were some old folks (75ish) who lived 2 doors down from us. And despite having a perfectly usable driveway, the old guy only parked on the street and he would put out trash cans to block off "his spot".

This sounds like a former neighbor of ours. His driveway had room enough for 3 cars, him and the wife only had one and they always parked on the street.

I found this to be incredibly ignorant and I hated him for that.

[protege]

I forgot about the street parking. That was another thing that the crazies did that annoyed the rest of us. That is, if you were having a party, or even company over...they'd get both of their cars, and park them both in front of their house.

Naturally, my parents, and the rest of the block found ways to mess with them. That is, even if we weren't having a party, we'd tie a balloon to our light posts. That was a *guaranteed* way to get them to freak out...and move their cars. Childish perhaps, but it was a very cheap and easy prank. Especially when multiple people were involved, and balloons would appear on random days at random homes.

[Crossbow]

I forgot about the street parking. That was another thing that the crazies did that annoyed the rest of us. That is, if you were having a party, or even company over...they'd get both of their cars, and park them both in front of their house.

Naturally, my parents, and the rest of the block found ways to mess with them. That is, even if we weren't having a party, we'd tie a balloon to our light posts. That was a *guaranteed* way to get them to freak out...and move their cars. Childish perhaps, but it was a very cheap and easy prank. Especially when multiple people were involved, and balloons would appear on random days at random homes.

I like that! did they leave the cars in the street overnight? Overnight street parking in my neighborhood is illegal and gets you towed.

[Caractacus_Potts]

After reading these mine doesn't seem really all that bad. My dad had a car that had been in an accident. He had left it parked on the street, unregistered and uninsured so no plates, while the insurance was being settled.

A week later a cop showed up. He explained that while he personally didn't see a problem with temporarily having the car on our dead end street which only had eight house, one of the neighbors had complained that it was an eyesore and since it was not registered and insured my dad would have to move it onto his property.

If the anonymous neighbor had asked instead of calling the police on us my dad would have been more than happy to move the car into our garage. Since they had not done that he decided to park the car right on our front lawn. And left it there for three years. He would have left it there until we moved but it was driving my mother crazy.

[Skeen]

My crazy-ass old retired neighbor once complained to my husband that he didn't like our cats watching him mow his lawn. Apparently they would sit in our dining room windows and watch him, and he hated it. My husband looked at him like he was insane and told him he'd speak to the cats about it.

Put up a fence, old dude. That will solve everyone's problems.

[protege]

Overnight street parking in my neighborhood is illegal and gets you towed.

Same here. If the cops are making their rounds, and notice your vehicle parked along the street, they'll ticket you. A hefty fine, actually--$300 per violation The only exception, is if you're having your driveway redone. Call the cops, let them know that your vehicle(s) will be in the street, and you're good.

[An Haddock]

Same here. If the cops are making their rounds, and notice your vehicle parked along the street, they'll ticket you. A hefty fine, actually--$300 per violation The only exception, is if you're having your driveway redone. Call the cops, let them know that your vehicle(s) will be in the street, and you're good.

Where is this? I live in NJ - the most densely populated state - and all they do to us is give like a $30 ticket. You can call the cops for temporary overnight parking as well, but I had no idea other places levied such ridiculous fines or even towing... unless it was a big city. I know our neighboring Philadelphia's parking authority is like a Nazi state. Nothing else works right in that city but the parking people.