Subscribe Here for News & EventsEDITORIAL
August 24th, 2008
Does misery love company? Until the recent TALK BACK comment from a subscriber of the website regarding cars parking on the street, I thought I was the only one who agonized over this problem. As I drive through the streets of the Cove, I see many, many cars parked in the street. However, my personal anquish comes from my own street. My street has relatively no cars parked on the street EXCEPT for the house across the street from me. This house has a minimum of six cars (and assorted trucks) parked on the street in front of their house, their driveway and my street front. There are 5 adults (driving age) living in the home. No vehicle in this houshold is parked in the garage. Why does this matter to me? Any one of the six vehicles are usually parked in front of my mailbox. The Post Office will not deliver my mail when this occurs. I have asked nicely, left written requests in English and Spanish on the windshield but I never have complete compliance. They say, “Oh sorry” or “It will never happen again” but it is a continuing problem. I have contacted the Post Office to see if there is a remedy and have been told that it is not their problem. The curb cannot be painted and the Post Office does not have to get out of the vehicle to deliver the mail. The only real solution is for me to get a Post Office Box for the delivery of mail. My mail delivery is one problem but the other is that when I have a dinner party or my gardener or pool cleaner tries to park to service my property, there is no available parking.
Now on to the whole problem as I see it. As I drive around the Cove and see open garage doors–it is evident that many folks use their garage as a storage facility of junk and useless possessions. The total worth of items in their garage probably totals $300.00, but they leave their 2nd most valuable asset (the vehicles) anywhere from $25,000 to $35,000 in the driveway or on the street. Does this make any sense? They are the same people who complain about vandelism to their vehicles and stolen items from them. They believe that street lights are the problem. If they would park their vehicles with their personal property inside in the garage, that problem would go away.
I usually don’t complain about items that I have no solution or a way that this can be fixed, but it is a “no-brainer” to me and I can see no real way to fix this if people do not have the pride or motivation to make a difference in the community. Clean out your garage and use it for the purpose intended. PARKING YOUR VEHICLE.
August 25th, 2008 at 5:15 am
We have the exact same issue on our block with a guy who is running 2-3 different businesses out of his house. Each business has at least one vehicle and they are all parked in front of his neighbors’ homes so that he can park his personal vehicles in front of his house. And guess what, his garage is full of stuff and couldn’t fit a car in it if his life depended on it.
I have the same issue with people who turn their garage into a rec room. Move it out back. That’s what backyards are for.
I think that the no overnight street parking is a great solution. One argument had been made that it would increase speeding, but I don’t see one car every half hour going over the speed limit during the night as a big enough problem to prevent keeping our streets clear. Let’s take some pride in our neighborhoods!
August 25th, 2008 at 7:38 am
It sounds like some of you have some real problems on your street. I think some families will have to park their cars on the street even with cars inside of the garage. But, if there are too many cars and it is blocking your mailbox, or their are not using their garage, that is a basic lack of consideration problem. We may have to use the street but everyone should be considerate of their neighbor. I had a van parked for over one week in front of my house. I didn’t kinow if the van was abandoned. I didn’t mind except when I was going to have guests over it was an “eye sore.” When the fellow showed up to pick it up he said, “it is public parking it doesn’t matter.” I understand life can be stressful at times and we all may have problems, but some people in the cove should be more thoughtful of their neighbors. Also, a fair amount of people let their dogs run loose and they do chase and try to bite you while walking. I told two people about their dogs while their dogs chased me right in front of them and their just shrugged their shoulders. The dogs could also get run over.
It is not too hard to problem solve if you put your mind to it.
August 25th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
I’ve experienced similar problems with vehicles parked in front of my mail box. Try typing in LARGE LETTERS in ENGLISH, this is not MEXICO YET, stating the following: PLEASE DO NOT PARK IN FRONT OF THIS MAIL BOX, THE POST OFFICE WILL NOT DELIVER MY MAIL. THANK YOU…..and enclosed it “clear sheet protectors”, seal it to prevent moisture and tie it to your mail box so that everyone concerned can read it. Metal Artist
June 24th, 2010 at 4:39 pm
I bought my Dolphin Diagnostic 4 years in the past at our native Leslie’s. I had a Kreepy Krauly which worked fairly well however, since my pool has only one skimmer inlet, the floor would not get adequately skimmed when the KK was being used (even with the KK skimmer plate which allowed for some skimming while vacuuming). While we do not have many bushes in West Texas, any which might be shed seem to finish up in my pool
December 29th, 2010 at 3:39 am
I feel powerful! I read the manual installation of the pool skimmer with terms that did not know English and I did well!
February 5th, 2011 at 10:44 am
@Lakita: what are you talking about? it has nothing to do with skimmer