Excuse me if I sound a bit frantic. I am pretty high strung right now. I live in San Francisco, in the sunset, on 15th avenue. I have a little shaping area in my garage which is by no means a business. Once in a blue moon I will do a ding repair in my driveway, no biggie. My neighbors have never complained and the small use of resin really isn’t a huge deal for what I am doing. Once in a blue moon I will work with small ammounts of resin in my driveway, on my property. I rent.
About 5 doors down is a lowlife junkie that is the thug/troublemaker on our block. He is always causing troublle with neighbors, etc. and decided to start with me the other day while I was sanding some qcell/resin in my driveway. An area about 2x3" on a board I was working on. He came by and made a huge fuss screaming and yelling about how im a menace and he can smell it and hes breathing it in 5 doors down and (he likes to exagerate) how I’m a menace to the neighborhood. This shit is ridiculous and hes blatantly harassing me and won’t leave. He starts threatening to call the city and have me evicted and that his roomate/landlord works for the city and they are going to take action…against me working on a fucking ding in my driveway! Now call me gullible, but I am half confident that it is within my rights to use this material in small ammounts and infrequently in my driveway. But the other part of me is scared that he actually can get me in trouble, evicted, etc. like he says he is going to. I let it blow over. Most of the two times hes said something I was working out there for hours and he comes at the end and causes a fuss. So I let it blow over again, no biggie. But then a roomate of mine just told me that yesterday he came up to them and told them all about how hes trying to build a case against me and has photos of me wearing a dust mask(WTF? BIG WHOOP!) and how theyre writing a cease and desist letter? and trying to get me evicted?
I have contacted a local fire inspector to ask questions about wether I am in the right or wrong, but havent heard back yet. I have asked a local glass shop and they believe he is just harassing me and I am in my rights as long as I am not conducting a business out of my garage dealing with these chemicals in a commercial use in residential area.
But this information simply doesnt satisfy me and I need more opinions-should I be scared of this guy?
Opinions would be very appreciated, as I am feeling quite uncomfortable about this.
Always act first ,dont wait , go to the courthouse and file a TRO against him saying that he is harrassing you threatening you and you are scared of him , you will get the TRO and the police will have to serve him with it . That will shut him up . If that does not work , buy and eat some twinkies then shoot him .
Put a huge dose of some psychadellics in said twinkie instead. Sitback and watch the guy loose his mind. If its a high enough dose you might even get lucky and make him a schizophrenic, and off to the mental hospital with him.
Avoid the legal problem. As mentioned; use Epoxy or UV. Typically Judges don’t pass out TROs like they were cookies. What you are doing out in the “public eye” could be considered a “neighborhood nusance” by neighbors other than your “junkie neighbor” You don’t have a backyard I assume???
1)Read a copy of your lease and make sure there is nothing against it
2)See f the place your are renting is part of homeowners association and there are restrictions against what you are doing.
I highly doubt either would restrict from doing what you are doing. Although a house I owned in Virginia along time ago, was in a neighborhood populated by alot of highly intelligent retired people that created a HOA rule book about 2 inches thick…
Otherwise if there is a city ordinance , normally the police will talk to you and ask you to stop.
You can offer crazytown a beer and twinkie, but if he continues to harass you can videotape him if he comes on your property and starts yelling.
Document his behaviour, government and courts love records. Always stand up for yourself, but walk away from crazy.
If you plan on going Mr. Thrailkill’s route delete this thread;)
A pissed off neighbor can usually put you out of business if they actually file a complaint. I had that problem years ago. I took him out for a steak dinner and we talked. Diplomacy works (sometimes).
SF has an ordinance/rules for everything. It’s the western capital of the Soviet Union. I’d be concerned,too. Plus, it’s hard and expensive to find places to live. Can you document his drug use? Next time he comes over video his routine, take pictures. I like Bill’s response, but alas… it’s the ‘New West’ not the ‘Old West.’ Mike
Ding what ding? Resin? I don’t see any resin? Unless he has samples of the resin you were using, with your fingerprints on it, and photographs of you in the act, you weren’t even there that day. Oh, and eat some twinkies first, no matter what you do.
Change the harressment complaint to a Hate Crime Complaint. Given that it is San Francisco, PERHAPS he thinks you are gay. If so, this changes everything. He would have to prove that he is NOT persecuteing you out of prejudice. Give him something serious to keep him busy. I’m not suggesting you are gay, just sayin’ it gives him a ‘‘tar baby’’ to deal with, in a community sensitive to gay issues.
Seriously, epoxy. It’s more time consuming but there are almost no VOCs and it cleans up with vinegar. Not acetone. It’s a better resin anyway. Depending on what resin system you use you could have done that repair in your kitchen and your significant other in the next room probably wouldn’t have even smelled it. Not that I run resin in my house.