Aggressive notes left on truck parked on Green Lake streets: “Get the f— out of our hood”

What do you think? (32 Comments) May 24, 2011 at 11:56AM

Photo courtesy Jeremy Holmes

Green Lake resident Jeremy Holmes has had a few rough experiences in the neighborhood lately and he wants to share his story.

A lifelong Seattle resident, Jeremy is an employee at FROGBOX Seattle. The company rents reusable plastic moving boxes and moving supplies.

“As a way of reducing overhead and reducing our environmental impact,” Jeremy says, “we don’t have an office or retail location.” Instead, Jeremy works at local coffee shops and out of the company’s 18′ box-truck.

Jeremy regularly parked the FROGBOX truck near the Greenlake PCC (7504 Aurora Ave N) until about four months ago, when anonymous notes containing messages such as “get out of our neighborhood” and “don’t park here” started to appear on the truck.

Jeremy moved the truck to east Green Lake, near the community center. In order to avoid blocking views of the lake, he says that he made a point of parking between houses and in front of tall walls.

“After a few days of this,” he says, “I got another ‘you are not welcome in Greenlake, get out’ note, which I ignored. The next day the note said it is illegal for trucks wider than 8′ to park on residential streets between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m., so I did some research and found a section of road by the PCC that I could legally park on.”

However, the harassment continued. Now back in north Green Lake, someone attempted to slash the tires of the truck, causing more than a thousand dollars of damage.

On May 13, 2011, Jeremy, a Green Lake resident, found the following note on the truck:

A non-pixelated photo of the note can be seen here.

A final incident happened this past weekend. On Sunday (May 22, 2011), Jeremy discovered that someone had broken into the truck and items from inside were missing.

“Safe to say,” Jeremy says, “I won’t be leaving the truck overnight in Greenlake for awhile.”

Author: Amy Duncan

Location: East Green Lake, North Green Lake

Topics: crime, parking

What do you think? (32 Comments)

http://twitter.com/jaydeflix John Eddy

To be fair, I’m willing to bet that the who B&E’d the truck wasn’t same time of who left passive agressive notes on the truck.

The former is the same type of person who breaks into any of the other cars around Greenlake, the latter is just a typical Seattle-ite.
Greenlake resident and mom

Ouch, Greenlake, ouch! Who cares about a truck? As long as it is parked legally then that’s too bad. Not as nice of a neighborhood as it used to be, that’s for sure. We live in a triplex that has had one unit burglarized three times in 4 years, and someone tried to break into our unit the other night, awoke to find the door open and a fresh scratch on the door. And we live two blocks from the lake, just up from Baskin-Robbins. What’s going on around here?!
Bay

I was walking by a van near Green Lake one day, and noticed a nasty note on the windshield in the same vein. Wow, people. This is Seattle, not Brooklyn. Are we that hard up for parking? CHILL.
PB

I dislike the damage to his truck and the nasty notes, but let’s face it – this is a large commercial truck. It’s not suitable to try and park it in a residential neighborhood.

http://twitter.com/jaydeflix John Eddy

But is it illegal?
Ian

Whether you personally Like or Dislike this truck’s parking in the Greenlake area, it is entirely suitable from a legal standpoint.

The truck’s owner is firmly within his rights, I don’t understand why this is an issue.

Mike Perry

John Eddy’s probably right. The thief had more obvious motives than the vile tire slasher or the author of those “passive aggressive notes.” On a smaller scale I had something similar happen to a small pickup I once used to haul my sailboat to the water. I moved the truck to where there was a school on one side of the street and businesses on the other and the officious notes stopped.

The note trouble is probably coming from card-carrying members of the NIBY crowd, with their constantly repeated refrain, “my property values.” All that is valuable to them centers on the latest assessed value of their house. Good is defined as what adds to that value. Bad is whatever detracts from it, however remotely and briefly. Parking your silver Mercedes near their home is fine. Parking you cute green Frogbox truck isn’t. It looks too commercial or, as the English upperclass used to put it, like you are “playing the tradesman.”

Green Lake isn’t the only neighborhood with this problem. When I lived near Children’s Hospital, there was organized opposition to the occasional arrival of a desperately sick kid via helicopter. The noise apparently harmed their sacred “property values.”

I certainly hope Jeremy Holmes doesn’t equate these few furtive scribblers with the entire Green Lake and Greenwood community. I went to the FrogBox.com website. His business certainly sounds like a worthy and useful one. I wish him every success.
JZ

I really feel for Jeremy. He’s even working for a green business and this stuff still happens. Unfortunately, these kinds of situations happen all the time, all around town. Though I’ve only personally witnessed this in the more expensive neighborhoods, and it’s one of my least favorite things about people here. I’ve found that some homeowners have this strange sense of entitlement to the (public) parking spaces on their street. Yucky.
Yvo van Doorn

It’s unfortunate that this happened to Jeremy. I used Frogbox to move from Ballard to Greenwood and couldn’t have done it without his service.
http://twitter.com/lukobe Benjamin Lukoff

Classy behavior, Green Lakers. As for “it’s not suitable to try and park it in a residential neighborhood,” maybe, maybe not. Is it legal? If so, then live with it or try to change the regulations. But these sorts of notes, and the intimidation, is not how we should be doing things.
http://www.facebook.com/pohlito Robert Pohl

Frogbox is a great company, I used them to move from Greenlake to Cap Hill over a year ago. Jeremy was great, delivering the boxes to my door three flights up and then again picking them up from the third floor of my new Cap Hill location (no elevator).

It doesn’t seem right that he’s suffering this kind of abuse to his vehicle, but I’d suggest he’d look into a permanent parking situation, preferably right off Aurora so that folks can see what an amazing service his company offers. Surely, one of the local businesses could spare a precious parking space for the $100 or so dollars a month he could pay…it’d certainly be less than paying for new tires every year.
Hik Bikski

I don’t agree with the tactics but that’s a very large truck with huge advertising on the side. Wouldn’t want to look out my window and see it either. It’s like someone putting a billboard in front of your house.

Might fit in on Aurora Ave.

http://twitter.com/lukobe Benjamin Lukoff

Welcome to city life. I live in Roosevelt and commercial vehicles park in front of my apartment all the time.
Jackie219

People live off of Aurora Ave, too, you know.

Guest

Sounds to me like Jeremy isn’t being a very good neighbor. While I don’t agree with physical damage to his vehicle, he should be parking his truck in front of his OWN house or in a private lot.

Leaving it on someone else’s street to look at while he doesn’t have it near him is NIMY in its own right. It’s his truck, if he’s too cheap to buy an off street parking place for it, it’s his problem.

Also: http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/parking/parking72hour.htm

This specifically says, “Seattle Municipal Code (SMC) prohibits vehicles over 80 inches [which is 6.67 feet] (such as RVs, tractor trailers, and larger trucks) from parking on most city streets (any street except those adjacent to Manufacturing or Industrial zoning) between the hours of midnight and 6:00 a.m.” Wonder if this truck qualifies?

http://twitter.com/jaydeflix John Eddy

“Leaving it on someone else’s street to look at while he doesn’t have it near him is NIMY in its own right. It’s his truck, if he’s too cheap to buy an off street parking place for it, it’s his problem”

So… If I were to park in front of your house while I ran around the lake…. you’d not like that? Is it only because it’s a large truck? What if I drove an escalade? What if I advertise my home business on it?

I frequently see the Zoo truck parked by Nells… should they get out too?

Guest

John, I think you’re confusing my point. You can park you Escalade clad in whatever you want in front of my house while you run around green lake for several hours, or even the whole day. What I would not like is if you had a fleet of such escalades and, you living somewhere else, parked them on my street every night and all weekend long as a REGULAR HABIT. It may not be illegal, but it’s certainly not respectful of those in the neighborhood. The same reason you don’t litter in someone else’s neighborhood. You probably won’t get caught, but it doesn’t respect the fact that other people live there.

John C

Though I would not have used the foul language, I agree with the note writers. The idea that not having an office or an off-street place to park a commercial truck is “reducing environmental impact” is a load of …. garbage. They are trying to raise profits, using public streets for commercial vehicle storage. To do so in a residential neighborhood is even worse, and against the law. Frog Box needs to be a responsible corporate citizen. Rent off street parking. Oh, and by the way – private citizens with garages full of junk, who park their cars on the street. You should be a responsible private citizen. Clean out your garage and park your car on your private property. I get really tired of both individuals and corporations not taking responsibility for themselves and their property.

http://twitter.com/jaydeflix John Eddy

“Oh, and by the way – private citizens with garages full of junk, who park their cars on the street. You should be a responsible private citizen. Clean out your garage and park your car on your private property.”

Make me.

It is 100% legal for me to park in front of my house and I’m darn well going to do it. How am I being irresponsible by parking in the street in front of my own house?

Heck, 90% of the time I park in my own driveway, but there’s no way in heck you’re going to convince me that I’m being a bad citizen by parking where it is legal for me to do so.
http://www.facebook.com/linn.holloway Linn Vahey Holloway

Wow, really? You live in a city, but you want to control the way the people around you – within your view – do things? Good luck with that. Maybe it’s you who needs to find another place to live. Like, maybe, way out in the country, with lots of your OWN land around you. Your right to decide what’s done ends at your property line, within the law. Deal with it, or move somewhere more compatible with your own limited world views, I’d say.
Jackie219

Sounds like you need to be living in a subdivision with an HOA. There are plenty of those.

cynic

Well, it’s Green Lake. I’m not sure what he expected. Green Lake folk are not the type to actually approach you in person to ask you to not park somewhere or to try to work out something fair. Passive aggression is a hobby in this neighborhood. I would guess he probably doesn’t have a nice big house with a garage or driveway. Not everyone does, even in snobby Green Lake. If I were Jeremy, I’d park in a less full-of-itself neighborhood, like Maple Leaf or Licton Springs. Or, I’d try to find a neighbor to talk to to try to work out something (barter, maybe?).

PB

I don’t think it’s fair to diss the GL neighborhood – I’d surmise that this would happen no matter where he parked his large bright green commercial truck, if it was parked in a residential area. I’m totally against the nasty language and attempts at vandalism, don’t get me wrong. But I think he should find a more permanent solution to his parking problem. I suspect most people would not be too happy to have this truck parked on their street in front of their house. I don’t think it’s fair single out any specific neighborhood as bad or full-of-itself for having its residents object to this parking issue – it’d happen in any neighborhood.

http://www.facebook.com/linn.holloway Linn Vahey Holloway

Didn’t the article specify that he made every effort to park where it was not interfering? It sounds like he was being considerate of everyone, and he certainly did not need to be.

http://twitter.com/marcadelic Marc Prindle

Oh, please. There are over 7000 residents of GL, and you’re drawing a link between the actions of a few and a whole community based on a tired Seattle stereotype and personal bias. Nice to know the real people live in the next neighborhood over ;-D

GL resident and business owner

Thanks for posting this. It makes me sad that this is happening. Even when he parks “legally “. Disheartening for sure.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002149834362 Luke Byram

Whoa, not acceptable language at all. Guess the person who did this should join the three SPD officers who are accused of swearing at suspects.
Melissa

For what it’s worth – we recently moved using Frogbox. It was a great alternative to cardboard boxes. Jeremy does good work.
http://TheRealEdwin.com TheRealEdwin

What a bunch of dicks around Greenlake. Let the man earn a living in peace.
http://twitter.com/marcadelic Marc Prindle

That truck was parked up and down the street that I live on for 6 months or more, obviously being used as a billboard. I found it kind of annoying, so I can understand some of the more polite note-writers’ motivations, though actually calling the number on the truck and talking to the owner directly would have been my approach. Now, before the same 3 people jump all over me about how I live in a city, etc., etc., the reason it feels like an intrusion is that I did not purchase a home with a giant billboard in my front yard, and yet there it is. However, it does seem like the guy was making an effort to be sensitive to that issue by moving the truck daily. So, I chalk it up to an annoyance, but a bearable one.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=10732692 Kristy Hogue

I can’t believe people sometimes.
The people putting notes on his car are prime examples of “White
Whine”-ers. C’mon, you live IN A METROPOLITAN CITY, not in a suburb.
Just because it’s become trendy for upper-middle class white people to
move back into
large houses in the city doesn’t mean they can turn neighborhoods into
the suburban life they really want. Sheesh. People in cities work jobs
that require, *gasp*, trucks and physical labor! That’s never going to
change and that’s what cities are made for. If you don’t want to deal
with labor – and a green, smart, entreprenuerial business that
epitomizes the reasons most people live in the PNW – move to Kirkland.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=10732692 Kristy Hogue

I can’t believe people sometimes.
The people putting notes on his car are prime examples of “White
Whine”-ers. C’mon, you live IN A METROPOLITAN CITY, not in a suburb.
Just because it’s become trendy for upper-middle class white people to
move back into
large houses in the city doesn’t mean they can turn neighborhoods into
the suburban life they really want. Sheesh. People in cities work jobs
that require, *gasp*, trucks and physical labor! That’s never going to
change and that’s what cities are made for. If you don’t want to deal
with labor – and a green, smart, entreprenuerial business that
epitomizes the reasons most people live in the PNW – move to Kirkland.