This is the part of the yard I can't really access when the van is parked in the yard.

Question,are all the assigned "parks" gravel, concrete and/or asphalt? Most municipalities have ordinances that require parking ONLY on improved surface. You might have recourse with city/county code inforcement.

Thanks Klem. The assigned parks are asphalt, sometimes the manager will let people build their own concrete parking spaces, but the neighbors don't have room for one since they extended their porch. They're in a single wide mobile home so their lot is smaller but they keep insisting our lot is theirs. I'll definitely check with the city ordinances for parking. Another thing I'm afraid of is the possibility that they will retaliate in some way. We check our car every morning to make sure there are no scratches or nails in the tires.

"Another thing I'm afraid of is the possibility that they will retaliate in some way."

That is the impression thugs want people to have so they will be tolerated.

I definitely want them to stop because this experience has been stressful for me and my family. I need to do some research to see what are the hours of operation for a code enforcer? Since they park in the yard early evening and leave before daybreak I wonder if the code enforcer be able to catch them in the act?

The demon in me would start putting in things that would flatten their tire. I know, that is not helpful advise . I understand your frustration. How about some huge planters. , a raised garden bed. Something they can't move. Other than that I would think of finding another lot that is better at enforcing their rules.

As far as code inforcement,police officers inforce parking codes. If you choose the large boulders,go to Tractorbynet Forums or Nextdoor.com to see if anyone want's to hire out with their tractor to pick up boulders and place them.

I am so sorry that they are using this thug behavior to intimidate you! I have no idea if code enforcement would help you, but maybe they will at least contact the management company and force their hand to do something. Even the local news stations do human interest stories about issues like this. If you make it a problem for the management company, they'll be compelled to take action.

You have a pretty garden, it's a shame that they are chipping away at destroying it. There is really no space for that van. They must have to drop passengers off before they wedge the van into that space, then step in your gardens to get out of the vehicle.

@wantonamara The demon in me was about to do the same thing, but I thought about them complaining to the manager about me and they would know it was something I did to flatten their tires. They're kind of scary looking and unfriendly so I wouldn't want to cause even more trouble with them. We've been looking for rental properties in the surrounding area but I'll have to find homes for all of my plants and maybe sell a few to help pay for boxes and supplies. I was thinking about putting a large planter there but I have limited income and they would find a way to dismantle it. They're petty people to say the least.

@jn3344 Thank you. I was thinking about boulders but they're probably expensive? There's a place that sells various stepping stones and boulders a few miles away, so I may stop by one day just to see what their prices are like? I think my dad got our stepping stones from this particular place.

@klem1 I used to be on Nextdoor a couple of years ago but left. I guess I need to sign up again to see if anyone could help me out. I wish I had super strength to pick up one lol.

@PKponder Thank you for the compliment about my garden. If push came to shove I would definitely call a news station because these communities have had terrible ratings especially with issues like gangs(which we happen to have here) parking, management and maintenance issues, etc. My brother saw one exiting the van and he stepped right in my flower bed. The only thing that he damaged were some okra seedlings that I was looking forward to growing. The manager should be in the office today so we're going to talk with her once again. My mom just finished talking with the maintenance man who said he talked to our neighbors as well as other people who have junk in their yard and park illegally. He says he's tired of them not listening to him so he's going to charge them a $100. He also said the new manager isn't very forceful with people and I think our neighbors may have scared her.

I'll keep everyone updated and I'm sorry for griping about my neighbor issue. My garden is my therapy, so it's very important to me. Thanks everyone for advice and support too, I really appreciate it.

Blackwillow- been thinking. I've had trashy neighbors and can empathize. Grrrr! If management or code compliance can't/won't solve your problem, consider a mortared wall. Boulders can be expensive. Mortar work is super easy. Go to YouTube and find more than you need to know about mortar work. If I go to Craigslist under Free Stuff I find lots of folks that want you to come pick up old bricks, rocks and concrete rubble - all good for building a mortared wall. A bag of mortar mix is about $4 and goes a long way. If your interested I can give you more advice/tips. You can mix in throw away, broken tile bits or colored glass or cover the whole thing in a bits mosaic. You can paint it. You can cover the whole thing with a thin layer of mortar to create a stucco look. Imagination is the limit. A low 2 feet high wall section should stop vehicle entry and could be a bench or a place for potted plants. It could be a foundation for poles to support a trellis with vines. The wall would only need to be long enough to block the vehicles. Dream.

Thanks Eric for the advice. I didn't know a bag of mortar was only about $4. So far we haven't talked to manager about building a mortared wall yet but that would be a great idea if we could. I'd love to hear more ideas and advice.

When I mentioned possible code violations I didn't mean to imply an officer might be assigned to the case. The logical way of handling it would be for the manager to sign a contract with a towing company. The contract basically say's a tow truck can drive through any time 24/7 looking for violations and if any are found,car towed without contacting anyone. Tow truck drivers love this type business and will swing through looking to pick up the extra money. They will also respond quickly to phone tips if they aren't busy at that moment. Were it not for this arrangement you couldn't get down the street around apartment complexes because of double parking. You indicated not everyone agree's where lot lines are. If the park doen't have a copy of plat,the county does. You might want to look at it before things start being inforced. Caveat,violations include leaving car while picking up mail,illeagally parked while at the laundromat and "running in just for a moment".

Oh Ok. The manager said 3 towing companies put in a bid and she still hasn't chosen which one to get. The maintenance man is also going to come over again to talk about the property line. I'll see if the county has a copy of the property lines because the manager only had a piece of paper that just had boxes where each mobile home in situated.

Blackwillow, what a terrible situation in which to be. Somebody insensitive enough to trample over plants and whatever boundaries you've set, doesn't sound like a person you w/whom you can reason. I hope management's intervention does the trick.

Bossyvossy, sadly the manager keeps saying the same thing. Me and my family decided we're just going to move, because it's long overdue anyways. We're going to talk to my brother's co-worker to see if his friends who are realtors have rental properties in the area. I need to start making a list of plants I'm going to take with me and grow in pots, plants that I'll sell, or plants that are free to good homes.

I have extra pots if you need them. Another tip that I learned while moving plants is to use landscaper mix or soil conditioner as the medium. For short term potting, it is lighter to carry and far less expensive than potting soil and you can re-use it in the new garden as mulch or amendment. It's the stuff at Home Depot or Lowes that runs 3-4 dollars for a big bag and is comprised of wood chips, bark pieces, and other composted organics.

Thanks for the offer PKponder. That's a great idea about using landscaping mix. I've been buying some stuff from Lowe's called Organic Compost but it's pretty much pine bark fines. I've been using it with some plants that I was about to plant this month but with the possibility of moving eventually I won't plant them in the ground.

This is what I don't understand of this situation regarding the manager. It seems that if she understood that you were moving because of the parking violations of the neighbor, she would be extremely motivated to keep you. You are a more prized tenant than the guy next door. So if you move, who will rent the space next to those loons? Probably no one. A vacant spot for months will reflect badly on her and it seems the manager isn't smart enough to realize that. It seems clear to me that your leaving reflects badly on her management skills, mainly because she is losing a good tenant in order to keep a problem one. With that in mine, I don't suppose it would do any good to go tell her that, since she seems unable to figure it out on her own. She seems clueless and horribly unsuitable for the job.

Just my .02.

Carla

GOOD point for tactical ammunition Carla

Go ahead and move if you can. Manager is either related or getting paid under the table. Life is too short to waste on idiots.

With fall coming on, perhaps you could purchase a large wooden picnic table with attached bench seats. Atwood's has reasonable prices. This would be heavy enough they couldn't move it. Behind it, you could put a table with an umbrella stand - these are super cheap now. Try Big Lots, Lowes, Home Depot. These things would add to your lovely garden and would be difficult for the morons to move. Also, don't see why you couldn't put in some panels of wrought iron fencing that just stick in the ground - that's not like permanent fencing. Just more stuff to deter the morons. Then maybe some big pots of plants in front of that - lots of plants, pots, stuff that would make it such a headache to move all that every time they tried to park. Best scenario, since you have a do -nothing management, is to start looking for a place to move. Worse case scenario......find someone with a car that doesn't run or a trailer of some sort, have it hauled in there to take up the space! Or maybe you could borrow something from a friend to take up the space......Good luck; trash like these people are difficult to confront - they have to be outsmarted.

Just thought of this.....cinder blocks are fairly cheap - you could make raised bed, edgings - fill with compost, bagged soil and plant things. When you leave, just scoop the soil up, take the blocks with you. Sounds like this trash would just run over the blocks possibly....but would be hard to move heavy wooden picnic table. Good luck!

The manager is new, and we told her we understand it but there are things she really needs to address because this community is going downhill. The previous manager was much nicer and she addressed a lot of issues people were having here but she quit unfortunately. She's hardly in the office too. The previous manager was in there around 9 AM but this new one gets there 11 to about noon and then leaves at 5 pm. We're having some serious issues with out a/c and the maintenance said he didn't want to mess with it, so that's also another sign to move, it's just difficult finding rental homes in this area because of the influx of people.

Sherry you're right, life is too short and I just need to focus on getting me and my family out of here. We've made friends with a couple of neighbors and we'll definitely miss them but it's just not worth it to stay here anymore. Digging up my plants will be a major task and if I have plenty left that I can't sell, would anyone be interested in adopting them? I'd rather them go to gardeners that I know will take good care of them. I'll have to leave behind my beautiful Texas sage bushes unfortunately, but I'll take things like my crinums, spider lilies, amaryllis, and rain lilies, as well as a few wildflowers that I can grow in large pots.

Those are great ideas Alameda. I wish I could have gotten some wrought iron fencing, I could have grown some fast growing vines on it. I keep discussing the issue with my family and they said they wanted to leave this place. There's a gang problem here as well as disturbances and people stealing and vandalizing. In fact both of our sheds have gang graffiti on them and the gang signs have been painted over several times, but they just keep spray painting them onto our sheds.

Oh wait......another idea. Could you sink 2 posts in concrete at entrance to this area then attach 1 or 2 lengths of chain to make a barrier? Then put pots of mandavilla or another type of climber under it and let them climb on the chains - mandavilla are beautiful bloomers and this really couldn't be called a fence, could be considered a trellis. Would be easy to construct, 2 landscape timbers for posts, 2 bags concrete, 2 lengths of chain. Or.....if you know someone who has cut down a tree, get some of the larger logs, make a barrier and put pots in front or behind them. The idea is to make it more trouble than it is worth for them to park there. Or could cut landscape timbers and bury them 12" apart so that 2' or so stick out of the ground. If the fool runs over them, he will hurt his tires but you aren't setting a trap like nails would. This would be perfectly innocent and not considered a fence. This would not involve anything but a couple of landscape timbers, a saw and some muscle to dig and place them. I had neighbors that built a huge shop next to one of my horse pastures. Had lights on all the time, when we sat on our deck, that's all we could see plus they worked on their race cars. I finally just built an 8' fence, which survived 2 hurricanes and is still in place and did the trick! For a while, nearly drove me crazy, so I sure sympathize with you about no good neighbors!

"Go ahead and move if you can. Manager is either related or getting paid under the table. Life is too short to waste on idiots."

I think you are right. If the manager was going to do something,it would have been done already. Well meaning people often fail to realize that "Hoods" have to begain somewhere,they don't just spring to life out of the blue. Every large city has intire apartment complexes,motels and even neighborhoods infested with people like those. Bottom feeding slum lords become wealthy catering to the culture.. Heading it off require's community effort. Disabled and retireing veterans came back from Nam to find their neighborhood backslideing. A few exchanged phone numbers among themselves and local business owners. When pushers or pimps were spotted the call went out. Shortly, men and women showed up,occasionally with baseball bats to tell lowlifes to leave and don't return. The movement caught on and before long other residents pitched in to organize rehab projects.

Could also be scared of the thugs. Either way you would be better off to move if you can.

I really appreciate everyone's advice. Alemeda, it's amazing your fence survived 2 hurricanes with the added bonus of blocking out the neighbors next door. If we stayed here, that would be a great idea, something to make it more difficult for them. There are a few people who try to make the community better, but the bad neighbors seems to overshadow them. I still haven't made a list of things I want to keep so I'll probably do that a little later.

I don't know what area of DFW you are in, Blackwillow, but would you consider a different part of North Texas? I say this only because some areas are going to get rather congested with all the new businesses opening up around the Plano/Frisco area.

I told my husband your story and he suggested that I give you some agave, yucca and cow crippler cactus that we have extras of. All are quite capable of delivering serious skin and foot damage. Of course, now I see that you have worries that the neighborhood is becoming unsafe, so maybe not a viable answer.

@carrie751 I live in East Plano near Murphy. A lot of the empty fields in this area are now neighborhoods. They popped up so quickly. This part of Plano is considered the outskirts and it used to be somewhat rural until recently. We're trying to find an area that's convenient to my brother and sister's jobs. My brother works in Murphy and my sister works in North Dallas. We would like to move further out but not too far out.

@PKponder I wish I could plant all of those plants along the property line. We've lived here for 15 years and it used to be a decent community. Not so much anymore sadly.

"East Plano "

I'm softening my stance on necessity of moveing. I wasn't aware where you live. IMO as result of having dealt with city of Plano many times on various codes,your chances of getting help is as good as anywhere and better than most. I've also picked labors up at East Plano apartments where as I'll do without before going into several places in Dallas. Plano learned from Dallas's mistakes and did a great job considering how rapidly they grew. Plano doesn't have near the crime and urban blight per capita compared to Dallas/Ft Worth and they intend keeping it that way. You don't need all your neighbors but of course the more the better. If the type thing you describe is common,plead your case to city from the angle of impending urban decay and you will notice results. I don't live there but if I decided to give up country life,Plano would rank high on places to settle.

Your main problem is the gang presence, if you start getting bullets flying around etc. that will quickly become more of a concern than the parking thieves.

I wouldn't mind moving to a more rural town. I'm just thankful I've never heard bullets flying around here, but it's probably always going to be a possible threat especially since there are gang members that live here.