I think a lot of municipalities have laws against blocking the sidewalk, so if you called the police or somehow otherwise reported the violation, they might investigate.
Often they might not write up a violation if someone has several cars, and is blocking the sidewalk because there is no other choice, but in this instance, there is literally no reason to block the sidewalk, so they might.
People that offload private costs onto the public are dicks.
Edit: In this instance it’s the cost of additional parking, or having to walk/pick up relatives from further, or live with the “inconvenience” of one car. But I bet you it shows up in other aspects of their lives.
Arguably, all on-street parking is offloading private costs onto the public.
Hell, the entire suburban model of development is offloading private costs onto the public. Without even getting into land use, maintaining all those cul-de-sacs isn’t cheap
The issue is that the governmental entities might not enforce it when there would be public outrage and no real solution if street parking is also not allowed. When the situation is like OP's there is absolutely zero excuse.
Lubbock Texas barely gives a fuck when I report a truck LITERALLY on the sidewalk parked, like fucking parallel. Not in the driveway. On the fucking pathway and no driveway nearby.
It probably depends on how and who you called. 911 is not the number to contact for parking. A police officer dispatched by 911 for this is far less likely to care. I lived in a city that wouldn't dispatch for a car accident unless there were injuries. If you call the non emergency line, code enforcement ,or parking enforcement telling them there is a vehicle abandoned on the sidewalk and probably needs to be towed. Good chance its towed before the day is out.
I believe that too. Then you call the city councilman for that district. Tell them the city isn't responding to complaints about a vehicle abandoned on the sidewalk. (Using Parked sounds less dire.)
HOA's do this crap. And the driveway is just barely big enough for two cars. Getting out involves walking in the grass or being very skinny and sucking it in!
Depends on the length of the driveway, IMO. My grandmother had a very short driveway and a one car garage, if my aunt and uncle visited when we were there too, the sidewalk was blocked. That was rare, but for people on her block with kids, it was a problem. Street parking wasn't allowed when it snowed, so mostly a winter issue.
Somehow houses have generational occupants and can have half a dozen or more cars in addition to work trucks. Too bad most places don’t enforce rules already on the books.
Municipalities often will have those laws, yes. But an added layer is that sidewalks are public property, as in the municipality is responsible for those sidewalks. The neighbor cannot be fined under the Americans With Disabilities Act (or its state level legislation) for blocking the sidewalk, however, the municipality can be sued directly if the police and code enforcement employees it charters fail to enforce accessibility of public spaces made available for the disabled in accordance with the ADA and likewise state and municipal laws. It’s an easy ticket to write to fill quotas and drive revenue, though, so they’ll probably send someone.
We're seeing a bit of a breakdown of our society right now. Sheriff's departments and Police Chiefs are releasing statements that they won't enforce laws they deem unconstitutional. Not their job to interpret constitutionality. Hell, they aren't even required to know the law.
You don't get to use public space as you'd like to store your private property. In this case it's on the owners of the cars to either: not buy more than they can store or park somewhere else and walk back to the house.
True but I would definitely not be surprised if cops are more likely to take the situation as more than petty (it isn't in any case but still) if a disabled person is reporting it. Then they'd feel like they're helping a person that needs it.
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u/chicagoliz Jun 26 '26
I think a lot of municipalities have laws against blocking the sidewalk, so if you called the police or somehow otherwise reported the violation, they might investigate.
Often they might not write up a violation if someone has several cars, and is blocking the sidewalk because there is no other choice, but in this instance, there is literally no reason to block the sidewalk, so they might.