Picking Your Neighbors

Last night, the Phoenix Police Department came a-knocking on my door. It wasn't late, only about 7-8 in the evening. Seems one of my neighbors had called and complained about the truck I drive for work. I park it in front of my house on the street. This neighbor evidently has done this sort of thing before, I am guessing, as the officer said that the complaint was that my vehicle was going against city code. The officer was polite to me, and I was back to him. I asked if I moved it onto the driveway at the side of my home, would that be fine. He said yes, as long as the sidewalk wasn't blocked. I grabbed my keys to move it, and he mentioned, to be nice, that he smelled alcohol on my breath (I had been at the pub earlier that day) and he would be willing to let the truck stay parked on the street until morning, so I wouldn't have to get a DUI as well. Needless to say, it is still sitting there this morning, and I refuse to move it until I have to, which is in a couple hours when I head to work.

Last night, this incident just really made me angry. Very angry. I was ready to go start knocking on doors and berating whomever I think was the one that called the police. Only problem is, I am not sure who it is. The officer said a neighbor. He was parked in front of the house next door ... but that may only be because my truck was in front of my house. And neighbor doesn't necessarily mean someone directly next/across from me either, I know. I still have pretty much narrowed it down to the Hispanics across the street (we have had previous issues with them) and the Redneck neighbors to the one side of us (issues with them as well). Needless to say, when we moved into this house 13 years ago, these neighbors weren't here, and we had no problems with the ones that were. I know the Rednecks are in a rental home. I am not sure about the Hispanics, but it would not surprise me. Seems several homes on my street are now rentals.

So tonight I need to park in the side driveway, and hope the truck fits. We have a tree that overhangs there, and it may need to be trimmed back in order to squeeze the truck in. I tried looking through the city codes last night, to verify if my truck was wrongfully parked, and best I could figure out was yes, it was. Evidently, any vehicle with more than 3 axles, and over 3/4 ton are not allowed to park on resident streets. When it comes to parking on my property, there is no real clear size restriction, as long as it isn't an eyesore, basically.

Damn neighbors. I can't even figure out why they have to do this shit ... What'd I do to them?

PeacE