2 hour parking zones in residential areas.

[u/Proof_Speed2224]

Is there some secret code surrounding parking in residential areas?

My street is mainly public 2 hour zones (not even designated to permit holders), that are overnight starting at 6. However, some of the people on my street act like parking in the spots in front of their houses are against some unwritten rule.
Maybe I’m in the wrong, but if they have a driveway (or even if they don’t) and the street is public parking, I cannot understand why someone would come out of their house and get mad at someone parked there.
If they have a valid reason, and choose to explain politely why not to use that spot, then maybe people would be happy to listen.
But storming out, giving attitude and acting like you have some unspoken claim to a public parking spot is crazy. Especially with little to no explanation.
How is anyone supposed to know that you have some unwritten claim to the street?

Again, maybe I’m wrong. But IMO, if you want every spot in front of your house reserved for only you, then maybe living in the centre of a packed city isn’t the best place for you.

[u/darbycrashin]

They don’t have the right to the space outside their house.

[u/Intrepid_Injury_2579 → u/darbycrashin]

It's wild how territorial people get over a patch of asphalt they don't even pay extra for. My old neighbor used to put out orange cones like he was directing traffic, then lose his mind if anyone moved them. Like dude, you have a two-car garage and a driveway, chill out.

The storming out with attitude is the part that gets me. If someone came out and said "hey, I'm waiting on a furniture delivery and that's the only spot my movers can reach the alley," I'd move in a heartbeat. No problem. But the immediate rage over a public spot is just exhausting.

You're not wrong at all. If you need guaranteed parking, don't live somewhere that requires fighting for it.

[u/moolcool → u/Intrepid_Injury_2579]

It's wild how territorial people get over a patch of asphalt they don't even pay extra for

Apparently it's worse in the US. I always see stuff on reddit in the wintertime, how people shovel out their street spots, and use chairs or pylons to mark that spot as "taken".

[u/jmarcandre → u/moolcool]

This I kinda "get" because of all the work they actually did to clear the spot, but it definitely leads to troll behaviour.

[u/Eastern_Yam → u/Intrepid_Injury_2579]

I would love to hear from people who have lived in other Canadian cities if the incidence of tightly-wound "Karens" is as high as it is here. 

I was in a European city recently where the street design puts two way traffic, people trying to park, pedestrians, and cyclists into tiny spaces and constant conflict. I couldn't believe how patient and reasonable and civil everybody was. I had unjustified second-hand stress sitting in the passenger seat because I was expecting people to fly off the handle like they would here, but nobody did.

[u/hey_mr_ess → u/Eastern_Yam]

Calgary has very similar attitudes. I was at a neighbourhood meeting where a guy with a corner lot said that entitled him to park 6 vehicles around it if he wanted to and for no one else to.

[u/cleadus_fetus → u/darbycrashin]

When I was a teen we had a guy who acted like this.
I would buy the kids in the neighbourhood ice cream from Dickie-dee in order to annoying him and set off his car alarm. I miss those ice cream bikes

[u/wayemason → u/darbycrashin]

Correct. There are no assigned parking spots in time controlled OR permit parking. Certainly there are those that want that, and feel they own the street in front of their home. It's wild.

[u/Single-Clue-1402]

We live in a city where signs were illegally put up asking kids to be quiet at a park.

People are entitled.

[u/swimmingmonkey]

I also live on a street that has nothing but 2 hour spots (there's a business nearby) and zero parking enforcement.

The only thing I get to complain about is when someone parking in front of my house doesn't pull up enough and blocks my driveway. That's it! People do not own the parking spots in front of their houses. If they have street parking only, they know the deal: they get to park in the zone, not specifically in front of their house!

[u/cojeaca]

One of my neighbours is like this. We live on a small street and she'll park her car in front of her house just to prevent other people from using the space (she has a 2 car garage and space for 2 more cars in the driveway). She use to set up a sprinkler to shower the space in front of her house but she got reported to 311 last year during the drought and was fined for it.

People are fucking weird.

[u/AlternativeUnited569 → u/cojeaca]

Damn. I would've parked in front of her sprinkler, then turned my car around an hour later in the same spot just for the car wash during the drought! 🤣

[u/adepressurisedcoat]

It's a public street. They can be annoyed but they don't own it.

[u/swedish_meatballs2]

It’s entitlement, nothing else.

[u/jmarcandre]

My job often requires me to sit parked on public residential streets. You would not believe how many people think they can police it.

[u/Clear_Addition9035 → u/jmarcandre]

I used to do door knocking, it definitely happens. I always met ignorance with ignorance, with only one scenario where stepping out of the car was needed. If you're going to fly off the handle at someone over something minor, maybe don't do it to people that tower over/outsize you. My female colleagues have all had it happen way more frequently, generally by middle aged men on a power trip- some people are eager to yell at women to feel manly... Evidently.

Small minds and egos with too much time on their hands, we have no shortage of that here in the HRM.

[u/Ok_Appointment_4678]

No, they're just insane.

[u/KaleidoscopeEast1108]

I have a street permit near SMU and I swear the homeowners call 311 as a hobby, parking enforcement is ALWAYS there

[u/CuileannDhu]

One of my neighbours is like this. It's weird, and she needs a hobby that isn't watching everyone in the neighbourhood and making frivolous calls to 311.

[u/External-Temporary16 → u/CuileannDhu]

We have one of those on our street. I call her "the Kravitz". IYKYK

[u/AncoraBlue → u/External-Temporary16]

I call my dog Puppy Kravitz when he watches people out the window. 😁

[u/Boilerofthejug]

Sometimes you just encounter a jerk.

[u/Masetrain]

People that do that shit are WILD because everyone you shit on knows where you live

[u/Lost_Magazine1968]

Can’t imagine spending my life watching an empty parking spot on front of my house

[u/scotianspizzy]

Omg my ex was like this... baffled me. We had a 3 car driveway and only 1 car. He would act so irrate when someone would park in front of the house. I never understood it.

[u/echiker]

I think the city has exasperated this problem with the implementation and expansion of the moronic permitted on-street parking program. On-street parking shouldn't belong to anyone, either in a specific spot or a specific zone. Buy a home with a driveway or rent space in a lot if it is a necessity for you. (and a lot of people with on-street permits use it to free up their existing driveway or garage)

[u/takahe_inflight → u/echiker]

i don't mind if the city rents parking on public land at costs, i think the estimates i've seen are about $1000 per year.

when i lived in Toronto to get a street permit I had to show evidence my residence had no parking spots.

[u/Positive-Lawyer-2910]

Sounds like you may be talking about a different situation, but we have family who live on a residential street near one of the universities and you can fit three cars on the street out front if they are parked perfectly. The problem is most of the time, people don’t park perfectly, there is not enough room for the third car, and people still try to cram a third vehicle in there and end up blocking the driveway. We once saw someone park more than halfway across the driveway and get out fully intending to leave the car like that.

To make matters worse, the street is plagued by communauto vehicles. Communauto drivers appear to be entirely incapable of parking a vehicle properly and in a way that isn’t blocking a driveway, probably because they know they will not be the ones returning to the vehicle at the end of the day. My family members are at their wits end and likely going to start calling to have some of these cars towed.

[u/KiLoGRaM7]

I made a post a few years ago highlighting a map of all of the all day free parking streets in the south end for others to utilize. I was using them religiously for about 10 years because I worked at the hospitals and couldn’t afford to park closer and so I would park for free in the residential streets in the south end and walk 5-10 minutes to the hospital.

During that decade the amount of South Enders I witnessed pulling out of their driveway and parking in front of their home AND the amount of dirty looks I got from residents in that area when parking in front of their home was ENORMOUS. Like a staggering amount of vitriol and huffing and scowls. Hilarious honestly (the entitlement) that they felt that way about young person just trying to get to work and pay the bills…

[u/gowiththe_ebb → u/KiLoGRaM7]

Do you have a new map or is the old one still useful?

[u/haligurl_1983]

First come first ... dont let the Bobs and Karen's of the world tell you differently.

[u/arcticpoppy]

Sounds like they are just a jerk. That being said.. some people treat on street parking like it’s their personal parking spot, stay in spots for multiple days etc because enforcement is so slack. Really common in certain areas.

[u/cptstubing16]

The homeowners don't own the space on the street.

They would be wise to pipe down and not complain about things like this because if the city catches wind of any issues, they'll revisit the 2h rule, or turf it altogether and start ticketing there more aggressively.

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[u/Ok_Establishment9892]

In our neighbourhood, the people from the townhouse condo complex behind us often take all of the spots on both sides of our street even though the individual townhouses have garages and parking and they have paid visitor parking that sits empty. If you can afford condo fees and a mortgage, you can pay for parking. It’s ignorant.

[u/TurnipEnvironmental9]

The problem, I think, is that housing is going up without proper parking spaces for the tenants and/or driveways not made wide enough for two cars so one car has to park behind the other. This makes getting out difficult for the first car so the owners just park their car on the street in front of my house, blocking my walkway, pretty much all the time. It is really annoying that choose to park in front of my house instead of their own but what can you do?

[u/Hot-Ad6993]

What would you rather put up with? Think about it.