community driveway issues -- please help

[mom143s4kids]

Hi,

My husband and I own our home, and behind it runs a community driveway that provides off-street parking and garage access for 15 private homeowners. This driveway is accessed from a major road (Jamaica Aveneu). Unfortunately, there is a catering hall on Jamaica Avenue that uses this driveway to park partrons cars behind their building. On any given day, we will wait to get in or out of our driveway while they unload parties of hundreds of people. Tonight, there has been a car parked behind my garage for four hours, and the police say they can't ticket or tow it because it is on private property. This has been going on for years and all of the homeowners are fed up. We have written letters, contacted the block association, police, politicians -- no one wants to get involved. Can anyway tell me who I should be talking to? I'd really appreciate any help you can give me. Thank you.

 

[lwpat]

If it is private property, then someone must own it. Who is the owner?

 

[mom143s4kids]

The homeowners all own part of the driveway, so it is considered private property. But no matter what official we contact, no one wants to tell this business that they have no right to use this driveway. It's kind of like a local pizzeria telling its customers it's ok to park in someone's driveway.

 

[leigh6000]

If you all have a vested interest in this driveway and there is only one person who is in dispute and the rest have grouped together against them, couldn't you all file some sort of civil suit against them?

Also......have you all tried to approach them directly to explain the situation? Maybe if the neighborhood gangs up against them they would want to work something out. You state that you wrote letters, but didn't say if any were to them.

If all else fails, what about a group effort to give them a taste of their own medicine. You all block up the street yourselves for a few weeks to show them what an inconvenience it is to not be able to get into your driveway.

Sandy
P.S........clearly I am not an attorney