Dear Paul,
We have control only over the driveway itself. We cannot police the public street. The Dance Camp has hired a security guard for their closing times when parents are picking up their children.
If someone is blocking the entrance to our driveway, we call the police. Alas, for the Buffalo police it is a low priority and by the time they've arrived, usually the perpetrator is gone.
I feel the Dance Camp is being accommodating to the neighborhood and in this case, hiring a guard. The AA groups are on notice about their noise level, parking and trashing our lawn.
I'm sorry that things have escalated to the point when people begin to swear at one another. Obviously it's at a boiling point for both you and the Dance Camp.
Let's see what the security guard can do. Karen has written to all the parents, who have done their best. It's usually when a non-parent relative who is not aware of the driveway situation comes to pick up a child. As I mentioned before there is a sign being made that states: DO NOT BLOCK DRIVEWAY. No stopping or drop off. It has not yet come back from the printers but when it does, we'll install it down by the sidewalk.
Plans have been talked about even before I arrived about putting in a parking lot on North Street. while this is a viable option, at this point we don't have any money for it... but it's still an open option.
Armand
Paul's Journal
My Podcast Link
05/18/2008 10:16 #44381
The Church of the Ascension's ResponseCategory: church of the ascension
05/18/2008 00:51 #44379
Tuesday Morning, Beer and FridgeCategory: shopping
My mother is constantly raving about this store called Tuesday Morning



They also had a lot of strange home deco stuff. Like what the heck is this? I referred to it a the conchgina, which leads me to my next consumer discovery of the day. I feel bad highlighting the ridiculous conchgina when there was so much cool houseware and gardenware but it is just so photo-worthy. I would definately suggest checking the store out.

Clamato and Budweiser In One Can
We took a stroll over to Forest Lawn to see (e:matthew)'s families plot and on the way back we stopped at the gas station on the corner of Delaware and West Delevan. In the beer section they had this really nasty drink - and to think I like clams and beer. Who is their target market on this one. The clam and tomato juice folk or the budweiser in a can folk. They seem like such different audiences.

I like Frank Lloyd Wright's work but the new monument is just down right fugly.

refrigerator
Before all that we went refrigerator shopping. For those of you have not seen our mid 80s refrigerator with the broken off door handle that doesn't close - you know why we need a new one. After throwing out a lot of freezer burned crap from the door being opened for hours and thawing and then freezing over and over, I now want one with a door alarm. I think it will save lots of money. I also can't believe how efficient refrigerators are now.
I want this one, The Jenn Air JSD2695KES





What's super crazy is that the 3D model is downloadable for use with Google sketchup

What could make planning a kitchen easier?
The first time I saw Clamato I thought it said CamelToe.
With beer, I imagine the two taste the same.
wow. I thought clamato itself was nasty, now mixed with beer??? ew.
That Bud/Clamato is similar to a michelada style beer. It's more of a Latino drink, I've seen it here.
i love tuesday mornings! it is amazing for lots of random home stuff which you know I totally need and buy by the bagful!
05/16/2008 13:18 #44364
Outro by BlumchenCategory: music
ooooh, you make me miss techno.
05/15/2008 22:36 #44356
There's A Skinhead In My HouseCategory: hair

He looks mean when bald and angry.

Oh, man! That first photo looks sort of like the scenes in Jackass where they sneak up on a friend and buzz off a patch of hair for fun.
Wow, (e:terry) looks REALLY pissed.
Welcome to the Club???
w:janelle did that to me once.
That happened to me in college. Who would have thought that my suite mate was drunk at 11 AM on a Wednesday. Needless to say the same thing happened when he took off the guard and wanted to "touch" the top up a bit. After that I shaved it with a razor for a year or so.
05/17/2008 16:11 #44377
Dear Church of the AscensionCategory: church of the ascension
Today this one woman was double parked completely across our driveway with her car off. When we came home from the grocery store, the following situation occurred as you can read in my letter to the Priest of the church.
This diagram helps with the letter below.

Father Armand,
The driveway situation is really not any better.
I feel bad about the situation because the dance camp tappyK and the other older lady who works there are so respectful of the driveway and nice and I like the idea of their dance camp. It is not them I have a problem with. It is some of the parents. They seem to try really hard.
I just had an incident in the driveway where we were coming back from grocery shopping and a woman was parked double parked in the street, completely across both sides of the driveway with the car off. Terry beeped like 5 times to try and get in the driveway and she would not move. At that point I got out of the car and asked her to move. She moved up like 2 feet and I assumed she was moving up more.
At that point I had gone in the house to open the backdoor to unload the groceries. When I came out she was still in the middle of the driveway and my temper got the best of me and I yelled, "What the fuck is going on here, get the hell out of my driveway." as I was really mad a the point and terry was blocking traffic all the way up to north.
Then she asked me who I was and what business it was of mine if she parked there. I said it was my driveway and that she was illegally parked and to move. Then she said she doesn't need to move because I cussed at her at that she was going to get out of the car and "slap the shit out of me." I then walked away to go take a picture of her license (attached) plate and matt asked her why she was at the church she refused to tell us.
Clearly your infrastructure cannot handle the traffic flow from this dance camp. You really need to consider building a true parking lot on the North St side of the church. I should not have to deal with this kind of drama every time I want to get back in my driveway. It is really embarrassing when I am bringing guests over, as happened the other day.
No matter what, THIS HAS GOT TO STOP. I don't care what the heck you have to do but if the dance camp parents continue to park in or across my driveway, I am going to continue to escalate the situation with them until one day someone like that large black woman "slaps the shit out of me." and then we will have a much more serious issue.
Paul Visco
I agree with Mike if they are assholes the only way to win is to be a bigger asshole. Use rope, create a problem.
A rope wouldn't help now because the main problem is people double parking across the driveway in the street which is simply illegal. You can see what I mean in the diagram.
Paul, I should address a second letter to the vestry of the church. In the Episcopal church, the vestry is the governing body and make most of the decision regarding the church. I don't know any of the people at Ascension, but as a former vestry member of St. Paul's Cathedral, I know that it would be a good idea to write to the vestry, too. Just a suggestion. Hope it helps and that it works out!
perhaps it is time to rope it off on your side
I vote for a low caliber rifle aimed at their tires.
I vote for the rope solution.
maybe the sign will help. Wait and see.