WM: I think in neighborhoods under control by hoodlums, people need to do a lot of work, both individually and collectively. Fences are good, to cut down the number of easy trails through yards, cutting down the opportunistic crimes and easy points of escape. ("Hey, they left the basement light on. Let's see what they got.".) A good relationship with CCP/SAFE is invaluable, and a good relationship with the police is a major plus. Dogged commitment and mule stubbornness, not to mention persistence, are helpful--along with a phone and e-mail.While I'd agree that the northside experiences more than its fair share of social problems, I'd like to add that because we're all individuals, we all interpret and react to situations in different ways. Dyna's way, of staying inside a lot and building fences is indeed one method of coping with the issues that's been tried by numerous residents, without much success I might add.
Dennis, there's no point in sugar coating it- our neighborhoods are de facto crime containment zones. Was not your own garage broken into and thousands of dollars in tools taken? Was not a toddler shot and near killed in your 'hood last summer? On my block alone we still have one very active drug house and another drug house in foreclosure and often used by squatting dealers and hookers.
WM: You've been complaining about this for a year, Dyna, and there has been no movement. When my block and the two adjacent blocks had six drug houses (one of which was serving as home base for the Rolling 30s Bloods) and three houses of prostitution, with cooperative CCP/SAFE, cops, and neighbors, we got rid of all of that but for one house of prostitution (which was down for a year). Subsequent attempted incursions by persons of ill behavior are being dealt with as they arise. They arise much less frequently.
... but the problems here in the criminal containment zones are pretty much intractable.
WM: They are not. They are persistent, but change is achievable. No one wants the folks who are maniacal anywhere around them, whether they're level 3 sex offenders, or auto thieves and yeggs. They're just no fun at all as neighbors. The police do understand that.
We are under attack from all sides from a criminal justice "system" that sees us as an easy dumping ground for there overflow. From corporations that have redlined us. And from a city that harasses us with criminal charges for peeling paint...
WM: You are the place of least resistance, so any detritus can easily weasel its way into the house next door, for example. Here are some combat positions which could help: I know of one example of a guy in Phillips who went out and swept the sidewalk every day. The "let's make a drug deal" was hot and heavy in the 4-plex next door. He kept sweeping. Then one day the polices came and swept the whole building into their paddy wagon and off they went. The house came down (before it fell down).
A block in my neighborhood was cleaned up by a sixty year old nun who walked her dog every day around a couple of blocks. She had a really sharp memory. When she went home, she wrote in her diary about all the car makes and models and license plates, and colors, and where they were parked.
About as safe as going for a stroll in the prison yard without a guard in sight. I have a few neighbors I can trust, but most have left. Sadly, this is probably the future trend for the impacted neighborhoods- a relief valve for overcrowded prisons and jails with little legal business activity remaining.
WM: Were it me, I wouldn't step out wearing a sandwich board either. But what you hear and observe
and can document in some form or another is very helpful. If you do the routine outside every day. Emphasis on routine. Soon enough they forget to watch you do the routine and you disappear from their consciousness. Kewl, huh? Whole parts of Phillips are cleaning up. Neighbors are squeezing misbehavers out one by one. Central is coming back together bit by bit. Whittier and Lyndale have made strides. Did work done over South push more misbehavers over North? Maybe, if you're the path of least resistance.
WizardMarks, Central
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