I went to go see Death Note with (e:imk2), (e:metalpeter), (e:jenks), (e:tibruon1724), dan, and faben. It was pretty great. Poor (e:enknot) - he missed it but he would have freakin loved it. I think it is the first time I have ever been to a movie with such a jazzed up fan base.

The storyline was pretty good. It was like a live action. I would suggest seeing it tomorrow if you can.

Wikipedia link:
Anime Site:
Live Action Movie:

There is a sequel coming out and there is even a prequel about L who was by far the hotest of the main characters:

What is the dollar value of four months of freetime? This is the question I keep asking myself for the last hour.

First of all I would like to mention that I love the block club president. I would vote for him for president of the USA in a heartbeat. He just seems so honest, driven, dedicated and organized.

There was talk about surface parking vs preservation, actually not about our situation but about the JCC that wants to expand their surface parking. The block club president suggested they add pick up and drop off zone instead.

Possible Solutions
I was thinking that might be a solution for the church next door. What if they had the 3-4 parking spots in front of the church on Linwood converted into 5-10 minute drop off zone during certain hours. Also, maybe we can fight to get rid of the only single sided parking after 6 or at least extend double sided parking to 9PM so that more people can park during "business hours." Its not like it is a narrow street.

Talking with the church people
We talked to some of the ladies we know from the church and they seemed to understand our situation. I really like them. The one woman said she spoke to Father Armand and tried to explain how we have to deal with it all the time and the people give us trouble and that he doesn't see it all the time.

Either way, someone must have said something because it was totally in order today. People parked and walked their kids to the door. I hope it stays that way.

I still can't believe Father Armand tried to make it a race thing when it is obviously about cars. It makes me wonder what else he blames on other things in his life.

(e:matthew) and the grounds guy
Before the meeting (e:matthew) had a talk with the grounds guy that led us to believe that he and Father A also misunderstood our property line . 10.2 feet of the driveway is ours and 3.5 feet is theirs according to our property map, you can see below. You cannot possibly park anything on 3.5 feet and the preservation district won't let them build more surface parking which leads to the issue they are having.





Maybe the misunderstand comes from an agreement with the original purchasers of the house from the church to share the driveway as part of purchasing the property from the church. According to our contract, those terms did not transfer to us. Specifically worded, "this reservation of rights shall not be covenant that runs with the land and does not bind all successors, heirs or assigns of grantee."



I hope it works out between us and by that I mean, we don't have problems with people blocking or parking in our driveway, they find out some parking solution for them, we are on speaking terms with all the church people. Although, honestly, at this point I could care less if I ever saw Father Armand again after this.

I don't think we can ever live amicably with one another now that you suggested this is purely a matter of racism. You might as well pretend I am just singling you out because you are gay, lol. It shows me how out of touch you are with the whole situation. The only reasons I single out the dance camp instead of the other groups is that:

1. No other group has ever given me attitude about moving their cars.
2. No other group consists of 50 or more people that drop off and pick up people for hours at a time.

Dear Paul,

Please believe me that I am upset over the difficulties we are having as neighbors. We are trying our best to work out a mutually beneficial arrangement between all of us.

The simple answer to your question of your last e-mail is yes, you need to call the police whenever anyone blocks the driveway. Perhaps even better would be to have a police officer here when you believe the situation is at its worst. They will be able to immediately cite those who are blocking the driveway. We will share the cost with you of having a police officer here to evaluate the situation.

As I mentioned in my last e-mail, Karen has hired a traffic guard for the pick up time, but I believe having a police officer there would do a lot to quell the situation, along with our long overdue sign.

You must have been aware when you purchased 24 Linwood that there were activities going on at the church. If not, that is the fault of your real estate attorney. The Dance Camp has been here many years and we are not in a position to ask them to leave. I am also aware that your anger is directed at an African American group, which has given me cause for concern.

I have alerted the Chancellor of the Diocese of Western New York about our situation. He will be monitoring the situation and give us advice as needed.

Again Paul, I truly hope (and pray) that we can work this out and we will be able to reside amicably with one another.

P.S. I have also alerted the commander of the star ship enterprise in the delta quadrant. He will be giving us advice as well.

I wrote back to the priest about his last response (e:paul,44381) to my email (e:paul,44377)

Armand,
I am not asking you to police the public street. I am asking you to get rid of the tenants whose clients cannot abide by the law - after months of being told what to do - and who require a significant amount more infrastructure that you can offer. It has gotten so much worse now that they can't park in the driveway, they just park across it or double park which is illegal.

You are right I should call the police. But seriously, do I have to call the police every day to get in my own driveway. That is ridiculous. The only reason these people are here is because you are making money off of it.

As you said in your Feb 29th email:

"If the situation does not improve within a reasonable time, we may be forced to ask the Dance Camp to find another place to teach. We at Ascension are dedicated to this neighborhood, so rest assured, we will stand up for your side on this."

What is reasonable time? It has been over 2 months and the situation has not changed in fact it has gotten worse.

The real problem is that no matter how much the dance camp tells all the parents, often the children are picked up by friends/grandparents/etc who are not aware of the rules. I think you just don't undertsant the volume of the situation. Try visiting the church around 5PM when they drop-off/pick up or on a saturday afternoon.

This is not a once in a while, one car thing. It is an every day thing involving many, many cars. It is an everyday issue that I have to fight to get in/out my own driveway and none of these people would be here without the dance camp.

You also said that you had ordered a sign on in your April 9th email:

"Yesterday we ordered a "sandwich" board that she will put in the driveway every day. It reads NO PARKING OR DROP OFF IN DRIVEWAY, THIS IS A PRIVATE SPACE AND YOU WILL BE TOWED."

I have to ask how it is possible that a simple sign, ordered April 8th is not finished by May 18th, over 2 months later. And honestly, where is this sign even going to go? On the back of a truck at the end of the driveway?

As another example , the other day a man in a red car, who's license plate I could not capture from the in the house, sped up our driveway at like 20 miles per hour all the ay up to in front of our garage.

The older lady security guard asked him not to park there because it was not their property and then he yelled out the window, "I am not parking, just dropping them off real quick" and she said, "okay." This is never ok.

However, I can't blame her because what is she supposed to do? She has no way of enforcing the rules and I don't think there even is a way to enforce the rules. I know how rude and angry the people can get and she is just one, very nice older lady policing the situation.

Really, the answer is not hosting something that you do not have the infrastructure to support.

As I said before, the other groups using the church do not make this an issue at all.

Paul