Had a pretty good turn out to the short-notice block meeting. About 15 people I think. Sgt. Pam from the precinct came by around 7:30. She was not up to speed about the incident we were asking about (the armed robberies on the block) so she went back to the station to read the files. She took a long time to come back. Turns out she had to go out on a murder/suicide call. Anyway, she came back with details and also a list of break-ins in the neighborhood since Wednesday. There were a lot!

I know people have thought for years that I live in a creepy neighborhood. The big bad inner city ‘hood. But this is the first time I actually felt like things might actually getting kind of bad. Not that there wasn’t stuff before, but I always chalked a lot of the talk up to sensationalizing, over-worrying and fear mongering. Not to mention racism.

There’s still a fair amount of that playing into things, I think. But I was a little taken aback at the list of break-ins just since Wednesday.

Great group of neighbors. Mostly postive. Some a little timid; asking “how do I go past ‘hi’ if I think the person doesn’t belong around here?” and a little feeling intimidated by the kids. (Teenagers always want you to feel intimidated so they play it up.) All understandable if you don’t know them.

So we’ve agreed to plan another meeting soon. This time to invite the owner of the rental properties to talk with us. Also, people are excited about blocking the street for National Night Out. (too bad we’ll be out of town this year! Oh well.) And I really think a lot of them would show up to the Table Talk conversations in September. I’m very excited about this. I feel like I’m really doing something .
— — —
A year ago (or longer) on This Journey…

It was a dark and stormy morning… 2007
seems topical, somehow… 2007
Local organizing - block club style 2006
ISAIAH retreat 2006

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

It was a dark and stormy morning… 2007
seems topical, somehow… 2007
Local organizing - block club style 2006
ISAIAH retreat 2006

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

It was a dark and stormy morning… 2007
seems topical, somehow… 2007
Local organizing - block club style 2006
ISAIAH retreat 2006

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