When You Can't Win
It’s been 18 months since my now husband and I bought our very first home. Immediately following our engagement we were, for the first time, in a position to buy a home. It felt like an amazing accomplishment that pretty quickly turned into a huge nightmare of excitement met with disappointment. House hunting became a full time job, a gamblers nightmare, and the catalyst to both our weight gain (which was minimal, but felt significant). We were pushing each other’s boundaries and facing huge hurdles emotionally as we started to look outside the familiar areas and comfort zones. It became clear that we were not going to be able to buy in a neighborhood we knew. We were going to have to move away from our friends, our familiar bars and hiking trails and live in a new town a few minutes away. A town that had been known for its gang activities as well as its hipsters, gastro pubs and mom & pop shops. It’s one of those places realtors refer to as being gentrified or going under gentrification. We fell in love immediately. First, we fell in love with a house. A small craftsman built in 1901 that boasted a rich history. It was originally the barn for the home next door, which was built in 1898, adorable. We also fell in love with the neighbors. They are the kind of people that make you promise you will never move and they must never move because you have found each other and life is so much better for it. When you go to borrow a cup of sugar, you always take over two bottles of bubbly to share before you head back with the borrowed goods. And it’s one of those neighborhoods that felt the impact of hard times and was in the middle of pulling itself up by it’s boot straps to move forward, head held high. Rich in history and generations of families, this was our new home.
There are a million amazing things I can say about our town, it’s Farmer’s Market is mid week and in the evening - catering to the hours of the working class community here. The restaurants are not chains, and boast local fresh produce, unique menus, and locally brewed beers. There are hiking trails, parks, a museum, and easily accessible metro stops. This is an urban oasis. But like many urban communities, it is also not without it’s problems. Drugs, gang violence, homelessness… And with every community that sees a surge in gentrification, there’s displacement of the people that were here first. Often times, the homes here have been lost to foreclosure and short sales forcing the residents to squat until the police forcibly remove them. And then where do they go? Where do they turn? I don’t have the answer. Sometimes the foreclosed upon homes were being shared by multiple generations of family all squeezed into a 750sq foot abode. Now, all twenty family members are displaced. So with the excitement of gentrification comes the first hand look at seeing the ugly underbelly. I guess with the good comes the bad. But this isn’t a story to create an argument, this paragraph is just an observation from a new homeowner in her new town, who is now married and diving head first into helping create a better community for her family.
After a few months of settling into our new house, our community, and our married life my husband and I were awoken from a deep sleep at 4 a.m. by a fire. A fire that was raging outside our bedroom window. Someone had set fire to our neighbor’s car in the middle of the night. The flames were licking at our fence and our trees and begging to enter our home. Grabbing hold of our three dogs we ran out of the house and into the safety of out neighbor’s home while we watched from the window and waited. Waited for the fire trucks to come. Waited until the flames settled and the truck melted. Waited for the smoke to clear so we could go home and see… See if the investment into home security cameras was worth it by capturing the image of the arsonist. We found out a lot about ourselves that night and our community. Every neighbor came out and assisted, rallied and showed community support. Everyone vowed it was time to make a difference, organize a neighborhood watch, put up watch signs, form a relationship with our local police force and look out for one another. Everyone agreed this was not acceptable, not on our street. Not in our community. Then everyone went back to bed, everyone except our neighbor whose truck spent near half an hour melting under the heat of a fire. Not the arsonist police team that showed up to review footage from our camera’s and an additional neighbor’s footage. And not Jason and I, no we stayed up for days discussing should we sell? Should we stay, should we organize a meeting with the neighbors and have a serious discussion.
And thus, the first Neighborhood Watch meeting was assembled. With local police support, neighbor support and community awareness we now have a neighborhood watch and still the arsonist has started three more fires targeting the house, a second car and the backyard all belonging to the same man whose truck was melted. Who is this arsonist? A displaced drug user that uses the alley and a drug flop-house one block over as his home. Why does he target this man and set things on fire – well, we could speculate a lot and maybe we have the answer and maybe we don’t, but what we can say is he’s still on the loose, because the law is in his favor. That’s right, he must be caught lighting the fire to be apprehended. Well what would make him think twice about starting another fire? Light. If there’s light, streetlights, we may be able to deter him. There are poles for streetlights, but the city hasn’t put them up.
Over the course of the next 3 months, Jason and I organized multiple watch meetings. We organized neighborhood walks, started an email chain and distributed safety tips from our local police as well as pertinent info coming through the newsfeed of our community. We navigated the system that is our city councilmen’s office, calling for months to get lights up on these poles. We updated our neighbors on our progress, we kept everyone abreast of the effort and the small victories. We installed cameras and floodlights on individual properties for our neighbors that couldn’t do it themselves. We bought individual property signs, “This Property Under Surveillance” and posted them for neighbors. Another watch volunteer purchased extra Neighborhood Watch Signs and four of us went out and hung them on the entrance to each street – warning the gangs, the drug dealers, and the criminals that this is not a community you want to mess with. We called the police for our Spanish- speaking neighbors and reported their concerns to the local police department because their concerns should be all our concerns. We hired the kid that looks for trouble and looks to stay out of trouble – a deep conflict for many youth, to mow our lawn and let him know he has a friend here. We didn’t do it for any other reason than to feel safe. And we finally won a huge victory. The city installed three! Yes, THREE new streetlights on the existing light poles… that were never installed with lights. It felt and feels like a huge win!
Our neighbor, the one that suffers the most damage mentally and physically from the repeated arson attacks feels victorious and that feels good to us all. The alley is now illuminated by the soft glow of a nighttime warrior – the streetlight. And then it happened. The story of the Little Red Hen, are you familiar with it? If not – you can read it, just ask Google to find it for you. Oh yeah – that person that just wants to fight, that puts their dukes up over a streetlight. It displeases them to have a light illuminating the alley more than 50 feet away from their home. Now, I’m going to go ahead and publish here their emails, and our responses. I’m going to let you my friends, tell me your thoughts. But before I do that let me tell you the following. Jason and I are not in collusion with the City or the Dept. of Power. They do not consult us, as we are not engineers either, on the height of lights. We have no say. Further, last night we investigated the light and I promise you, under no way does this streetlight illuminate, project, or face into their yard, home, or children’s bedroom. We can only gather that it lights up the alley making it a visible sight at night for them. Thus making the neighbors property more visible, where before it was pitch black. I understand they may not like the view of their neighbor’s yard and for that I am sorry, but isn’t the safety of your neighbor, those other human beings in your community, more important than your aesthetic taste? Also, they have not participated in any of the neighborhood watch duties, activities, or helped to throw money at any of the expenses such as signs. Not that they are obligated to. They have attended only one meeting not that they are obligated to come to any. I tell you this to provide you with as much exposition as possible. Now, go ahead and read the emails carefully. I think you’ll be impressed with them…
FROM ME to the community:
Hi gang!
Well, it was well worth the persistence and the two-month wait because we have new streetlights! Thank you, Jason! There is a new light in the alley behind Happy street and Ave 99 as well as Happy Street and Ave 100, plus a third one on the pole on Happy St. entrance to the alley.
Yay! Let's keep up the good work Neighbors! This Watch group is the bomb!
Jaime and Jason
FROM DISGRUNTLED NEIGHBOR to all:
Regarding that street light in the alley. I really wish someone would have consulted us on that decision. Our yard as well as the interior of our house, including our children's bedroom is completely illuminated at night thanks to that light. A simple motion detecting flood light would have been sufficient especially considering that all criminal activity in the alley has taken place during daylight hours.
Disgruntled Neighbor
**Now, many neighbors at this point have written emails with enthusiastic excitement. So grateful and happy and feeling a little more secure at night. If you’d like those I can post them, but this is my response to them and the Disgruntled Neighbor.**
FROM ME to the community:
Hi gang,
Yes, we can feel a little more at ease and hopefully catch the arsonist in the night! As it currently stands the cameras haven't been able to I.D. the culprit based on the lack of light - a result of the street lights not being in use for a long time. Hopefully we can deter, detect and feel a little safer.
Disgruntled Neighbor - I'm not sure if the city will replace it with a motion sensor light, but I don't see the harm in asking as there's always the possibility. We can give you the name and number for the caseworker at the city counsel office if you'd like it - just let me know. We've found the entire office to be accommodating and helpful. They've also told us that if we want something done and the city cannot afford/accommodate that the residents can take action themselves, I'm sure no one would have an issue if you looked into swapping out the light for a motion sensored version yourselves. That's how we ended up getting the Neighborhood Watch signs up - just did it ourselves.
Next up, we should plan our next meeting, how does the second week in September look for schedules? Also, we need a location to host. We will try to have Officer Smith attend - we'll get on his schedule now. I may also have one more guest speaker! Keep up the good work team! It's wonderful seeing everyone out walking and talking and engaging with each other.
Continue to have a wonderful summer!
Jaime & Jason
FROM DISGRUNTLED NEIGHBOR to all:
Hi Jason-
Yes, I would appreciate the contact information for the case worker at the city council office. Please forward the information at your earliest convenience.
Just to be perfectly clear, we are 100% on board with doing everything in our power as a community to make things as safe as possible. That said, I think it would be best if in the future any installations or significant changes should be run by all affected parties before taking action.
FROM JASON to the community:
Hi Everyone,
Jason here - the last email was actually written by Jaime, as we share the Happy St. / Merman Way block captain job and both of us send/check these emails.
Disgruntled Neighbor, I'm really sorry the new light has been a point of frustration for you and your family. I did go back and check, and you were included on several emails that discussed the lights. They were also discussed at the past several neighborhood watch meetings, and on several neighborhood walks when we actually surveyed the posts where the lights would go.
The person who assisted me at Councilman John Smith’s office was Joan Smith. You may reach her at (333) 333-3333 Ex 333.
As you all know, the Merman Way / Happy St. / Ave 100 Neighborhood Watch is an informal organization of individuals, run by volunteers. While we do our best to keep everyone apprised of what's going on, it is ultimately everyone's individual responsibility to stay involved and informed.
All the best,
Jaime & Jason
FROM DISGRUNTLED NEIGHBOR to just Jason and me:
Thanks for the information Jason. I will contact Joan today.
It wasn't clear to us that the light would be posted so high on the interior pole to rear of our house. We assumed you were referring to the pole closer to the alley entrance. I really do appreciate every ones tremendous effort as volunteers; however, it's my opinion that before a few individuals make a decision on behalf of the neighborhood it would be appropriate in situations like these to not only survey the area, but to consider who was going to be affected, how they might be affected both positively and negatively, and then speak to them directly about it. It's an extra step but a very valuable one when it comes to community cohesion.
Perhaps this is a good opportunity to create a communications coordinator position, a post that I happily volunteer to create and oversee. Moving forward It could be helpful to create a leadership board or coordinator structure. This would help to strengthen and streamline every ones roles and duties as well as functioning to spread out the responsibilities, ensuring that no one person is burdened with the lions share of the multiple facets of the neighborhood watch. This would most likely involve the creation of some simple bylaws, which is something that I am happy to look into and discuss further at the next neighborhood watch meeting I am able to attend.
We applaud and appreciate your drive in the creation and perseverance of this neighborhood watch. It is surely doing a great deal of good for our community. Since the introduction of the neighborhood watch signs, the drug dealing from across the street has all but stopped and I can't tell you how grateful we are for that. I think we can use this hiccup as a lesson for the future as we learn to navigate our way through this.
Best::
Disgruntled Neighbor
I think there are no further words I can offer, but fuck them. And so, as a fair and diplomatic person I choose to remain silent and allow you to sound off below.
**Names and places have been changed for obvious reasons.
