Dear Prudence,
I live in a townhouse across the street from a high school in a college town with a pretty strong town-and-gown atmosphere. Our street gets the usual bump in traffic at the start and end of the school day, but other than that it’s not even noticed. However, since this school year has started, we’ve had an issue with high school students parking and hanging out in our complex’s lot (the high school has its own large lot).
Hanging out isn’t an issue—I remember being a teenager and thinking standing around anywhere was fine as long as it wasn’t my house. But the parking is really causing a problem. The lot usually has plenty of spots for residents and then some, but now it’s almost completely full all day long. I’m on the college’s campus in the mornings and come home in the afternoons, and every day this semester I’ve had to park in the last available spot.
I could grit my teeth and deal with that, but there are also safety concerns. Our lot is one way, and they absolutely do not abide by that, driving both ways constantly once school lets out in the afternoon well into the evening, as well as speeding through the lot despite high pedestrian traffic.
Residents have parking passes in their car windows, and the lot is supposed to be monitored, so I figured that eventually one of the kids would get towed and they’d find a new spot, but it’s been several weeks now with no change. I’m absolutely not going to call the cops on these kids, almost all of whom are black, and I feel silly for getting annoyed over a parking lot, but I am worried that someone’s going to get hurt. I’m a 30-year-old uncool white lady, so I don’t feel confident that I could just talk to them and ask them to take their hang outs elsewhere. How can I restore parking peace?
— A Lot Happening in the Lot