I haven't had another incident since last Wednesday night. However, my neighbor, Grant, came by to tell us about some problems building in our area. Grant and his family have lived in their unit for over 10 years and he said things have been getting worse and worse. My delusion of living in a "nice" area was somewhat crushed and the reality of not being immune to druggies and evil-doers finally set in.
Grant told us that he had just come home from work and walked right by a drug deal in progress along the road just outside our townhouse complex. What's scary is there's a small little playground with a jungle gym on this road and I hate to think that children are nearby. This road is not really a high traffic area to cars or pedestrians. The road services 2 townhouse complexes and a very large empty lot, which is supposed to be the future home of some church. On 2 occasions, I did see some strange activity. A while back, I think I witnessed some kind of exchanged on my way home from work. This past Thursday morning at about 5:40AM, I saw a man, dressed in a black t-shirt, black shorts, and slippers (maybe a black cap) crossing our complex driveway, talking on a cell phone. He didn't look familiar.
Grant also told us about a run-in he had with some iceheads, involving gun-fire, last year. We never heard about it because I think we were away for our wedding.
So, I'll just have to be more watchful. I don't want to feel like a prisoner in my own home and it is no where near that level yet. But, I'm just concerned that it will get worse. I live within walking distance of the road I mentioned above so we are more "exposed" than some of the more interior units. It seems no neighborhood is immune to these kinds of things.
I am kind of annoyed, though. For those of you who know where we live, we pay a premium for living in our area and specifically chose our area because we thought it would be safe. We pay a large "maintenance fee" every month to our townhouse association, as well as Town Association dues for being a homeowner in the town we live in. You would think some of that money would be used for security or neighborhood watch-type activities. Hopefully, these things are only happening in the townhouse areas and not in the residential areas with homes.
A new management company took over our townhouse complex and I have not been impressed by them so far. I remember seeing signs for a Neighborhood Watch group for our townhouse complex a while ago, but have not seen anything since the new management group took over.
2 comments:
Oh Nicole! So sorry to hear that this is going on. I kind of know how you feel, I don't live in the best of areas and it stinks having to be so "careful" in your own neighborhood. Maybe if you band together with your neighbors, you guys can go in and challenge the management company to take action. You are paying the price, so why shouldn't you be able to see the benefits! Good Luck!
Be a big pain in the ass. Period. You don't do the situation any good by crossing your fingers and hope it'll get better on it's own. If you don't want to be the only one making some noise, get your neighbor in with you...talk to the police...talk to the management...if you have an association, talk with them as well. Letting it go will allow the problem to only get worse.
Also, be prepared and don't assume that you're in a safe area and safe from crime. The laws here in Alabama are very different from Hawaii, but Wendy is prepared. It's very different and dangerous especially for women.
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