Posted on 01/16/2009 10:31:43 AM PST by BGHater
Nettled by neighbors who clutter up their front yards with parked vehicles? You could work to outlaw this practice in your Houston neighborhood if the City Council approves a yard-parking ordinance on Wednesday's agenda.
The proposed law would allow civic associations to apply for the prohibition, or for 60 percent of residents to apply by petition. City officials developed this “opt-in” process after efforts to enact a citywide ban failed in 2007.
“I’m really excited that it’s finally come to council,” said Councilman James Rodriguez of District I, on the East Side. Rodriguez said that after crime, the problem of people parking on lawns in residential communities is what he hears about the most from civic leaders.
“They feel it devalues the property values and is kind of an eyesore,” Rodriguez said. Out of control
Neighborhood activists said vehicles parked on front and side lawns include trucks, boats, trailers, campers and junked cars. Cars driven onto lawns can destroy drainage ditches, create ruts of stagnant water that breed mosquitoes, and generally contribute to visual blight, they said.
“I don’t want a trashy house with cars sitting in the driveway, with ruts and oil spilling out on the grass,” said Phyllis Randolph Frye, a lawyer and civil engineer who is active in her Westbury neighborhood. “I know I don’t want to live next to that.”
Frye, who has tracked the ordinance’s progress closely, said she understood that a citywide ban was difficult because neighborhoods were built in different eras, with different configurations. Some houses have only a one-car garage. Some have driveways too short for today’s bigger vehicles. In addition, lifestyles have changed, Frye added. More family members own cars, and often people work from home.
Still, the proliferation of vehicles in yards has gotten out of control, she said.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
Easy.
Use concrete blocks.
See-ment blocks work just fine too.
Oh, good grief. There is nothing wrong with having a car you owned parked on a lawn you own. Houston is too big to be a homeowners’ association. Some even move to Houston because they have been historically light on zoning regs.
“Still, the proliferation of vehicles in yards has gotten out of control, she said.”
Right along with uncontrolled immigration. I guess just the cars bother them in Houston, not the fighting chickens, goats, gangbangers and laundry hanging on the front fence....every day.
Think about the real source of this problem.
The problem isn't that a family living in a home has an extra car, so they part it on the lawn. The problem is that you have 20+ illegal aliens living in a single family home, and they have a dozen cars parked in the front yard (I'll leave it to your imagination to determine the state of repair of the vehicles.)
You might be a redneck if you mow your lawn and find a car!
Because of the property value the agency sent out their top agent that handles the expensive homes.
I'm way off the road, can't even be seen from the road, and own to the middle of the section.
The agent said the house, lawn and landscaping was real nice, but I would have to get rid of all the “junk” off the edge of the yard.
The “junk” he was talking about was farm equipment!
can they keep the sofa on the porch?
Sometimes I have lost the sale of a house because a neighbor has cars parked on the lawn. Justifiable concern on my client’s part.
No wait, parking is what should happen to ALL cars and trucks. Driving them around is KILLING the planet! It's a good thing, lady. Get used to it.
I’ve had to park my Son’s truck in the yard.
He left it with me when he was transferred to Guam(USS Buffalo) after I was ticketed for blocking the sidewalk that crosses my driveway.
Houston has NO zoning. Property restrictions are accomplished by deed restriction. Some areas are extremely restrictive, some have none at all.
Of course, this doesn't satisfy the land use nazis, who want to extend their control uber alles, so this type of crap periodically comes up.
My neighborhood, with no restrictions and having been around since the early 1900s, now has about 60% NEW houses, built within the last few years where much more modest houses used to be. I expect a move towards deed restrictions soon.
If forced to keep cars off the lawn where are the chickens going to sleep someone call PETA.
When a contractor comes to do work at my house there’s a part of my lawn I want him or her to use. By parking in the driveway they usually block accerss to my garage. This is a bad thing to regulate.
The only thing I hate worse than cluttered yards is overreaching government.
“I don’t want a trashy house with cars sitting in the driveway, with ruts and oil spilling out on the grass,” said Phyllis Randolph Frye, a lawyer and civil engineer who is active in her Westbury neighborhood. “I know I don’t want to live next to that.”
Oh for cripes sakes...can you make it more dramatic? Its Houston, not Mayberry...[where they wouldn’t care, btw].
What an elitist snob.
Since when is it yours or anyone else’s business?
“The problem isn’t that a family living in a home has an extra car, so they part it on the lawn. The problem is that you have 20+ illegal aliens living in a single family home, and they have a dozen cars parked in the front yard (I’ll leave it to your imagination to determine the state of repair of the vehicles.) “
I bet you are right. They should go to the root of the problem and eliminate the illegals.
I wouldn’t want to live next door to Phyllis Randolph Frye. She sounds like a real piece of work.
What do these people have against lawns?
All these complainers belong in HOA neighborhoods (where normal people don't have to look at any of them and their 'perfect' houses.) They obviously didn't buy in one and now want to change the deal out from under their neighbors.
I bet they would complain of the 'field dressed' light up Reindeer hanging from my tree for Xmas (chain of red lights for guts).
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