Tales From the SOUTH Side...
We're winding up to "the" day. You know the one I'm talking about. The 4th of July.
And if you're "fortunate" enough to live on the SOUTH side of the city, you know EXACTLY where this is headed.
Right now, we're smack dab in the middle of what I like to call "Hell Week" (to be precise, it's more like Hell MONTH). This is the time of year when idiots (because we all know that PEOPLE wouldn't act this way) find enough money to buy enough fireworks so that you can kiss whatever used to resemble living bye-bye.
Yes, Virginia, there ARE fireworks in Baghdad...I mean Fort Wayne.
Every year it gets a little worse, as in NOISIER with LARGER ordnance being detonated. Oh no...we're not talking about the old "lady fingers" any longer. We're talking about the "Big Mamas" - not to be confused with all the morbidly-obese, single baby-mamas in our area, although THEY are JUST AS noisy, when their pie hole opens the hell up.
And these fireworks sound like an 82mm mortar crew is bivouacked in your back yard!
But hey, I've only been beating THIS "dead horse" in front of the FWPD for YEARS...with no result (seeing a pattern here). Hell, you don't see ANY officers patrolling the area when fireworks are going off any time near the 4th...same with New years Eve. Not a cop to be found. AT ALL. it's like they're all AWOL or something. And that's why I suggested a few more DONUT SHOPS around here years ago...still waiting on that too.
You can call and tell the police that mailbox-busting mini-bombs are being set off in the damn middle of an intersection (as is usually the case), and they MIGHT stop by and tell the idiots to move along...for all the good that does (and that would be NONE).
Short-term memory problems...remember?
Many citizens in areas like mine simply resign themselves to the fact that the police won't show up...and many times, they are right. it all comes down the the priority level of the call to dispatch. Personally, I feel that when it comes to OUR neighborhoods down here, EVERY call is a low-priority ("officer down" being the exception...or a white guy that was shaken from his sleep by a honking car at 2AM and is shining a laser that car at...THAT will get about 5 cruisers with big, strapping officers at your door in a hurry...trust me). When you make a 44LM/FW/LP call, you might see an officer in 15-40 minutes AFTER the call is made (unless they're ONE street over - then it takes only TEN minutes...LOL)
Basically, the city is telling us to "suck it up"..."deal with it"...."it's only once a year"...THAT kind of bull$hit.
1) First off, I've sucked it up for TOO damn long...Let the city suck it up for a change.
2) Oh, believe me, I PLAN to "deal with it"...in my OWN way, so back the f$ck off.
3) And it's NOT "once a year"...it's more like 2.5 MONTHS, give or take. And that's only when we're not ALSO dealing with all the damn BOOMCARS you people can't get off our streets, vehicles with bad mufflers (or none at all), gunshots, barking dogs, and screaming kids and adults.
As city neighborhoods go, the one I currently reside in is the WORST as far as noise goes, and I used to live 8 houses from one intersection in Philly (Robbins Avenue & Cottage St - look it in an atlas and see for yourself) that was a major artery for trailer-truck traffic to New Jersey, and even THAT wasn't as bad as THIS place...and we had more people on every block, not just a mere TEN HOUSES on one street. It's what's been placed INTO those houses over the past ten years that has put that bitter taste in my mouth.
Yeah, we've gotten much worse over the decades when it comes to basic CIVILITY and manners, that's for sure.
I still live by that creed. I;m quite mannerly when needed.
I always say PLEASE and THANK YOU.
For example:
"PLEASE move your vehicle off my property before put a bullet in your bonehead, you ignorant savage, and when I shoot you, try to fall with your arms crossed to make it easier for the coroner when they arrive...THANK YOU".
And yet they don't appreciate my mannerly behavior.
I just don't understand it.
And speaking of parking on property, when was the LAST time you found someone parked in YOUR DRIVEWAY that was a complete stranger? Think about it.
Some guy just parks his car or truck in YOUR driveway (maybe you weren't home), so he can visit some OTHER house on another street. Well, that happens around here with regularity.
The truck is at a relatively vacant house (lawn care guy/owner comes by once a week to see if scrappers have hit it I guess - yeah, he's the one with the tall weeds..the LAWN CARE GUY), visiting another house around the corner (where there is PLENTY of parking, btw).
That's why I do not allow ANYONE that is not expected or invited to even PULL INTO my driveway for an illegal u-turn.
I look at it this way...when these f$cking morons decide to pay some TAXES on this place, I'll grant them access, no sweat...but NOT before.
That's why the sign reads: NO TRESPASSING.
SO simple, a caveman...well, I WISH I had cavemen living here, they'd at LEAST figure that one out.And it would be a step UP on the evolutionary ladder, that is certain.
I mean who the hell in their right mind would park ONE place to go to another UNLESS there is something afoot there, hmm? Something to hide, perhaps? He isn't supposed to be at the house he's "visiting"? The police are after him?
Who can say, really?
All I know is...it's WRONG...period.
And people would be wise to notice this, and report it ASAP. You never know what might shake out. You might catch the nation's most wanted. You can never tell. Maybe the guy has outstanding warrants (that doesn''t mean those warrants are really good, either).
Yet when people stop caring (that DOES means paying attention to what is transpiring in their neighborhood), the whole area suffers, and who in their right mind likes ghetto living anyway (except you-know-who)?
Today's suburbs can easily become tomorrow's ghettos...all it takes is the right impetus by the right people (who are always the WRONG people). And it doesn't take many. It just takes ONE who's really good at making other people move.
And it takes the type of policing that condones such behavior, instead of enforcing ALL the laws.
Uncaring people, police admins that goes through the motions, community leaders that couldn't poor piss from a boot with instructions written on the heel, and a city government that is more concerned about it's downtown than the neighborhoods that created it in the first place...it ALL adds up.
Yeah, it's a very easy equation to figure out.
All you have to do...is the math.