can we force the city to enforce no trespassing signs?

[Tamiami]

My husband and I purchased our home in December of 2006. We live on the end of a street that faces a wooded area. The area up to the wooded area is owned by the city we live in, but as soon as you walk into the woods the property is owned by the neighboring city. The city has put up signs that say
"No motorized vehicles", "No trespassing"and "No dumping", so when we bought the place we thought that we would have peace and quiet. The problem is that we bought the place for peace and quiet, but it would have been much more peaceful had we bought a house on the Talledega raceway.
Because of the time of year when we purchased our home, we heard nothing but peace and quiet. When winter turned to spring everything changed.
Sometimes we can't even hear each other talk outside it's so loud with people on their motorcycles and three wheelers. People bring chainsaws down there to chop the trees down. There are times when there are people in the woods yelling and screaming at 3 am. The city has all those signs, but they won't enforce them. We have called the local police and they say that this has been going on forever and there isn't anything that anyone can do.
I think it's more like there isn't anything they want to do and it really makes me angry. We had to sacrifice a lot to buy this house and the way the real estate market it, we are going to be stuck here for a long time.
I feel that we could make the city do something because the signs they put up made us believe that there weren't any motororized vehicles or trespassing...if we had known we wouldn't have bought the house.
I just wanted to know if we have any hope for a case against the city if we were to pursue this matter legally.
Thanks in advance for any answers I might recieve.

 

[CdwJava]

Depending on your state, a sign - by itself - may not be sufficient to enforce trespassing.

Trespassing is a crime that is not as simple as someone walking on to your property ... there are often other elements that must be met before the police can take action - not to mention they may need a complaining party or some form of a trespass letter or notification on file.

We have called the local police and they say that this has been going on forever and there isn't anything that anyone can do.

Enforcement is almost exclusively a political decision. If you make a big enough stink to the police department, the city council, and anyone else that will listen, something may get done. However, you might want to get some neighbors on board with this as well. If it is only you, it is likely the city government will not take your problem too seriously ... but, get a few people together to make a stink, and then you might see some action.

The city can put pressure on the police department to make this enforcement a priority ... but, if the agency is undermanned and overworked already, this may not be a priority for them even if a stink IS raised.

I feel that we could make the city do something because the signs they put up made us believe that there weren't any motororized vehicles or trespassing...if we had known we wouldn't have bought the house.
I just wanted to know if we have any hope for a case against the city if we were to pursue this matter legally.
Thanks in advance for any answers I might recieve.

Depending on the status of the law in your state, the posting of the signs by the city might establish a "special relationship" under the law, but that still will not likely give you much grounds for any kind of a lawsuit. However, you may certainly engage an attorney to look into the matter.

As most enforcement is a political decision, your best angle of attack would seem to be as I mentioned above. I have seen the axiom, "The squeaky wheel gets the grease" work quite well in my 18 years in law enforcement.

- Carl