BAKERSFIELD, Calif.(KBAK/KBFX) — A dispute over a parking spot on a public street in northwest Bakersfield has gone viral on social media, after a confrontation between neighbors escalated.
James Cerda said the conflict was not the first time his neighbor complained about where Cerda’s family parked. “The first two times, he just says, ‘Hey, you guys can’t be parking here…it’s in front of my house. You guys can’t park there,’ “Cerda said.
Cerda said that last Saturday, he was washing his mom’s car in their driveway. When he finished, he parked the car across the street in front of his neighbor’s home, and the neighbor came outside, upset.
“We just say, well, it’s a public road, anybody can park there,” Cerda said.
Bakersfield police declined to speak on camera but provided a statement saying, “There are no laws against parking on a city street – if there are no posted restrictions and the vehicle isn’t blocking a driveway. Some HOA’s may have parking rules, but I don’t believe the location of this incident is in a neighborhood with an HOA.”
Bakersfield’s municipal code governing vehicles and traffic includes restrictions such as blocking driveways, parking in red zones, or violating posted signs. It does not grant homeowners exclusive rights to the curb space in front of their home on a public street, meaning that if there are no posted restrictions, street parking is generally first-come, first-served. California Vehicle Code 22500 also explains the rules of stopping, standing, and parking.
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The City of Bakersfield was contacted multiple times to clarify street-parking rules and to request an interview with code enforcement, but no response was received.
