September 4, 2026 at 3:35 pm

HOA Says a Homeowner Has Permission to Put Traffic Cones in the Street—But the City Says Otherwise

by Jayne Elliott

orange traffic cones in the street

Shutterstock

Imagine seeing traffic cones in the street that are clearly not from a construction crew or from people working for the city. They are all mismatched and clearly put there by one of your neighbors.

What would you do? Would you ignore the cones, remove them, or try to figure out who put them there?

In this story, one person is in this situation, and they also live in an HOA neighborhood. Their first step in trying to get the cones to disappear is to contact the HOA, but that doesn’t go how they excepted at all.

Then, they call the city.

Keep reading to see how the story plays out.

I suspect my HOA is lying to me

So my neighborhood seems to be having an issue involving cones for a long while.

It seems this specific corner of the neighborhood has this urge to place cones in the middle of the road to slow traffic.

It’s not a huge deal to me as I go the other direction to get out of my neighborhood but I have been documenting it just in case it goes too far.

Well… it went pretty ridiculous.

He’s not kidding. It really is ridiculous!

We have construction nearby.

Suddenly cones are everywhere and none of them are from the construction crew.

They’re all mismatch cones while the nearby construction crew has a specific cone with a marking on them. Including one cone in which someone tied a makeshift scarecrow to. It was a Dora toy stuffed into an adult set of clothes.

So I decide this is ridiculous enough for the HOA to get involved as its becoming a hazard pretty quickly and its already illegal as is for a singular homeowner to restrict use of the road.

Let’s see how the HOA responds.

I ask the HOA whats up with the cones and what can we do about it.

HOA responds back saying the city gave the homeowners permission to put up cones.

I think that’s suspicious… since that would be violating a law.

So I ask the city.

Time to ask the right people the right questions.

City engineers state no cones have been permitted in this specific corner. Nor do they know anyone in the city who would give them permission to do that.

He also advised the local police probably wouldn’t be of any help. And that I can move any personal cone from the road if I can confirm it is definitely not theirs. Or even run them over since they’re not city cones.

So I go back to the HOA asking, who in the city gave them permission.

The HOA backtracked their claim saying that they had no part in it and that it was a deal between the city and the specific homeowners.

Next day cones are gone. Which is very suspicious, but for now the cones are gone so whatever.

So, someone on the HOA board put the cones there I assume.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

This person wants it in writing.

2026 09 03 at 12.30.28 PM HOA Says a Homeowner Has Permission to Put Traffic Cones in the Street—But the City Says Otherwise

Unfortunately, it often seems this way.

2026 09 03 at 12.30.52 PM HOA Says a Homeowner Has Permission to Put Traffic Cones in the Street—But the City Says Otherwise

Maybe the HOA can’t do anything about it.

2026 09 03 at 12.31.19 PM HOA Says a Homeowner Has Permission to Put Traffic Cones in the Street—But the City Says Otherwise

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man who stops helping his neighbors out with his snowplow after they complain about his farm.

This person would take out their anger on the cones.

2026 09 03 at 12.31.29 PM HOA Says a Homeowner Has Permission to Put Traffic Cones in the Street—But the City Says Otherwise

At least the cones disappeared. That’s what really matters. If OP sees the cones again, he should run them over. After all, the city said he could.

Never trust the HOA.

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Jayne Elliott | Contributing Writer, Life & Drama

Jayne Elliott is a contributing writer and editor for TwistedSifter specializing in human interest stories, internet culture, and family dynamics. With over 12 years of editorial experience in digital publishing, Jayne excels at analyzing complex online communities and transforming viral social debates into thoughtful, highly engaging narratives.

Rather than simply aggregating internet drama, Jayne brings a sharp, empathetic editorial eye to everyday dilemmas. She has a unique talent for unpacking the nuances of pop culture and online conflicts, providing readers with relatable, well-researched commentary.

Based in California, Jayne spends her free time outside the newsroom exploring theme parks with her family or beach-combing along the coast.

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