Yesterday morning at the neighborhood coffee shop I heard that there was an armed robbery and an attempted armed robbery ON MY BLOCK this week.

Now we’ve had seasons where there was more or less noise, nuisance issues, even a guy who was fencing stolen goods and hanging out with underaged boys. I’ve called on what I thought were gun shots even though my X said it was fire-crackers or cars backfiring. So it’s not like I thought we were living in a protected planned community.

But the talk at the coffee shop was fearful. It was accusatory. It was wondering whether “they” were dealing drugs. It wondered if we needed to be more isolated.

I say no! So I pulled together a flyer (printed the story from KSTP web-site) and invited people over to my front lawn tonight between 7 and 8 pm. Called the precinct station and talked with the CCP/SAFE coordinator, who I’m sorry to say was less than energized by what was going on. Wouldn’t or couldn’t give me more details to share with how the investigation is going and only half-heartedly promised that an officer or squad could swing by during the meeting. He did admit that it would be a good idea though, since there had been an “incident on the block this week.”

Ya think?

So, we’ll see. I want to let people talk but am also intentional about sharing the ISAIAH world view vision that we are powerful when we break down isolationism and build community; we are powerful when we live in hope not fear; we are powerful when we view life from a shared abundance perspective, not a scarcity model; and that we are powerful when we work together to bring those things about.

Maybe people from the block will get excited about it and maybe some of them will come to the Table Talk or even…the Oct 8 event.

We’ll see. For the tonight, it’s enough to put faces with names with addresses; to get to know each other enough that we don’t have to feel like we’re in this alone; to encourage each other that if we work together this block, this neighborhood can be a safe place where we can enjoy living together.

Let’s hope.
— — —
A year ago (or longer) on This Journey…

It was a dark and stormy morning… 2007
seems topical, somehow… 2007
neighbors are great 2006
ISAIAH retreat 2006

— — —
A year ago (or longer) on This Journey…

It was a dark and stormy morning… 2007
seems topical, somehow… 2007
neighbors are great 2006
ISAIAH retreat 2006

— — —
A year ago (or longer) on This Journey…

It was a dark and stormy morning… 2007
seems topical, somehow… 2007
neighbors are great 2006
ISAIAH retreat 2006

Posted on June 3rd, 2006 under ISAIAH, justice issues. RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback.