Parking over sidewalks in condo with winding streets

About 30% of driveways are too short to accommodate a pick-up truck. Trucks park over the sidewalk and sometimes in to the street. Police say they can't enforce because it's private property. City law says no parking over sidewalks and HOA won't enforce. Walking around blind corners is dangerous while I'm walking my dog. Is there a way to post a photo? Any suggestion for legal lingo I can use in a letter?
Thanks

Call the town hall/city hall. Ask them who is in charge of enforcement of this. Its not an HOA issue.

The BOD has "decided" not to enforce. I think the appearance of cars over the sidewalk let alone the danger, devalues my property. Thoughts?

I know this is a old thread but I just had to chime in on this one since this is the ONLY mention of this issue I have found online in 3 months of searching.

I am facing EXACTLY the same issue here in California. I am disabled and cannot walk properly due to nerve issues relative to a spine injury. I have tripped and fallen several times while attempting to negotiate the curb to get around vehicles that are parked ON the sidewalk. I regularly have to do this sometimes several times while walking 100 yards down the sidewalks (walkways in HOA speak) just to get to the pool. I have had it. I tried speaking up in open forum but they blew me off. They told me that "We don't enforce that".

Well I am now in the process of filing a complaint of discrimination through HUD. I have no choice. I tried to use proper protocol and do things the right way but now I am forced to go to court.

I am well aware of the court case of Barden vs. Sacramento, which involves CVC 22500 (f), you can look those up. Basically the vehicle code states that you cannot park on a sidewalk or even allow your vehicle to extend over the sidewalk and the court case was brought by disabled pedestrians to enforce it. They won. Cities have to enforce the vehicle code. It has been that way for many years now. But there is little information online for the public to see which details that a HOA needs to abide by either of those.

I found very little online that says that this law and / or court decision applies to HOA's so I am taking up a fight to try to get enforcement via FHA / DFEH since ADA does not strictly apply in this case as far as I know. I am not an attorney.

I sent in a "reasonable accommodation" letter and since I have not received a single telephone call or letter in response, I am filing a complaint. I have no other choice. I want to be able to use the sidewalk to get to the pool without having to walk in the street. Especially at night on a street that has few street lights.

It is unfortunate since this could have all been prevented if the board had enforced our rules and regs and the CC&R's. But they have not. For literally years. So I am fighting for my safety and my rights.

I will check back here to see if anyone has read this reply and I will also attempt to update my situation as time allows.

My hope is that the ABLE bodied community at large will get some exposure to this issue and learn that it is not acceptable to park ON a sidewalk but I am not naive enough to believe that. My other hope is that the disabled community who live in HOA's will get familiar with this and find out so that they have something to draw from if they too are also in a similar position.

I really hate to have to go through all of this. I struggled for literally months before I came to the decision. I am now committed. I like my neighborhood and my neighbors. But the time has come.

Have a good day

Just one more thing that I failed to mention.

This IS a case of discrimination. I'm no attorney but I do know what the term discrimination means. By telling me that "We do not enforce that" they are deliberately making the DECISION to chose between the residents who park ON the sidewalk and pedestrians who simply want to walk on the sidewalk.

Discrimination is simply that, choosing one over the other.

We will see what happens soon enough.

BE2,

Welcome to the forum.

I understand and agree with you completely.

However, it's best not to reactivate old threads as laws change and what may have been good advice in 2010 may be bad advice today.

in fla, i somewhat sympathize with this. we have cars parked on one side of the street. we have driveways on both sides of the street with cars parking on top of sidewalk. riding my bike at medium to full speed, with a car coming in each direction, or a larger vehicle coming down the street, i am forced onto the sidewalk with nowhere to go. there are cars blocking the sidewalk. this is a thru street. cars can enter one end and come out the other end. meaning this is a public street. anyone is allowed to walk down the sidewalk. meaning this is a public sidewalk. people walk thru our neighborhood all the time on our sidewalks. so why are we told this is a private community? I thought a private community was a gated community, or a complex with only one entrance where you cannot drive thru (entrance & exit are the same), or streets that are considered cul-de-sacs.

my personal feeling is, if the public can walk on the sidewalk, it is not private. if i live in a private community, the public should not be allowed to walk on the sidewalk. cause that's what it seems like. after contacting my city to remove cars blocking sidewalks, i got an e-mail back saying the police cannot do anything because it is a private community. does that mean the sidewalks are private property?

yes the police were actually called and they even handed out citations. it wasn't until a few months later that someone from the city contacted the attorney generals office and was told that was not a violation with cars parking on sidewalks and the city had to dismiss the citations because it was a condo complex with an hoa. gee whiz... even the police didn't know that they could not hand out citations.

So the bottom line here is, drivers can park on top of sidewalks and get away with it? I don't understand the 'private property' issue. I live in a Condo Complex that is private property. But houses in a regular neighborhood are also private property. So what's the difference? Whether it's a Condo Complex, or a sub-division with houses, they both have streets and sidewalks. A house with a yard is private property just as a Condo Unit is.

This is too bizarre. We have a main street people drive on. It is a through street, meaning you can drive right thru to the other end and come out on another street. But a car was towed on that street. We called the City and they said the Condo had it towed, not the City. I think the Condo has a contract with the HOA to tow cars on that street. A LEO seems to think it is a private street since the HOA has a contract with the towing company. However, that same LEO said to look at the back of the sign to see if the Condo, or the City installed the 'no parking' sign. It had a City sticker on it. Go figure.

There is a difference between the dictionary definition of discrimination and the legal definition of discrimination.

Discrimination becomes a legal matter when it is unallowable discrimination against protected groups.

So no, you don't know what that word means.

Nearly ten year old thread.

David

An association can have tougher parking restrictions on its streets even when the streets are public. The reason is by being an owner, you accepted the tougher restrictions.

1. Public Street. City says overnight street parking allowed. Association says no overnight parking allowed. The association wins. Association could have association member's cars towed

1b. Association cannot have non-member's cars towed as the association docs do not apply the them.

2. Public Street. City says no street parking allowed. Association says overnight parking allowed. The association loses. Association docs can be tougher than city docs, but they cannot override city docs.