I have to explain why people shouldn’t park their car on their front lawn? Seriously? Aesthetics are a thing and I can’t imagine anyone that lives in my town (or most towns) finding that acceptable.

“Clinch” was a typo; corrected to “couch”.

>>I have to explain why people shouldn’t park their car on their front lawn? Seriously?

Yes, yes please. Is it their front lawn? As in - they own the land? And they aren't causing any harm or damage to anyone, other than the fact that you don't like it? You mentioned "property value loss" in another comment - that's not a thing. Certainly not due to a car parked on someone's lawn.

Again, I find your intention to get into other people's business just.....strange.

> Again, I find your intention to get into other people's business just.....strange.

It's not me. It's a community which agreed on a guideline, standard, by-law, etc.

> You mentioned "property value loss" in another comment - that's not a thing.

No, it actually is. Demand will suffer in locations which are unkept and trashy. I would not buy a property next to a home that had cars parked on the front lawn. I would not want to live next to someone who thinks that's appropriate and most people would agree with me.

There's a reason we stage homes when selling - we want them to be as attractive as possible. The surrounding area, if nice, will add to the value because people want to live in nice places and around nice people.

>>I would not buy a property next to a home that had cars parked on the front lawn. I would not want to live next to someone who thinks that's appropriate and most people would agree with me.

I never said it's approporiate. I wouldn't want to live next to such house either. But I find it unacceptable that you would like to regulate that away, just like I don't think it's acceptable to regulate whether someone can hang their laundry outside or not. It's a uniquely American fetishism with defining freedom as "freedom to tell others what they can or cannot do". There's a reason HOAs exist pretty much only there and hardly anywhere else. I might find the sight of my neighbour's car unappealing - but you're the one who wants to regulate what they can or cannot do with it.

The community regulates it. The community is sovereign over the individual. The individual can either accept this or leave the community. If they continue to violate the community then the community will shun them or exile them. This is how social systems work. Some people call it "cancel culture" but that's just the same thing at a larger scale and with new rules.

Yes but that's kinda my point - these sort of oppressive communities which have this level of control over their members only really seem to be common in America, the "land of the free" which I find incredibly ironic. I would have thought that not being told by your neighbour what you can or cannot do in your own front lawn would be a core principle of American life, but clearly I'd be wrong.

It's not strange here, even if uncommon and I could not care less what people do in front of their houses. Utility over aesthetics. (also whose aesthetics?)

You might start by explaining why they have to have a lawn.

If I was going to park my truck | caravan | boat out the front I'd rather have a well drained raked gravel pan than a lawn growing up through the vehicle, weeds, and dead grass when I drive awy.

Aesthetics are a thing after all.

You don’t have to have a lawn. I’m sure your town has codified what is appropriate. Where I live some people have u-shaped driveways on the front and they are “to code”. But you’d be making an appropriate place to park a vehicle. The lawn, if you have one, is certainly not appropriate in most towns.

The town limits here codify setbacks from boundaries for building, maximum height for building, bans on buildup of flammable materials (overgrown dead trees | waist high dead garden grasss), storage of toxic waste (tire dumps, etc) .. and that's pretty much it.

Nothing on paint colour, lawns (required or not | having vehicles on them | etc), licenced vehicle disposition etc.

Most people are house proud, a number of people have very different aesthetic fromn others, some places are clearly butt ugly but that's largely their business.

Town only steps in if something is a rat infested hoarders paradise that might catch alight and belch toxic fumes at an second.

The super intrusive home owners association is largely not a problem here (but it's creeping in to the chagrin of many).

I'm still mystified by your dislike for parking vehicles on lawns, it's not great for the lawn but having neighbours that do this overnight every few days (so they can get spare car from the back, etc) I really cannot see the issue - their lawn is fine and I don't get a queasy feeling looking at it.