Shortly after I moved into my current house 15 years ago, the police stopped me as I was leaving from being parked in front of my house, on my side of the street, facing the correct direction to ask me to not park on the street. I love to park on the street as I am on a cul de sac and doing so means less moving cars when I want to drive something different. The officer said he had to ask because they had received a complaint from someone in the neighborhood (my neighborhood has no association so no covenants). I asked why it was a problem and he said for short term, in and out parking it was not a problem, but that overnight parking or longer was against parking codes for the city. He told me that the street was less than 24 feet wide, that it was illegal to park there. I ran and grabbed a tape measure and sure enough, the street was 23' 10" and I was a bit ill. I was polite and put the car in the driveway. I asked him where the code was in writing, not to defy him, but to check the code for myself.
With his advice, I went to the National Code that most cities, including mine, subscribe to and read what it said. It stated that parking was against code if the roadway was less than 24 feet wide. ROADWAY was in bold which meant that the term was in the glossary. Upon looking that up, it said the roadway was the concrete and/or asphalt improved surface intended for vehicular passage and/or parking. It also said the roadway is the space located between the curbs. CURBs was in bold so I looked that up. Its definition said it was the raised outer limit of the roadway at the outer edge of the gutter. GUTTER was in bold and its definition said it was the portion of the roadway that is modified to aid in the removal of rain runoff.
Key to this was that the gutter was part of the roadway. So I copied this and kept it in my car and returned to parking on the street. After a few weeks, the police cruised up and again asked me not to park on the street. He apologized for bothering me but that he only came because a complaint was filed.
I shared my discovery with him and hoped he wouldn't think I was being a smart aleck. He looked at me and shouted, "Are you kidding, really, are you kidding?"
I remained silent and after a pause then he said, "Thanks!"
Turns out no one had taken the time to read what the code said and they were only measuring the asphalt as the roadway and not the concrete gutters, i.e. the distance between the curbs. He took my copy and said he would make sure that it was given to the little old retired real estate agent who had been calling as well as the department. He said that this was going to save the about a dozen problems a week.
Now I knew who the caller was and now when that old biddy drives through and looks at my car parked on the street,
I just smile and wave !:hello2:
it has been beat up here and there 
