CliftonGK1

Let's give the drivers the benefit of the doubt, and assume that those are valid parking spots they're in. Now it's a matter of the city engineers being doofuses about putting parking spots in front of the trailhead, and forcing riders and pedestrians onto the grass to get to the path. It would also put the responsibility for covering damages to their vehicles on the city, due to poor access design.

Now that we've hypothetically cleared these drivers of any wrongdoings, I've got a question for everyone suggesting calling the police and having them ticketted:

Has anyone actually tried that and seen a ticket issued?

Here's why I ask. My fiancee is mobility impaired and has a permanent parking placard for her car, and we've called the police on multiple occassions for h'cap parking violations (a $250 minimum fine in Redmond) and have NEVER had an officer respond to the scene except for once.
That one time an officer showed up is because I had finally gotten my fill of "I only ran in for a minute" violators, and I stood behind a guy's car and blocked him from moving until the police showed up. Thankfully the guy didn't find it necessary to follow through on any menacing or assault charges against me, but seriously, it took a guy calling the police to say he was scared I was going to hurt him before they decided to show up... and even then it took 20 minutes; and I could have thrown a rock and landed it in the police station parking lot from where we were.

Maybe it's different elsewhere. Maybe the police show up sirens a'blaring with a full SWAT regimen for everyone who calls to complain about a parking violation. Here in Redmond, unless you call them to say that you're being murdered in your car which is currently being set on fire by terrorists who all voted down the last police initiative on the ballots, nobody is coming to do anything.

genec

Locally a fellow cyclist was fed up with motorists parking in the well marked NO PARKING bike lanes. He called the PD several times, on different occasions (their local field office just around the corner).

He finally got a response, and a few cars did receive tickets... but in the long run, folks still insist on continuing to park there, and the cops don't bother them unless you scream long and loud.

SouthFLpix

At my office park, the police they will definitely send someone over to ticket cars. Also if a car parks in someone assigned parking space, they tow it. I know this because I've both been ticketed, and towed in the past.

capejohn

When we get pssissed off we sometimes want to react violently. Fortunately that little voice of reason takes over and we move on. That little voice does not prevent us from wishfull thinking though. It also does not stop us from shouting out our wishfull thinking, weather it be foolish or no so much.

The original poster did ok when he rode off. He also got to shout out by voicing his displeasure, taking a photo and throwing gas on the fires of Bike Forums.

I'm sure all the animosity is gone for him. Unless he is from the 50's forums of course. (emptying gas can).

oakback

Just leave a note on the car (if you have paper/pen handy). Just give them the URL to this thread, with something like, "it doesn't bother me much, but as you can see, other folks may not be as kind."

Belazriel

Yeah, but it whistles real loud for a little when when you remove the cores. Now when you pull the whole stem out it quiets down a lot faster.

noisebeam

Is there a no parking sign? I can't see one.
Is there a curb cut (ramp) to the path from the parking lot at that point? Hard to tell.
Ride on

Big M

Seriously.

God forbid any of us goof up or have an emergency and park where we shouldn't.
If I ever come across someone vandalizing my cage, he'll learn a new meaning to the word "regret."

bigpat

1. Don't cry

2. Ride between the two cars

3. Keep trying not to cry.

4. Good boy.

chephy

The number of emergencies in my town is truly mind-boggling!

Funny how these excuses come up. For some reason, when there are real consequences for misbehaviour, the meaning of "emergency" is magically reevaluated to be more in line with the traditional definition of the word. When there are no consequences though, "I just had to go get some coffee right now" becomes a huge emergency.

chephy

Childish though it might be, a threat like this always makes me wish to come out and do the deed, just to see just what the threat-utterer would do.

lil brown bat

And, of course, there's nothing in the way of empty posturing when someone utters a threat to commit the vandalism, no, not a bit of it...

The way I see it, there are three potential aspects to this situation that OP may be able to act on:

1. The path section in question may be poorly designed, to the point where the driver(s) made an understandable mistake in parking there. If there's no divider, signage, or other clear marking that says "this is a bike path, don't park on it," then OP can act by contacting whoever owns the path and get after them to remedy the situation.
2. The driver(s) may be inconsiderate clowns. It may be perfectly obvious to anyone that you're not supposed to park there, and the driver(s) may have just decided to park there anyway. If this is the situation, then OP can act by contacting the police, the owner of the path, a towing company, whoever, to get a tag slapped on the vehicles in question or worse.
3. The cyclist may be getting more upset about this than is warranted. Or maybe not -- a lot of people post here about trivial stuff that happens on their commute, and sometimes it's the ruby-throated warbler you saw as you rode past the park, and sometimes it's some behavior that annoyed you, but it's often just thrown out there by way of making conversation. If this is the case, OP may want to check out the "How was the commute today?" sticky thread. There's nothing wrong with "this happened to me on my commute today" threads, but if we all did it... And, if OP really is that upset about this, it's a good opportunity to learn to shake off stuff like that and move on.

BigDaddyPete

amen!

amit_shah25 

Here we go ! Problem Fixed But ofcourse that would mean you will have to haul a sledgehammer all the times when you bike ! Could be pretty handy tool except that wont fit in the patchkit

harleyfrog

On the topic of WTF?

amit_shah25 

That is hilarious

JMRobertson

Here's a better suggestion than the police... contact the league that runs the soccer game and get their kids kicked out of the league.

Bat22

I couldn't make out what the sign reads. If the sign read "No parking fire lane" or
"emergency vehicles only". If you grab a sign like that,swap it out with the current sign
it wouldn,t be stealing. You "procured" it.

Belazriel

When I'm incredibly busy and running behind at work, I carry a old wooden handle sledgehammer with duct tape around the handle. You'd be surprised at how few people decide to bother you when you're casually swinging a sledge around.

Mr. Underbridge

Good point. That's why you leave an accompanying note explaining exactly why it was vandalized.

dedhed

Facility needs to mark these spots "NO PARKING". no surprise to us cheeseheads one of them is an ILL tag.

kila kila kila

Slash their tires.

Your loss.

climbhoser

Not sure I'd have even noticed, to be honest. When I cage I pull shyte like that all the time

Er, maybe I won't anymore knowing there are some really anal people in the world...

sauerwald

The OP is in IOWA - they are passing laws there requiring cyclists to get insurance in order to ride! - chances are if the OP and his buddies had contacted law enforcement, they would be the ones ticketed!

SSP

In my car, I keep a small flip-top squeeze bottle filled with shampoo. When I encounter obvious parking *ssholes (e.g., the guys who intentionally park diagonally taking up 2 spots), I will sometimes spluge their windshield a bit.

Nothing permanently damaged, but an effective message delivered, IMO.