Beach group renews push to assure public parking in North End

In resonse to nadezhda

Why you would bring up Willoughby Spit’s parking restrictions in this discussion is interesting. Unless it is to show you have the same mentality of many of the Northenders depicted in these discussions. The City of Norfolk even knows it did not follow its own rules in granting the parking restrictions there. And there is WAY more off street parking in your neighborhood than the Northend. You just want it all for yourself. This is an ongoing problem in this country along the coast. Did you not know that when you chose to live adjacent to a public resource that the public may actually want to use that resource? Public streets and public beaches are exactly that, PUBLIC. If my tax dollars pay for your utilities, flood control, beach nourishment and other public services than I have just as much right to those PUBLIC streets and beaches as you do. No more, no less.

Beach access locations are wonderful, unless you can’t access them.

There are some angry, bitter, very judgemental people out there. Refering to "northenders" as all being rich, snobs, etc. is just ridiculous! There are thousands of residents that live at the northend.... I find it hard to believe that we all fall in that catagory. I lived oceanside for years, and I know many wonderful, down to earth, humble people that live there.
Most of us have no issue with people coming to the beach and parking on the streets and I bet most have never said anything to anyone who parked in front of their home. What ruins it for everyone are the inconsiderate jerks who think that they can block our driveways, leave their trash, and park on our lawns (yes, people think that it's okay as long as part of their car is on the pavement!)
And as far as those who said we should move if we don't like it...well, many of us were there before you were. So if you don't like "us northenders", you should go to another beach where there is plenty of parking and nicer people.

The issue of parking along the oceanfront has changed over time, but the root issues are the same. Used to be able to park at the stub streets along the resort area, but no more. Used to be able to park along the roads at Coratan, but that is severly restricted now. The issues up at the NEnd have been the same for years, only the property owners and their sensitivities have changed. At both Croatan and the NEnd, the city right of way is 80 feet from the road center to the edge of private property. Within the RoW is where on-street parking, sidewalks, curbs, gutters and utilities are placed. Look no further than Croatan for the most eggregous parking difficulties. The CoVB, increasing revenues from over-sized boxes on undersized lots, allows developers to build the structures up to the edge of the RoW then allow the landscaping to dribble out to the edge of pavement. Poof-no more parking, and if parking remains, they feel it is too close for personal comfort. Just make Croatan a gated community and a special tax district too.

...how 'bout YOU (and your fellow northend homeowners) pay for that parking garage you'd like all other VB residents to utilize instead of parking on PUBLIC northend streets. Let us know when you've finished constructing it. And don't even think about charging us to park in it. FREELOADERS? We should pay to swim? GET OVER YOURSELF. It's no wonder people disrespect YOU. I hope everyone disgusted by these jerks descends upon the northend this weekend JUST BECAUSE WE CAN (LEGALLY)!!!!!!!!!

Growing up you could park on the city streets and use the beach. As a kid I surfed all day and had no worries in the world. The last I saw you could not park on the city streets. The one issue the paper did not cover was the fact that the streets in the Northend are pretty narrow. It might be hard for firetrucks to travel down the street with parking on both sides. I mean some of those firefighters might side swipe a car with there "mustaches":)
Now this will start a real fight, which side do you allowing parking on. Let the games begin.

I'm a VB resident (and BTW, people park on the PUBLIC street in front of my house), and when I've enjoyed the northend beach, I've always parked mindful of driveways & yards, never left trash or disrespected property (or sensibilities by changing clothes in my car). However, I've been harassed by homeowners EVERY SINGLE VISIT despite parking legally & behaving respectfully. A woman living oceanfront 86th Street is the WORST! She actually waits for people to drive down the street so she can confront you. She threatens you. Seriously! She's about 60, but she has quite a mouth on her! Unbelievable. Raise THEIR taxes to replenish "THEIR" beaches!

Ugh, first of all, when you buy a house there, you don't buy the public road. That's what driveways are for. Whether you like it or not, that's how public domain works. Secondly, you do not own the beach either. Your taxes, which pay for such public facilities, including the beaches and streets, pay for everyone to park if space is available.

Raise the property taxes on the north end to compensate for all of the beach replenishment projects that may be undertaken that are beyond the end of the "resort" area. The width of the streets and the lots, and the lack of driveways really suck, however, that's something that should have been considered when buying the property. The mantra of "we already pay high taxes" doesn't cut it here. It's the same percentage that someone else in another part of the city pays, and I bet it doesn't cover every city related service's use in that area of the city. So, buy the beach yourself, or realize you only own the land where the house is, not the beach and it's accessibility.

Build a parking garage or several and charge these freeloaders, who think they have a right to go swimming for nothing.
Let them eat cake.

The VB city council (now THERE's another joke!) should take a trip to the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, and travel Highway 90 (Beach Road) between Gulfport and central Biloxi to get an idea of what I'm writing about. ALL the homes are on the North side of the highway, facing the water, and the south side of the highway has countless parking spots for tourists and non-resident beach-goers. We're talking about approximately a ten mile distance here. VB should then condemn and demolish (eminent domain would work here) ALL private homes on the East side of Atlantic Avenue and Ocean Front Avenue, complete Ocean Front Avenue from 63rd Street to 89th Street, and provide METERED parking spaces for the entire east side of Ocean Front Avenue and restricted, residents-only parking on the west side.

Why should the northend have special priviledges, let alone the ocenfront, for trash/sreet cleanup. In the last 9, yes, 9 years in my residence have I ever seen a street cleaner/sweeper on my street. I have to deal with trash, broken beer bottles and other disgusting items on my corner house lot. Yet I see on a nightly basis cleanup done towards the oceanfront properties. I pay taxes in the city, why can't I have a cleen street too. Don't even get me started on street parking here.

North End Residents disgust me. The actions they take to prevent people from parking outside their precious million dollar homes is pure childish! It's a PUBLIC ROAD, so that means it's PUBLIC PROPERTY. The PUBLIC can use it anyway they want. If the North End residents don't like people parking in front of their "million dollar" homes, then they need to move! Do they think they have some sort of entitlement just because their house value has a little more zeros at the end!? I live near a little league baseball field, I deal with trash and what not in front of my yard all the time. But I deal with it! Just like these residents need to deal with people parking in front of their house. And the complaint that the North End residents don't have a designated spot in front of their home, than tough! Why buy a million dollar home with no driveway???

I have been going to the Northend for 20 years and have never had a problem with any homeowner because I park accordingly and do not trash anyone's yard. I have noticed in the last few years with all the new homes they are squeezing in everywhere parking has gotten tighter. I have always wondered why they did not allow parking on the median on the other side of Atlantic. I think it would solve most of the issues, but I am sure someone would still complain about it.

If the signs that say do not park, do NOT have a city sticker on it-Park there! You wont get a ticket, since the city did not put the sign up. As far as trash, I could understand being mad about that, but sadly a lot of neighborhoods end up with trash. I am stuck cleaning up trash by my home, I hate it but unless the police happen to see it....

I'm a happy resident in the North End, so I'm going to take this cause to a certain neighborhood in Hampton where homeowners place pylons in front of their houses to claim parking spaces. It makes it very hard for me to get to my yacht at Hampton Yacht Club.

So, I am assuming that these plants are free for the taking since they are left on the side of the road?? :)
Saturday, who's with me? Let's all head out to the North End and park everywhere we can. Of course, we will obey all city parking rules and we will not be rude and crude.. Just parking on a public street to enjoy our "public" beaches!

The homeowners who have extrawide driveways should have had to get city construction permits to build them..check with the city zoneing office to see if they had to pull permits..if they had to but did not..and the contractors who built the driveways did not...problem solved the extrawide driveways I think would have to go at the owners expense...city permits should be under the freedom of information act...The zoneing office would be a good place to start

nicolasm, you certainly did not deserve the verbal abuse you got simply by parking at the northend(notice how I didn't capitalize "northend"). I can see both sides of the issue, but more to those that want to find a parking space without being verbally insulted. Just say no to the illegal no parking signs!

This is an easy problem to solve. Allow limited parking on one side of the residential streets where appropriate. Also, allow parking in the grassy median adjacent to the service roads. Isle of Palms outside of Charleston allows parking in simialr right of way adjacent to homes dwarfing those on the north end.

Residents of the north end do have a valid point regarding trash. The city must be of assistance in resolving this issue. Street cleaners and a trash crew on Mondays seem resonable. That is not too much to expect.

Also, do not expect these types of issues to get better when Sessoms is elected Mayor in the fall. Not that is not time for Myera to go but be careful of who the City elects.

Isn't the sad part that we have a picture of someone breaking the law being printed in our local paper and no action is taken by the police?

Same thing happened the other day with the picture of the female crabs bearing eggs. The law seems to be asleep whe nwe can pull up and take photos of laws being broken yet they cannot enforce them. You can get a ticket for drinking beer in public view but the north enders can simply do as they please? Perhaps they should make copies of the photo and drop them in the Harris Teeter parking lot for Mrs. Dougherty to find?

That about sums it up, eh?

..of the "arrogance", "haughty", and "look down on" traits of the North End residents. You forget, "We" are "nothing" to the North End residents with all the political pull and back room deals. I saw a good deal of some of these so called residents at the Jewish Mother on sunday brunch once. "Arrogant" does not even begin to describe them! To all you North Enders-what are you going to do in a few years when the new building begins? Run to your political "rear end" buddies? "Hubris" is the only word that represents the residents of the North End! I have seen some of you get angry and spew your hate and it pleases me to no end that your lives have come to a "Parking Space"! Enjoy your summer North Enders! Enjoy your high taxes and remember...enjoy those tourists:)

"...search around for a parking spot that doesnt intrude onto the private property..."

Obviously this north-ender is missing the point that public roads are not private property.

jmo

For those of you thinking that you can just park anywhere you want and leave your trash behind for residents to pick up, how about covering part of the thousands northenders pay in real estate taxes? Some taxes are more than most people make with combined incomes. Perhaps northenders are reacting to how badly people treat their property when they do park nearby. It goes both ways.
I agree that the beach is public. Those that have been around and seen the ugliness at Sandbridge know this. The city should provide public parking lots for public access. However, there is nothing to say that you can't park further south and walk to the north end to enjoy the beach. Whatever happens, make sure you don't abuse the property of the people that live there. It's not yours to abuse.

Wilkerson3 has it correct . Last year early season, I was at the north end. Though I was only parking for about 5 minutes, a resident came out and laid into me with such a barrage of profanity, it embarrassed even me a retired sailor - especially with children present. The rich people think they deserve more than others. OK- lets make it all fair - bulldoze all areas flat up to the property line - then ban all parking. I would like to see the activists coordinate an effort to fill the spots with their cars and then wait for someone looking to park. Once a visitor is sighted, let them move into the spot. I raise a single finger to the rich "special" people at the north end.

The simple solution is for the city to put in curbs and sidewalks then bill the homeowners for the improvements. That would clearly show what is city property and what is not. Anybody that buys a house near an attraction, be it beach or master jet base has to expect problems. If he cant deal with he should move.

I have lived in Va Beach for 15yrs. Although I am NOT at the Oceanfront, I deal with the same issues of parking. I live in a cuddle-sac and the roads there are the same as the North End "PUBLIC ROADS" The only way you can have someone towed or removed is IF they block your driveway. I have two vehicles.....one I park in the driveway and the other in the road. And you got it, sometimes I have to walk down the road to get home, but you deal with it. But in our neighborhood we are fortunate to communicate and practice common courtesy! I guess some people think since they have money then they make the rules...well wake up! You are no more special than any other resident!!

Driving down the beach road in southwest Maui I noticed that there was plenty of on-street parking in front of multi-million plus homes. Everyone (myself included) was able to park on the street and make our way to the beach. Two things: no one blocked a driveway and no one walked through private property to access the beach. I saw no instances of locals attempting to block public access.

Of course, all beaches in Hawaii are public. There is none of this "my property down to the high tide line" crap that attempts to fly here in VA. When will VB govt start enforcing blatant disregard for public access? What a joke the north end is. I know - I lived on 76th in the 90's. I'll take Sandbridge any day.

This story been published every year for the past several years. Why hasn't it been resolved??? Oh, I know, the north enders have "friends", and "friends" stick together. I have a park in my backyard, and the price for the beautiful view is dog poop and litter in my yard. "Some" (not all) people are pigs, arrogant, and typically don't care, but it is a public area, and they have a right to mess it up (until they get caught). Oh well... it only takes a few minutes a week to clean up after the "public".

It sounds like what is really needed are some public parking areas on the north side that are taken care of by the city. The homeowners that live there have a legitimate beef if they can't find a place to park their own vehicles. They should not have to put up with people dumping their garbage in their lawns or on their property either. At the same time, they need to realize that the beach is not their private beach at all, as much as they would like to be. It is a PUBLIC beach and the PUBLIC should have full access to it and that includes having a place to park too.

The rich are different from you and I.

Public streets with public parking are for poor and middle class people's neighborhoods, not the rich people's.

Rules are for working schlubs. The rich make their own rules, and evidently their own "NO PARKING" signs.