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Is This Your Neighborhood?

NeighborhoodFrom time-to-time, I will use my website/blog as a sounding board landing on various issues and interests for my readers. One of my goals is to give you content you want to read, find interesting or thought-provoking, how to use social media, where to buy your first or next domain name, and more. (Of course, I also hope you will give me a call when you want a website created or updated.) Hopefully, “Is This Your Neighborhood,” will also give you something to think about as to how to improve a condition, become a better, kinder, more thoughtful person. You can find all sorts of nuances in this particular article if you read through the entire thing.

Is this your neighborhood? It might be if the streets in your subdivision seem too narrow and crowded. For Houston, and probably other large cities, it can apply to just about every neighborhood. These comments are made by people living in Houston neighborhood. Which Responder are you? Or, are you the originator of the ‘Rant’ or one of the responders? Is there a solution?

It might all begin with a rant on no particular App such as:

MayBeAny Main Street in any Neighborhood – Initial Rant

Being that MayBeAny Main Street is the main road in and out of our neighborhood how about we keep it clear of parked jalopies or vehicles that never seem to be driven! It’s pretty damn annoying when you have vehicles parked on both sides of the street and there isn’t enough room to pass or you have to sit there and wait for one car to clear and then go! If you have to constantly park your vehicles in the street that means two things, #1 you have too much shit in your garage to park at least one vehicle or #2 you have way too many vehicles to park in your driveway! It also should be noted that it makes walking your dog or even walking down the street that much of a pain, adding to the fact that we do not have sidewalks! I have a vehicle parked next to my house on MayBeAny Main Street that has grass growing around it! Thing hasn’t moved in months! My rant for day!

Then it gets a variety of responses:

Neighborhood Responder 1

You have it better than we do. Look at the 2 corner houses on Trudeau & MayBeAny Main Street Dr. Also on Subdivision Street1 & Subdivision Street2 considering there are 7 vehicles at the corner house there. And they all live in that one house…..

Responder 2

Subdivision Street1 and Subdivision Street2 is very dangerous…too many people living in a single family dwelling but no one will do anything about it…so just be careful… house next door to me has 8 cars parked in the road and 2 in driveway …wondering if he is selling cars or drugs…

Responder 3

Is that house on the corner of Subdivision Street1 & Subdivision Street2 a rent house? I also noticed the 2 story house across the street on the corner opposite that house that just sold is being heavily renovated which makes for even more congestion through there.

Responder 4

We park one car in garage and one on the driveway. What about those that park work trailers, tow trucks, fifth wheels and lawn equipment trailers on street If I wanted to look at work trucks I would have moved downtown Houston

Responder 5

I agree that people should not park on both sides of the street because it is hard to get through, period. As for work trucks, I have earned the right to drive my work truck home. And, I don’t think it should be an issue if it is there overnight and, on my days off.

Responder 6

On another note – I have found whenever I am traveling down a street whether it be MayBeAny Main Street or whatever, but mostly MayBeAny Main Street because I come/go to work that way every day, that the people coming the other way that obviously have a vehicle parked in their way and SHOULD yield to the oncoming vehicle, which is me, that DOES NOT have a vehicle parked in their way and let them go they ALWAYS go when they should wait! Whatever happened to common courtesy? What is so important that they have to risk sideswiping someone because they need to go first? Everybody now days is SO selfish and this is my biggest pet peeve – even in the Local Grocery Store parking lot! I also am hoping that the majority of these folks are just cutting through our neighborhood and acting in this fashion are not my neighbors…..

Responder 7

Ok I agree but please just park them in driveway not on street.

Responder 8

I so agree I live on main drag and sometimes I can’t see pulling out of my driveway please have some consideration leave MayBeAny Main Street Main Street as clear as possible.

Responder 9

Rent houses the large amount of cars are rent houses

Responder 10

Let’s try to keep in mind that these are our neighbors we’re talking about. Not random strangers, but the people we live and share a community with. While I totally understand the frustration, I would suggest maybe we write a personal note or knock on a door and share our concerns before we potentially slander and otherwise say hurtful things about people in a public space such as this one.

Responder 11

It’s selfish, inconsiderate, and a safety issue. It’s not children leaving the cars in the street.

Responder 12

We all need to be reminded from time-to-time about how the actions we take can affect others, thus this post is very important. As Responder 10 pointed out, we are neighbors, so we keep the requests civil (we should do this anyway, neighbor or not). Things (sometimes) can be worded so they are less offensive; let’s face it, some people may not even think of or consider the consequences of their actions, so we ask nicely. But I also understand the frustration; I’ve been there. Especially those times when I can barely back out of my drive way for all the cars lined up in the street everywhere.

I totally agree with Responder 11 on the safety issue. You never know when a small child or beloved pet might step out from behind a parked vehicle on a busy street. This is always my biggest fear when I see a street lined with cars. This reminds me to drive slower and have more patience. After all, we’re probably only talking about less than a minute of my time to drive a bit slower on a street the length of MayBeAny Main Street.

There are times when I see people flying down MayBeAny Main Street, and other streets in our subdivision – as though they are on a wide-open road in the middle of nowhere and they are the only ones in existence. So, I respectfully request that everyone drive safely, beware of the speed limit, and when possible, drive slower than the speed limit. If you can park off the street in a drive way, please do so – any street; not just MayBeAny Main Street. Even my dog knows when someone is driving too fast. It’s the only time she makes an effort to go after a car. Additionally, you might check out an advocate’s blog article about Why Texas Cities Need Lower Speed Limits for Safe Neighborhood Streets at https://tex.streetsblog.org.

One more pet peeve is people dumping their garbage on our streets. Plenty of parked ‘visitor’ cars think that our streets are a good place to clean their car out and leave bottles, cans. fast food containers and other garbage lying under their car so when they leave, guess what? Garbage is still there. If these are your visitors, please ask them to clean up after themselves. Take their garbage with them or put it in the trash!

For me, I will promise to be more aware, more respectful and pray for patience. And, by the way, I am grateful for my neighbors – they keep an eye out for me and vice versa. Thanks for reading.