The People In My Neighborhood

smashinator · Post by **smashinator** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 3:09 pm

The second night we lived in our current house, we woke up at 02:00 to the soothing sounds of police in our yard screaming "Get your fuckin' hands where I can see them!" and booming noises that sounded a whole lot like someone trying to get in our back door.

Drunk kids that ran from the police.

The next day, our neighbor told us nothing like that had ever happened, and he's lived here since our houses were built. Our neighborhood was pretty quiet for the next two years.

Fast forward to last July. We learned an unsavory neighbor was stealing gas from cars in that end of the neighborhood and being the kind of jerk that leaves the gas cans sitting on their front porch. They were busted stealing gas at a mall, but somehow didn't go to jail.

In August, my bicycle (a GT Zaskar, if you care), along with some of my tools were swiped from my garage. Happily, they didn't notice my blacksmithing hammer and punches.

In December we came home and nearly got backed over by some douche in a little red car. The woman he'd been talking to said he'd chased her into our neighborhood and flashed her. We chatted with her while waiting for the cops and got a lot of information that made no sense. I gave her a ride back to the hotel she was staying at. The cop who'd shown up told the others - after I'd left - he would have made her walk. Thanks, cop.

A handicapped neighbor's driver was held up in front of his house.

In February, a guy running from the police walked into my next door neighbor's house and hid in the bathroom. My neighbor found him, somehow got the guy into the backyard, and alerted the police (who were all over the place at that point).

The number of people who just don't belong walking through our neighborhood has increased dramatically recently.

And now last night, there was a raid on the house of the gas theives, who apparently had FIVE TRUCKS FULL of stolen goods, not to mention a nice little meth lab.

My office is next to the tracks that separate "Bad" from "REALLY bad." Dammit, my home is suppose to be where I get AWAY from that stuff.

Just needed to vent.

SSCAM · Post by **SSCAM** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 3:16 pm

You need to increase your perimeter defenses.

Rabbit_Fighter · Post by **Rabbit_Fighter** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 3:51 pm

Can't imagine why you'd think of moving out of state.

motorpsycho67 · Post by **motorpsycho67** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 6:21 pm

I lived in Phoenix for a year and a half. Couldn't take it anymore and bolted back to California.

stiles · Post by **stiles** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 6:55 pm

I don't want to paint your town with too broad a brush but everyone I know who is familiar with Phoenix tell me that much of the place is one long ghetto trash episode of "cops".

Between that and the infestation of speed cameras, I'd be looking to get out ASAP...

smashinator · Post by **smashinator** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 6:58 pm

Supersweetcoolawesomematt - The damn HOA won't let me install robotic gun towers. I keep trying to explain they'll INCREASE our property values, but those jerks just won't listen.

RevCBL - Certain. Baltimore has more class.

Rabbit_Fighter - I've been itching to leave for a couple years. We had to stay until this year for contractual reasons, and now we're kind of stuck until the housing market turns around. Yay!

motorpsycho - smart man... I've been here 7 years. Looks like one more until we can bolt.

Stiles - That's about right. Some friends of mine actually saw the apartment complex they were living in on COPS once.

*edit* And the crazy thing is, we live ACROSS THE STREET from a police station.

SomeMook · Post by **SomeMook** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 7:56 pm

Methinks it's time to shop for a shotgun.

leftlaneguy · Post by **leftlaneguy** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 9:26 pm

Nope, don't miss the PHX at all... FWIW, my house is/was in Sun City... 108th and Deer Valley. I understand the neighborhood is getting the same as what you're describing... AND the prop values have plummeted.... I paid $120k in '00, 'sold' it in '03 for $165k and I understand it's now worth about $90k...

That's okay, the fucking bitch can keep it...

Flatline · Post by **Flatline** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 1:45 am

I hear Seattle is pretty nice

Sisyphus · Post by **Sisyphus** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 4:44 am

Razor wire is legal, isn't it?

smashinator · Post by **smashinator** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 6:39 am

SomeMook - Isn't it always time to shop for a shotgun?. My wife is not anti-gun so much as anti-guns-in-her-house. She has her reasons, and I respect that, though I wish she'd respect our need to defend ourselves from zombie hookers and the like.

leftlaneguy - sounds like you got rid of TWO depreciating assets for the price of one. Nicely done.

Flatline - I hear the same, though I'm bound for Oregon.

Sisyphus - Why yes. Yes it is.

goose · Post by **goose** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 8:10 am

leftlaneguy wrote:Nope, don't miss the PHX at all... FWIW, my house is/was in Sun City... 108th and Deer Valley. I understand the neighborhood is getting the same as what you're describing... AND the prop values have plummeted.... I paid $120k in '00, 'sold' it in '03 for $165k and I understand it's now worth about $90k...

That's okay, the fucking bitch can keep it...

Dude, I was right up the road from you in Glendale. Yeah, Phx is an armpit that you'd have to pay me to go back to. Oddly, I liked most of the people but damn, that was hell kind of heat and the ragweed?!!! Nose was running more than Pablo Escobar's at a strip club.

Here, well, I love SF but I struggle with the people. Sense of entitlement is unreal, the government and everybody else owes me something. I got rights... blah blah blah. Anyway . . .

Yesterday, someguy steps between my bike an my buddies truck and decides it's a restroom. I'm like, seriously?!! "Hey, Douchebag! Find another place to piss!" So he stumbles to the middle of the street, junk hanging out and falls down while pissing. I had to jump out into the street to keep him from getting hit by oncoming traffic.

What the hell is wrong with people? Then I go to the bank this morning, and every single car window up the block is broken and the cars ransacked! Now this is not a ritzy part of town. Those cars are owned by working class people struggling to make it in this f'n 'spensive ass city (not that doing this to rich people would make it any better). Sometimes I really just want to snap like that guy in Falling Down.

Jaeger · Post by **Jaeger** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 9:08 am

Y'all make me appreciate my little yuppie suburban hell outside DC more and more.

Yeek.

Though come to think of it, I've had robbery victims banging on my front door at 2am previously, and folks getting shanked in the woods across the street... and armed robberies at the 7-11 next door...

It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world.

--Jaeger

SomeMook · Post by **SomeMook** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 9:45 am

Jaeger wrote:Y'all make me appreciate my little yuppie suburban hell outside DC more and more.

Yeek.

Though come to think of it, I've had robbery victims banging on my front door at 2am previously, and folks getting shanked in the woods across the street... and armed robberies at the 7-11 next door...

It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world.

--Jaeger

Don't forget the car riddled with bullet holes parked in front of your building.

GOSTAZ · Post by **GOSTAZ** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 11:57 am

SomeMook wrote:
Jaeger wrote:Y'all make me appreciate my little yuppie suburban hell outside DC more and more.

Yeek.

Though come to think of it, I've had robbery victims banging on my front door at 2am previously, and folks getting shanked in the woods across the street... and armed robberies at the 7-11 next door...

It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world.

--Jaeger
Don't forget the car riddled with bullet holes parked in front of your building.

Don't hate on my ride, yo! Been getting some pressure from the homies lately...

Shhted · Post by **Shhted** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 12:08 pm

SomeMook wrote:Don't forget the car riddled with bullet holes parked in front of your building.

Street cred. Proppa.

SidVicious · Post by **SidVicious** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 1:13 pm

i have an aunt and uncle that lives in Phoenix. should i be worried?

Jaeger · Post by **Jaeger** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 1:26 pm

SomeMook wrote:
Jaeger wrote:Y'all make me appreciate my little yuppie suburban hell outside DC more and more.
Don't forget the car riddled with bullet holes parked in front of your building.

Oooh yeah. I'd forgotten about that.

I just feel like a doof talking about the so-called crime in my neighborhood -- I mean, shit, I grew up in a pretty average blue-collar middle-class neighborhood in DE, and even THAT had more of a "crime" problem than here fer chrissakes...

It's all about perception, I suppose.

Still, what Smash is describing in his original post is some serious ghetto-ass bullshit. If that's indicative of Phoenix, I suppose that reduces my desire to go there. (Still wanna dig Flagstaff, tho- - heard nothing but good things about that joint, and it looked really pretty when I passed through on my way xcountry.)

--Jaeger

monstergirl · Post by **monstergirl** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 3:57 pm

Damn you. Now I can't get that song out of my head.

Bummer about the shitty people. I've had stuff disappear from my garage too. I was mad and then realized I had to just let it go. I live in a relatively safe place though.

How about some security cams?

Rench · Post by **Rench** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 4:35 pm

anti-guns-in-her-house

Ahh...but what about in your aforementioned garage?

Just a thought...

-Rench

smashinator · Post by **smashinator** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 5:39 pm

Rench - What the hell good is a gun going to do me if it's in the garage?

Also, I already tried that strategy.

Monstergirl - I let it go, I just don't want to deal with it on a recurring basis, if you can dig. Security cams could be fun, but I don't want to live in a self-imposed surveillance state.

Of course, keeping tabs on the neighbors could be no end of entertainment.

Jaeger - Flag is pretty cool, if you like train noise, college students and hippies. But, seriously, flagstaff rocks. I'd live there if it weren't so damned expensive.

Sid - Do they owe you money? If not, nah.

Bo_9 · Post by **Bo_9** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 7:19 pm

You guys are making me think Arizona is not all that great. Or is it just fenix?
Loosely considering the thought of relocation to that arid state. More like flagstaff and surrounding area.
Any redeeming qualities?

motorpsycho67 · Post by **motorpsycho67** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 7:25 pm

Bo_9 wrote:You guys are making me think Arizona is not all that great. Or is it just fenix?
Loosely considering the thought of relocation to that arid state. More like flagstaff and surrounding area.
Any redeeming qualities?

Northern Arizona is cool.

Phoenix blows.

A friend of mine just moved to Tucson. Said it's not bad.

smashinator · Post by **smashinator** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 7:45 pm

Bo_9 - Arizona is probably pretty cool if you like living in the sticks. Tucson and Flagstaff are both cool towns. I'm sure there are some other good ones, but I don't know about them.

Phoenix pretty much sucks. There's no culture, and any time someone tries to get some culture going they either get harassed by authority figures (eg. Cops raiding art galleries during First Friday), or it gets ignored until it goes away and everyone goes back to watching reality TV.

The other problem is that Phoenix is so stupidly spread out that when someone starts doing something cool, chances are it's an hour drive for you to get to it. Driving for an hour in Phoenix sucks balls, especially in the summer.

This means everything is the same in every neighborhood. Same stores. Same restaurants. Blech.

Also, I'm pretty sure this is where panhandlers and bums come to learn the tricks of the trade.

On the upside, if you like fake tits and sunny days, there are plenty of both.

Bo_9 · Post by **Bo_9** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 8:27 pm

Not even looking at Phoenix although we have family there.
Considering Flagstaff, Kingman, Prescott, and points in between.
The weather, and riding in that area look phenominal to folks that have weekly hail and tornadoes in the summer (it seems). I'm tired of that along with 100 degrees and 98% humidity. Along with the fact that my wife and I have lived within 100 miles of where we were born (same hospital) since then. Not really sure at this point but will become clearer in the next 9 to 11 months.
Are there any deadly, sudden, severe weather conditions out there (besides heat)?

leftlaneguy · Post by **leftlaneguy** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 9:32 pm

I lived in Sedona prior to doing time in PHX...

Love me some N. AZ..

No work, tho... That puts a damper on things.

wheezy e · Post by **wheezy e** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 5:42 pm

shit, I'm surprised it's as civilized as it is anywhere here in the desert southwest. Who's brilliant idea was it to put 4 million live human brains in a 120 degree oven for 3 months every year? Also, recent studies show a direct correlation between the number of tract housing golf course communities per square mile and the number of domestic be-headings.

SidVicious · Post by **SidVicious** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 2:07 pm

Bo_9 wrote: Loosely considering the thought of relocation

stiles · Post by **stiles** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 7:54 pm

Wow. I don't think I locked my house once when I lived on Long Beach Island (NJ), nothing has ever happened in the 14 years I have owned my house near Toms River (NJ), and the worst thing that has happened in the three years I've lived in Union county (NJ) was the neighbor kids denting the fender of my roomie's car playing street basketball.

Score one for the Garden State.

motorpsycho67 · Post by **motorpsycho67** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 8:44 pm

So Jersey is more than guidos, garbage and the Boss?

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The People In My Neighborhood

The People In My Neighborhood