C
Confused person
Guest
- Jurisdiction
- California
I have never been really close with my neighbors and tend to mind my own business. The neighbors across from me and to the left of me are all in a "Click".
The problem started a few years ago, my daughter adopted a pit bull ( with my permission), when the male neighbor to the left saw the dog he told my girls that they should put the animal down because he did not believe that a pit bull is a good dog for an all female household. My daughters informed him that I gave them permission to have the dog which he responded that I knew nothing as I was a woman and that they should listen to him since he is male. My eldest daughter has a mouth on her and colorfully told him no.
Well after that incident the problems started. They told all the neighbors that our dog was vicious. One day the man's son dangled their dog over the fence so that it dangled into our property, I am unsure of why, but my daughter saw it and yelled at them. Their excuse was that their son was trying to get the dogs to play together. Then on another instance we saw them trying to slip food through the knot holes in the fence to our dog, they did not realize we were in the yard so when they tried we smacked their fingers, when we called the cops they did not answer the door and acted as if they were not at home. we used duct tape and taped ALL of the openings on our side. Their sons also have BB guns and we have found the BB's on our property near where the dog would lay. Since we did not witness them shoot into our yard nor have and "solid " proof ( because the BB's are not proof it seems) the police could do nothing but said to get cameras.
The problems stopped for a while but then our car tires began to be slashed. It was always the tires that face away from our house windows and mostly at night. After it happening about 4-5 times and calling the cops every time with no real assistance one of my daughters hid in one of the cars one night. When the kid came to slash the tire she slammed open the door and screamed at him. He ran into his house and she called the cops. Unfortunately, since the tire indeed was not slashed and his parents were claiming that he was inside the entire night the cops could do nothing. So the tire slashing kept occurring and even guest who parked across the street from us were not immune to the tires slashed. This mostly stopped after one night we saw someone creep near our cars and everyone in the household and some friends ran out of the house with long swords, katana, etc. I think we scared them. Now the tire slashings only occur once every 4-5 months. Again cops were not much help.
Now every three months we seem to have an influx of complaints. When one of my daughters came home from college she slept for two days and her car was still packed with all her things. Parking enforcement was called, someone claimed the car was parked there and used for storage for months. when the officer was ticketing the car, my daughter showed them the parking ticket she had gotten the week prior as proof that the complaint was unbiased ( We are in the East Bay and she went to school in San Diego where she got the parking ticket). Then routinely Parking enforcement is called on my cars for any little issue. They also called in a noise complaint after seeing 10 of my daughter's friends come over, they were studying for their Organic Chemistry exams and were dead silent. But the complaint was made the officer came and laughed it off.
Abatement has also been called, about the cars on my property, my front windows ( that were shot with a BB, and I was waiting for more estimates), for the condition of my front lawn ( if I go out there and water it, I get reported), for the construction material in my back yard ( I'm renovating my kitchen and dining room), and for anything else you can get called abatement on. It has gotten to the point where I am very well acquainted with the abatement officer, seeing him every few months.
Animal control gets called all the time for ridiculous reasons. Someone in my neighborhood has a rooster and it was blamed on me. Then it was a horse ( a horse , that one was just hilarious) , then it was a cat infestation( we have a large stray colony but they claimed it was all my cats) and finally they said my dog was vicious and barking ( he was at the vet that day luckily) etc. Every single time an officer comes to my house and determines that there is nothing out of sorts.
The most recent one was that a complaint was made to Vector control claiming that I had a flea infestation in my yard. I had three officers come to my house. I thought that I was going to have to pay a large amount of money to have my yard and the surrounding yards sprayed even though I had never been bitten by a flea back there. But when vector control came and tested my yard they DID NOT find a single flea.
I suffer from anxiety and every time a cop or agency comes to my door with a new complaint it makes me stress so much. I can't keep stopping my life to answer all of these complaints. It takes time out of my day that I don't need, the officers need proof or to inspect things. I just want it to stop. My neighbors do not talk to me and are fairly aggressive when I try, but when they have a medical emergency is that they come to me real fast.
Some people has told me that this has become to the point of harassment and that I should sue. Honestly, I just want it to stop. If there is something I am doing wrong I am fine with it being called out but false reports with such an often recurrence, I just want it to stop. I am at the point where I am about to move out of this house. I really do not want to, its paid off, my kids grew up here and its my home but I can't live like this.
What can I do? is there anything I can do?
The problem started a few years ago, my daughter adopted a pit bull ( with my permission), when the male neighbor to the left saw the dog he told my girls that they should put the animal down because he did not believe that a pit bull is a good dog for an all female household. My daughters informed him that I gave them permission to have the dog which he responded that I knew nothing as I was a woman and that they should listen to him since he is male. My eldest daughter has a mouth on her and colorfully told him no.
Well after that incident the problems started. They told all the neighbors that our dog was vicious. One day the man's son dangled their dog over the fence so that it dangled into our property, I am unsure of why, but my daughter saw it and yelled at them. Their excuse was that their son was trying to get the dogs to play together. Then on another instance we saw them trying to slip food through the knot holes in the fence to our dog, they did not realize we were in the yard so when they tried we smacked their fingers, when we called the cops they did not answer the door and acted as if they were not at home. we used duct tape and taped ALL of the openings on our side. Their sons also have BB guns and we have found the BB's on our property near where the dog would lay. Since we did not witness them shoot into our yard nor have and "solid " proof ( because the BB's are not proof it seems) the police could do nothing but said to get cameras.
The problems stopped for a while but then our car tires began to be slashed. It was always the tires that face away from our house windows and mostly at night. After it happening about 4-5 times and calling the cops every time with no real assistance one of my daughters hid in one of the cars one night. When the kid came to slash the tire she slammed open the door and screamed at him. He ran into his house and she called the cops. Unfortunately, since the tire indeed was not slashed and his parents were claiming that he was inside the entire night the cops could do nothing. So the tire slashing kept occurring and even guest who parked across the street from us were not immune to the tires slashed. This mostly stopped after one night we saw someone creep near our cars and everyone in the household and some friends ran out of the house with long swords, katana, etc. I think we scared them. Now the tire slashings only occur once every 4-5 months. Again cops were not much help.
Now every three months we seem to have an influx of complaints. When one of my daughters came home from college she slept for two days and her car was still packed with all her things. Parking enforcement was called, someone claimed the car was parked there and used for storage for months. when the officer was ticketing the car, my daughter showed them the parking ticket she had gotten the week prior as proof that the complaint was unbiased ( We are in the East Bay and she went to school in San Diego where she got the parking ticket). Then routinely Parking enforcement is called on my cars for any little issue. They also called in a noise complaint after seeing 10 of my daughter's friends come over, they were studying for their Organic Chemistry exams and were dead silent. But the complaint was made the officer came and laughed it off.
Abatement has also been called, about the cars on my property, my front windows ( that were shot with a BB, and I was waiting for more estimates), for the condition of my front lawn ( if I go out there and water it, I get reported), for the construction material in my back yard ( I'm renovating my kitchen and dining room), and for anything else you can get called abatement on. It has gotten to the point where I am very well acquainted with the abatement officer, seeing him every few months.
Animal control gets called all the time for ridiculous reasons. Someone in my neighborhood has a rooster and it was blamed on me. Then it was a horse ( a horse , that one was just hilarious) , then it was a cat infestation( we have a large stray colony but they claimed it was all my cats) and finally they said my dog was vicious and barking ( he was at the vet that day luckily) etc. Every single time an officer comes to my house and determines that there is nothing out of sorts.
The most recent one was that a complaint was made to Vector control claiming that I had a flea infestation in my yard. I had three officers come to my house. I thought that I was going to have to pay a large amount of money to have my yard and the surrounding yards sprayed even though I had never been bitten by a flea back there. But when vector control came and tested my yard they DID NOT find a single flea.
I suffer from anxiety and every time a cop or agency comes to my door with a new complaint it makes me stress so much. I can't keep stopping my life to answer all of these complaints. It takes time out of my day that I don't need, the officers need proof or to inspect things. I just want it to stop. My neighbors do not talk to me and are fairly aggressive when I try, but when they have a medical emergency is that they come to me real fast.
Some people has told me that this has become to the point of harassment and that I should sue. Honestly, I just want it to stop. If there is something I am doing wrong I am fine with it being called out but false reports with such an often recurrence, I just want it to stop. I am at the point where I am about to move out of this house. I really do not want to, its paid off, my kids grew up here and its my home but I can't live like this.
What can I do? is there anything I can do?
