lol, maybe, but still, I'll believe you if that is the driving force behind those laws. It's a variation of .

Still, why are there laws for this? Afaik, you can do whatever the hell you like in your own house or yard here as long as it doesn't physically disturb your neighbours (ie can't smell bad or be noisy or leak into the ground) or doesn't break any vice laws.

I would assume that most people are decent enough not to put up a car on bricks in their front yard. Too lazy to paint their fences and maintain their garden perhaps, but not turning it into a giant trash heap. But maybe it's the different in the US with the houses being relatively cheap and big. In Belgium, most poor people can't afford a house with some kind of garden or yard.

houses are definitely more affordable, though really poor people typically live in apartments and trailers. It doesn't stop poor(er) people from renting houses, or large groups getting together to buy a house. It's not unusual to see people of latino persuasion moving into a 3 bedroom house with their entire extended family.

Oh, and we suspect or neighbors across the street have chopped up cars in their garage.

Well around here we do get illegal immigrants, but they don't usually come in entire families - logistics are tougher. So the whole shacking-up-with-30-people-in-a-normal-house-cause-it's-cheap thing only partially applies. People who are dirt poor like that still shack up in small lodgings to share rent as much as possible, but as you can imagine them not being family makes them less eager to share EVERYTHING.

But anyway, didn't know it was that weird down in the States. Next thing you know you're living in a gated community...which would be pretty awesome because you could watch the lowlives outside from over your wall. But I digress.

My new place is in a former port/stevedores district that has been turned into a condo paradise for developers and yuppies, which gives it a weird vibe. During weekdays, the stevedores are ubiquitous and rule the place, but in the evenings and in the weekends all you see is rich(er) young people, as well as some old inhabitants who owned their house before the price boom. The only place that stays 'folksy' during the evenings and weekends is the stevedore dive two stories down from my flat. Gotta love the nightly brawls and song.