We live in a cul de sac right behind the elementary school my kids attend. I love the locatoin for this reason BUT I get so frustrated every year because many parents pull into our cul de sac and the surrounding street to pick up their kids. These kids will run through the yards, destroy flower beds, climb on trees and I have NEVER seen a parent tell them not to do that. AND it never fails that parents will at least partially if not totally block my driveway so that I could not get out if I wanted to. In previous years this was not such a big deal as all my kids were in elementary and I am at home waiting for them at school dismissal time anyway so barring an emergency I wouldn't need to be getting out of my driveway but this year my oldest goes to middle school and I will have to leave while all the elementary parents are lined up in front of my house. This morning a car was paritally blocking my drive so I put a note on the car asking to please not block my driveway as I had to get out of it during school start and dismissal times. I happened to look out the window when she came back to her car and saw her rip the note off her windshiled and throw it in the street. How disrespectful is that?????

By Colette on Tuesday, August 24, 2004 - 01:50 pm:

One word....sprinkler....

I live on a dead end street with a soccer field at the end of it. After multiple offenses, people blocking my driveway, parking in my yard (on the grass), kids bouncing soccer balls off my house we finally had it when one morning, a woman pulled up in her minivan, two wheels up over the curb on my lawn, all of the kids she brought with her piled out into my yard, through my flower beds and started having a soccer game in my front yard while they were waiting for the gates to be unlocked for the field. When the ball hit the window, dh went out and asked her to please get her kids and her car out of our yard, she gave him a dirty look and told him they weren't her kids, she was just dropping them off and then off she went with the kids, through my flower beds, leaving her car in my yard.

unfortunately for her, she left her windows down.

Dh decided it was time to water the front yard and the flower beds with the sprinklers.

she never parked there again.

By Mommyathome on Tuesday, August 24, 2004 - 02:07 pm:

Sprinklers sound like a great idea! If nothing else, it will get the point across.
Put a no parking sign in front of your driveway?
I feel bad for the people in the homes across the street from our elementary. There is no drive through at the elementary at all, so all the cars just line the street. The homes have put up "Do Not Block Driveway" signs, so there are cars everywhere except in front of driveways!

By Insaneusmcwife on Tuesday, August 24, 2004 - 02:27 pm:

I like the sprinkler idea. Do you have a timer that you can set?

By Emily7 on Tuesday, August 24, 2004 - 02:52 pm:

We contacted the school & had them send notes home. That worked for awhile then when it started back up we asked the police department to get involved. Some people are disrespectful & raise disrespectful children.

By Nanaoie on Tuesday, August 24, 2004 - 03:15 pm:

I would call the school and try to get somthing done there, If no luck,call the police.I know how you feel, I live at the entrance to a school and they is always someone blocking my drive.I have to say the sprinklers sound like a great idea too!lol!

By Mrse on Tuesday, August 24, 2004 - 05:30 pm:

I am wondering, if you called a tow truck, who would have to pay the bill? I can not beilve some of theses people how rude, it is almost like the adults go out of their way to show the kids how to act disrespectly to people. Could the city put a local traffic sign at the start of the road? then you should get away with the tow truck idea.
I like the sprinkler that was awesome!!!

By Colette on Tuesday, August 24, 2004 - 05:37 pm:

Also let me just add that before we resorted to sprinklers we tried signs -no trespassing, no parking, we tried the police to no avail and there is a no parking on either side of the street sign, we asked nicely, we contacted the people who run the soccer program, etc etc. We still have problems (I called the pd today but they didn't bother to show up) with people speeding up and down the street but at least they aren't parking on it too. A friend suggested we all get a couple of those big inflatable beach balls and roll one out onto the street when a car comes flying down it. I don't think I'll be doing that though, to afraid of causing an accident.

By Mrse on Tuesday, August 24, 2004 - 05:50 pm:

ok, came up with another idea, get some picket signs made up, get all the people that live on the street to picket theses people, and make sure you contact your newspaper office, so the reporter can come out, the offenders will be so embarrassed I doubt they would come back again.

By Marg on Tuesday, August 24, 2004 - 06:22 pm:

lol, I love the sprinkler idea! my dad would have put a board with nails upright in the cul de sac!!

Can you call the local police to also patrol your area during the beginning and ending of school?

By Emily7 on Tuesday, August 24, 2004 - 07:08 pm:

Here you just have to post that it is a TOW AWAY ZONE.

By Bellajoe on Tuesday, August 24, 2004 - 07:20 pm:

I do love the sprikler idea.

I just have to say that i can not beleive how rude some people are! I would be right there telling the kids that this is someone's yard and that you can not play on it. As for them blocking the driveway, i am just shaking my head here. Unbeleiveable, don't people have any respect anymore?

To keep the kids off the yard, put up a "Beware of Dog" sign. Maybe a BIG dog bowl where they can see it. So they think you have a huge dog. Or if you do have a dog, let it poop on that part of the lawn! Hee hee. They won't play on it if they keep stepping in poop.

I like the TOW AWAY ZONE or NO PARKING THIS SIDE OF THE STREET sign.

By Cocoabutter on Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - 02:13 am:

Every spring and fall the home builders association in our area holds a "parade of homes" where they open newly-built houses of various styles and sizes so that area builders can display their talents. These "shows" attract a lot of attention, and the homes are many times in high-income areas. Neighbors who live around homes that are in the shows place "CAUTION" tape attached to spikes along the curbs in front of their properties so that people stay off their yards with their cars and their feet. Most generally, people are respectful of these neighbors.

When I read the picketing post I instantly imagined picket signs stuck in the ground next to eachother like a wall at the edges of your yards all the way around your cul de sac. That might deliver the message loud and clear!

But I like the sprinkler idea, too!