'Don't park in front of my ... house' sign effective despite profanity removal, says Calgarian

Tired of coming home to find all the parking spaces in front of your house already taken?

Southeast Calgary resident Justin Kern was, so he decided to put up a professionally printed and bluntly worded sign.

"If you don't live here, don't park in front of my ... house," read the original sign, minus one word that caught the attention of city bylaw officers.

They left Kern a "notice to remove" the profanity.

He did, by removing the letter 'F' from the beginning of the word and the letter 'G' from the end, but left the other five letters intact — at least for now.

Kern said he may "get around" to removing the rest of the word later, but has no plans to take the sign down.

In fact, he had three other identical signs printed in case this one is vandalized or stolen by an irate neighbour or passerby.

But so far he has had no confrontations, and his neighbours have actually asked to buy a sign of their own.

'I pay taxes' argument

It's all in response to what Kern described as a problem he — like many Calgary homeowners — regularly faces.

"I'm just tired of coming home every day and not having a place to park in front of my house and having to park down the road," he said.

"I pay taxes on my property, so why should I have to park down the street?"

Kern said he recognizes he's not legally entitled to the street parking in front of his home, but he believes it's "common courtesy" for drivers to leave at least one empty space in front of houses they don't live in.

"There's three spots in front of my house," he said. "There's no reason they can't just leave one spot for me."

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'It carries no force of law'

But Mike Derbyshire, general manager of the Calgary Parking Authority, said there's no obligation for motorists to leave a space in front of private homes when parking on the street.

"People don't own the road space in front of their house," he said. "It's community property, so it belongs to all of the citizens of the City of Calgary."

There's nothing preventing homeowners from putting up signs like this on their property, Derbyshire added, as long as the messages aren't offensive, profane or otherwise violating the law. He said the edited version of Kern's sign is likely legal.

"But clearly it carries no force of law, from a bylaw perspective, if the city didn't put it up," he said.

Derbyshire said the parking authority encourages neighbours who have parking concerns to talk to each other as a first step before putting up signs or leaving notes on vehicles.

Sign effective

Kern said he recognizes the sign might be interpreted in a menacing way, especially with the partially remaining profane word, but it's not intended as such.

"I think anybody that looks at me and sees that I'm covered in tattoos — takes it as a threat. But I'm just a big teddy bear," he said.

If nothing else, Kern said the sign has certainly been effective. He hasn't had to park down the street since putting it up.

"Every time I've come home there's always been a spot in front of my house — at least one spot — so it worked," he said. "The city doesn't like it too much … but it worked for me, so I'm going to leave my sign up."

Calgarians weigh in

Calgary resident Ken McBean says he's been on the receiving end of residents unhappy with his parking practices. He said once he got a note on his car parked near his office.

"It was a bit threatening, I think," he said.

Laura Strackan, who lives in northwest Calgary, says her neighbours have four cars and will get a "dirty look" every once and a while when the parking in front of her house fills up. She even admits to phoning bylaw to patrol for cars without a residential parking permit, which mandates parking rules in her neighbourhood.

The city says parking can be rezoned if 80 per cent of residents agree, and many areas have residential parking rules in place.

Kirsten Boulay lives in Hillhurst and has two parking permits for her street, but she often lends them out because she has a garage and doesn't need an on-street spot.

Meanwhile, Okotoks resident Andrea Lacroix says she has noticed Calgary has a different mentality when it comes to parking.

"It's a lot more competitive to find parking for sure," she said.

But she adds many people in Okotoks feel they "own" the spot in front of their homes, even if the town doesn't agree.