'If she does this again, we won’t be asking her politely': Woman blocks snowy sidewalk with car to avoid shovelling, neighbors repeatedly insist she move her vehicle

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Dec 23, 2023 11:00 AM EST

This woman thought she had a pretty good plan to use on snowy days. She didn't want to shovel any part of her sidewalk unnecessarily. Even though this woman was paying someone to shovel her walkway, she blocked off a part of the sidewalk with her vehicle. Her thinking was that if her car was covering some sidewalk squares, that's less ground that needs to be shoveled. I mean, she's technically correct… but how does everyone else who has to walk through the neighborhood feel about that? Sure, there's no snow on the ground, but there is a car on the sidewalk instead. 

While this woman was fortunate enough to have a car to drive around in, her neighbor has kids who go outside and walk around it. That also means the kiddos have to walk into the street to avoid her car, posing a clear safety risk. She had a plethora of excuses about why she couldn't move her car, but her neighbor didn't want to hear it. 

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 9854684928
    via Shawn Dearn on Unsplash
  • 02
    Woman blocks her sidewalk with a car, asks us to call the police.
    via u/zjh31
  • 03
    My neighbor blocked the sidewalk with her car during the last two snowstorms. This meant (1) so she claims, she didn't have to shovel a path from her car to her house and instead was able to step directly on her shoveled sidewalk (which she pays someone to shovel) and could then walk to her front door and (2)
    via u/zjh31
  • 04
    she didn't need to shovel the sidewalk that her car blocked because no snow landed there and (3) she didn't shovel the sidewalk between her car and the edge of her property about two feet - because once people have to walk around her car in the street, who cares about the last couple of feet? She shoveled the sidewalk until her the driver's side of the car, but not the passenger's side.
    via u/zjh31
  • 05
    So my wife politely knocked on her door, explained that forcing our kids to walk around her car meant they walked in the street and that wasn't safe, therefore could she please drive her car fully into her driveway, as required by law? The law doesn't permit someone to block a sidewalk. We didn't want to make this into a big deal, but as neighbors asked if she could be normal human.
    via u/zjh31
  • 06
    The woman said no, then claimed it wasn't safe for her to pull at the way into her driveway because that would force her to step in snow. My wife said if that was a concern she should shovel a path on her grass from her driveway to her front door.
    via u/zjh31
  • 07
    The woman then claimed she is not feeling well. My wife pointed out that she did this two months ago during the last snow storm and that she goes to work daily. If she really was sick she'd be stuck in the house. Additionally, not feeling well doesn't preclude a person from parking in their own driveway or walking in snow.
    via u/zjh31
  • 08
    My wife said she would call the police (non emergency line). The neighbor says "go ahead" and she'd get a doctor's note. So we did. The police said they would drive over. We didn't see whether the police chatted with her or not. Either way, she got a ticket for blocking the sidewalk.
    via u/zjh31
  • 09
    She did shovel the two feet of sidewalk. I suspect the police did speak to her and reminded her that not shoveling a sidewalk is a fine from the building department, not the police, and if we were willing to call the police, we'd probably call the building department too. (We had planned on it, but they were closed on the weekend when this happened.)
    via u/zjh31
  • 10
    She now pulled further up, still partially blocking the sidewalk, but at least we don't need to walk around in the street. Of course, if she does this again, we won't be asking her politely to move the car and will call the police instead. Not that entertaining, but ask us to call the police, happy to.
    via u/zjh31
  • 11
    Edit: to avoid confusion and because I didn't explain well: the police deal with a car that is blocking a sidewalk. The building department deals with a sidewalk that isn't shoveled. We care more about blocking the sidewalk although shoveling the snow would be nice too. She shoveled the remaining portion of the sidewalk after getting a ticket for blocking the sidewalk with her car.
    via u/zjh31
  • 12
    Klause Benidict74 Step 1: buy go pro Step 2: buy cheap bycicle Step 3: get a good speed going Step 4: run into her car and fly off the handle bars Step 5: sue her for blocking the sidewalk and causing you to wreck Step 6: profit?
    via u/Klause Benidict74
  • 13
    ggmeyer Get the kids to walk or slide over the bonnet/hood of her car ??
    via u/ggmeyer
  • 14
    fjzappa Buy them some metal crampons first. Reply T 333 B Mot_Dyslexic Agreed. Don't want them to slip.
    via u/fjzappa
  • 15
    skinny_bisch because that would force her to step in snow Heaven forbid! Also I'm really confused about how she avoids stepping in snow by parking further from her front door.
    via u/skinny_bisch
  • 16
    zjh31 OP. Because the sidewalk is shoveled, so the driver's side door opens on the sidewalk.
    via u/zjh31
  • 17
    LS-CRX I really hate when people park across the sidewalk. When going for an evening walk we usually put my daughter in the stroller, since she'll tire out way before the rest of us. When parks with the some back of their pickup sticking out to the curb, it means I have to wheel her down off the curb, around them, and then up over the curb again. I like the other peoples suggestion of sliding across the offenders car, hard to do with a stroller :(
    via u/LS-CRX
  • 18
    Haemmur If her doors aren't locked I'd open them track snow across her seats and continue on my way. Your city has nice pedestrian tunnels these days. 58 Reply Share zjh31 OP Haha. I like this one.
    via u/Haemmur

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neighbors malicious compliance snow neighborhood malicious-compliance-reddit neighborhood-drama cars neighborhood-stories terrible neighbors driving driver snowy malicious compliance reddit shovel
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