Park Anywhere in Phoenix, Arizona

May, 2001

[NO stopping 7am-6pm School Days Only]

My name is Wayne Conrad. For over two years I've been trying to get the City of Phoenix to enforce the posted no-stopping zone in front of my house at 50th Avenue and Grovers. Dozens of parents use my street to pick up their children from Desert Sky middle school. The congestion and litter inconveniences my family, lowers my property value, and is unsafe for the children.

In those two years, my family and I have called the police dozens of times to complain. To my knowledge, no parent has ever been ticketed for waiting in front of my house. The only tickets I know of were issued to a neighbor's car, parked in front of her house, and to one of my family's cars, parked in front of my house. So it's ok to park in the no-stopping zone if you are a parent from some other part of the neighborhood. It's just not ok if you happen to live here.

The signs might as well not be there. In fact, if the zone is not going to be enforced, I'd rather have the city take down the signs. Then my neighbors and I could park on our own street without getting tickets.

Safety

My family is greatly inconvenienced by the city's refusal to enforce the no-stopping zone. But I'm more concerned with the children's safety. Dozens of children are in the street and on the sidewalks, mixed with moving and parked cars. It's not safe.

Trash

A few of the children think nothing of leaving pop cans, candy wrappers, cigarettes, and other trash on my property and sidewalk. It's my responsibility to keep this trash picked up. Would you like this chore added to your busy day?

Congestion

How would you like to drive home from work and find that you cannot get to your own driveway? I'm sure that the parents who are parked in front of my house would be pretty angry if they had to put up with it.

I took this picture from my doorstep. It gets much worse than this.

[Cars and kids crowd the street]

Property Value

The litter and congestion spell "no sale." Now I know why the previous owner sold the house during summer vacation.

Of course, the law requires me to inform a potential buyer of any condition that affects the value of the property, so I'd have to inform a buyer that their street will be a parking lot for 30-60 minutes every school day.

No stopping? No problem!

Here's a long shot (taken on a different day) showing cars parked on both sides of the street. My house is on the right. Both sides of the street are clearly marked "no stopping." There are more no-stopping signs (and more cars) behind me.

[Five cars parked on both sides
of the no-stopping zone]