If you’ve done a poor job of parking in the Alle-Kiski Valley, odds are good that Tom Moses or one of his followers on Facebook has photographed your handiwork.
“For years, I’ve been posting pictures of bad park jobs,” Moses said. “I tend to notice it. Nobody escapes me taking a picture. Not even my 86-year-old mother.”
Moses, 55, of Lower Burrell has been taking and receiving such photos for about five years. He created a Facebook page called “Bad Parking in the AK-Valley” in February after his personal page became too inundated with photos. As of Tuesday, more than 300 people liked the page.
The photos include snaps of cars parked on sidewalks and areas that are off-limits, along with ones parked horizontally or taking up multiple spaces.
Someone once sent him a photo of a car parked inside a shopping cart return.
“That one really stood out in my mind,” he said.
Most of the photos on the Facebook page are of cars parked in the Alle-Kiski Valley, but some are from other states such as Colorado, South Carolina, California, Florida, New Jersey, Texas, Montana and Illinois.
Anyone is allowed to share pictures to the page as long as what they post is appropriate, Moses said.
“If someone gets rude, I just delete their post. It’s for fun,” Moses said.
Moses routinely finds badly parked cars at the Walmart stores in Harrison and Frazer, Community Supermarket in Lower Burrell and Golden Dawn in New Kensington. The Aldi store in Lower Burrell also is fertile ground, he said.
“I see people park at the front door at Aldi quite often. They pull up onto the patio,” Moses said. “I did see one that actually pulled up the whole way to the windows underneath the roof. That was a pretty good one.”
Moses said there’s too much negativity on social media, and the page is a way to make people laugh. He said it’s not meant to offend anyone or bash businesses.
“My intention is not to be rude to anyone. I just think it’s funny,” he said.
Moses said the page has inspired some of his friends to park better. He said they have told him they check to make sure they’re parked correctly so they don’t end up on the page.
“They flat-out say, ‘I’m worried I’m going to get caught by you, so I make sure I park good,’” he said.
