Regarding the article, "My Neighbor Called the Police Again for False Complain"

I can tell you from experience (as anecdotal as that is) that Alameda houses some interesting characters with amusing ideas about what business is theirs and what isn't. We also have a neighbor who thinks her opinion of our life styles, whether they break the law or not, are reasons to harass us. I don't mind this sort of story being on the front page. We all live so close to one another on this island that neighbors can really make your home life stressful if they have a mind to. My wife and I moved into a cottage recently. On the second day of the weekend that we moved in, while we were still moving, our neighbor began her campaign. It was 2:00pm in the afternoon. Our dogs were in our new yard and scared. One of them was howling (according to our neighbor). Here we are, at 2:00pm, with our car full of furniture, drenched in the sweat and detritus of moving, and this woman approaches our car, leans into it and gets in my face to tell me how annoying my dogs are being. I respond courteously, apologizing and explaining that we're moving and they're scared but will calm down and that we will put them up for now, ad nauseam. That said, there was no excuse for how she approached the situation; getting in your neighbor's face and being, generally, a real jerk (self-admittedly even) is absurd. Her campaign was just getting started. The cottage we live in has a shallow drive way. Even a small sedan will easily block 1/2 the sidewalk even if it's nestled up to the garage door. Two days later she stopped me in the middle of a jog to inform my wife and that that the cops will "ticket us for obstructing the sidewalk." I looked up and down the road and mentally noted the multitude of cars partially obstructing the sidewalk. I mentally tallied how often I had seen the previous tenant park her SUV in the drive way and effectively block the entire sidewalk. I noted my other neighbor parked in her drive way, blocking the sidewalk with a SUV without receiving this wisdom and warning from her. Verbally, I replied, "Thank you, we'll bear it in mind." Really, if I want to risk getting a ticket for blocking the sidewalk because my car sticks out a bit, that's my business. Two days later I am leaving the house and my OTHER neighbor approaches me (the one whose SUV blocks the entire sidewalk) and is shocked to discover that she's received a parking ticket. She tells me she's been parking there for two years and has never gotten a ticket. That day I just happened to be parked in the street (as I do when street parking is available within a block). I had gotten a ticket for not have a license plate on the front of my car (as a recent transplant from Florida I was unaware of the law concerning having a plate on the front of the car. Ok, no biggie). We also noticed tickets on other cars. It looked like the block was recently canvased. I let the neighbor know that it might be coincidence, but I was recently "warned" by the harassing neighbor not to park in such a way in my driveway. Fast forward another two days, I come home to discover my dogs (who I've been keeping inside for fear of further confrontation with this neighbor..) have broken through the babygate into the kitchen and destroyed a spice rack, some tea bags, papertowels, etc. Basically made a mess. I spanked them both. They tend to be vocal, even just with verbal scoldings, and they REALLY like to give me the puppydog act if I spank them. This lady decides to call the cops and tell them I'm beating my dogs. I had the front door and multiple windows open and sound travels quite well between our homes. The cops show up later and talk with me and tell me she's been a "handful" in the past, but that they have to respond to calls like this. Great. I told them they are welcome to check my dogs out, that they are spoiled and absolutely not tortured. I also confirmed that spanking dogs isn't against state law yet. Thank you. Anyway, she tops that off with a call to my landlord! Now she's harassing my landlord. I've yet to say one word to this woman outside of our forced interactions when she approaches me, yet she's telling my landlord things like, "Your new tenants are violent and I've had to call the cops on them." Now my landlord is calling me, freaking out because of this wild story she has provided him and I have to spend my Saturday morning defending my honor to him. I am still NOT sure why she doesn't like us, or why she has chosen to target us. The story continues! She continues to call my landlord about (now that the dog issue has been resolved) parking! Apparently, getting me a ticket wasn't enough. Though all of my landlord's previous tenants at the same place had, in the past, parked in their driveway and blocked the sidewalk, she just can't abide me doing it. Now the landlord has asked me, for the sake of peace, just to never park in my own drive way. So, what do I do? How do I respond? He's telling me he's got to consider her complaints because I'm "a transient" and she owns her home and he has to deal with her for the entire time that he owns the property. Basically, my occupancy of the home (which I love, aside from being next to her) is being threatened by this woman's mysteriously low opinion of me and my wife. What can my wife and I do? We go to the APD, speak with an officer, and file report to document this insidious campaign of harassment. We want a paper trail in case it gets worse. To make matters worse, she's not precisely a model citizen (though to hear her explain it, she's a regular community martyr.) She fosters older children. A lot of them. Her backyard is almost a fire hazard and the house becomes more and more dilapidated as you move from the front to the back (she has a garage that is being pulled down by a tree that is literally growing THROUGH it). One of the children in that home (it might even be one of the foster kid's young babies) likes to SCREAM at the top of it's lungs at late hours and for prolonged periods of time (so much for a dog howling on Sunday afternoon). Her dog also likes to go absolutely bananas barking at any passerby. Last night was a perfect example (And makes this article timely). 10:30 PM, this poor youngling from the previous paragraph starts wailing. It sounds so loud one could almost imagine her placing a megaphone on the child's mouth and aiming it at my bedroom. It wakes me up. I put in earplugs and try to get back to sleep. At 11:45pm, as I'm finally drifting off from that ~15 minute episode, the kid starts again. It sounds quite distraught (and did I mention amazingly loud?). It goes on for a half hour or so. This is the fourth time in one week this has happened. I understand babies get upset, but if you've got one like that and live in such close quarters, you should be respectful enough to close the window when the baby gets rolling like that. Well I'd finally had enough and called the cops. Either the kids being neglected, intentionally hurt, or just has problems due to its environment. But now I have to worry that she retaliates and this situation just spirals into an escalation battle that ends up in our moving. The author of this article may or may not have the necessary command of the English language to give his grievances, or the situation, its due diligence but he has a point. When you are targeted, as a renter, by a home owner who has decided not to like you, I feel we renters are at a severe disadvantage and need better mechanisms to protect ourselves and end the harassment. I'll say I've never had such disrespectful and nosy neighbors as I've encountered in Alameda... I love the island, but the close quarters sure can create stressful situations for co-existing and its important for all of us to act like the adults we think we are. ...And for goodness sake, respect each others privacy and keep your nose in your own shirt. -A recent transplant from across the country