Which letter should we use?

[KitchenKitten99]

Our neighbor behind us has piles of junk behind his garage in his backyard, that joins up to my backyard. There is a 4' chainlink fence between the yards, and some nice lilac bushes as well. But the bushes don't completely screen the area that this junk is in. So, we are basically forced to see it when we want to be in the backyard. When we have guests over, they ask why he has a small metal shopping cart hanging from a tree. We can't answer that one, because we don't know ourselves. Both Tim and I have just had it. My grandparents owned our house and they said they hated seeing the junk there too, but never really said anything, and they lived here for 25 years. Even our other neighbors who can see the junk, want to say something, but don't know how. So, I have drafted two letters, but I can't decide which to use.

Here is the 1st:
Dear _____:

There have been several of us neighbors who have had discussions about the junk pile behind your garage. It is an eyesore and unsightly, and lowers our enjoyment of our own yards and is embarrassing to have guests over, because they see it. We have agreed to ask you to please clean it up and dispose of it properly. If you need a large dumpster, you can obtain one for a decent cost through VEIT, at 422-3867, and they allow most all types of trash.

We are asking that this be done by 1 August, which gives you a little over 2 months. Plenty of time.

Yours truly,

Your neighbors.

the 2nd one:
Dear _____,

Tim and I are politely wondering when you will be disposing of the trash that is stored behind your garage and in the tree? This has been sitting there for some time now, and is becoming a real eyesore. When we have guests over, and entertain in our backyard, regardless of the bushes, you can still see all the junk and it is very unsightly. This year, we are planning on having anywhere from 30-40 people at our home for our son’s birthday party and our monthly gathering of friends from around the metro area, after the party. Some of these people will have never been to our home before and we want to give them the best impression of our home and our neighborhood, and ultimately our neighbors. The date of the party will be 11 August. We are asking you nicely to clean up the junk and the stuff in the tree by 10 August, or we will be forced to take further actions, which we really do not want to do for the sake of peace. If you need a large dumpster, you can obtain one for a decent cost through VEIT, at 422-3867, and they allow most all types of trash. We have used them ourselves and have been satisfied with their service and cost.

Yours truly,

Lea and Tim

[Hagbard Celine]

I'd go with the first one. The second is more forceful and names only you (one family) instead of other "neighbors" and would probably be taken as more of an insult. That's my two cents. It sucks that you have a junky neighbor.

[stephanie]

I liked the first one also..

Good luck..

[Mr. P]

Neither, call the zoning enforcement or code enforcement folks, if it really bad maybe the health dept. and let them deal with it.

[darin]

Have a Home Owners Association?

[Hagbard Celine]

Neither, call the zoning enforcement or code enforcement folks, if it really bad maybe the health dept. and let them deal with it.

Call in the government and let them handle it eh? What ever happened to handling things yourself and taking "personal responsibility?"

[Abbey Marie]

Letters are very off-putting and IMO shouldn't be the first action taken.
Has anyone tried having a friendly over-the-fence conversation with the neighbor first? If they are unresponsive, send letter #1.

You could all offer to "help them" remove the junk, too, if they are willing to get the dumpster.

[5stringJeff]

I'd use the first one, with the reminder of health dept. enforcement if they don't comply.

[manu1959]

Letters are very off-putting and IMO shouldn't be the first action taken.
Has anyone tried having a friendly over-the-fence conversation with the neighbor first? If they are unresponsive, send letter #1.

You could all offer to "help them" remove the junk, too, if they are willing to get the dumpster.

i agree with abbey.........need to have a few conversations to set the table for the letter.......

[manu1959]

this is the letter i would write, after i spoke with them.....

I am writting on behalf of my family and your neighbors. We are requesting that the pile of trash stored behind your garage be removed in 30 days.

If you need a large dumpster, you can obtain one for a decent cost through VEIT, at 422-3867, and they allow most all types of trash. We have used them ourselves and have been satisfied with their service and cost.

[Hagbard Celine]

this is the letter i would write, after i spoke with them.....

I am writting on behalf of my family and your neighbors. We are requesting that the pile of trash stored behind your garage be removed in 30 days.

If you need a large dumpster, you can obtain one for a decent cost through VEIT, at 422-3867, and they allow most all types of trash. We have used them ourselves and have been satisfied with their service and cost.

This plan involves timetables and I won't support it.

[jackass]

I like the second one personally..but whichever one you use...STOP calling it junk. That puts him anthe defensive right away. Call them items or something to that effect.

[KitchenKitten99]

This plan involves timetables and I won't support it.

i need a timetable because of the large party we will be having on 11 August which will include people who have never been here before, as I mentioned in the letter.

I want to take this to a neighbor-to-neighbor route first. It is like calling the cops on a neighbor that has their music up too loud, instead of first asking them yourself and end up starting the hard feelings by calling the cops. I know that if someone were to ask me personally to take care of an issue, I would have less hard feelings about that person then if they were to take it to the extreme and contact city officials for whatever the matter may be, when they could just as easily talk to me and I would do what I could to oblige, barring any issues beyond my control.

I don't want to go to the extreme with calling the city before we let him know the whole thing bothers us. Part of the reason we don't like him is every so often, Buster escapes, and he threatens to call the cops, even though Buster is no threat, and pretty much the whole neighborhood knows him and knows he's friendly and to try to catch him is pointless. Lately, it has been during the day when I have the daycare kids here. At that point there really is nothing I can do. Not only that, even if they weren't here, I wouldn't bother chasing him anyway, because he usually comes home in half the time. Even the cops know him enough to not even bother trying to catch him, because he won't let anyone. He will stand still just long enough to let you think he's gonna let you grab him, and as soon as you reach, he'll bolt the other direction. If someone does catch him, it is because he is either hungry or thirsty or he was tricked. Huskys are forever puppies. Everything is a game to them.

While this didn't start the whole issue with us not liking to have to see the junk, it just magnified it. Basically, if he wants to start something with us, we can fire right back. Unfortunately, I don't want to wait until he calls the cops on Buster (not that they'd even attempt to catch him anyway-they know him by name and breed and description). I have been wanting to ask him to do this since we moved in 3 years ago. I just haven't had the motivation until now.

Either way, I want the junk gone before the August gathering. Even my mom said that the wire shopping cart (or some kind of pushcart with wheels) has been hanging in the tree since she can remember.

[Mr. P]

Call in the government and let them handle it eh? What ever happened to handling things yourself and taking "personal responsibility?"

Tis why we pay em..didn't you hear.

[MtnBiker]

The first letter is better. I would contact the city just to investigate any legal action that could be taken. The neighborly thing to do is to let him know that you and other neighbors are concerned about the junk and that you would rather not envolve an outside party to resolve the problem, but for him to simply be courtesy toward all the neigbors and have his yard in a respectable manor. If a city code does exsist and is forceable a timetable is good to let the neighbor know that this is an actionable request that needs attention and further measures can be taken if necessary.