"THE PREEVATE"

“Thou shalt not remove thy neighbor’s landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance, ...” (from Deuteronomy 19:14)

I know this story MAY not put my father in the best light, and it’s really not meant to dishonor him, but here goes...Back in 1959 when I was only four and a half, our family spent a week’s vacation in Harwichport, MA on Cape Cod.  We usually went to Dennisport, but that year, my father and my Aunt Flo rented a house in Harwichport.  We had the first floor, and Aunt Flo’s family had the second floor.   Sometimes, we went to the beach at the public beach at Harwichport, but there was a private beach my father used to like to sneak onto.  We snuck onto the private beach several times and got away with it.  One time, we did NOT get away with it.  A very snooty  Yankee woman came out pointing to the “Private Beach” sign and yelled, “Don’t cha know what the PREEVATE is for?!”  Yes, she pronounced it “preevate”!  For years whenever we were driving and would see a sign saying “Private Way” or “Private Drive” or whatever, my father would almost involuntarily (to try to be funny) yell out,  “Don’t cha know what the PREEVATE is for?!”

Many times at our 32 South Street church building’s parking lot, I have wanted to yell,  “Don’t cha know what the PREEVATE is for?!”  at unauthorized parkers.

Many of you know that our building is the former U.A.W. union hall.  We have a paved lot directly behind our building which can accommodate 34 cars, and then we have a dirt/gravel lot adjacent to it which can accommodate around 12 cars.  At the time we bought the building, both lots were routinely being used by the neighborhood, MBTA commuters, and essentially “everybody and their brother”.  The building DOES have a sign (now badly faded) which reads, “No Unauthorized Parking.  Violators will be towed”.  Within the first few weeks (in 1994) of moving the church to that location, I essentially struck a deal with the (somewhat pushy) neighborhood that I’d let them park in the dirt/gravel lot, but that the paved lot was absolutely off limits.  It took awhile, but finally that arrangement pretty well stuck.  Over the years I’ve had at least twenty cars towed.  I usually won’t tow a car unless it’s been on the property at least 48 hours straight.  A couple of years ago, a real estate agent friend of mine told me it was a really bad idea to allow ANY neighborhood parking on our property...that such an arrangement- however informal- can be considered an “easement” and could cause major problems for us in the future.  Since then, I’ve been periodically leaving official parking policy flyers on any car (outside of our “church family”) which parks in either lot.  We still allow neighbors to park there, but the flyer very politely lets them know we aren’t crazy about it.   Since I started doing that a couple of years ago, the amount of neighborhood parkers has declined.

One issue is that adjacent to our property is a housing complex for the disabled at 40 Taylor St. which has a woefully inadequate parking lot.  Many of the “Personal Care Assistants” who work at 40 Taylor St. park in our dirt/gravel lot.  Last week, I blanketed all cars in the lots with flyers, as I hadn’t done that in about 4 months.  A 40ish guy who is trying to dress and act like a cool 20ish guy came over and talked to me.  He was kind of “bent out of shape” that I had put a flyer on his girlfriend’s P.C.A.’s car.

“If she can’t have a P.C.A. we’re gonna be real upset!” he said.

I told him that for now I don’t have a problem with the P.C.A. parking there, but I also told him about the potential easement problem and that I’ve been advised that legally I’m foolish to allow ANY non-church parking EVER in either lot.  He realized that instead of being a jerk to the P.C.A. I’m actually being a pretty nice guy to her, and he backed off.

WHY the Town of Framingham EVER allowed the 40 Taylor Street property to be built (in the early 1990s) with a woefully inadequate parking lot is beyond me.  I hope this piece hasn’t bored you, but I just  wanted to vent about this stuff.  I didn’t even tell you about the FRONT END LOADER that the owners of the Chicken Bone Restaurant have parked on our property for several days without our permission!

I wish people would just respect private property!  Yes,  “Don’t cha know what the PREEVATE is for?!”