Sometimes the boys and I just run out of steam. Today was such a time, and we all spent most of the morning sleeping…!
Andy woke up long enough to see I was taking his photo, then he went back to sleep. Good move!
He scrunched the towel on the floor in front of the shower into a cat-perfect nest.
In news, we got a new neighbor across the lane. They are old neighbors, actually, who moved back to town. Though we are happy to see them again, they replace the neighbor who put out birdseed That neighbor’s largesse provided the boys hours of bird watching fun out the dining room window.
Oh, and the new neighbors have a car, so the old problem of too many cars, not enough parking spaces raises its nasty head again. I wouldn’t have moved here almost 11 years ago if I’d guessed how often parking would become an issue. The old neighbor didn’t drive.
The manager of the apartments thinks there’s room for one more car in this parking space. A cold day in hell, I say: I need to be able to open my door all the way to get out because of mobility issues. My body just doesn’t allow tight parking spaces, so I’d have to park in the drift on the far left and the other two cars’d have to crunch closer together. (That’s my Chevrolet next to the person in the photo, so you can see I’d go from the most favorable spot to the least favorable spot to accommodate the new neighbors’ car. The sidewalk to my apartment is to the right of that yellow pole , so the distance I’d have to walk is doubled parking in the “new” spot.)
I’ve toyed with putting in my application for a handicapped parking permit for some time, but haven’t gone ahead with it for two reasons: 1. I’m too proud to admit I am in shape bad enough to qualify, and, 2. many of the handicapped parking spots actually are farther from the main doors of the businesses featuring them than other parking spots for the general population, so there’s no advantage to someone who has problems walking distances.
On the other hand, if I apply for one and get it — I’m in worse shape than many of those I see using them! — the parking issue at my apartment becomes one with some interesting legal ramifications if my needs can’t be accommodated. An interesting conundrum.
We have a permanent disabled parking permit from the va., and I am grateful that we have as much room as we do to park here in the apt complex where we live.
Sure does”t look like there is room enough for two cars there where yours is parked let alone three.
Two can park there and still have room around the cars for exiting, but there definitely isn’t room for three unless the one on the right parks at the absolute edge of the sidewalk, and the one on the left parks on a small sidewalk next to the parking spot. The sidewalk, incidentally, is used regularly by at least one person on a little moibility chair thingy, so blocking it with my car or parking on the edge of it poses problems foir with that lady on the thingy or me (damage to my car by her riding too close to the car). It’s a win-lose-lose situation, where two of us lose so one can win.
I don’t know the laws in the US but here in Canada there are laws about # of parking spaces per building. You can’t renovate a building, adding to it I mean, without having the legal number of parking spots.
That would make sense, and there possibly are such laws in this country, too. It might be worth a review with my lawyer.
I did the PR for a new local B & B recently and the opening was delayed for 2 months because they had to put in 2 extra parking spots to meet code standards.
This is an old facility, and they also may benefit from grandfathered exceptions to new requirements (if indeed they exist in this country).
It will be interesting to find out. The B&B was of course an old farm house, converted. The fire regulations would not permit the driveway as it was. It had to be widened and each spot had to be a certain size.
I’ve made a proposal to the apartment manager and got a lot of shit off my chest. We’ll see how she handles it. If I’m satisfied with her answer, fine; if not, I’ll spend the $184.50 to talk a quarter hour with my lawyer about the responsibilities of the apartment owners.
Have you tried going on the municipal or state website? There must be a by-laws section regarding parking.
Good suggestion! I’ll check that now. It might be covered by the Federal laws, too, relating to providing access to handicapped people — the infamous law that requires extra wide toilet stalls with handholds, wheelchair ramps, ground-level oening in public buildings, etc.
Parking is always an issue now a days even with the house we have with a driveway it’s still and issue we share the drive we the neighbors they have a truck and its wider then a car,oh God if it wasn’t parking then it’s people with those leaf blowers on Saturday morning at 7am,or the church across the street that parks in front of the house on the weekends,inconvenience is just another of lifes never ending challenges
By the way how was your extra peaceful sleep
Sheldon
Slept well, and put aside the parking issues for a few hours.
That IS a tough question, the more so, when they do not provide easy access parking spots.
There are legal issues, actually, and I hope I don’t have to go that route to get decent parking. I understand they might not want to spend money to put in a parking slab for the two of us in the duplex who are across the lane from this parking pad, but it strikes me that renting apartments to people without providing reasonable accommodations is not too smart.
When I viewed the apartment almost 11 years ago, I didn’t see a pad to park on, and I asked the then-director of the apartments specifically where I was supposed to park. He pointed out the exact spot where I am parked in the photo. Later, they put in the duplex where the new neighbors will live, but no effort was made to increase the parking to accommodate all likely needs. I am used to non-residents parking in my spot, which pisses me off, of course, but I get the response that no parking spots are reserved.
With that in mind, I am tempted some times to park my car in the reserved (and marked reserved) spots for people like the director when I visit the care center. Or to park on the grass south of my house, which is part of an empty lot where a duplex used to be but was torn down.
Ugh! I hate confrontation, but I hate stupidity and cheapness more. I don’t need a fancy spot to park, just one more convenient for a person with mobility issues who pays a hefty unsubsidized rent each month (because I saved and invested my money so I’d have funds after I retired…!), unlike many here who have subsidized rents.
Well, to be fair, I live in a city with half a million inhabitants, there are no parking spaces reserved here in all of those houses. Sometimes you see a reserved spot, but they are rather uncommon in front of private housing. I understand it is different at your place where mostly elderly people live.
It becomes a matter of common sense to me. Don’t rent a unit to someone with a car if there isn’t a parking spot nearby or unless they agree to walk a football-field distance to the nearest parking spot.
As noted, I specifically asked about convenient parking before I rented the apartment almost 11 years ago, and probably wouldn’t take the unit today knowing the parking hassles I’d have to go through in the following years!
I’m sure it is a matter of cost mostly. Putting in a concrete pad involves some preparation and expense. Of course, dumping some crushed rock on top of the grass and calling it a parking spot would be tolerable to me at this point.
I’m not fussy about this, just physically challenged, as are many older people. People who run a retirement facility should understand that!
Indeed they should, particularly in the US.
Matching people with cars to units with parking spots would be a good start. How they can rent a unit to someone and expect them to walk half a block to a public parking lot (where the people who work at the care center typically take all the good spaces!) is ridiculous. The other person who was parking where I do was supposed to squeeze into the little spot between the new people and me, but she chose the ridiculous public parking lot instead, probably because having space where I park requires both me and the new person to park as close to the sides of the parking spot as possible soo she can squeeze in: pure stupidity, plus the new neighbor doesn’t leave extra space on his side, which suggests the manager didn’t tell him the plan to squeeze three people into two spots. Jeez!
Maybe the third car owner does not mind some extra walking.
She mentioned she has some shortness of breath…!
Well, I had a colleague once who was forcing herself to do some unpleasant things to stop her body from going even more to the dogs. That does not help with every condition, but being short of breath – that could be cured by exercising more.
Exercise could help, for sure, if the shortness of breath isn’t something like chronic obstructive pulmonary syndrome, for example. (To some extent, my limitations can benefit from exercise, too. It’s a matter of choosing the right one, with a doctor’s guidance.)