By: Revanche

Pigeon poop, terrible neighbors, and a case for renting

May 7, 2015

People keep saying that renting is throwing money away and I can’t help but snort in derision when I hear it. If you were literally throwing money at a landlord and NOT living in the lodgings you paid for, sure, but I’m quite sure that no one is talking about that.

Personally, while I do like the idea of home ownership for the financial equity-building aspect under the right circumstances, I’ve always had a soft spot for renting and this weekend was a perfect example of why.

We have a neighbor who insists on scattering seed all over the mutual property, trying to attract the damn pigeons, and he succeeds. He’s now escalated to putting out trays of water and seed for them too, which means there’s seed, shells, and plastic trays littering the neighborhood along with a ridiculous amount of bird poop in a lot of places.

Some of our neighbors have CDs strung down their balconies, others have Fort Knox-like barbed things bristling up from their balcony rails. You can see why, poop streaks down the walls and their rails despite their precautions.

Aside from the poop factor, the litter attracts other vermin and the pigeon feathers are everywhere which is not awesome for allergies and the poop causes long term property damage. All in all, no matter how much I like animals, these critters are not welcomed neighbors.

PiC got into a tiff with the main (and only, I’m sure) culprit this weekend.

He politely asked the man to stop feeding directly on the shared property areas, as it encourages the flock to move closer and closer, they’ve taken to roosting right over our front step now!

The man went off on a frothy-mouthed tirade about how he intends to attract them, that the poor birds are starving with no possible food source, that humans destroy wildlife with their concrete, that we’re horrible selfish destructive people, and on and on.

I’ll note that while he has such contempt for us humans, he’s still living right here amongst us in the reviled concrete based home instead of communing with the nature that he’s advocating for.

I’ll also note that he’s all about having the animals but his plan evidently ends there. I’ve had to stop him feeding my dogs French fries because apparently any food is better than letting a dog go on a walk without five treats.

He doesn’t take good care of his own pets which are adorable but filthy and reek of urine. They urinate and defecate everywhere they go and stink up the joint. I don’t think he should get rid of them, I think he should actually take care of them! Incontinence is treatable and in some cases, leaving it untreated puts them at risk for further medical problems related to that incontinence. He lets them run loose everywhere, one of them was hit by a car because he refused to leash them walking in the dark, right into a driveway where cars pull out.

But no no, let’s lure in every creature you can think of to make up for the depredations of humans, and never mind what shape the poor animals will be in.

Also I’m not cool with the rats and roaches and whatever else that’ll move in with the abundance of extra food bits he keeps tossing out his windows and scattering on the sidewalks.

I stood up for this guy before when other bullying neighbors tried to rally the neighbors against him. I felt bad for him at the time when it was just about his dogs. But now he’s letting in anyone who comes to the locked gate without question, totally disregarding security concerns despite several break-ins made possible by his irresponsible behavior. He was a crank before all this degenerated into him flying into a rage, and he’s just getting worse. Goody.

If we were renters, this wouldn’t bother me quite so much. We could seriously consider moving when the lease was up and the long term property maintenance wouldn’t be my concern. So long as this guy’s living here, he’s going to be a pain.

17 Responses to “Pigeon poop, terrible neighbors, and a case for renting”

  1. Linda says:

    I can’t believe this guy isn’t violating some bylaws for your condo/HOA/co-op/whatever with this behavior! Or perhaps violating some law in your municipality by feeding pigeons. (In Chicago, it was illegal. Though rarely enforced, it was there on the books and you could get someone ticketed for egregious violations, at least.)

    If you were a tenant, you could report the behavior to the landlord and he could get booted out instead of you. Moving is expensive and always a last resort.

    I hope you get this dude in line with the rest of the community.
    Linda recently posted…Woman stuff and sleep hackingMy Profile

    • Revanche says:

      I’m checking into it but I think we also have a problem with the fact that he’d know / assume it was us who reported him. I wouldn’t advocate moving for FUN but it does remind me that this is a more permanent than temporary problem since we’ve got a mortgage, not a lease.

  2. Uhm …. If there’s a common area, isn’t there an HOA? Surely making a public nuisance like this would violate the HOA’s covenants.

    We have a moron neighbor who does the same, but we have YARDS, forhevinsake, not balconies. The cat barrier I put up, which makes me look like a nut case, gratified my next-door neighbor because she thought I was trying to resist t he moron’s cat, not the moron’s semi-domesticated pigeons. Works for both, I guess.

    If you don’t have an HOA to complain to, then Linda has definitely got something: there may be a law against feeding pigeons in the city. Call the mayor’s office or Game & Fish…maybe you can find out. If there’s a stench from his animals that probably also is a violation of something — track it down and lodge a complaint. And neglecting the animals — possibly including letting them live in their own urine and poop stink — is animal abuse and, California being what it is, may even be a felony.

    If there’s anything that you can complain about to anybody (hopefully including the police), do it. And keep on complaining till he quits it or moves.
    Funny about Money recently posted…Woo Hoo! Boob Book Stage 1: About DONE!My Profile

    • ooops, wait… We’ve gotta get an “edit that comment” function on these darn WP sites! Make that “Terri thot I was trying to resist Felicia’s semi-domesticated pigeons, not her accursed cat.” 😀
      Funny about Money recently posted…Woo Hoo! Boob Book Stage 1: About DONE!My Profile

    • Revanche says:

      Unfortunately, from what I’ve experienced/know of animal control, they’re not going to do anything about his pets. They themselves are fed and generally happy, but dogs don’t tend to mind being stinky. The humans sure do mind it. We’ll see, the HOA has done nothing about the complaints of stink around his front door, so they’re probably kind of useless.

  3. Evil Bat Witch says:

    Have you called Animal Control yet?

    • Revanche says:

      They won’t deal with it. :/

      • Evil Bat Witch says:

        sad face:(

      • Evil Bat Witch says:

        Animal Control in Denver was ALL ABOUT getting on our asses when a very skilled kitty kitty in our house tore a pigeon apart on our balcony. feathers EVERYWHERE. When they showed up, the cat was hiding in a bush observing the crime scene of his making, and the “detectives” trying to pin it on a cat who wasn’t there. So maybe the AC there would be more about protecting the sky rats than getting your neighbor to stop feeding them, anyway.

  4. SP says:

    Since you aren’t renters, maybe you have some power (through HOA of sorts?). More of a headache, but picking up and moving seems like an awfully big hassle too!

    My neighborhood has a low key, cheap, HOA. I was surprised by it, but I’m not sure how much power they actually have.

    Also, I’m sorry this is happening – some people just don’t have good sense. Is he mentally stable? It sounds like maybe something is off. Not that it matters, the situation is still the same. :/
    SP recently posted…Taxes and PuppiesMy Profile

    • Revanche says:

      They seem to be rather useless, except for collecting money and doing maintenance. :/

      He’s stable – he’s just crochety, opinionated and rather ignorant. But he’s capable of making conscious choices.

      Example: he was aloof and rude to us in the beginning, then did a complete 180 when we adopted Doggle. Suddenly he was friendly and interested! Except he was clearly upset that I wouldn’t allow Doggle to be fed junk food. Now that we have Seamus who, I guess isn’t as … pretty? as Doggle, or something, he’s changed his tune once again.

  5. Eep. That sounds like a pain to deal with. Maybe you could convince him to do something for his love of animals like volunteer at a pound or something? Not that he’ll be a good fit (agreed with SP in that from your description sounds like something is off), but maybe it’ll help keep him away from feeding the birds for a bit and perhaps being on good terms with him will help you get more mileage?
    Taylor Lee @ Engineer Cents recently posted…April 2015 – Monthly Spending UpdateMy Profile

    • Revanche says:

      There’s no talking to him – he blows us off if he’s decided you’re persona non grata, which he has now! Plus, I’m not sure I’d want to subject the pound to him, they have enough challenges without being lectured endlessly 🙂

  6. Jessica says:

    This is one of the big reasons we rent. We actually moved from our last apartment last year due to problems with neighbors and unresponsive management. (Hey, they weren’t the ones awakened at two or three in the morning by the guy downstairs playing his guitar that he hooked up to an amp or to the same guy blaring his music every time he took his 45-minute showers — so loud that things actually fell off our walls and it vibrated our furniture audibly.) We stuck it out for five years, but each new person who moved in to one of our three shared wall/ceiling/floor were worse than the last for noise (the guy above was actually our last new neighbor and the last straw). We now live in a place where noise isn’t really a problem, but landlord lack of care for the actual property (unfortunately) is, so we’re moving again.

    Someone asked me why I didn’t just buy a house to avoid all of this moving. I responded, “If I buy a house, I can’t easily move if the neighbors suck.” I meant that there isn’t a trial month of living in your new property to see what it’s really like to be there 24 hours a day, right? If I rent, I may have to stick it out a year, but if I buy, who knows how long I’ll have to deal with crappy neighbors! People at the table started arguing with me, saying that there are crappy neighbors at rentals, too, and I can do more about it as a home owner.

    Revanche, you get it exactly! You can’t really do more about your neighbors.

    • Revanche says:

      Oh my goodness yes, that’s exactly what I was thinking! It’s not a decision taken lightly but at least it is an option, otherwise you could be stuck next to or near terrible neighbors for 20+ years! Ick.

  7. […] entirely. Some of these things may yet come home with me. Or that house may probably happen because terrible neighbors are terrible and Seamus would love a yard (think I can teach him to do […]

  8. […] Gai Shan Life with Pigeon poop, terrible neighbors, and a case for renting  Yuck.  We have ducks that poop everywhere…pigeons on purpose would be […]

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