Venting!

kibs45 · Jun 4, 2012

My neighborhood in the last three to six months has been in serious decline. Lots of safety issues/vandalism. It is disconcerting to have all this happen right near your home, where you are supposed to feel safe. I am just generally dissappointed in the lack of values/morals apparent in society. What happened to "Treat others as you would like to be treated"? The only positive I see from this is it has made trying to be more prepared an easy sell. We aren't scared to live in our home, but we need to understand what is going on around us. It is difficult enough to raise a family with all this other garbage, and now I don't feel like my gated back yard is safe. It just sucks, I wish people would take a little pride in personal accomplishment, and not just pull everybody else down. Now I will step off the soapbox...

Ironbar · Jun 4, 2012

Go ahead, you can say it, we know who's responsible.

accessbob · Jun 4, 2012

I can totally understand the frustration.

Burt Gummer · Jun 4, 2012

Last night walking to the Pioneer theater as I went past an enclosed bus stop downtown a meth head about 125 lbs started threatening me and carrying on that if I didn't give him money he was going to bubblegum me up. I stopped at about 30' and observed him for a few seconds like a science experiment. That enraged him even more. "I am going to run up on you and bubblegum you up bubblegum" Needless to say being twice his size, speed and strength + carrying – I wasn't exactly worried.

It did make me think though. I don't venture out into downtown much into the seedy areas at night and it was a little bit of a reminder just how nasty it is out there now. I would never want to see a woman or young person walking alone under those conditions. Having to listen to "that's right bubblegum, keep walking" was almost more than I could bear LOL. But self-control is why I've never had to ride in a police car and I have nothing to prove to myself. Needless to say, if the meth head decided to attack he would have had a bad night, no weapon required unless he was crazy enough to pull out something similar. I think back to the days as a little kid when I would stomp around downtown in the dark and go to the Meier and Frank's pet store and just hang out and never once back then did I ever have to deal with a Neanderthal.

kibs45 · Jun 4, 2012

Unfortunately, I am young enough to not remember those days... This is pretty much what I know, I am just old enough to recognize it for what it is. The wife and I avoid downtown as much as possible (basically totally), I certainly don't take my children to just walk around, maybe for a specific errand, but it's in and out.

Sun195 · Jun 4, 2012

Have you considered forming a block watch for your neighborhood? Chances are that other neighbors have also noticed things going downhill. Good excuse to get to know your neighbors. Not a silver bullet - we have one and have had car prowls on a couple of occasions - but worth a shot.

National Night Out is coming up on <broken link removed> - many police departments support this in various ways (closing down your street so you can have a BBQ, sending out police to talk with people, stuff for the kids, etc.) A good time to kick things off with a block watch and have a potluck with your neighbors.

Redcap · Jun 4, 2012

Burt Gummer said:
Last night walking to the Pioneer theater as I went past an enclosed bus stop downtown a meth head about 125 lbs started threatening me and carrying on that if I didn't give him money he was going to bubblegum me up. I stopped at about 30' and observed him for a few seconds like a science experiment. That enraged him even more. "I am going to run up on you and bubblegum you up bubblegum" Needless to say being twice his size, speed and strength + carrying – I wasn't exactly worried.

It did make me think though. I don't venture out into downtown much or the seedy areas at night and it was a little bit of a reminder just how nasty it is out there now. I would never want to see a woman or young person walking alone under those conditions. Having to listen to "that's right bubblegum, keep walking" was almost more than I could bear LOL. But self-control is why I've never had to ride in a police car and I have nothing to prove to myself. Needless to say, if the meth head decided to attack he would have had a bad night, no weapon required unless he was crazy enough to pull out something similar. I think back to the days as a little kid when I would stomp around downtown in the dark and go to the Meier and Frank's pet store and just hang out and never once back then did I ever have to deal with a Neanderthal.

I flattened a meth monkey for that very thing not too long ago in Chehalis, WA.

ATCclears · Jun 5, 2012

kibs45, what about a little more coordination with the neighbors (even if you don't call it a neighborhood watch)?

We do it now. My situation is different in that we are semi-rural and on a private road, but I've informally "challenged" people who didn't look right. "Are you trying to find someone's house? Can I help you?". I've had a few encounters in the past few years. I think it is typically attempted mail theft, and I think they are surprised when they see the big lock box that the neighbors jointly put in about 7 years ago.

On another occasion, I was working from home on a sunny weekday. The dogs are outside. A car pulls up and our yellow lab has a different bark to her (I miss her, she was a great protective dog...). I look out the window and see two men and a woman in a car. I yell "Can I help you?". They respond "we're looking for work". I grab a phone and rush down to get a license plate, but they're already gone.

Many of these types are looking for the quick win. That may change as the economy gets darker later this year and into 2013.

Peter

kibs45 · Jun 5, 2012

I have all the paperwork to start the Neighborhood Watch. The city of Portland was pretty slow following up on my requests for information, but they finally sent it. That is next on my list of things to get done. There is NNO event nearby, but our neighborhood is under-represented. My wife has lived in the area a long time, people used to watch out for each other, but as they move out and new people move in, it just kind of fades away. Having said all that, I am tired enough of it, that I will not tolerate it anymore. I will go door to door and hopefully "rally the troops" as it were. It's time we started watching out for each other. Thanks for the advice guys, it's a been a long couple of months on this front.