What would you do if people in your neighborhood

16 years ago

took shortcuts down your drive as they jog or go to visit other neighbors?

This happens every day. Two people in particular treat the yard and drive of a friend of mine as though it were a public lane. One of them does not even live in the same subdivision, just jogs through. Sometimes they speak as they pass her, sometimes they don't. One family has even driven their car down her drive, off the edge of the concrete and over about eight feet of her lawn to take a shortcut to a neighbor's house. (She and her husband have been so careful not to go off the edge of the drive for fear of chipping/breaking up the concrete.)

I know that, compared to other things going on in the world today, this is a minor problem. But it is such an invasion of her privacy. She would never dream of routinely using somebody else's property as a shortcut, beebopping right past the people who live there as if they weren't there. She never knows when somebody might be "passing through."

Forgive me for just barging in on this forum. I used to lurk here and occasionally post but haven't had the time to do that in a while. I just need the input of different people on this problem, and I knew this would be a good place to get it. Be honest.

TIA ~~Joy

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (28)

sheilajoyce_gw
16 years ago
It is more than that. If others use her property without her permission, eventually she could lose the right to that property as her very own. My DD is going through this now with neighbors who have used her side yard to get to their back yard. They are now in a lawsuit. The key is whether you gave permission or not. If you give permission, then you should keep a written record of that. Permission can always be taken back. If you are NOT giving permission and it goes on for long enough, they could claim an easement on your property.
Jasdip
16 years ago
We have two schools in our neighbourhood and several people who live on the corners, have installed a small fence or a flowerbed diagonally across the lawn to the sidewalk to discourage people taking shortcuts across the lawn.
It's an established neighbourhood and everyone takes pride in their homes, lawns and flowerbeds. The fences and flowerbeds don't detract from the looks at all.
Related Discussions
Blueberry people..what would you do?
Q
Comments (3)
...so the nature of your sand soil, Linda, is the loose dry type? ("sands" can vary so much, from very porous to quite waterlogged (or leaning that way) that recommendations could run almost in opposites depending upon the type of sand involved. I think I have to agree with the basic overtones of the discussion here so far answers--that one way or another, some kind of mulching , as well as probably watering or irrigating in some very RELIABLE dependable way, look to be in the cards here. At the same time, blueberry culture being as usual being apt to sometimes be a fairly tough call, especially as to soils, the situation (as you seem to realize, given how detailed you have made your "post" here) may be "other than" an easy, simple one! Among various factors and considerations to be faced, is one possibly overriding principle type one, which I think might best be taken to heart here and now as to remedial plans here: blueberries under permanent, heavy mulch, may be very apt to very much grow (roots) "up into" said mulch. To the point that the heavy mulch, gradually decomposing and regularly being supplemented/renewed to maintain or increase its depth, can fairly well "become" the essential (new) "soil" of the plants and thus, the "soil" that they come to basically be growing in. It's somewhat as though the original soil isn't even there. Which, under difficult original soil conditions, is not necessarily a bad thing-- may be what's in order and what the situation wants. "But"-- this new state of affairs, can be (most likely "will" be) permanent and irreversible. In other words, it may be "fine" to go with deep mulching of blueberries and the Situation Taking-over By-the-Mulch that can be expected --but it might be best to realize up-front the permanent committment here: perennial maintaining/renewal of the mulch; likely permanent need for fertilizing adjustment (such as gmason suggests in his guidelines even for a related plan of just drip-irrigation/with-maybe-light-mulching). Maybe supplemental watering/irrigating, especially for best prospects for acceptable flavor (more about this below). For deep permanent mulch culture of blueberries, a deep layer of sawdust I understand is considered clearly the most effective, though various other materials, are likely to work all right provided they can be maintained deeply enough (most other materials seem to be less lasting and more often in need of replenishing, than sawdust or similar materials like wood chips. One modest note of caution about blueberry growing in sawdust mulch culture ( I "suspect" --while am not completely certain-- this probably applies much less, if much at all, to oher types of mulches, except maybe somewhat to other very woody materials , for example wood chips, especially resinous "softwood" ones such as pine or similar), is that, during many years, there distinctly tend to be, under sawdust mulch, a certain degree of flavor problems, specifically tendency toward harshness and lack of sweetness. And while the harshness semi-bitterness aspect may be defeatable by letting picked berries age at room temperature for a day or two, this unfortunately doesn't seem to add any sweetness.. So overall as to this Discussion and Topic here, maybe all of this, would , hmnn, seem to point right to gmason's suggested plan of mainly aiming for irrigation and fertilizing and minor mulching to overcome the sandy soil problem.,,,The question there being that of the possibilites your specific sort of sand soil and site, and situation, offer or don't offer as to likelihood of being able "to get away with" this latter, less involved approach... "It's lucky Blueberries are so great...Otherwise, putting up with them would be ???"
...See More
What Plants, Trees, Etc. Catches Your Eye In Your Neighborhood?
Q
Comments (17)
Any sub-tropical exotic catches my eye, like the Gunnera's, Windmill palms(Trachycarpus fortunei), giant ricepaper plant (Tetrapanax papyrifera 'Steroidal Giant'), the many different species of bamboo, hardy eucalyptus, & the hardy banana (Musa basjoo). Also the other hardy and semi-hardy palms such as the Sabal's, (Jubaea chilensis) Chilean Wine Palm, (Butia capitata)Jelly Palm, (Butia eriospatha) Woolly Jelly Palm, plus a few others that I see around the area. I also find the bright flowers of the hardy Grevillea and Callistemon very eye catching. Of course Chilean Firebush (Embothrium coccineum) during the spring also catches my eye along with the bright blue flowers of the Empress Tree (Paulownia tomentosa) I also like the bright yellow flowers of the Scotsbroom, specially during our dark, rainy, depressing spring days. Those bright yellow flowers are so cheery. Scottsbroom also provides cover and food for one of my favorite birds, the valley quail. If it wasn't for the scottsbroom around Olympia there wouldn't be valley quail. I also like the bright cheery flowers of the butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii). There isn't the range of color, fragance, and time of blooming of any other plant for the northwest. They are very attractive.
...See More
Neighborhood crime - what does your neighborhood do to prevent it?
Q
Comments (44)
I've still been wondering about this and decided to search for the terms and read them carefully. You can find the Member Agreement without going through the membership process. Here are a couple of things I found that will keep me from joining. "Nextdoor may offer similar accounts to businesses, nonprofits, and other organizations. These accounts do not have access to neighborhood discussions or to messages between neighbor members. You can make choices about receiving messages from organizations at (link omitted). Nextdoor provides organizational members with some aggregated statistics about neighborhood activity and size." AKA unwanted advertising. "Preferences. By default, we subscribe you to messages both for your neighborhood and nearby neighborhoods. You can customize your neighborhood subscriptions at (link omitted)." What I don't like about this is that other neighborhoods will be subscribed to MY neighborhood, and after seeing the huge area assigned to my neighborhood, I can only imagine the number of people then subscribed. Might as well just put the whole town in and be done with it. "Content. You retain all ownership rights to the text, photos, video and other content you submit to Nextdoor (collectively, your “Content”). You give us permission, in the form of a nonexclusive worldwide license, to use, copy, and publish your Content as described in our privacy policy." So I own the rights to my photos but nextdoor.com can do anything they want with those photos, including publishing them as their own. No thanks. From the included Privacy Policy: "Verification as a Resident Of Your Neighborhood. Nextdoor requires members to verify their status as real-world residential neighbors.....by...(1) having a neighbor who already has a verified account....confirm your address, (2) (2) submitting your name and street address (and email address....and then providing us (or a third-party service provider directly) with additional authenticating information....such as a unique code....(or)....we may allow you to use a credit card number or the last four digits of your social security number. .... To help with verification, we may share or confirm your verification information with our service providers. ... We may retain your verification-related information for a reasonable period of time (further down it says 'as long as necessary') even if you do not complete all verification steps." "Facebook Connect. If you register for Nextdoor using your Facebook account, we automatically request your email address and publicly available information, including your account ID, name and gender as well as public information about your Facebook friends. If you revisit Nextdoor while logged into Facebook, we’ll automatically log you into your Nextdoor account. If you don’t register for Nextdoor using Facebook but later attempt to log into Nextdoor using your Facebook credentials, we’ll connect your Facebook and Nextdoor accounts and request the information from Facebook as if you were newly registering. ... If you register or log in via Facebook, we may give you the option to invite your Facebook friends to Nextdoor. Those friends will see some information about you along with your invitation." Great. So every friend, even those I really don't know, on my Facebook page will see my neighborhood if not my exact address. There is a lot about collecting information and sharing it with 3rd parties, their expanding corporate family, and even google. This maybe the scariest part of their privacy policy: "Export of Data (Non-U.S. Residents). By using the Services, you authorize Nextdoor to use your information in the United States and other countries where Nextdoor operates. Please be aware that the privacy protections and the rights of authorities to access your personal information in some of these countries may not be equivalent to those in your country."
...See More
This is what is upsetting people in my neighborhood on NextDoor
Q
Comments (63)
Here people post videos of ducks in their swimming pools, and they are not welcome because of the poop, which is bad for the pools. Evidently, ducks are worse than dogs. Fortunately, I do not have ducks in my pool, but I do have doves that will walk over my waterfall and drink from it. On hot days they will sometimes sit on it. On a side note, I did order some golf pants that I found reduced by 75%, and I do need some more long pants. I need more shorts, for that matter, but they were not reduced in price. The golf stores here tend to be very expensive, and I would rather make my own clothes than pay their prices. When I lived in San Francisco, a friends who was a flight attendant for TWA (that's how long ago it was) said that if I gave him some money, he would buy some silk in Hong Kong for me to make pants for myself. So I gave him some money, and he came back with white peau de soie, and I said to him, "I'm not Rod Stewart," and so instead of long pants, I made some tennis shorts. I preferred to wear all white when playing tennis, and I used Tretorn tennis balls because they were the only white ones I could find. I also wore Tretorn shoes because they were solid white. I hated colored logos on tennis shoes, and I still have Tretorn shoes today. When I make myself some more shorts, I'm going to order fabric from Spoonflower with a print that I have designed myself.
...See More
mcmann
16 years ago
If someone drove a car down my driveway and across my lawn I'd be quite upset. The jogger isn't as serious but I would not like that either. I would wait to catch them in the act then then tell them to stop cutting across my property and to use the public street or sidewalk. Having a witness to this might even be a good idea. If they continued I would send them a certified letter. If they persisted I would have my attorney send them a letter. Then it's time to call the police. In the meantime I'd document it with photos with time/date stamp.

Is your friend concerned about her liability if the jogger were to get hurt on her property. I know she hasn't given her permission but she is silently allowing it if she doesn't say anything.

Perhaps I'm more territorial than others but I've lived in my home for 26 years and spent thousands of dollars on landscaping. I pay the taxes on this property. It means a lot to me- it's my home.
litereader
16 years ago
Sheila's post is right. Be very careful because continued use by the public can lead to losing your property. Best to plant a garden, put up a fence and a "no trespassing" sign would not be out of order. Your friend has to put a stop to this -- even if it means contacting the police. I guess I'm kind of territorial, too. LOL
molly109
16 years ago
Has she said anything to any of them? If not, they
are the kind of "louts" who think they are entitled, I
guess. Tell them to stay off, and then,
put up a No Trespassing sign and call the police, if
they continue to do it.

She doesn't have to pay money for a lot of legal
work - she is the property owner, for Heaven's sake.
monica_pa Grieves
16 years ago
The only non-aggressive way of stopping this is to plant or build decorative barriers.

Years ago, I had a problem with neighbors on both sides. They both had boys, who were friends. My back yard was pure lawn.
he others had gardens and foliage planted.

One summer, I noticed the boys playing football in my yard...soon, the fathers joined them. My yard was becoming the neighborhood playground, and shortcut to each other's house.

I told the mothers that their boys (young and old) could not play in my yard....due to the fact that I didn't want to be responsible for any injuries, or did I want to jeopardize the value of my property with a default easement.

Didn't stop them from anything except the occasional neighborly smiles and waves stopped.

I then planted a vegetable garden along one side, and a few bushes on the other...that stopped them.
mcmann
16 years ago
Isn't it amazing how many people just do whatever they feel like without any regard to your rights, property or even common decency?
carla35
16 years ago
I don't know.. I guess it depends on how the neighborhood is set up and if they 'need' this drive way as a cut through. I'm not really able to envision what is going on, but if it's just a couple people cutting through her yard on her driveway, I don't think she's going to loose her land and it may be considered kind of neighborly to let them do so.

The main problem I would see is that it is in fact a "driveway" and that can present safety problems. I personally wouldn't want to worry about people possible being on my driveway when I am backing out of my garage and not seeing them from the side or something. If this could happen, I'd tell your neighbor to mention it as a safety concern to them. "You know, I'm afraid as I'm backing out, I may not always be able to see you, and I certainly wouldn't want anyone to get hurt, would you mind using different route for your walks?"
monica_pa Grieves
16 years ago
t's just a couple people cutting through her yard on her driveway

If anyone trips or falls on that driveway....they can and will sue the owner. it's not only an easement problem...it's an insurance and legal problem.
marlingardener
16 years ago
We had the same problem when we lived in town on a corner lot. Rather than making a 90 degree turn and following the sidewalk, people cut across our lawn to turn the corner. I planted cacti and a Retama tree (thorns on the trunk and limbs). One person actually stopped to tell me that was "unfriendly". I told him I'd never been particularly friendly toward trespassers.
Your friend should talk to the jogger, and tell the people using her driveway to stop. If that doesn't work, put spikes in the drive that can be removed when the owners use the driveway, and put up a "Danger, poison ivy" sign for the jogger!
gardenspice
16 years ago
I'd definitely put a barrier up to prevent the driving - boulders or a planter at the end of the driveway - that's really nuts.
For the jogger, I'd start with a Private Property/No Trespassing sign. If she does not get it, I'd tell her firmly, but politely that this is private property and not a public access point.
Be sure to let us know what happens!
paula_pa
16 years ago
Growing up it was pretty common to cut through people's yards (on foot). Even though my parents still live in the same neighborhood, no one does it anymore. Back then people wouldn't sue you if they slipped on your property as easily as they might today and everyone knew each other somewhat well.

My parents used to have a bar behind their house. The parking lot was right past their backyard and across a small slip of someone else's yard and an alley. One morning we woke up and there were tire tracks in our yard (there was light snow on the ground) coming from the bar parking lot and through the narrow passage between our cherry tree (and house) and the neighbor's lilac trees, then they went down the neighbor's driveway! The people who owned that small strip of yard across from that parking lot must have had a lot of people backing into their yard because they put up some edging, old tires and railroad ties so that never happened again.
lydia1959
16 years ago
I agree with the others... plant a flowerbed, put up signs "Stay off Grass" or strategically place a large family of yard gnomes.:-)
barb_from_pa
16 years ago
Only happens a little here, but it bugs me. Our neighbors two doors down put up signs.
caflowerluver
16 years ago
Tell them to build a fence and put up a "no trespassing" "private property" signs. Or plant bushes that discourage people cutting through the property. Ask over at the Rose Forum. There are some great roses out there that have killer thorns to keep both 2 legged as well as 4 legged pests out.

We had a similar problem with a new neighbor in front of us. Our land use to be 5 acres and was spit in the 1960's into 2 lots, one in front on the street and ours in the back with a long strip, our driveway, leading to our house. He use to use our driveway to get to the land behind his house. We talked to him but he insisted it was his right. He refused to stop even when we showed him it was our land and NOT an easement. We finally built a fence along the driveway and put a gate across. He had 3 land surveys done because he didn't like what we did and was going to take us to court. I guess his wife finally got through to him, after the 3rd survey showed again that we were right. He has always been a half a bubble off.
Clare
Pooh Bear
16 years ago
Get a few of those impulse sprinklers that are motion triggered.
Place them in such a way as for there to be no way to avoid getting wet.
If they figure out how to go around, move the sprinklers.

Pooh Bear
susanjf_gw
16 years ago
that's what we did pooh bear...that and a fence. then the twitty kids sat on the fence smoking! i was sooo glad to leave that neighborhood!
caroline94535
16 years ago
Concertina wire works well. LOL

Seriously, I'd put a barrier of some sort, fence, rocks, plants, etc. I like boundaries clearly defined. I love fences.

Still, concertina wire has a certain panache!
rthummer
16 years ago
Quote from paula_pa-
"Growing up it was pretty common to cut through people's yards (on foot)."

My thoughts are-
This post got me to wonder if my grandmothers' neighbors hated the young girl who was always trespassing through their property to get to someones house? Things have sure changed since the 1950's. I feel bad that I did it and did not know any better. I have never thought about this because I have no neighbors, but if chance had it and we had to move to town next to neighbors, I sure would be informed and respectful. Thanks for bringing this up.

Darleen
FlamingO in AR
16 years ago
My parents drummed it into me at a very early age to respect other peoples' property rights, I think it was mostly because my mother hated it when kids cut thru our yard on their way to or from the park. (She used to sunbathe a lot and it bugged her that kids were eyeballing her as she was laying down reading.)

The one time I HAD to cut thru someone's yard to save myself a 2 mile walk around the river (it was frozen, I was late for school- my option was a 10 minute walk or a one hour walk on icy sidewalks) I scurried thru their yard like a thief in the night! I felt so guilty and scared someone would come out and yell at me.

As for the problem trespassers, you can't block off your own driveway or plant things in it so I guess signs would have to do the trick. They could use a small sandwich board that politely requests or warns off the trespassers. That or talk to the offenders. The person who drove across the yard would be talking to the cops, I'm afraid. That's so disrespectful, it isn't even funny.
zeetera
16 years ago
Spikes might be a bit harsh, but maybe a nice sign at first warning that it is a private driveway. Couldn't she be held liable if something were to happen on her property?
paula_pa
16 years ago
I really don't think anyone minded back then (in our neighborhood) Darlene. We didn't mind and we had plenty of people come through our yard since we were in the middle of the block and the grocery store and pharmacy were on the next block in the middle.

I remember a boy in the neighborhood (jokingly) scaring my mom through the window as she watched television one summer evening and we just thought it was really funny. That might get you shot today!
lindaohnowga
16 years ago
I wouldn't appreciate anyone using my driveway, but I have no objection to kids walking through our yard. Our neighbor kids from down the road a ways are let off the school bus at the end of our road with our nextdoor neighbor's children. They walk through our yard to go home which doesn't hurt a thing and we feel they are far safer in our yard than walking the road.
carla35
16 years ago
You know, I'm probably the only one who (aside from safety issues) really doesn't think it's that big of a deal. I really can't understand why a nice talk wouldn't be the first option. Why would you first resort to signs or big landscaping projects? Why are people so afraid to talk to or confront people? You're really gonna offend them with a sign... Just try talking to them... Why resort to passive agressive measures as the first resort?

And, yes, of course people can sue you, but they can sue you with a sign too (don't fool yourself), and some may be more likely getting hurt trying to jump your newly planted rose bush... Plus, don't most people have homeowner's insurance? I've heard this..."but someone could get hurt on your property and sue you" thing for years, and I have known of people getting hurt on people's property, but I have never ever heard of anyone actually suing anyone when they got hurt on their property without any real negligence. If people are that afraid about being sued, I'm surprise they don't have big gates around their entire yard and property to keep people totally out.

It's sad that neighbors just really aren't really neighborly anymore.. Maybe it's because people don't allow cut throughs and nieghbors put up signs to keep other neighbor out. Gosh, in my neighborhood, we don't have side walks, and everyone walks on people's yards (especially when they have kids and dogs with them). The kids all hit balls into each other yards and everybody can go get them with no problem, etc... No body seems to care and we actually all seem to like each other and get along fine, go figure... Plus, no one has ever sued anyone either. It's sad to think you can't let your neighbor take a short cut and walk through your drive way just because it annoys you and you 'could get sued'.
kacram
16 years ago
"One family has even driven their car down her drive, off the edge of the concrete and over about eight feet of her lawn to take a shortcut to a neighbor's house"size>

seriously? I'd be snapping pictures of the damage and asking for repairs!

I agree.. when she sees someone, she needs to go ask them to not use their property as a short cut!
pattico_gw
16 years ago
I wouldn't think twice about putting up a fence...

If it is one of those communities where they don't allow it...I wouldn't think twice about moving out of it.

patti
rthummer
16 years ago
Paula,
I believe you are right. We had kids going through my grandmothers yard and she never said a word about it. Neighbors always dropped in to visit, WITHOUT a call first... I guess that is why I didn't think anything about it back then. We lived in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. (it was NOTHING like it is now; back in the 50's) It was small town USA. In the summers it was more of a FAMILY beach...now, not so much.

My life as a child was alot more laid back in that southern beach town. Loved it!
pris
16 years ago
You know? There are still places reminiscent of the good old days when no one thought anything about cutting through someones property to get to their destination. You'll usually find them in small towns and rural areas but they're still around. There's nothing wrong with that no matter where they are, but, if you've spent hours and hours landscaping your yard you certainly don't want a trail worn through your property or, as in the op's instance, someone driving through and causing ruts in your yard. So my vote here is something needs to be done about stopping this kind of behavior. It's only all right if you have permission.

What would you do if people in your neighborhood

Comments (28)

sheilajoyce_gw

Jasdip

Related Discussions

mcmann

litereader

molly109

monica_pa Grieves

mcmann

carla35

monica_pa Grieves

marlingardener

gardenspice

paula_pa

lydia1959

barb_from_pa

caflowerluver

Pooh Bear

susanjf_gw

caroline94535

rthummer

FlamingO in AR

zeetera

paula_pa

lindaohnowga

carla35

kacram

pattico_gw

rthummer

pris

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US