I feel like I am under siege in my own neighbourhood.
I own a house in Burnaby. It’s an old post-war cottage home and it has parking for my one vehicle but no others due to the size of the space.
I like to have friends and family over. My kids visit with the grandchildren.
They all need space on the street to park when they come and visit me and I accept that it is first-come, first-serve. I don’t make trouble by demanding anything. It’s a public street. I don’t ask my neighbours to leave spaces free in front of their houses when I know my family are coming over.
I wish my neighbours would extend the same courtesy. Instead, I have a few parking bullies that live beside me and across the street who turn this issue into drama that I don’t want in my life.
When my neighbours have a big event happening, they actually take out a set of large orange rubber cones and block out the spaces in front of their homes. That is bad enough because it’s a public street, but they also make things worse by putting them out in front of my house too.
Think of the arrogance of doing this. They take the cones and block the empty spaces in front of my house so my own family can’t park there. And they don’t even ask for permission, they just do it.
I went out and told my neighbour that he couldn’t do that and he really intimidated me. He’s much bigger and used a loud voice to scare a little old lady. He kept asking me “what’s the big deal” like I have no rights.
I want to call someone but don’t know who can help. It’s usually on a weekend and so I doubt the city can do anything about it. I don’t want to bother the police because it’s not important enough but this is still so silly and wrong.
Daisy Wong, Burnaby
