Texas Man Parks Sherman Tank In Front of His House

[RACER X]

Over $5mil in cars, and owner has many more

Lives in the woodlands

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[ZX9RCAM]

Saw a $2 million Porsche 918 Spyder parked on the top floor of the Sugar Land town center garage to escape the flooding during harvey.

Public garage, free parking lol.


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I had to put it somewhere...

 

[easy rider]

Over $5mil in cars, and owner has many more

Lives in the woodlands

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Exception, not the rule. Southern Cali though I think there is a rule, no exception.

 

[Vaquero]

Exception, not the rule. Southern Cali though I think there is a rule, no exception.

Scottsdale AZ takes the cake as far as my travels.
I've never seen so many exotic cars on a street before or since.

 

[Shotgun Jeremy]

I wouldn't turn down the tank just because its been remodeled and wasn't at Normady. It's still pretty sweet.

San Diego is where I used to make comments such as "What? You only have a Porsche? Not like its a Ferrari or anything" as I was watching cars go by while sitting in my Chevy Cobalt. Lol

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[Jakashh]

I had to put it somewhere...

So you own Landry’s but you haven’t organized a TGT get together with free food yet?

Shame...


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[Eli]

Friend got HOA tickets for letting someone park in front of his house overnight (GF situation). Yes public street. It was cheaper to pay them than to fight them.

HOAs in the State of Texas cannot levy fines nor 'write tickets' - lawyer up and sue them, both the board, the board members personally, and the management company.
They are also liable for damages for any sort of harassment about the public streets, i.e. parking vehicles there, etc.

Eli

 

[benenglish]

HOAs in the State of Texas cannot levy fines nor 'write tickets' - lawyer up and sue them, both the board, the board members personally, and the management company.
They are also liable for damages for any sort of harassment about the public streets, i.e. parking vehicles there, etc.

Well, yeah, but...

Here in Houston, there are many examples of cases where the homeowners, via their HOA, have actually bought their streets from the city. Yes, the city of Houston will sell a public street to a private party, e.g. HOAs who want to enforce crazy rules, developers who want a bigger plot on which to put a shopping center, etc.

In those cases, HOAs can certainly do the equivalent of writing a ticket. Actually, the management company will send notice of an infraction and fine via mail in most cases. Few are so aggressive as to have their security force put anything on your windshield though that is possible. I'm not even sure if it's a "fine", per se. It may actually be an administrative fee from the management company for dealing with the issue. Either way, it's a difference without a distinction; it remains a bill that must be paid.

The trick, if you're not a resident, is being aware of whether or not that public street you're parked on is actually a public street or a private one. Granted, in most cases here in Houston the privatized streets will be gated off but that's not always the case. Sometimes it's possible to be driving down a public street for two blocks, a private street for two blocks, then back on to public streets without ever seeing the difference. A small sign at each end of the private section is all that's required and it's easy to overlook. As a condition of buying the streets, the HOAs must agree to keep up the street maintenance so they often look just like every other street in the area.

I remember a Houston Homes Tour a couple of decades ago where one of the stops was on a private street and created a huge flap. The homeowner who had put their house on the tour had failed to notify and get approval from the HOA. Other homeowners on the street were out in their yards, yelling for people to get out, calling their security service then the police, demanding mass towaways...it was a mess. It was not comfortable to park, start to walk up to a house, and have a neighbor yell at you that you're not allowed to be there. I dealt with the situation by walking up to the confab between neighbors, the security service, and HPD and starting to ask a question. The HPD officer who had taken charge rather brusquely informed me that if I was here for the tour and moved on within 15 or 20 minutes, I wouldn't be towed...then he went back to trying to deal with the neighbors who were demanding that everybody be towed away immediately.

 

[BigBoss0311]

nvm. not worth it. again, we need a delete post function.

 

[benenglish]

nvm. not worth it. again, we need a delete post function.

You're right. I usually just replace my post with a single period.

 

[Eli]

Well, yeah, but...

Here in Houston, there are many examples of cases where the homeowners, via their HOA, have actually bought their streets from the city. Yes, the city of Houston will sell a public street to a private party, e.g. HOAs who want to enforce crazy rules, developers who want a bigger plot on which to put a shopping center, etc.

In those cases, HOAs can certainly do the equivalent of writing a ticket. Actually, the management company will send notice of an infraction and fine via mail in most cases. Few are so aggressive as to have their security force put anything on your windshield though that is possible. I'm not even sure if it's a "fine", per se. It may actually be an administrative fee from the management company for dealing with the issue. Either way, it's a difference without a distinction; it remains a bill that must be paid.

The trick, if you're not a resident, is being aware of whether or not that public street you're parked on is actually a public street or a private one. Granted, in most cases here in Houston the privatized streets will be gated off but that's not always the case. Sometimes it's possible to be driving down a public street for two blocks, a private street for two blocks, then back on to public streets without ever seeing the difference. A small sign at each end of the private section is all that's required and it's easy to overlook. As a condition of buying the streets, the HOAs must agree to keep up the street maintenance so they often look just like every other street in the area.

I remember a Houston Homes Tour a couple of decades ago where one of the stops was on a private street and created a huge flap. The homeowner who had put their house on the tour had failed to notify and get approval from the HOA. Other homeowners on the street were out in their yards, yelling for people to get out, calling their security service then the police, demanding mass towaways...it was a mess. It was not comfortable to park, start to walk up to a house, and have a neighbor yell at you that you're not allowed to be there. I dealt with the situation by walking up to the confab between neighbors, the security service, and HPD and starting to ask a question. The HPD officer who had taken charge rather brusquely informed me that if I was here for the tour and moved on within 15 or 20 minutes, I wouldn't be towed...then he went back to trying to deal with the neighbors who were demanding that everybody be towed away immediately.

Please show me cases where the CoH has done this. I know there are several developments where the HOA owns the streets, but they are usually 'gated communities' - and HOAs are prohibited from assessing fees, fines, penalties, whatever you want to call it under state law. They have to take it to court and win a judgment, the HOA I'm in got in trouble in the 1990s for illegally assessing 'fines' - and attaching liens - and the laws have actually gotten substantially more strict against HOAs since that time. Even towing vehicles, etc., falls under the same state laws as public parking lots (must be posted, etc.), even if in a gated community.
I realize it's done a lot, and most pay whatever and call it a day, but it is illegal.

Eli

 

[benenglish]

Please show me cases where the CoH has done this.

Sold a street? Uh...many large shopping centers? Anytime anyone owned all the property on both sides of the street and wanted to buy?

The specific case I cited was in the early 1980s and it has since been gated. It was Courtlandt Place. If you check Google Maps you'll see that they've completely cut off the west end of the street; it used to continue straight through to the west. Access is now solely from the east end, through the gates. Look carefully at the pictures available online and it's clear that both ends of that street were not originally built as a gated community. The gates and the west side blockage have been added. That happened after all the residents got together and bought the street from the city.

Or you can read the entire story here: https://houstonhistorymagazine.org/...11/V5-N3-Gordon-and-Jones-Courtland-Place.pdf

The pertinent paragraph reads:

In 1980, Courtlandt Place was finally listed in the National Register of Historic Places, a remarkable feat given the initial contention. Equally remarkable, in 1982 each resident paid their share of $103,115 to purchase the street from the city. Courtlandt Place rebuilt the western wall and again enjoyed security on its western boundary...

Given my experience there and the information in the article above, I must have gone on that home tour in about 1982 or shortly thereafter, after the street purchase but before the blockage of the west end.

I'm very happy to hear that things have gotten better in the intervening decades; that's great.

 

[mroper]

The Street where G Bush 41 Lives was bought by the members of the community to stop people from driving by his house

 

[Jakashh]

Tanks gone


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[ZX9RCAM]

Tanks gone


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You're welcome....

 

[Jakashh]

actually i've been informed I was looking in the wrong place. But I still bet it's gone, I mean he said it'd probably be moved in 2 weeks almost a month ago lol.