In an unsuspecting neighborhood in
Glendale, Arizona, it is now illegal for a select group of homeowners to park
in their driveways. On April 15, the
Glendale Police Department surprised homeowners, with the unfortunate luck of
owning a home with incredibly shorter than average driveways, by placing
parking tickets on their windshields.
In this well established neighborhood
there are two types of homes built by different home builders. The majority of the homes were built in 1974
but there is a small pocket of homes that were built in 1979. The latter of the two have always been faced
with challenges when it comes to parking.
Their driveways were poorly planned and are almost half the size of the
average driveway. So short, that a
Volkswagen Bug parked in one would hang over the sidewalk.
The majority of residents in this
particular section choose to park their vehicles in the driveway instead of the
garage. As homeowners and tax payers
they have assumed for many years that this was their right to do so. By doing nothing more than parking in front
of their homes, in their driveways, they received parking tickets on their
windshields. No warning, no grace
period, just tickets in the amount of $32 for parking in their very own driveways,
in front of the homes that they own.
They have called the telephone number
printed on the ticket in search of answers, just a simple explanation as to
why, after 35 years is it now illegal to park in these miniature
driveways? No such luck there, for on the
other end of the telephone was only a worthless recording without the option to
speak to a live human being. Nor, did it
give an alternate number to try.
Eventually, after several attempts, one homeowner was able to speak to
an on duty police officer but only found more discouraging news. In short, the only option they were given was
to hire a code compliance investigator along with an attorney to try and sway
the city to change this parking ordinance despite the poorly thought out driveways.
Left with only a single affordable
option for these seemingly innocent homeowners, they united and wrote out
requests for a court date to fight for the privilege of parking in their very
own driveways once again. So with a
glimmer of hope, they now prepare for their day in court to try and make the
city see their side of this dilemma in which they clearly had no choice. Pictures were taken to support their fight
along with measurements of the two very different sized driveways within their
community. Their stories will be heard;
at least that is their hope. Will they
find an explanation along with some justice?
Or will the day be as wasted as that space in front of their homes
appears to be
©2014 Lysa Wilds
©2014 Lysa Wilds
To be continued…
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