Problem with parking space in my city has gotten so bad, that I need some advice on dealing with some stupid mistakes done by people.

I live in Zagreb, Croatia's capitol (and biggest) city. Zagreb has just under 1 million citizens. In my neighbourhood, in the last year parking space just vanished. People bought so many cars that we are using every possible inch on the parking lot (and around the playground, on side walks, almost "IN" the park... ) to park our cars. However, some people just decide to park like there's PLENTY of space. Some people REGULARLY park in a way to take 2 (if not 3) parking spaces... completely unneeded. They're all healthy (physically) people who can get out of car without using too much space.

Our laws do not allow us to call a towing service to get their car towed away for such parking. Police will not do anything about it (I called them today to ask them to call the driver to get his car reparked - they said they don't do that).

I NEED a solution to this, since I'm sick and tired of parking 100+ meters away from my home. Can you give any advice? Should I leave them a message? Deflate their tires? Pull out their side mirrors? Scratch their car paint?

If it means anything, my neighboarhood consists of a LOT of buildings which have about 3-4 levels with about 5 flats on each level. There are a few garages there, but I can only dream about buying one.

[Doing damage to another persons car only lowers yourself to below them, and is of course criminal. If parking badly is not, damage to someone's car would be. I guess you would have a place to park your car at the local jail while you are staying there.

Some pre-printed notes telling them of the problem you are having.
Try forming some neighbor groups to educate people.

But in the end, a lot of people are selfish and don't worry or care about others. They want it easy to get in and then out of parking spaces.
Many will never change. Next you need to work with local political people to see if laws can be made for parking rules. Next perhaps business people could consider building parking areas that rent monthly spots.
A very large business in the US large cities.

That's right and tell those cops off. Kidding don't tell them off. What if enough of you that were ticked about all these dumbasses got together and made a petition of some sort. Make them have to change how they run things. YOU know what if they want to act like a bunch of little babies and not punish those who need it then you guys form your own little government. How about that? Let me know for real.

Hi,
I wouldn't "tell off the cops"! You might need them for something in the future, and you don't want them already mad at you!
Another post suggested leaving notes. I am all for leaving a note on the windshield, under the wipers, with something like "Please park in a normal manner, you have taken 2 parking spaces". You don't have to sign it, but the person will get the idea. It might not help anything, but at least they will think about it... and hopefull, park correctly.
Many park this way to keep others' doors from opening and scratching the paint on their vehicle.
Do you have any kind of "town council"? What kind of "city government" do you have? Reason for asking is that if you have any "town meetings" or public meetings by the city government, go and speak your mind. The only way laws will be changed is if enough people speak out to city government.
Good luck, and NO, don't scratch, or deflate tires. You will only, eventually, get caught, and be in worse shape.

I wouldn't do anything spiteful such as damaging someone's car. That isn't likely to solve the problem. Obviously the laws of your country are very lax when it comes to parking issues. That may eventually change as more people buy cars and the streets become more crowded. For right now, unfortunately, it doesn't seem like there's much you can do other than scramble for a parking space and hopefully get one not too far away from your home.

Thank you all for replies.

I talked to my friend about this too, and I got this idea. Most of the people from my neighbourhood have to pay some bills (once a month) in the building where I live. So I'll make a note on 2 A4 papers, describing the problem and offering solutions (showing them the most common problems I see with parking and how to optimize the parking space). I'll also go around with my photo camera and take pictures of stupid parking, making sure the car's license plates are visible (I'm hoping the owner of the vehicle will be quite embarassed). I'll put the problems&solutions on one paper and pictures on the other paper, and give it to the lady that people pay the bills to, and ask her to give one to everyone that comes.

I'll also make more copies and put it in every single mailbox in the neighbourhood.

The reason I think this would be the best way to handle this is because I realized that in my country if you want to get something done - you have to do it yourself, and not wait and hope someone else ("town council" or whatever) would do something about it... they won't. Our country is still "young"... it's been only 15 years that my country is independent and only about 7-8 years since the war was over, and a lot of people still "think&work" like they're still in a communism country.

If this doesn't help anything, I'll really start deflating tires.