a little help and guidance: neighbors calling cops.

[thdrcat]

I am so damned tired of it. Please read this and correct any grammar/spelling/logic errors. Many thanks.

From the Williamson Family at 2719 Sandy Circle:

Howdy all! We have a seemingly simple request: If you have a problem with someone or something on our property, come and speak with us about it. We are tired of our “neighbors” calling the police every time we start a house, automotive or marine project. We are an active family who enjoys doing our own work rather than paying others to do jobs that we can accomplish ourselves.

Here is a list of events that could have been handled better:

• One of the three sons that lives here was traveling ~30 mph up sandy circle. Apparently someone thought that he was traveling too fast and called the police. Instead of the person who was concerned coming over and letting us know that, in their opinion, he was traveling too fast, they chose to do the lazy thing and call the police. The only thing this accomplished was to take a patrolman off the streets so that he could come to our door and let us know that “it had been reported that a resident had been driving too fast.” For everyone’s information the speed limit on our road, as per the CSPD, is 35 mph. If our family sees someone traveling faster than is safe on sandy circle, we will walk over and let them know that our road is almost a gravel road and not very safe to drive fast on. We will then let them know that it looked as if they were going faster than seemed safe or reasonable. At that point the person knows that their behavior is annoying/bothering one of their neighbors and it *should* stop. If it does not THEN it is time for police involvement.

• We currently are restoring a 1970 SS Chevelle. At one time we had it sitting on a trailer in front of the house. It took us three weeks, but we arranged to have it sand blasted on a Monday. The Friday before we hooked it up to a truck and took it to the shop, we received a warning from College Station that we had 90 days to move our vehicle. Yet again if the person who reported the vehicle to CSFD’s code enforcement had came down and rang the doorbell, we would have let them know what the status of the car was and that it was leaving in 3 days. This is another example where someone declined to do the neighborly thing and instead did the lazy thing.

• We also have a 1987 Mustang GT that is “under the knife” quite often. When we bought the car, the first thing we did was to tear out the entire interior. Upon doing so, on a Thursday, we discovered that all the sound/vibration blocking material was gone from under the carpet. (For non-automotive people, this means that the car will be so loud you can not speak to the passenger without yelling and that the ride will feel like an old west buckboard.) Friday morning we ordered some new mating and had it sent overnight. Monday we received the parts and were able to put everything back in. The question is: Was it necessary for CSPD to send an officer over to inform us that the parts stacked on top of the car and on the lawn were against CS statutes? NO. Had the person who had a problem with this eyesore came and told use it was really bothering them, we would have let them know that it was a 48 hour problem and leaving the car unassembled for that time was saving us ~5 hours of disassembly/reassembly time on Monday. If that was not an agreeable solution, we would have found somewhere to stash the parts out of sight for those 48 hours.

• We noticed that our house’s paint had faded and needed to be redone; Thus began the saga of painting our house. It took nearly a whole month, but it is done and the results can be seen by looking at our house. During this time we received a warning for “unlawful storage of hazardous materials at residence.” Apparently someone had called in and complained. The five paint cans that were sitting under the scaffolding were what were in “violation.”

• We recently restored and sold a 1964 boat. It took 2 weeks to restore and one week to sell. Two days before selling, with buyers pending, yet another complaint and warning from the city. No warning. No “hey, what is going on with that boat?” Nothing was done that a neighbor would do.

• Recently it came to our attention that our garage was too disorderly to be of use as anything but a storage room. One of our son’s has spent many hours over the last week to straighten it up. We cleaned the garage out on Thursday morning. All trash was thrown in the trash can and bulky items were put between the garage and the hedgerow, out of sight. Our street’s bulk trash day is Wednesday. Today we came home to find yet another citation for “unlawful storage of hazardous materials at a residence.” This came on a Tuesday afternoon, when the collection day for this waste is Wednesday morning. I’m sure that most rational people can see where our frustration comes from this event. Again, a simple knock on the door would have yielded a solution to the problem: “it will be gone tomorrow morning when the trash men come.” It is out of sight, unless you are looking for something to complain about.

We are tired of this harassment. We do not call in fast cars driving by throwing gravel onto our cars, boats being stored in the road, parties that have so many cars that the road turns into .5 lanes, children playing in the street, cars parked in the same place for 6 months with for sale signs on them, project cars in driveways, semi trucks’ on a residential roads, loud car radios, etc. If we have a problem, we talk it over with the offender. If a mutual solution can’t be reached, THEN an outside authority needs to be brought in. It is time to start action like neighbors, and not like total strangers who happen to live next to each other.

1 or 2 of my a**hole neighbors is calling the police every time my family uses our house for something more than a place to sleep. It has annoyed me to THIS end. A copy of this letter is going in everyone on the street's mailbox.

Any advice? Has anyone else had neighbor issues? there have been 4 people that have moved away since we moved in:

93 saleen clone guy. home did everything, first "muscle car" i ever took a ride in.:::: replaced by 5 member nuclear family.

family with a 42 flareside and a dad that was a mechanic and car salesman. fixed jag's n stuff on the weekend:::: replaced by 6 member nuclear family.

jeep guy that restored willis'. was the manager of the local orielly:::: replaced by 4 member nuclear family.