Calling me a white cop and male Karen for wanting a walkable hallway? - r/badroommates
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I posted this in urbanism because I think it can be an offset for a nice discussion about living together in apartment blocks and the cramped conditions that arise, especially in sub-par block. Part of urbanism is urban living and discussions about how to tackle issues such as these.

Of course none of this would be an issue with good infrastructure, but that’s something that can always be said. If everything was lollypops and gumdrops and so on.

I like the thread because both people start off reasonable and courteous and then end up calling each other names. I dislike it because, it being reddit, it just becomes a dogpile instead.

  • PM_ME_YOUR_FOUCAULTS [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    32·
    2 days ago

    Honestly I have to go with OP if I’m taking a side, as an NYC apartment dweller myself. Like yeah, you have to make compromises and get along with your neighbors etc, but this guy has just permanently annexed the hallway. It’s a fire hazard and an all around dick move. Part of living with limited space is looking the other way when people fudge the rules, sure, but the other part is not taking more than your share of the common space. At the very least this guy has inconvenienced everyone else on his floor (assuming it’s an elevator building) or everyone living above him (if it’s a walk up)

    Maybe it’s my bias as a pedestrian, but cyclists can be nearly as entitled and dangerous as a motorist to people on foot. The number of times I’ve almost gotten run over by cyclists blowing through red lights is uncountable. And if my neighbor was like actually it’s my inalienable right to block the hallways with my bikes, I would not like that one bit

    • REgon [they/them]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
      111·
      2 days ago

      but this guy has just permanently annexed the hallway.

      Yeah, I’m split about it. On the one hand, that is what he’s done, but on the other it sounds like it’s an arrangement that everyone knows of and has been cool with for two years. I guess it’s a sweet deal he has, but it doesn’t seem like he has ownership over it.

      Maybe it’s my bias as a pedestrian, but cyclists can be nearly as entitled and dangerous as a motorist to people on foot The number of times I’ve almost gotten run over by cyclists blowing through red lights is uncountable.

      Funny, I think the same of pedestrians. The amount of times people have tried to argue with me about how they should be allowed to walk on the bike path or how it’s actually me who should hold back for them when they step out onto it, is crazy. The amount of times I’ve had to suddenly veer onto the road due to pedestrians being entitled/oblivious is also wild. Like it’s not something I even register anymore.

    • Edamamebean [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
      18·
      2 days ago

      Also no space in his personal area for two bikes, but owns two bikes. Seriously why does this guy have a second redundant bike if space is so tight?

      • 7bicycles [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
        22·
        2 days ago

        Especially compared to cars bicycles are more often stolen, fucked up, vandalized or just suffer something like a popped inner tube due to road debris. If you actually depend on your bike for transportation, it’s not a bad idea to have a fallback

        • MesopharEnglish
          1·
          1 day ago

          More of a reason to invest (even limited funds) into a storage solution that keeps the bikes out of the way of being accidentally (or intentionally) damaged.

          • 7bicycles [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
            1·
            19 hours ago

            I’m not defending this guys approach, I’m too much of the opinion that if you think you can blockade fire exits you do not understand their purpose or basic levels of abstraction.

            That said, you can have the greatest, safest, armed security guard patrolled bike storage at your place, unless literally everywhere you go also has that, you still want a fallback bike

            • MesopharEnglish
              1·
              16 hours ago

              Oh, definitely not against having a second, fall-back bike! But if you’re concerned about one of them being damaged, maybe address that first. Especially when someone has offered to pay for part/all of it for you. Doesn’t work with the space they have in their apartment? Then rearrange what you can to fit it (at least one).

      • Barx [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
        11·
        2 days ago

        I’m generously imagining scenarios where they already had these bikes and they have sentimental value. But still, I’m sure it is entirely practicable to put them in their apartment with little to no expense and they’re just an asshole.

      • juliebeanEnglish
        3·
        2 days ago

        i think the second bike is actually OOP’s roommates bike, which got moved into their apartment prior to the end of the text exchange.

      • Barx [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
        9·
        2 days ago

        $5 is a small enough amount of money that if it’s all you need you can get it basically whenever you want if you try even a little. They could even just ask OP for it.

        For example, they have two bikes. They could use one of those bikes one time to do a food delivery. They are basically saying that making everyone else deal with this hassle and a fire hazard for years isn’t worth 30 minutes of riding the bikes they presumably ride all the time for work and/or exercise.

  • D61 [any]@hexbear.netEnglish
    15·
    2 days ago

    Is that photo weird or is that hallway something like 2.5 feet wide? I was expecting a photo of, like, a 6 foot wide hallway and it just looked a bit cluttered but still completely easy to move through.

    I can understand all the people currently living on the floor coming a tacit agreement or accepting the situation but … mmaaayyybbeee … the cyclist could be planning for a better way to store their bikes. One of the text back-and-forths mentions that another cyclist doesn’t use their bike as they cannot move their bike freely down the hallway without banging into the hallway-parked-bikes.

    And yeah, what happens as people move in/out and their situation doesn’t allow them to be as accepting of the current situation the previous neighbors went along with? If the person using the very narrow hallways as a parking spot isn’t able to work around their current neighbor(s) asking them to rethink how they are using the communal space, I highly doubt they’d be any more flexible with a neighbor who is brand new and a complete stranger.

    Also this text from the person parking in the hallway…

    the only place of open wall in my apartment i in the narrow hallway I can’t put a rack on my wall there without literally blocking the hallway in my apartment.

    … is a bit priceless.

    Also also…

    …I’m frankly frustrated that someone’s who’s been living here shorter than anyone else is asking me to do something…

    Which I hadn’t read until after I commented about “what they gonna do when somebody new moves in and asks for the situation to be renegotiated”…

  • Staines [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    10·
    2 days ago

    The hallway is already the bare minimum width for fire/medical emergencies without the bikes there. It’s not reasonable in any way. It’s also not the responsibility of the person being endangered to find a solution.

    Edit:

    Actually I’d go further. Safety codes are the bare minimum commons responsibility we have to each other. If someone values their convenience over your safety, they don’t deserve your consideration, only your contempt.

  • gramxi [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    11·
    2 days ago

    I know this is easier said than done, but my preferred first step would’ve been to ask other tenants to help harass building management into installing lockable indoor bike racks. It’s probably not gonna get anything done in itself, but it’ll help get other people involved and thinking about the issue, because I bet other cyclists would like to have some place safe to lock their bikes outside of their living spaces.

  • Abracadaniel [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    11·
    2 days ago

    the person parking their bike in the very narrow walking space is obviously in the wrong here. Maybe they could pay rent to the apartment they’re taking space from lol.

  • REgon [they/them]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
    181·
    2 days ago

    Of course the top comment on reddit is to call the cops on him (or the fire marshall, but in this case it’s the same.)
    Yeah take the guys bike away! Give him a fine! That’ll teach him. Fuck I hate redditors.

    • REgon [they/them]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
      5·
      2 days ago

      Yeah I’m leaning that way as well, though I’m not on the fence due to the cyclist not taking the offer of the money. It seems like that would have been a fine solution. On the other hand the other guy is super impatient about it as well. I’m on the fence because I don’t know what the whole “reconfiguring the living room layout” entails and wether or not he’s being hyperbolic about it or not. Besides if you have a living room you have a bedroom, so you might have some space on a wall there, which isn’t perfect, but I don’t know the layout.
      Still the other guy seems like a narc.

      • Nakoichi [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
        15·
        2 days ago

        I used to keep my bike in my room before I moved it to a small utility space my landlord gave me keys to. I live in a 150 sq foot room with nothing else and I still would not clutter the hallway I share with my neighbor. The only things we keep in that hallway are a communal fridge and freezer. Cyclist is the asshole in this case.