Monday Musings...

"...ouch..."

We're off to another less than stellar start to the week with some freezing drizzle.
But, it CAN always be worse...like living in New England, where they're staring at another winter storm which could dump up to 2 feet of snow on them...and they haven't even dug out of the last two feet
Still, some caution outside is the rule of the day here.
Our Hooiserland weather will have us seeing  a high today of around 28 degrees, with mostly cloudy skies and a slight breeze.
Many local schools went on a 2-hour delay (FWCS did not...typical)...must be that federal funding at-stake here?
In any event, let's try to make the best of a bad situation and get ourselves a nice soothing hot cup of our favorite morning drink, as we take a look at what else is going on...
*** First off of the cliff is our "What the hell happens today, Bob?" feature:
February 9 - 
---Today is CLEAN OUT YOUR COMPUTER DAY...

That sounds about normal...

Clean WHAT out, exactly?
I can blow out the dust bunnies, and flip the keyboard to remove any crumbs that might have gotten in there.
Or, I could delete files that are no longer necessary...such hard executive decisions for so early in the week, hmm?
---It's also TOOTHACHE DAY, but I'm not sure what they mean HERE, either?

I know none of us WANT a toothache, and you can't wish someone a HAPPY toothache day..that's a contradiction of terms, right?
And yes, a pain in the mouth can be much worse than a pain in the ass.

A DRILL INSTRUCTOR'S favorite line

Guess the ADA will; have fun with this one.
Moving on...
*** Okay, we did have a milder than normal weekend, weather-wise, so what would you think some of the "locals" would choose to do on a Saturday night, other than shoot at one another?
If you said have huge parties, than go to the head of the class.
TWO houses near us had such "events" on Saturday night, and let's just say that there were more cars on our street than those that show up for some open house auction selling binge.
Our streets were literally CLOGGED with vehicles - NONE of them live around here.

You recall THIS rental crib from previous posts...

---One house's "guests" took up most of a block (luckily none parked on OUR side...the street had to remain somewhat clear for OTHER traffic. Black residents are at this place.
Had to spotlight one asswipe for using OUR driveway (lazy mook).
---But this OTHER house round the corner and down the block from the "Fortress"....the one I have now dubbed "Animal House" was the kicker!!

Neighborhood frat-party Animal House

This (white) guy and his girl, who moved in last year had our ENTIRE BLOCK filled with vehicles (both sides - must have been close to 20), many from out-of-state (like Michigan), and there were a LOT of people in EACH vehicle (average of 3 per).You can do the math

Many showed up like THIS person.

And you want to talk OPEN-CONTAINER violations?
Well. most ALL the people getting OUT of the vehicles had some sort of "drink" in their hand, either large cups or beer cans.
One person got stuck in the icy slush and for a time the street was blocked to ALL traffic.
This started around 2100 hrs and after the street became filled and people were going to and from this house down the street, I called into the FWPD as a 44LP (loud party), even though it wasn't really loud...but the people getting out of the cars were (sure sign of drinking).

Party on the SE side...

When I called into dispatch I told the person that "I've never sen THIS many WHITE PEOPLE down here in over a decade - that's NOT normal", and the dispatcher snickered (he knows our address from their data files).
 I also said "There were a LOT of girls showing up too, many of them smoking CIGARS, if you know what I'm talking about." He answered that he did (blunts, no doubt), and that I saw people having a hard time walking a straight line.
Now, there COULD have also been under-age drinking (I'd bet money on that one)
Here's a story from today's J-G that speaks to this particular issue:
http://www.journalgazette.net/news/us/Driving-on-drugs-now-chief-issue-4934947
To me, it's STILL a DUI (driving under the INFLUENCE...doesn't matter if it's alcohol OR drugs).
Anyway, I could not confirm that I saw an FWPD cruiser in the area (hard to see with all the traffic and no one came by running their light-bars, but it wasn't long that more than a few people started to leave...just not fast enough, and too few at the start.
Police should have had some sort of TRAFFIC-CONTROL for all the damn vehicles.

Put THIS in our neighborhood and watch crime DROP.

Didn't see any "cuff and stuff" going on either.
I finally went to bed after 0230 hrs, and getting up around 3 hours later did not make me a happy camper for Sunday morning.
Naturally, we had random litter scattered about. A pizza box was in the middle of one street, and I snagged two Bud-Light cans from our side area.
Maybe we have some budding after-hours clubs in the making (again)?

At least the plumbing is probably put to some use.

I'm sorry, but there has to be a way to inhibit or otherwise put a halt to such goings-on...and please don't hand me the "they're only young people, they need to blow off steam"...that's a crock, and we all know it.
Most of these young people had nice vehicles, many relatively new, but their clothing style sense sucked.
I saw men wearing board shorts and t-shirts...in temps that were in the upper 30s...no coats.
The girls weren't much better...a few had light jackets or hoodies...but they ALL had something to drink.

All quiet on the "southern" front once again...
(and tire tracks over the lawn across the street)

THIS is the kind of crap that gets a part of this city a lousy "rep"...but, that's what happens when no one really pays ATTENTION to what goes on, and only REACTS whenever something DOES go sideways. FWPD, take notice!
*** Next up, There was a good letter to the editor in today's paper that sums it up nicely.
I would post a link, but the J-G doesn't have TODAY'S letters up for some reason, so I will copy parts of it for you.

The title is: Candidates Should Focus On Southern Fort Wayne, and here are some excerpts:
"The southern part of Fort Wayne has little if any growth in the last ten years" 
(It's been a LOT longer than that, trust me)
"The mayor and the rest of the city government have had their eyes set on downtown for too long."
(and to the EXCLUSION of OUR part of the same city)

"The current business climate is not inviting to new businesses and is deterring businesses from growing, or making some leave the area."
(Aside from Menards and Wal-Mart, no new businesses at all...all the while, we have LOST well over ONE HUNDRED businesses, and more than a few eateries mixed in with all the retail and service businesses...hardly worth a feather in any mayor's cap)
"The lack of job growth will lead to a higher drug and crime rate, as we have all seen and know too well."
(I could not agree more - it certainly HAS.)
ANY mayoral candidate SHOULD be concerned as this citizen and others like myself are.
I've always said here that "ANY CITY IS ONLY AS GOOD AS IT'S WORST AREA.", and coming from a city TEN times larger, I think I know what I'm talking about...a shame those that run THIS city can't see the forest for the trees.
(and it's been costing the city ever since with such "lack of vision".)
I commend the writer of this letter, one Kaleb McCague for saying what needs to be said...
Getting the city leaders to LISTEN is quite another thing, however...
*** Lastly today, it isn't difficult to see how many people make bad choices in life...and more importantly, how OFTEN they choose to do it.

Not looking HARD enough, obviously.

The evidence of such is ALL around us, and doesn't just apply to the "chronically-dumbassed" among us.
We see the same exact behaviors from the very highest level of our government (talk about dumbassery made into an ART form).
Sadly, such decisions, or rather bad choices rarely affect JUST the person making it...
The ignorance (though bad decisions...or even NO decisions at all) towards the south side of Fort Wayne is a prime example.
You never make a situation better by ignoring it, hoping it goes away on it's own...that's a poor assessment on top of a poor decision making process.
There are always others that are affected by bad decisions...or poor choices, and it can be the lack of such vision that is turning an otherwise normal downtown into something that will make headlines for years to come...because it's all about HYPE (until the shine wears off of it, and it loses that "new-car" smell).and it's about MONEY, as in whose pockets get lined the most and best.
And then there are those that have no such dog in a hunt like this...who have to deal with crime...the lack of retail and services...devalued properties...party and drug houses...and a plethora of other nasties that the elitists downtown don't have to think about (until election time rolls around).
If, we are indeed a truly EQUAL society, then when is OUR part of Fort Wayne going to start looking like the rest of the city, instead of some slum in Detroit?
Granted we're not quite there yet, but there are those hell-bent to making it happen.
People create the problems...and only people can solve them...if they're willing to, that is.

Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay SAFE out there, America.