Yup, I'm now the neighborhood busybody old man

I live in a bad part of town, but it is getting better. Been here 10 years now. Since I started working from home two years ago my tolerance for neighborhood crap has been sliding towards zero. Mostly I call in bad stuff happening in the neighborhood to the local city PD. Recently it has been gunfire and lurking kids (smash & grab burglary is a problem here). I only call in if I'm positive there is a problem, I don't want to waste police resources on stupid stuff.

The local PD now stops by my house to discuss neighborhood issues. This morning the police chief called me to discuss an issue.

This might as well be me:

Yup, time to hike up my beltline and start wearing black socks with my sandals. Next stop, yelling at kids to stay off my lawn.

Congrats, our communities need more people like you.

Eh, if you don't correct the kids when they are being a little naughty then the courts get to correct them when they get older.

My shady neighborhood pet peeves at the moment include abandoned shopping carts and hey-I-just-pulled-up-so-let-me-blow-my-horn.

KyAllroad wrote: Eh, if you don't correct the kids when they are being a little naughty then the courts get to correct them when they get older. My shady neighborhood pet peeves at the moment include abandoned shopping carts and hey-I-just-pulled-up-so-let-me-blow-my-horn.

When I start rolling shopping carts back to the Dollar Store I'm going to consider moving into an assisted living facility.

The other day I scraped the curbs in front of my house and the house next door. I'm eyeing the curb in front of the house across the street next. I already pick up trash down the whole street.

I have to admit though, my family owns three houses in a row on our street (my house plus two rentals) so I do have a stake in area.

Just don't take it quite this far (audio is NSFW): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n60y364JUm8

slefain wrote: my family owns three houses in a row on our street (my house plus two rentals) so I do have a stake in area.

Slum lord.

Appleseed wrote:

slefain wrote: my family owns three houses in a row on our street (my house plus two rentals) so I do have a stake in area.

Slum lord.

You can tell which houses are ours, huge difference in appearance. I'm on a first name basis with the code enforcement office already. The difference it the area over the last five years is impressive just having code enforcement do their job.

Just having the Neighborhood Watch sign put up is a huge deterrent, better when all the neighbors are on board.

slefain wrote: The other day I scraped the curbs in front of my house and the house next door.

What does that mean, scraping curbs ?

Cousin_Eddie wrote:

slefain wrote: The other day I scraped the curbs in front of my house and the house next door.

What does that mean, scraping curbs ?

We have kind of nice granite curbs throughout the city, but they get buried by road grit all the time. The grit is great for stuff to grow in, so you end up with the curb disappearing and the grass growing out into the street. You take a flat blade shovel and scrape the asphalt parallel with the curb, scooping up the dirt/grit. I toss it behind the curb to fill in low spots on the yard. Makes the street look WAY better. I could use a weedeater, but the stuff can be 2" thick in some places, so a shovel is a better solution.

The city recently "found" half a mile of curb that had disappeared under the dirt & grass along our main street. Took a Bobcat to do that job, but they removed five dump truck loads of dirt. Now the rain water goes into the culvert instead of rushing into yards.

Thankfully we live in a pretty good neighborhood. The dirt bag next door finally moved and the new folks have really redone the yard. I am sandwiched between two families from CT, all good people.

I must be lucky because im the bad neighbor in my area thanks too the beater cars! Its one of the best things about no longer living in a big city.

dropstep wrote: I must be lucky because im the bad neighbor in my area thanks too the beater cars! Its one of the best things about no longer living in a big city.

Yeah, like there are no criminals living in the country.

I have my own unofficial adopt a highway type deal going where I continually pull trash out of the ICW and undeveloped marsh land on the other side. Some of my neighbors think I am nuts as they watch me pull stuff out of there. I got a railroad tie a couple weeks ago. It took some doing to get it the 5 feet into the water and then I towed it home with my kayak. It took all I had to get the beast up my bulkhead wall and now I have a railroad tie sitting in my back yard. It is too heavy for me to really move it. My neighbors watch me and shake their heads.

stuart in mn wrote:

dropstep wrote: I must be lucky because im the bad neighbor in my area thanks too the beater cars! Its one of the best things about no longer living in a big city.

Yeah, like there are no criminals living in the country.

I live in a small town not the country and yeah we have criminals but my neighborhood is full of retired people who live peaceful lives. There so nozy no one trys to steal anything down here.

I grew up in section 8 housing, the criminal too house ratio is alot worse there :)

Funny. I'm sitting in my front yard with sandels and black socks right now.

Yes, the beer is also in my hand.

Unfortunately the kids are mine and I can't yell at them to get off the lawn. Oldest even helped identify some kids that where involved with a local GoKart theft

I moved north to avoid E36 M3ty neighbors. Then one day I saw a woman being drug down the block by a pit bull on a chain. I warned the wife things were changing. She didn't believe me but it turned out a house down the block went section 8. A few weeks later I found a shopping cart on my lawn, I have a near constant supply of empty bottles and cans in my bushes and my house has been broken into. A couple neighbors and I have gotten regular police patrols on the block and a few of them have been locked up but we still have more traffic and litter than we should at all hours.

Section 8 never goes well. I lived little income for many years, still do in some respects. Oddly enough I managed to not leave trash all over the place, blare loud music at 3am or be a general pain in the a$$ to my neighbors and fellow townsfolk. When did low income start to equal low class?

The fact that your neighborhood is improving is a miracle. Usually when they go down, they don't come back.

Scrapping curbs makes me sad.

stuart in mn wrote:

dropstep wrote: I must be lucky because im the bad neighbor in my area thanks too the beater cars! Its one of the best things about no longer living in a big city.

Yeah, like there are no criminals living in the country.

Just fewer per square mile!

I live in an area that is mainly seasonal rentals or old people from Florida that live here like 5-6 months of the year. Less than half the houses on my street are lived in full time and the median age is like 55. If you want to talk about nosy, live in a neighborhood of old retired pastors/church people. They all know each other and all know whats going on in the area and aren't afraid to call our rent-a-sheriffs(weird situation as they are actually Sheriffs but not on official duty as sheriffs the weeks they work for the neighborhood.)

Gearheadotaku wrote: Section 8 never goes well. I lived little income for many years, still do in some respects. Oddly enough I managed to not leave trash all over the place, blare loud music at 3am or be a general pain in the a$$ to my neighbors and fellow townsfolk. When did low income start to equal low class? The fact that your neighborhood is improving is a miracle. Usually when they go down, they don't come back.

Section 8 projects are always large number of units, in a not-so-great area of town, where the residents easily have access to the cycles of poverty that lead them there in the first place.

Section 8 project would do much better if they were dispersed, oh, and right next to say...the local Police Department.

We've had potential renters get mad at us for not accepting Section 8 vouchers. We'd rather have a rental sit empty than put a potential problem renter in it. Every time we try to "help someone out" it bites us on the ass. No, I won't "work with you", we aren't financing a car. It is two months rent UP FRONT either cash or money order (first months rent plus one months rent as a deposit).

Part of why I live in a crappy part of town is that I decide who my neighbor is, which is worth it.

Strangely enough, justice out in the country seems to be more of a deterrent than in the big city.

Mostly because justice in the city means community service and saying you're sorry whereas justice in the country resembles a baseball bat with a nail in it.

stuart in mn wrote: Yeah, like there are no criminals living in the country.

There are Section 8 rentals dispersed throughout regular areas. It isn't very popular with the non-Section 8 owners in the area. Around here usually a whole apartment complex goes Section 8 and then it just becomes a ghetto.