A reader sent in the following photos of a Jewish owned minivan with Quebec license plates blocking a buildings multi car garage. The car was parked the night before and remained parked there throughout the Tuesday, blocking access to the 23 parking spaces underneath the building.

Inconsiderate Parking

A reader sent in the following photos of a Jewish owned minivan with Quebec license plates blocking a buildings multi car garage. The car was parked the night before and remained parked there throughout the Tuesday, blocking access to the 23 parking spaces underneath the building.

Being that the car bore out of state plates it could be that he was not aware of the driveway he was blocking, residents should point this out to guests as to avoid such situations as well as parking tickets for not being familiar with parking regulations in New York City.

32 Comments

  • chaim

    there is a huge sign saying no standing violators will be towed at owners expense why wasn’t that done
    the only reason i could think of is that i would rather be towed then slapped with all those stickers
    did the parking meters or police put them on or residents. if it was residents i would sue them

  • mtler

    well coming from quebec i know how it is, you come into CH at a late hour can’t find any parking and when you finally find you don’t realize there is something wrong (cuz who would find parking so easily in CH) so please give him the benefit of the doubt.
    gmar chassim tova

  • bad one

    man, the guy is from CANADA can’t he read?
    oh ya and like no. 1 said tow him away and don’t tell him that you will tow him away

  • back up.....

    Guys, be dan lechaf zechus. It is entirely possible that he did not see the sign (granted, he would have to be pretty blind because of the signs) but it is possible. He could be mortified that he parked there and feeling ill at blocking so many people. It is not right to post this online. It is after the fact and punishing him does not help.

  • on the flipside

    I was a head counseler of camp. I had been traveling planning and hadent slept for 35 to 40 hours.

    I arived in crown heights late about 12am and stopped at a home for a quick meeting. Unfortunately for me my meeting lasted about a hour.

    Its 1am
    I’m rushing to pick up a second driver (bc I can’t safly drive) and head out of crown heights on a 7hr drive.

    When I get to my car I notice that its boxed in both the front and back bumper are squashed. And yes all those stickers decorating it as well.

    I look at the way I parked I had blocked aprox 30 to 40 persent of some guys driveway oy my thinking only a min and lack of sleep…

    I look up at the home all light on I build up corige knock on door… The owner openes and before I had a chance to oppoligise he asked. “So how long have you been parked there for?”

    I said a hour

    He said ok. Knock on my door in a hour and if I’m still up ill let you out.

    There’s sick. And then their is SICKER.

    I really learnt 2 lessons
    1. Don’t block a rich geshe driveway in crown heights

    2. Don’t be such so mean to anyone even if he blocks your driveway.
    I really feel bad for that car owner just arived from montreal jumped out to grab somthing from the bakery then had to run to judaica world and forgot that he parked in a driveway. Now is driving AWAY from crown heights hoping never to come back again.

  • disgusted

    empty threat is right. It doesn’t matter where these inconsiderate people come from, everyone thinks we are just there to serve them & our feelings & needs don’t come close if they conflict with “foreigners.”

    Enough is enough. Tow the car. The people who pay for their parking garage are entitled. You can be damn sure if I was inconvenienced I’d have got it towed.

  • trevor

    Well it’s good to know i now have somewhere to park when i come back late! and they won’t do anything about it

  • FYI from veteran blocked-driveway victim

    B“H

    FYI: In the five boroughs of NYC, a private towing company will not tow the car unless it has first been ticketed. There has to be a ticket on the car for a private towing company to take it.

    When one calls 311 (or the non-emergency # at the 71st precinct — 911 is not for this kind of matter), it goes at the bottom of the pile of things for the Police to respond to. It is not unusual to call in the complaint before going to bed, and to wake up with the car still there, not yet ticketed.

    Sometimes you get lucky, and the police come quicker than that. THEN, and only then, you can call a private towing company.
    But if you know it’s a car owned by a fellow Yid, it’s then a shaalah for a Rov, as this is now a case of turning in your fellow Yid to the authorities, rather than to a Beis Din.

    Luckily, living on the outskirts of Crown Heights as I do, it’s virtually guaranteed that a car blocking my driveway is owned by a Goy. So I call the Police several times a month about these matters. Sometimes the police come before the car gets moved, sometimes they don’t. The closest I’ve ever gotten to getting a ticketed car towed (from in front of my driveway) was a couple of times when the car owner came out as the wrecker was hooking up their car. In that case, the tow company can ”make a deal“ with the car owner — for a certain large amount of cash, the tow company will not their car.

    I’ve never had a car actually end up both ticketed AND towed away in the five+ years I’ve had a home with a driveway.

    Most people leave the car just long enough (several hours or less) to avoid the police finally showing up to ticket the car. The rest get a ticket, which is probably enough of a ”zetz” and a deterrant to those in the neighborhood who see this.

    I wish the Police would just go ahead and stop and ticket these cars when they see a blocked driveway! But they won’t do this. They seem to only ticket these cars when someone calls to complain first. This is something I don’t get! It would be so easy to fill their ticket quotas this way!!!

  • to CH Mom

    maybe by he forgot about his car and hopefully he goes on this web site and will see his car and will move it.

  • Blocked in

    One snowy, Friday afternoon I noticed that someone had blocked my driveway. Unfortunately, when my husband came home from work about an hour later, the car was still there. He ended up driving around for quite some time and ended up parking several blocks away. The car had plates from another not-so-distant state and probably some obvious contents to show that it belonged to a Lubavitcher, so we called several of our neighbors to see if they knew who’s car it was.

    After Shabbos we finally tracked down the owner, who was a guest across the street from us. When questioned, she stated that since it was already about 3 hours before Shabbos (it was a very early winter Shabbos), she figured no one would be coming or going any more. I don’t know what world she lives in, but I don’t think consideration was part of it. And she never even apologized.

    My response to all of this is: No matter what -if you must block someone’s driveway for whatever the reason -LEAVE A NOTE WITH YOUR PHONE NUMBER

    Coming from out of town, it’s even more surprising that she just parked blocking my driveway, left no note, and didn’t feel any responsibility.

  • What gave anyone the right?

    I agree we must prevent such violations.

    But what halacha can you quote me that gives anyone the right to damage the car with stickers?

    I agree that the driver must ask Mechilah for his actions … ut each person who placed stickers …. must also ask Mechilah (even if it can come off with nail polish removal!

  • me myself and i

    what is funny is when you call 311 to get a car ticketed or towed they take for ever to come… if they even do…

    but for them to give out tickets on a erev shabbos on Kingston…
    ouch… that bike lane is coming…

  • Shame on you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Why did’nt they just tow the car. people yom kippur is coming up, why did they have to embarrass the owner. one time i parked where the meter was right in front of the bank. they keeped telling me to move. i told them i was far away from the entrance. They did this to teach a lesson and i think it was very mean. If it was such a inconvenience call a tow truck. Shame!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Shame!!!!!!!!!!! on you. Even the city puts only ONE sticker on your car.

  • To: Mtler

    In fact – the opposite – if you come in late at night & find a space – ask yourself why its empty & check the street cleaning signs (some are no parking overnight), yellow on the curb & other signs before leaving your car. You have to be an idiot not to notice that the curb is painted yellow & cut down for a driveway.

  • Stop the embarrassing

    So there were 23 blockheads in the building who didn’t think of towing the stupid car, maybe they were just being nice and giving him a chance, and even if not, why would you want to tell the whole world that the people in that building a bunch of idiots.

  • happy

    the guy is an idiot and selfish [like many here in CH] their is a big sign.and the ones who put the stickers are also idiots why did they put a sign about towing and then put stickers he could sue.

  • I. M. Wright

    Look in Gemara Pesachim. If it’s blocking your leaving, you can halahicly take the car apart and move it, as necessary. Do it. How many hundreds of hours of legal residents’ time are being stolen by the car blocking? Put a chin on and pull the car into the street, or onto the sidewalk. Then leave it. Gut Shabbos.

    I once draged a repeat offender before a Rov. The Rov said I was right, at least in theory, and the the offender had better not park in my driveway again.

  • crown heights person

    Someone blocked my driveway once and i went down to the police station and they came down and gave the person a ticket. Not only that they told me to call a tow company and tow the car the tow truck showed up and guss what the person came back.
    What happened she did not relize that it was a driveway how blind and dum was she.
    She parked there all day went to Manhatten took the subway.
    What chuzpa.
    Oh was we MAD

  • eli

    what is the issue??

    they were in Crown heights for 5 minutes and caught the Virus. which is do what ever you like to whomever you like when ever you like.

    no one care sfor anyone around here.

  • The Solution

    I remember living on the Montgomery in the homes built behind the hotel. If anyone blocked their driveway, Y**** spray painted it and A**** just drove right through inflicting much damage. Trust me, no one parked in front of these meshugoyoim houses again.

  • check in the car

    did anyone check inside the car? there was a similar story of a car parked illegally that got hundreds of dollars worth of tickets only the owner was inside the car …. and nobody bothered to check

  • ch resident

    it says clearly WILL BE TOWED AT OWNERS EXPENCE!!!!!!!!
    so just tow the stupid car
    it’s such a chillul lubavitch
    we had an incident a few nights ago when a lubavitcher blocked a driveway and someone had to get out
    if there is a sign that says your car will be towed then TOW it

  • To all of the Just Tow message writers

    B“H

    Some of you nitwits that say ”just tow“ need to read the ”FYI” above. It’s not as easy to have a car towed, as you may think! (The tow companies will not just come and tow away any old car, just because they get a call from an irate person asking them to do so! The car has to be ticketed by police first.)

    Towing is a great idea, but it takes police cooperation to make it happen. And responding to a call to ticket a blocking car, is a very, very low priority item when the squad cars get their assignments from the sergeants.