We recently had a huge fire rip through our neighborhood that took out several homes. It was widely publicized in the media, as 5 firefighters were lost in this horrific California blaze. Our home was spared, however, our neighbor's home was destroyed. We have never liked this particular neighbor and he has been arrogant, rude and disrespectful toward us since he moved in 6 years ago. We've been here 12 years. He has blamed the firefighters for their own deaths and has made heinous comments about all of us in our little area. His anger at losing his home has made him worse than ever. He is now having to rebuild his home and is constantly blocking my driveway and using it with big, heavy trucks that will break our already worn concrete. He parks on our property without permission and his cronies do as well. When we politely ask them to remove their cars, we receive major attitude, maybe a finger or two and/or nasty comments. As much as I would like to take the "high road" with this jerk and be helpful, it's just not possible or sensible. He has no courtesy or kindness toward us, or our other neighbors who also lost their home and have to rebuild. He has treated our other neighbor the same and we both want nothing to do with him. How can I deal with someone like this? When I ask that he keep his equipment on his own property and not block our driveways, it creates a flow of gossip around our neighborhood. While I understand that he must rebuild, and we feel terrible for his loss, he need not trash our property while rebuilding his. How can I get this point across to him without further creating a firestorm of gossip? And why am I the bad guy? Any serious response would be appreciated.
