Having it towed? Won't that come out of your pocket?

(Don't know how it works. Does the towing company make money on the towee, not the caller?)

No, the person whose car it is pays.

If it's a particularly valuable car (either an antique or a high-value current car), the best trick is to call a towing company far, far away.

There's a DC area-story of an violated homeowner, who had the Mercedes, Land Rovers, BMWs, etc of some trespassing Yuppies, towed from Sterling (up by Dulles Airport)to Alexandria. The Yuppies ended up (at least supposedly) paying about a thousand a piece to get their cars back.

I'll leave the tale of getting their kids back from Child Social Services for another day (evil grin)

Why do people do such stupid things? You'd think someone with a ride like that would be quite aware the tow truck lurks if you block peoples garages. Especially in places like Santa Monica where parking is dear.

At the very least, say you need to park illegally for a short time, leave a note with a number you can be reached.

The rude person will have to pay before he/she can get the car back. Best part: the longer the car sits in the lot, the more you generally have to pay. Since this is in a neighborhood, there are probably no handy signs with the tow company's name and number (as you usually find in a business's parking lot), meaning this person is going to have to probably make the extra step of calling the police. Hopefully that'll be some time wasted and a painful lesson learned.

... I mean, I can maybe see parking a bit close to someone's driveway instead of the required four feet if parking is scarce. But parking in FRONT of someone's garage door? Really????

Are you going to have those garbage cans towed as well? It looks like they provided a bad example by parking there first. The driver probably saw them there and thought that since they were there, it was perfectly fine to park.

Because it's the alley, I had to call the city. I wanted to call whomever came fastest. But here's the thing. The parking enforcement people are used to people being mean to them. If you're 1. Nice to them, and 2. Explain that you're in a predicament because of the assholeparker, they will try to come fast.

If anyone in LA needs that DOT tow/cite number, it's 818-752-5110.

My neighborhood is newly hot, the past few years, and all sorts of assholes asshole all over us -- with their cars, noise, peeing on our fences and in our flowers.

My take on this: Not if I can fucking help it.

My friend A. actually took the hose to a woman peeing in her bushes, which I found hilarious, but which I also think is assault. I don't believe in touching people or their property -- but I'm not going to roll over and let them abuse my neighbors and me.

I texted my neighbor at work, and she told me this guy has been told a number of times -- by her and by a neighbor in his apartment court. Somehow, I think finding a note under a rock where his car used to be will be far more persuasive.

In LA, you cannot block people's garage doors. You can't. Ours open out. You cannot open your door if someone is parked in front of it. Also, we sometimes need to park in front of our garages. This is permitted. We're blocking only our own space.

Oh, and this asshole also made it quite difficult for the neighbor across the alley to get his minivan out this morning. That neighbor smiled and looked rather pleased when I told him I was having the guy ticketed and towed.

Fayd, those are our cans. Mine and my neighbors. What a silly thing to say. We move them over. They roll. They aren't bolted to the pavement.

Looks like it'll end up in Culver City. Closest one.

http://www.opgla.com/divisions/PoliceGarages.aspx

My guess is maybe a '68 Coupe Deville, about to be a Coupe D'Impound; a real sweety if it's been well looked after. You'd think the owner would be a little smarter about parking it.

Oh, I think Fayd was just being silly.

Yes, I was being silly. It's too bad the garbage truck couldn't take away the car as well.

Sofar said:

"... I mean, I can maybe see parking a bit close to someone's driveway instead of the required four feet if parking is scarce. But parking in FRONT of someone's garage door? Really????"

In L.A. and other cities in Kali, the driveway begins where the curb starts its downslope to gutter level. This space is needed to enter/exit the driveway safely so you don't have to make a 90 degree Bat-Turn to get in or out. So park closer than four feet (as you mentioned) and you can get a ticket or towed. Here is L.A. the person who has the driveway gets to determine whether the vehicle blocking gets towed. I have them all towed.

Learn the laws regarding parking in your area and you'll never get a ticket or towed. You can always park in front of a hydrant if you can't find a driveway to block.

Oh, and Fayd, garbage cans have their own set of laws/regulations in L.A.

Check this link to learn how to park legally in San Francisco (and Kali in general) . . .

http://www.sfmta.com/getting-around/parking/how-park-legally

Amy, I found the perfect solution for those peeing on your sidewalk or yard. Since it normally doesn't happen during daylight, you can't really see exactly what they are doing out there. So, when you call the police you just say someone is exposing themselves and appears to be masturbating. That changed my police response time from an hour to two minutes. The squirter will glady confess and get a ticket for peeing in public rather than get taken away for sexual preversion (to quote Col. Bat Guano in Dr. Strangelove) in public.

"I wanted to call whomever came fastest."

Professional writer, huh?

"My friend A. actually took the hose to a woman peeing in her bushes, which I found hilarious, but which I also think is assault."
That might be true, but it's also hilarious enough to avoid a court appearance in all but the worst cases!

Ours open out. You cannot open your door if someone is parked in front of it.

Oh, you can open it. Just not all the way.

Keep opening it and if you bang into the obstruction hard enough or often enough, it will go away.

My guess is maybe a '68 Coupe Deville, about to be a Coupe D'Impound; a real sweety if it's been well looked after. You'd think the owner would be a little smarter about parking it.

My guess is the owner has a hard time parking it - what with modern parking spaces being designed for sub-compact cars (now euphemistically called mid-size cars).

Might be time for him to garage the land yacht and get a car he can actually park in the city.

I don't believe in damaging people's property, even if they're assholes. I can't get into my garage unless the door swings open and out.

People who drive huge vehicles need to be prepared for the parking difficulties they have -- or get a smaller ride.

If you OWN the car then parking it LEGALLY is part of the ownership of that car.

What this guy did, in my opinion, isn't just rudeness; it is THEFT. They are stealing your time if you cannot move your car to go where you need to be.

Good for you, Amy, in having it towed.

Those tires seem to have an awful lot of air in them.

Years ago I had a guy towed from my space (which had a HUGE sign indicating that would be the consequence of parking there). The owner arrived a short time after his car was gone and said to me, "I've NEVER had my car towed!"

"Well, you can't say THAT anymore," I replied.

Dealing with this right now. Someone is parking a lg Mercedes Sprinter truck on my narrow L.A. hill street for days on end. Parking Enforcement said if truck had a logo on it, it could be towed immediately. As it doesn't, they "stealth tag" it then start the 72 hour clock, after which time it can be towed.

Guy just moves it before the 72 hours are up, gets away with it, then reparks.

v. frustrated.

"Since this is in a neighborhood, there are probably no handy signs with the tow company's name and number (as you usually find in a business's parking lot), "

Interesting. In Florida, you have to post a sign stating what towing company will be called, and their phone number. If there's no sign, it's not legal for the towing company to pick it up. They did this because of apartment and condo dwellers using towing to extract vengence on their neighbors.

I live in our historic downtown, next to an alley, where parking is prohibited. Whenever we have street fairs, we get parked in by people coming from the city next door. There's a little turnout space alongside the alley, just big enough for ME to park in, but it's not a "legal driveway", so the cops won't cite someone for blocking it. I harangued a cop one time to at least ticket the creep blocking my secret spot, since it IS an alleyway, but he whined about spending all day writing tickets. How is this a problem?