that person won't be so quick to leave his car for weeks on end in your parking place.

It's people like YOU that ruin city life. I don't LIKE to use my car but feel like I HAVE to because YOU feel like YOU have your own personal parking spaces on PUBLIC streets. YOU should be happy you freakin' fake tree-hugging phony because I DON't use my car every day and instead you neighborhood nazis act like you own the street taht I PAY for with my taxes and I am helping the environment by carpoolng and NIOT using my carl. Great jopb you big faker. that's why 311 is basically a terrporist hotline for fanatics like you.

Well, actually I have a driveway. I was trying to save your parking place. :-) EL

if these block parties are once a year, there's no way that the divisions are going to be broken. Where has the community gone from our neighborhoods?

oh

Thanks Bill! Where exactly to people come by this sense of entitlement to a public street? I recently had a run in with one of these parking fascists because I apparently left my car in "their" spot while I was out of town for a week. It was such an offense that they wrote their objections on the my car's window.

why would anyone have Bill in the car with them? The drive into work is stressful enough.

Somebody got up on the wrong side of the bed today.

Wow bill - You are the scary one. Computer rage. I can see your spit spraying on your computer monitor.

I only recently learned about calling 311 on parked cars after someone called my car in for having too many leaves on it. And yes, I got a ticket for too many leaves. I also don't drive to work, because I don’t have to. Furthermore, being that I live on an alley street, I do not have the luxury of parking directly in front of my house. I think the biggest problem with your pot luck wasn't the lack of food variety but the shear laziness and selfishness on the part of suburbanites moving to the city who seem to have forgotten what understanding, sharing and tolerance mean.

Whoaa there bill... you might want to mozy on over to Zurawick's blog where they talk of fascists, nazis, mccarthyism and the like. Way to take a fairly innocuous statement and blow it way out of proportion.

Someone missed his meds to-day. Naughty, naughty, sir. And you promised, after the last time.

Um... WOW. "Bill" must be off his meds...

48 hours? My company truck would get towed every weekend on your block. Not to mention my daughter's car that she leaves with us when she travels out of BWI.

I've never thought of potato salad as being a seasonal dish. It's not like you can only get good potatoes in a certain season. Whenever we are headed into a stretch when alot of people will be stopping by at different times for food ham and potato salad are staples.

I don't agree that people are so much busier now than I was or my mother was. I think most people just don't care about food. If more items had been available for carryout 40 years ago the spread at block parties would have been the same as today. I would never take something store bought to a pot luck. But I definitely live to eat not eat to live.

Yikes - somebody had too much caffiene!!
I gew up in the "country" and our neighborhood has started having block parties, just to get to know the neighbors again...a lot of the older folks have moved out and younger families moved in and people want to get to know each other again. I think it's nice - whether it's homemade food you are sharing or store bought!

Wow! A car is considered abandoned after 48 hours?! I guess if you go away for a long weekend getaway, you're screwed. I used to live in the city, and this just reinforces why I am glad to be out.

To be fair to my neighbors who don't have a driveway, I don't think they are worried about a car that's parked for a long weekend or whatever. For sure the city isn't going to rush out to tow it. EL

You'd be cheesed off too if you were at a family funeral for 4 or 5 days and the nieghborhood parking nazi had your freakin' car towed because it was in front of her house instead of yours and the city just caves in to crazy people who call 311 all the time just because they have nothing else to do and I'm trying to keep some sanity in ym family and find my car gone and have to pay crazy fines for no damned good reason, yeah it's not caffiene it's reasonable rage so there, it's not political and what does this have to do with tv?

bill, have you met SPRINGS1? I feel your pain, but egregious CAPS are no solution.

bill wrote: it's not caffiene it's reasonable rage

Now there's a concept I can embrace. Reasonable rage.

. . .what does this have to do with tv?

Am I missing something? What does that mean?

Bill - I'd mention anger management, but even out here in the 'burbs I've been known to succumb to a total full frontal hissy fit when returning from an outing to encounter my neighbors company in my spot on a rainy cold night when I have a car full of groceries. If it was only once in a while, well, live and let live; but over and over again gets old quick.

EL - We have a community block party every year too. Each year, I know less and less people and each year the food goes more to hell. This years prime feature was blackend chicken legs (not on purpose). Lots and lots of 'em. The owners of the chronicly barking dog (mandatory for every community) came early and ate everything that wasn't nailed down and got out, and we never had our discussion about the 6 foot privacy fence that some of us want behind our common ground.

BTW, we had a recent communication from the head of our company's security department informing us that the neighbors do not appreciate us parking in front of their homes and they would be driving around the community "taking tag numbers". I checked with the police and they told me I could park in front of the home of the owner of the company if it was a city street with no signs or permits required.

Kitkat, I think it's a reference to the crazies who have come out of the closet over on the Zurawik television blog whenever the topic is political.

. . .what does this have to do with tv?

GregB tried to send me to the tv blog where fascists apparently live. whatever

Kitkat -- bill's reference to tv was in response to GregBWorking's earlier suggestion that bill go to David Zurawik's Z on TV blog, which has geen getting lots of vitrolic posts (from a variety of political perspectives) regarding Z's comments on TV coverage of the current election.

Our neighborhood party is coming up, and I need to bring an appetizer--any suggestions, gang? It looks as if we are in for rain, so something that can stand up to thunderstorms would be good!

Dahlink, blackened cocktail franks will stand up to anyhing. If you coat them with a dry spice mix, the rain will actually help by making the sauce for you. At the hole-in-the-wall Chicago hot dog place I went to you paid extra for a blackened hot dog (Char Dog I think they called it).

Wait, when other people call 311, the city responds? Is there a magic word I don't know? I've been using "please".

Dang, I call and call and call, about stuff that is even posted illegal and nothing happens.

Do I need to buy a car or something?

"There's nothing needs reforming more than other peoples habits"

Dahlink, I like something hot for rainy yukky days. If you can use a crock pot (I'm assuming you'll at least have a tent?) maybe meatballs or some crab dip My personal favorite (and I like to show it off) is stuffed mushrooms. Another cool thing I had recently was a "strudel" made with phyllo layers (with butter of course) and stuffed with a mushroom and goat cheese pate. I don't think phyllo's gonna stand up to rain though.

We had a successful block party 1st weekend October. Theme was Octoberfest so we all brought a 6 pack of a good seasonal beer and put them on ice to be shared. After about 4 or 5 of those nobody cared much that the food was pretty much store bought and not all that great. However I would have liked a few more homemade fall dishes on the menu... On the subject of parking, it is a topic along with politics and religion that really get people really fired up... People LOVE talking parking if you live in a street parking hood, no doubt.

Chopping olives?!

Dahlink, an appetizer that can stand up to a thunderstorm? How about shrimp?

Forget "chopping olives" TJH, what are olives doing in potato salad?!

I'm frightened (no offense, EL, please don't take offense). I hate olives, but feel I have a mental concept of where olives belong for those who actually do like them and I can't get my mind around olives in potato salad.

Gracious me, Bill did lash out, didn't he? Whew!

My city street is very narrow, and the one thing that cheeses me off is someone's commercial truck parked in our residential neighborhood. Apparently they don't know that it's against the law. Generally, parking is tight enough without someone's pick-up or panel van taking up 1-1/2 to 2 space. Grrrrr....

Bill makes a vaild point - many people who live in the city park on the street out of necessity. You should be able to go on vacation or to a funeral (God forbid) without having your neighbors (who, come on, know your car) call 311 on you and get your car towed.

That law is supposed to be for abandoned vehicles, not for residents who carpool or have to go to a funeral out of the area. There should be a registry for residennts who park cars on their street but don't necessarily move them every 48 hours, Hmmm maybe this should be posted on some other blog more topical, like Rodericks.. except one never knows when he will delete your post.

Well, that's why we were discussing parking permits, so residents who don't have driveways could find places near their houses to park. EL

Mary, you make some good points, but I have to wonder if everyone will recognize a neighbor's car. I recognize people, but I have selective blindness when it comes to cars (beyond our own, of course). Many of our neighbors own three cars, and my eyes just glaze over ...

Since I was a kid, I never understood why people feel the necessity to be friends with their neighbors. Just cause they live near you?

My mother was always like "oh no but the neighbors...."

Who cares? As long as you're not disturbing the peace or on their property, you have no reason to speak to these people.

I have lived in my house for 4 years and I don't think I've said 2 whole words to the woman living next to me. (and I'm not far away from her, we live in townhomes)

You live your life, I'll live mine. Keep your kids off my property and away from my car and everything will be just fine.

Needless to say, I don't do block parties.

Dottie,

How about this? Between the house to my left, the house to my right, and the house to their right (3 houses, NOT including mine) there are 13 cars.

13

And 3 of them are commercial work trucks which get parked there everyday.

We each get 2 spots in front of our houses with no overflow parking. Somethings not adding up.......

I've had decent luck calling 311 - even at 4:30 AM when someone decided to park their bloody Jaguar behind my parking pad so that my wife couldn't leave the house and go to work. Took about 30-45 minutes, which I consider to certainly be acceptable for a non-emergency. We didn't tow though, just hit them with a ticket.

The existence of parking permits does not guarantee the existence of parking spaces.

The right way to handle the parking problem is to beef up public transportation (not cut it, Mr. Gov Guy). Folks who live and work in the city shouldn't feel the need for a car or three.

As someone who doesn't have a car, I have three car-related pet peeves. 1) parking on the sidewalk on alley streets. I was using that sidewalk, folks. 2) City residents registering their cars in other states to avoid car insurance and taxes. 3) Parking on crosswalks and blocking curb cuts. Nothing like fighting 60 lbs. of dog food in a granny cart up a curb because your SUV is parked in front of the curb cut (and I can't imagine how folks in wheelchairs manage).

More than 30 neightborhoods already participate in the Baltimore City residential parking permit program. Each permit costs $20. Vehicles without permits are fair game for itchy-fingered 311-dialing neighbors and aggressive tow truck operators. Given the choice, I'd just get the neighborhood in the program and pay the $20.

Despite Bill's easy-going, affable post, I find it difficult to think of the doyenne of the sandbox as a "tree hugging nazi." On the other hand, it would make a terrific character in a sequel to Mel Brooks' "The Producers."

On the corner of my block is a chain-auto repair operation (begins with a double vowel) They park customer's cars on the street and leave them there until the parts come in or the customer gets enough money together to bail his/her vehicle out. I do call 311 about these cars.

The new people across the street are inclined to park one of their cars with the rear end crowding a foot or so into the width of my driveway. I posed a hypothetical question to my insurance agent who gave me a big frown on hitting it. I settled for a note on their windshield saying that I'd hate to call 311.

The public street is not a storage facility for your work truck. It takes up two spaces and makes it so your neighbors can never park near their house. We all pay the property taxes on the street, and we should all have a chance to park in a convenient place occasionally. When I return to my home in Canton and have to park in Highlandtown because your daughter wanted a convenient parking space (even though she won't be returning home for a week) and drag 198 pounds of groceries seven blocks to my house ... I'm going to report your daughter's car to 311. You're not a victim of an unfair or biased policy. The same rules apply to all of us. When I leave town, out of consideration for my neighbors, I park my car at the airport or in my office parking garage. Being considerate of other human beings is just a foreign idea to people these days, isn't it?

What I hate are people from the suburbs who move in to the city because it's hip, but have no clue how to parallel park a car and end up taking up two spots, especially in hard-to-park neighborhoods like Canton and Federal Hill.

...And the yuppies who have their sports car, their SUV and a work car, and feel the need to part them in front of their house and leave them there all of the time.

...And the neighbors who have a mini-van and a min-cooper and park the minivan between two spots and when they come home in the minicooper, they move the minivan to make room, thus ensuring that they always have two spots and other people can't use them.

A little consideration, please!

anon.e.mouse; I live in the suburbs but work in the city and I parallel park pretty well. What I hate, is those people who park so close to your bumpers on both sides that you need a can opener to get your car out of it's spot. Not to mention that you KNOW that at least 1 of those cars hit yours!

My sister recently found a note on her car asking her to use "more consideration for others" when parking. She was within the lines, but a bit off-center because when she arrived the car to one side was crowding her space. Sheesh!

Carey, you're within your rights to report commercial vehicles parked on a residential street. A few years ago, someone in my block parked a rented truck on our street for days on end. I finally got fed up and called the rental agency, which solved the problem by taking the truck back from the renter. Someone else who regularly parked his Pepsi van on our street stopped when someone (not me, for a change) called Pepsi to complain. Sadly, you can't do anything about residents who seem to have more cars than persons in the household. I sympathize, because we have a couple of them in our block.

Honestly bringing something homemade and scrumptuous to a block party or any pot luck for that matter is a sense of pride. I use it as an opportunity to show off a new recipe or an improved oldie but goodie. It's not that we as a society don't have time anymore, it seriously is that we just don't care. Nobody has the energy to care about their community, I feel like there is an "every man for himself" motif spreading through the city. If someone does show up to a block party with store bought items, it most likely means they don't care and are only there for appearances.. sorry to be so harsh.

I agree with Rebs that cooking something good for others carries a sense of pride. Our church social group meets once a month, and it's either all about food (crab feast, progressive dinner, oyster feast) or accompanied by food (museum tour then pot luck at someone's house, movie night at someone's house w/ snacks, etc.). That bunch can COOK, and they've given me some great recipes over the years.

Rebs & Dottie--point taken (and I have a tasty dish marinating in the hopes that our block party won't get rained out). But I have to say that coming with something store-bought is better than not coming with anything--or not coming at all. I was once astonished to learn from a coworker that she felt inferior to her neighbors because her mother bought their potato salad, and she was never able to master making that dish herself. Sad, but true.

I guess I'm old fashioned. Not taking something homemade to a potluck would embarass me horribly. The one exception would be something hard to find and stunningly good, like a tray of real baklava from that awesome place in Detroit.

Of course, now that Shatilla ships, that isn't quite so awesome, but, still...

We used to have potluck luncheons in my old workplace about once a month. Some were just non-cooks and fulfilled the function of bringing napkins, cups, plates, soda, etc. There's always a need for that stuff too. Fortunately many of us liked to cook and signed up for food items to the point where we'd be eating leftover party food for a month.

Having said that, I don't know if Santonis' of Glyndon carries it anymore, but that 3 potato potato salad...aaaaaaaahh. Better than anything I could make and suitable for any party!

I also saw a commercial last night for Sara Lee savory appetizers. Hmmm. Wonder what those are like?

Trader Joe's has a whole freezer case of appetizers that just need a quick run through a hot oven--doesn't take much effort.

hahaha i agee with lissa olives dont belong in potato salad!!! my mother in law is the first and only person i have heard of doing it and its nasty and i love olives!!! ive always thought she was crazy for the olives then i done a google search and found this!!!