Nope. I wouldn’t. Not today. Let my kids run free in public at age 9? Not a chance.
Or, looking at it differently, would you have been in more danger if some dude was working on his car in the parking lot? I rest my case.
I can’t quite equal that feat, but I definitely did a lot of risky things when I was a kid and later as a teen. As one example, when I was ~15, I helped a friend build a home-made go-kart. The first engine was not powerful enough, so he obtained a much larger Kohler engine which made the thing really fast. Where did we test drive it? On city streets!
When it was my turn, I zoomed down his parents’ driveway in it, and because the cars parked on the street made it almost impossible to see if traffic was approaching, I made the 90 degree turn onto the street directly in front of a car. Luckily, the car’s brakes were much better than the largely useless friction brake on the go-kart, so I narrowly avoided being smushed by the car.
The curses from the driver of the car were both memorable and appropriate, in view of the stupid stunt that I pulled.
This has gotten long because I fell victim to my Stream of Consciousness and I apologize in advance.
The Problem is not whether the Police know the code or not; it’s do they understand the code. There is a big difference between repairing a vehicle that broke down and only needs a small repair and putting the vehicle on the street and doing an oil change, brake job, change out the shock absorbers, new water pump, etc… all which require some sort of sundry equipment, jacks, spill pans, ramps, etc…
You’ve run out of gas, your engine over heated and you only need some time for it to cool down before adding coolant, your battery died and you cannot start it without a new battery are all good examples of “quick fixes.” Putting in a new alternator or power steering unit is not, but some folks think it is and this is where the fuzzy line of what you can do and what cannot do comes in and the Police do not want to be the judge of this and will probably default to “no, you can’t…”
When I was stationed at Davis Monthan AFB, Tucson, AZ. In the late 1990’s, we rented a house in a subdivision that had the most outrageous, overbearing, far-reaching, and downright outlandish HOA Rules. But we rented the house because it was owned by another military couple who wanted it back in 3 to 5 years so they wanted a military person who did not plan to “homestead” so they offered us the place at a fantastically low rent. We would never have bought there, but renting for the two-years we intended to stay was OK.
The Subdivision had a 150 plus page booklet on the Home Owner’s Association (HOA), which we affectionately called the “Home Ass…” They had several appointed “enforcers” that marched around the subdivision each day to enforce the rules. We called these enforcers “Home Ass Nazis” and one in particular checked to make sure that your vehicle did not block the sidewalk. He did this by carrying a Plum-bob on a string and if he suspected you “Blocked” the sidewalk, he would hold the plum-bob string against your vehicle and if the plum-bob dropped onto the sidewalk, no matter how little, you received a $25 fine the first time, $50 the second time, and $100 each time thereafter. If you did not pay, the HOA attached a “workman’s lien” against your home. There are laws concerning the planting of non-native plants in Arizona and another enforcer would visit your yard (front and back) each month to ensure you did not violate this. There was absolutely no modification allowed to your home without written permission by the HOA building committee (cost $100 per application–no refund for disapprovals…). In the two years we lived there, I never saw anything ever done, except maintaining the Status-quo…
It did my heart good one day when I heard about a terrible oil spill in the back end of the subdivision. As it turned out, someone stopped by the Sidewalk Nazi’s home one night and paid a visit to his classic Lincoln Continental (with the Spare Tire in the back, no less) and unscrewed the oil pan bolt. The whole crankcase full of oil ran down the driveway, across the sidewalk, and down the gutter. He had the responsibility of cleaning up that mess, I do not know if he or his insurance paid, but I guess he felt “violated” and started parking that beast in his garage. But that did not deter him from his “appointed rounds…”
Just before we left (I retired from the Air Force) we bought an RV and we knew the rules were very specific about RVs, they could only be parked for short periods for loading and unloading. We bought the RV in Phoenix and drove it back to Tucson and only stopped at the house for a quick “pit-stop” before bringing it to the Air Force Base for storage. We were there barely 15-minutes. But two days later, we received a “nasty” letter from the HOA warning us not to break the RV parking rules again. I called them and tried to find out what I did wrong and they were very closed-mouth and only said that I was “reported” but they would not disclose the reporter… the next time we took the RV out, We were stopped for less that 30-minutes (I video taped it…) and this time we received an even nastier note letting us know that we were “repeat offenders”… the third time, I took the letter to the Post Office and asked them to “return to sender, the addressee had moved…”
I guess that got their attention and the next letter was sent “Return Receipt” which we never acknowledged. They soon started putting the notices on the front door, which we let accumulate. We moved out about month later…
Once again, I apologize for such a long write-up but having moved and lived in 17-different locations (States, Countries, and Continents…), I’ve seen a lot… and my problem is I like to share…
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I replaced an alternator in my sons work place parking lot that faced a city street. It had failed, cooked the battery and he was lucky enough to drift into a parking spot @ work. The car has electric power steering so that stopped working. No way to move the car unless it was towed. My wife & I got a new alternator, belt & battery and I spent an hour removing a rusted galled bolt. Once the bolt was off the alternator was easy to replace. We were neat and did not leave a mess. We got a lot of curious looks from folks walking by but no complaints. It was a one time event. If we did it every other week I bet we would have been asked to move along
It was a dirt road at the time.
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We like your stories 
Is Davis-Monthan where the aircraft are stored?
You know, you might have more luck in a public park. I seem to remember people washing and waxing their cars during a relaxing afternoon having a picnic. Just have to finish by dark.
In my area only emergency repairs allowed on public streets, just enough to get the vehicle moving again and off the street, no big repairs or routine maintenance. Driveway repairs on private property are allowed, though there are probably restrictions on how long the car remains in an inoperable state. Defined by local code.
Re: Neighbor complaints
Some neighbors seem to complain about even the most minor issue. I had one complaint that he heard my roofing contractor on the roof talking about day’s work plan with his assistant at 7:50 am, code says roofing work not allowed until 8 am. Not hammering, not yelling, just standing on the top of the roof talking. Others neighbors, most of them in my experience, never complain as long as activity is confined to or in front of the other person’s own property. Which type of neighbors you have, that’s just the luck of the draw.
Have you read the rules of the HOA? Is there anything you can get back at your neighbors with because they are violating something?
When you see an open house make point of asking the real estate agent if you can read the rules of the HOA when you go to see the house. They usually try to hide this from the buyer. It all depends on what how strict your HOA is. Some just have simple rules like grass needing to be cut. Others allow the elected board members to actually add more rules to the neighborhood. Here there is a situation where a good portion of the neighborhood is in violation of at least one rule. Also, those who run the HOA didn’t properly follow the rules when they were elected. There were no written ballots or anything so there is no record of who voted for whom. It’s kind of a mess since there was no person assigned to manage the election.
edit: I’d be tempted to drive a car with a major oil leak and loud exhaust, at night, because I’m not allowed to fix it. You could always get in to motorbikes. Loud pipes save lives!
In california they also made it illegal to do extensive repairs in your own driveway in one place at least! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I29KDz_RCo0
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I have no problem with a condo or apartment forbidding car maintenance in the parking lot. Too many ways for it to end up taking longer and making a bigger mess than planned. What are they supposed to do, interview each car owner and decide if they can get the work done in the time claimed?
If you don’t want an HOA, don’t buy or rent an HOA-covered residence.
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One of my friends lives in an HOA complex which doesn’t allow any of their water be used for car washing. Folks who live there put a bunch of wet, soapy towels in a plastic bag and haul it out to the parking lot to wipe the cars clean. hmmm … come to think of it HOA living might be good to prevent dementia, forces you to keep your thinking cap on.
I see folks doing car repairs in Walmart and auto-parts store parking lots on a routine basis. At one auto parts store there’s a guy in the parking lot most of the time who’ll repair your car for a negotiated fee, uses what appears to me to be some questionable “improvised” methods.
Agree but like a lot of things some people don’t think things through before making a decision of what to do.
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Very true. They have my sympathy, but they have to figure out how to live with it. And pulling the oil drain plug on a car is just nuts.
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I was shopping at my local Advance Auto Parts store this morning and I remembered this posting from yesterday and there was a person out in the parking lot with the hood up doing something…
I asked the clerk, just how much maintenance will they allow a customer do in the parking lot and they said that they draw the line with “no-jacking” meaning no ramps… They also tell the customers that they do not own the parking lot and there is no Over-Night-Parking, so if they leave the vehicle overnight, it might get towed by the owners of the strip mall.
I don’t really have an issue with that being forbidden either. I just don’t think I’d go out of my way to report some schmo changing his oil in the parking lot. “Hey…he’s not supposed to…meh, I don’t really care.” 
If it turns into a redneck, leave it up on blocks for two weeks, spill fluids everywhere affair, then I could see someone complaining.
Heh heh, in my old house I had excavated for a walk out lower level. We had a vacant lot, not regularly mowed, between me and the neighbor on the other side. The lot was owned by the folks a couple houses down. Both of us tried to buy it to sub divide between us but they wouldn’t sell, so it sat with weeds Growing. To pour my new patio, I brought in a cement truck that parked on the vacant lot to be able to unload right on my patio without having to use a wheelbarrow for a couple yards of concrete. The owner called very upset to get that truck off her lot. I just ignored her and finished dumping the concrete. Sue me. No jury would convict. Besides, I had regularly kept the weeds trim on that part of the lot and my buddy did the same on his side. High grass and weeds promote rodents and snakes and we had kids.
,
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I would have cut the grass too.
Back in the days before we had a garage, I used to park under The Bayonne Bridge when I waxed my father’s '66 Galaxie 500. I just had to make sure that I brought enough water for drinking and for dampening the wax rag.
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You’ll hear the same complaint around here. “Work on a garage”