Comments on: The not-so-laid-back part of Portland

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 06:30:24 +0000

I think I know that house, I think I know how this happened. I live in Portland, once at an apartment complex with no parking lot. Portland has a law saying that you can park on the street, but you have to move your car at least once a day. This is dumb when the city wants us to take the bus to cut down on traffic, but whatever. One of the homeowners on our street was a douche and kept leaving yellow post-its on my car. I couldn’t figure out why, until I left my car in the same spot for two days. I got a note from the city explaining the rule. From that point on, I always littered her yard with the post-its she put on my car. The person in question had a huge double-wide driveway, so this was not for want of parking space on their end.

By: Splash

Splash — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 21:39:10 +0000

That is actually a common misconception. A car turned off and in park is in fact parked and therefor in violation of the law. Having a person in the car makes a ticket less likely, since they can explain the situation and move the car should a police officer show up, and usually police officers are understanding in these circumstances, but it’s still illegal. Also, I love it when people think putting their hazards on makes parking in a no parking zone OK. A-holes do this when they park in the bike-lane near my house all of the time. Makes me want to punch a b*tch, but usually I just spit on their car as I cycle into the driving lane in order to pass them (because I have no class and am vengeful).

By: Dr_Know

Dr_Know — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 12:59:31 +0000

I wish my council were so conscientious. I’ve had an actually abandoned car (really smashed up front and hasn’t been moved) parked in front of my place for 3 weeks!!

They have done absolutely nothing :/

By: shepd

shepd — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 02:42:13 +0000

The secret is to leave someone sitting in the car. Then it is stopping, not parking. It is legal to stop in front of a no parking sign, even if you don’t have your car running, in gear or even have the lights on.

Well, it is here and most places I know. YMMV.

By: shepd

shepd — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 02:09:35 +0000

Perhaps because it costs $99 to register your car per year (at least it does here)? And maybe if you’re not making above minimum wage, $99 takes a couple of days to earn and eating and having a roof over your head is better.

And yes, I’ve worked minimum wage jobs that require you to have a car, so no, I can’t just go sell the car and expect to keep working.

By: shepd

shepd — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 02:02:27 +0000

Or perhaps she has neighbours calling for stupid laws? Where I am everyone parks overnight on the street because there’s no traffic and it’s wide enough. Plenty of space. Legal parking. Happy everyone.

Except that the city technically has a 3 hour maximum parking rule for all city streets. Calling the city results in them saying “We only enforce that upon request”.

By: Jolly

Jolly — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 21:31:01 +0000

holy moly, what a moron. you can’t get 4 parking tickets for parking legally. figure this shit out, Terri.

By: The Elf

The Elf — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 18:19:18 +0000

Honestly, it depends on the neighborhood.

On my quiet sparsely populated street, I would fully expect to be able to park in front of my house on a regular basis. I don’t feel entitled to it, but it would be weird if someone else was parking there and there wasn’t some sort of event going on. In my old neighborhood (townhomes), I would be expect to be able to park one car in our reserved space, but all bets are off on the second. Might be streets away.

That street looks pretty suburban, but I also see a lot of street-parked cars. I could see the expectation going either way.

By: Who passed out the Haterade?

Who passed out the Haterade? — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 17:53:29 +0000

Thanks for making my day, The Elf. (^_^)

By: redheadwglasses

redheadwglasses — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 17:46:28 +0000

I don’t feel it’s reasonable to expect to get to park in front of your own house. It’s totally a suburban mindset. People who live where finding ANY on-street parking is a win would think those homeowners are being poopheads.

By: Lythande

Lythande — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 17:25:15 +0000

Actually, according to the WHO, the U.S. is 7th fattest for males and 13th for females.

The more you know…!

By: Poltergeist

Poltergeist — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 15:29:26 +0000

In this case, I don’t care. People should understand that we have to leave our cars out front for a little bit in order to bring things in and out of our apartments. It’s a short, fairly wide side street, not even a main road, and I am not carrying my heavy shit in from the parking lot which is a good distance away.

Really, I suspect it happened because the person didn’t recognize our car (they must sit in their apartment scrutinizing everything that drives by) since it has never happened again. Most of us resort to leaving our hazard lights on now whenever we have to bring in groceries.

By: Frogwings

Frogwings — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 14:57:08 +0000

Agreed on the groceries thing. I have a basket with wheels on it so when I lug my groceries and my two year old up to my apartment I don’t have to make so many trips.

By: The Elf

The Elf — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 12:15:59 +0000

Well, in our case my husband likes to be able to see our car to make sure it isn’t being messed with. He’s paranoid about his vehicles, which is one reason why a driveway or garage was a condition of moving. And when you’re carrying armfuls of groceries or whatever, it’s a lot easier to do it when you only have to walk a short distance.