Why can't I park in my driveway?

Q. I just can’t believe that my building department won’t let me park in my front yard. I have a one-car garage and want to enlarge my driveway to park my cars off the street. On weekends, especially, my neighborhood is loaded with people hunting for parking spaces, and I live near my local business district. You’d think my village, where there definitely aren’t enough parking spaces would encourage us to park on our property so that people could park to shop, but I was told that I could get a ticket if the police see my car parked in my driveway. What can I do about this?

A. The driveway is for driving to the garage, not for parking on. Otherwise they’d call it a parkway, I guess. The rule is confusing, but you have a few choices in how to go about getting the use of your driveway. Changing the rule would benefit the greatest number of people. Unfortunately, it would also take the longest route to success because you’d need the support of community voters on a petition and public hearings that could run into years if you have opposition.

The funny thing about this issue is that after I learned about it, I asked people living in your community that I’m working with, and nobody seems to know that this rule exists, nor have they gotten tickets for violations. I drive and park in your community, and have noticed that it’s extremely frustrating to find parking on most streets near the business district. I’ve also noticed, since receiving your letter, that most of the households in your neighborhood have cars parked in the driveways.