Posted on 10/13/2010 12:03:54 PM PDT by Feline_AIDS
Hey Freepers,
I solicit your advice yet again. Here's my predicament:
I live in a city where I park behind my house. I drive down an alley to get to the place where I park. My parking area is gravel, and about six+ inches below the alley. However, there is usually enough gravel there to make a makeshift ramp of sorts, so I'm not driving/backing off/up a cliff.
However, recently, a neighbor moved into the sketchy apartments across the alley, and he drives a jeep wrangler. He discovered not long after moving in that he can take a very sharp left turn out of his driveway to go the "wrong way" down the alley and get out to a different street. Each time he does this, it pushes the gravel away from the incline. Now all that's there is rock-studded mud and a giant wave of gravel that his mud tires have created.
Driving over the huge bump knocks my tires out of alignment. I've asked the landlady for more gravel, but I doubt it's forthcoming.
Any ideas? (I'm not talking to him because he is very sketchy.) I'm not looking to damage his car, just discourage him from turning the wrong way.
Yes, I know it's trivial, but getting my car aligned costs way too much money, and new tires cost even more.
Thanks!
I would think a post on either side of the driveway entrance with a chain hanging betweeen them would do the trick at a relatively low cost. The downside is you’d have to take it down and put it back up each time you wanted to come or go. The upside is that you could lock it which would pretty effectively block him from doing what he’s doing and creating your problem.
Maybe have the local police watch him drive the wrong way one morning?
What does “sketchy” mean?
If driving over a pile of gravel knocks your car out of alignment, you have a poor car.
I am sure the alignment shop will go through the alignment proceedure for you as many times as you bring the car in.
They make money doing that.
I would bet the car isn’t out of alignment.
If negotiating with the offending neighbor does not seem wise, you have three options, none, delightful. Could you park some place else? Do you own a shovel? Is the space too tight to plant a couple t-bars with an orange rope?
Install gun emplacements.
How did that enter into it, do think that is sometimes OK?
If that fails, abandon diplomacy and nuke them.
Sketchy in this case means he thinks he is a thug, never wears a shirt, often drinks outside in the driveway with his thuggy friends, drives 100mph through the alley, and lives in the seediest apartments on Earth. I don’t want a confrontation with him.
Is it possible to pour some concrete somewhere so that the giant pile of rock and mud isn’t created in the first place?
It doesn’t matter what “sketchy” means. The first best thing to do is to talk to him and explain the problem to him. He might actually be understanding.
It’s not the gravel that knocks it out—it’s the 6+ inch curb that has to be driven over at an angle.
Well a potato in the muffler doesn’t really damage the vehicle, it just stops it from running. Usually somewhere in traffic. Be sure to carve a smiley face on it so he knows it was done in jest. If that doesn’t work, just shoot him.
Pour some concrete. Perhaps a do it yourself project with tenant labor and landlord buying the material. It is not as hard as it looks and it is a job you will get a lot of volunteers asking only to sign the work.
If that’s the case, take someone with you to talk to him. Now that I know what it means (I thought it meant he is a homosexual), I understand why you’re apprehensive.
You can build a frame or just build a dirt damn, pour quickcrete mix in, add water then pour gravel into the mix. when it hardens up it will hold the gravel in place. If you really want strength add some rebar, How come you can’t ask your neighbor to avoid the gravel for you?
This is a good idea but I have a neighbor who lives downstairs who probably wouldn't like that idea.
Now I'm thinking that maybe all I need is to think up a reason for a sign to be staked in the dirt spot so he'd have to run it over or turn right. Not a "don't turn left" sign, but an ad of some sort. There's a pseudo-church up the alley, so I could put up a sign advertising an upcoming Holocaust survivor's speech at a different local church. That doesn't appear antagonistic, and people should go.
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