As I was riding out of the hood today I noticed that it looked like a bunch of cars on both sides of legacy park drive, near the tennis courts and park, were egged last night. Just a warning to the people who park there so they can get their cars washed before the eggs damage the paint. If you own one of the cars, you also might want to call the police and file a report. With the number of cars involved, the police might be willing to have the teet pull the tape to see if any kids bought eggs last night.

It is very likely that whoever is responsible for egging these cars was also responsible for egging our house late last week. Initially I thought it was pointless to report the incident to the Sheriff's office but I think I will do so. At least they will know that a trend seems to be developing. What's wrong with these people?

Probably just bored.

Kids caught doing stupid stuff like this should be sentenced to a week of patrolling the common areas and picking up poop. Wearing big orange vests that say "POOP PATROL" so everyone knows they're criminals.

Egged cars often end up having their paint damaged even if you wipe the egg off immediately. The way an egg impacts on paint can cause the egg shell to penetrate through the clear coat in almost a bulls-eye kind of pattern. I only know this as I've had one of my own cars egged in the past and it left paint damage that I couldn't repair on my own...

Brilliant idea.

BTW - did I tell you that I'm writing you in as my vote for President?

Sweet!

With their bare hands.

So, I reported the Thursday night egging of our home to the Sherriff's office this morning in light of the additional egging of cars on Legacy Park Drive. Within 45 minutes of my call an officer came to the house to get a report. He was very polite and genial--I was impressed. He said that egging in Loudoun County is rampant--usually done by 14-16 yeaar old males who are bored and whose parents pay little attention to where they are or what they are doing. He told me that he has personally caught kids in the act and when taken to their homes the parents deny that their child would ever do such a thing. He said the office receives multiple similar calls every weekend from Belmont, Broadlands and South Riding.

On a positive note, he said that eventually Brambleton will be assigned a community policing officer. The population base and available funds dictate when that happens but he felt sure eventually it would. All of this reminds me--did anything ever become of the neighborhood watch program? I think I am ready to participate.

A guy I work with is one of the people that got egged. I just went out and looked at his truck. It has that spiral/bulls-eye pattern. If all the cars hit have this damage, I wonder if this would be considered a felony because of the costs involved with getting the paint repaired.

For all those people parking on the street, between this and all the news of criminals siphoning gas tanks, maybe it's time to clear some space in the garage?

Yea....that's something I really don't understand. Especially the people with 2 car garages.
Anyway, walking to the movies this morning with the wee-est one, we noticed broken eggs at the NW corner driveways of Vickery Park and Regal Wood. Punks.

I think most homes in the hood have 2 car garages. If you can figure out what to do with the power wheels, kids bike, scooter, tools, and assorted other crap, so that I can get both cars in there, you get the Nobel Prize!

Regardless, I like the poop patrol idea. I pick enough up from my own two, if you let me know when the kids are out, I'll even "seed" the lawn with some extra to make it a super messy job!

We can fit one car in ours right now. It would just take a little cleaning to fit two, but even then...the mini-van is a pain to get in and out of! it's almost impossible. I mean, you have to have some stuff in your garage, especially when you lie in a townhouse with 0 storage.

I make no excuses... I admit, we do have a lot of crap (way too much). But also a couple of motorcycles in the heap. Bike trumps car.

Those little shits got my truck and I could care less about them picking up poo in the park. I’m not above teaching them a lesson their parents are too scared to do. I don’t understand why you people automatically think moving your cars into your garage is going to solve anything.

YEAH!!!!

The only way to solve this is to catch them.

Like I suggested in another post. No matter how small you think it is...make a report with the sheriff's dept.

Probably won't stop them from being little shits, but it would mitigate the potential for damage to one's own vehicle.

Hit my brother-in-law's car on Regal Wood.

*HULK ANGRY*

Sean, think about what you are saying though....because a small minority of kids are screwing around (as a result of inept parenting) the majority must change their lifestyle. What about families with 3 or more cars? What about out of town guests? I think the definition of a garage has evolved and many people see it as an extra storage area.

Don't condemn the law-abiding people, punish the law-breakers.

That being said, I imagine the kids doing this don't suppose what they are doing is very harmful. When you are that age, you still have trouble imagining all of the consequences of your actions. Not an excuse, that's what parents are there for, but I state this because I think these 'criminal' acts are not seen as such by the 'criminals'.

Yeah, but she told me she was writing in RCB as your Veep. Just so's you know.

(1) Uh, yes.

(2) I don't Sean's condemning anyone -- just food for thought, of the non-egg variety.

Reread the jogger statement...terrible example....what I mean though is we don't need to curl up and hide because someone is infringing on our rights. They are the ones doing wrong. It sounded to me like he was annoyed by people parking their cars on the street.

Comdemning is a strong word, but I am annoyed by cars parked in the streets -- when they are parked too close to stop signs, corners, etc. and cause potential safety hazards, particularly around the park, where people randomly walk out between two cars into traffic. I completely avoid driving down Regal Wood anymore because with cars parked on the street it's just too narrow if a car happens to be coming in the other direction. You can't tell me that everyone who is parked on the streets has a guest visiting or has three cars.

I also call your attention to the Brambleton Community Association Policy Resolution #6, article B5:



Now I realize that's not always practical, and this doesn't mean we shouldn't also be punishing and preventing the eggings, but the fact is there are probably more vehicles parked on the streets than there need to be.

Yeah, unfortunately I left that part out too The bike precludes at least one car from ever going in the garage. So until I get a 3 or 4 car garage, at least one is sitting in the driveway.

Honestly, I was a kid, and I did some stupid things, mostly toilet paper and shaving cream. But I got my fair share of discipline from my parents.

Maybe I should put that old bullet cam back up to keep an eye on what's going on out in the front

+1

I agree with you completely (shocking, I know)

All of the cars parked on Legacy Park are an eye sore and a safety hazard. This isn't the ghetto, people... get your act together.

+1

I am always shocked at how many cars are parked on the street on Legacy Park. Parking in driveways is fine by me, but why are there so many cars on the street?

Surveillance cameras surrounding the perimeters are needed. Too bad they're still expensive.

I beleive all of the townhouses that surround the park don't have driveways. I really don't have a problem with people parking on the street with a few exceptions...don't park on the wrong side of the road and don't park close to a corner.

I actually informed the person at the corner of Legacy and Cartier last week when I saw him parking that he was making it very dangerous to drive in the neighborhood by parking his big SUV at the corner of the intersection. He was polite and responded that he had just moved in and was working on getting his garage cleaned. I accepted that response and drove away. As I think about it now, if he does not have the space in the garage, he should park it across the street or away from the corner. Why make it dangerous for everybody else. I will probably start calling Brambleton HOA and LCSO soon if some of the parking does not change. People need to be ticketed for some of their parking habbits. Brambleton needs to do what my parents old HOA did and paint every corner with yellow firelane paint and mark them no parking.

Edited for LCPS to LCSO.

I'm surprised the curbs aren't painted too. Maybe it has to do with the road paving issues in Brambleton.

Agreed. I should have said it's the cars parked on BOTH sides of the street that surprise me. If everyone parked only on the correct side of the street and facing the correct way, it would be much less of an issue.

With cars on both sides of the street, it's impossible for 2 cars to make it down the street.

I think there is some kind of fire code/regulation about the minimum width of a street for emergency vehicle access...especially large firetrucks.

The parking situation will be resolved about the same time crosswalks are in place and the golf course is finished.

Actually, I'm going to follow up with Rick Stone about a traffic consultant that was going to work with the HOA and the county on this issue.

Right on. As jpcommons noted, the hoa painting corner curves yellow with no parking would solve part of problem. Hmm, sounds like such a simple thing to do..

Legacy Park at least is a VDOT road as I understand, so I don't think the HOA can act unilaterally and paint "No Parking" on the curb. However it is illegal to park within a certain number of feet from an intersection. So, as of now, anyone noticing what they think is a violation should call the LCSO (non-emergency 703-777-1021). As far as the rest of Brambleton goes, the idea was to come up with a comprehensive parking plan to address concerns, such as street parking. I don't know where that is now. I haven't heard anything recently.

In regards to the crosswalk situation, I will repost this here, now that this thread has some attention. Some of you may be interested. This is an email response I received form Rick Stone on April 30, 2008. He gave me permission to post it.

"The Developer is open to making modifications to the traffic plan for Brambleton however such modifications need to be done in accordance with County/State standards and regulations; and with their approval. This was the reason why the BCA Board formed the Community Traffic Safety Committee earlier this year. It is the plan to bring the County, Developer and HOA together to review, recommend and implement comprehensive changes and modifications to the Brambleton traffic plan.

The County indicated earlier this year that they have funding for a consultant to facilitate this process for Brambleton and two other Loudoun communities. I sent an email to Chuck Acker with Loudoun County Department of Transportation last week inquiring into the status of the consultant and funding. Once I here back from him I will have a better idea of the process and timing. Needless to say, I predict that this process will not be a quick one.

In the meantime, the Association is actively working with Loudoun County Sheriff’s Department towards an increase presence within Brambleton. The recent installation of the four speed limit signs with orange flags on Olympia are a direct result of the County, Developer and BCA all working together. BCA will continue to work with LCSO on other enforcement issues however permanent and comprehensive traffic calming modifications need to go through the committee and onto the County and State for approval.

I will note that there are several residential streets within Brambleton that are of continual concern among residents, the County and BCA. Those streets are Legacy Park Drive (on both sides of Belmont Ridge Road), Minerva Drive, Conquest Circle, and Olympia Drive. Speed is a continual concern on these streets. Many of these streets are being used as internal collector roads and are located next to high pedestrian areas such as schools or play areas.

As for the Committee’s inaugural meeting, that will be announced once I have a better understanding from the County to the process and timing. Hopefully, that will occur in the near future. Please let me know if you have any further questions."

I agree with you as well. In fact, I nearly posted that item from the covenents. Parking on the streets by people who have garages drives me nuts. I have two neighbors who often park directly across the street from the end of my driveway and the neighbor next door or their guests park very close to the edge of our driveway. It makes it hard to get out of the driveway sometimes. Also driving down Angel Wing is more like doing a slalom because of all the cars parked on the street and many are parked 3 feet from the curb--sometimes even at an angle.

I also agree that Regal Wood is dangerous. I think that there are two intersections on Regal Wood that need to be four-way stops: Regal/Vickery Park and Regal/entrance to Magellan Square (is that Cartier?).

Sadly, I think we'll be long gone before any changes take place. It's a shame really that painting curbs ends up being a long drawn out process.




They need to include Regal and BRR on that list. Heavy foot traffic in summer.....walking to pool.




Didnt they already meet?

Thanks for reposting.

Yes it is.

I also seem to recall there being no parking signs along legacy park drive when I first moved in. They were only on the side of the park. They were paper signs on wooden stakes that went the length of that side of the road. I wonder why they were removed.

I think that it is terribly unfair to indicate that all people must park either in a driveway or garage. One should be able to park outside without the expectation of my car being damaged.

Yes, there is always a risk, and to mitigate that risk I could park in the garage (if I had space). Of course, my townhome doesn't afford much storage space; and I have no basement.

How about some of the folks in the Rhapsody models? I'd be willing to bet about 90% of them don't have driveways. If you have any number of children's toys in the garage, and you own two cars, that is just not going to happen.

Point of the matter, and I think weaselVT said it best, is that we need to attack the problem at the root.

I live in a Rhapsody and luckily have a driveway. Though our turnaround in back by the garage takes up a good chunk of what would be yard, it's nice to have a place to park the car back behind the house and a safe place for Fanlet to ride her bike/scooter. We have a child with a ton of stuff (Bo-Peep can attest to that) and a ton of crap in the garage, and we can still park our cars in the garage. Personally, I think the "have a lot of stuff" reason, is a bit overused. If people actually got rid of crap they don't use and organized stuff, you could park your cars in the garage.

As for addressing the root problem, I don't disagree with that. However, you have to realize that you assume some risk when you park your car on the street (or even in your driveway). Those risks could be kids egging cars, hail storms, or people stealing stuff from your car. My dad had a camera stolen from his car in the driveway (which is pretty long so the car wasn't that close to the street).

How did this become about the amount of crap that one owns? Who cares? Sure, you assume the risk of any of your stuff getting damaged by shenanigans. Your car, your house, your flower beds, it's just part of life I guess. I just all of a sudden feel like I'm one of those OCD packrats that need to see Dr. Phil because I'm disorganized and don't know how to purge. Granted, that all may be true, but I don't think it should matter to anyone.

Kimchee, I'm sorry I didn't mean that as an attack on anyone.

I know you didn't mean anything personal by it. And I didn't mean for my response to be completely directed at you.

Just sometimes (and I'm generalizing, not pointing a finger at you) people's opinions about what others are doing or should be doing seem to be a little overbearing and a little too Judgey McJudgerson for me. That's just MY feeling - maybe no one else cares.

No worries. We're all good, chica.

And it makes that very cute street UGLY. Why would people want to do that to themselves? I think it's so funny that those with rear loading, detached garages feel that they're SO great and so superior to our detached, front loading garages and then.....hardly utilize them. Not everyone, of course.

Yeah, I nearly got nailed there one day because of that car. Visibility to the left of Legacy was zero.

I would add Explorer to the problem list. People fly down that street so fast as it's now an easy exit from Sky Meadows to Creighton/BRR. I do a lot of yelling at passing cars as I'm loading us all in the car.

I really don't understand that. When I drop Fanlet at Legacy (which is rare), I'll usually make a right on to Minerva and then take Frontier to BRR. However, I drive below the limit there because a) it's respectful b) there are still children walking to school and c) it's the right thing to do. It doesn't take me any longer to get to BRR to drive a reasonable speed.

I think the point is also that the streets are not designed to handle parking on both sides, in the case of the townhouses. It stands to reason that if each townhouse/house has a garage that the cars would reside in the garage and not on the street. If there are townhouses with no garage space, then having one parking space in front of the house makes sense, but not taking 2 ,3 or 4.

I just don't think the neighborhood was planned with the idea that everyone can put their extra "stuff" in the garage and use the street for parking.

And not to be the one to cast the first stone, since our 2 car garage can only fit 1 car at the moment because of an overage of stuff that needs to be organized, but since we only have 1 car, it works out fine.