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How many apartment dwellers are frustrated with "Bad Neighbors"? Click to find out
Note: When we leave this building, in a month or ten years, we'll repopulate this page with actual names and addresses. It's smack within our First Amendment right to do that at any time. We're not sure what might cause us to do that in the interim, but we're reserving that right. This editorial page includes and contains our opinions.
(author of the paragraph below (in blue type) is unknown)
Ralph, my neighbor, is a "lefty" of sorts (Obama bumper stickers, gung-ho socialized medicine, "guns should be banned", etc.). So last week I put this sign up in my yard after one of his anti-gun rants at a neighborhood cocktail party. The sign wasn't up more than an hour before he called the police and wanted them to make me take down the sign. Fortunately, the officer politely informed him that it was not their job to take such action without a court order and that he had to file a complaint "downtown" first, which would be reviewed by the city attorney to see if it violated any city, county, or state ordinances, which if there was a violation a court order would be sent to the offending party (me) to "remove the sign in seven days". After several weeks he was informed that the sign was legal (by a quarter of an inch) and there was nothing the city could do, which obviously made him madder. I tried to smooth things over by inviting him to go shooting with me and my friends at the hunt club, but that seemed to make him even more angry. I then asked him if he wanted to go to a Tea Party rally, but again he declined my outreach efforts to bring about a better understanding between political and social opponents. I am at a loss how to reconcile our long relationship (notice I did not say friendship), and any suggestions would be welcome. Anyway, that's life in our neck of the woods; how's about yours?
SEATTLE APARTMENT LIVING
Ain't it Grand!
The day before we were scheduled to move into this building we drove over here and taped a note on the doors of all adjacent tenants. It said this:
"We'll be moving into unit #301 tomorrow and the next day. We apologize profusely, in advance, for any noise this will cause. We'll do our best to keep it to a minimum. We are, we promise, the quietest and most respectful neighbors we know, so after this initial inconvenience, you'll hear nothing from us again. Thank you".
Much has happened since that day, four years ago. Our advice at this late date? Don't waste your time on such courtesies.
This page has previously displayed a live web cam image which depicted a public alley and parking area which has been subject to copious theft and vandalism over the past few years. At this very moment a white car at the far right of the camera image shows a vehicle with punched out windows (passenger side) due to this problem. The owner apparently sees no point in repairing the damage, as it will just happen again. One tenant of this building has suffered at least one car theft; another suffered at least one car theft, two other vehicles have had their windows busted out and were ransacked. A great deal of other mischief has also been perpetrated in this alley, day and night.
In the spring of 2010 we became weary of the problems and, using the same camera and motion-light system we'd used for three or four years on the east side of the building, we set up a system on the west side which recorded full-motion video footage 24/7. We did this partly to protect our own vehicles in the public alley, partly to protect the vehicles of other tenants in the building, and partly to help protect the children who are always present in the backyard of a daycare center across the alley (we occasionally see street people hanging around the alley watching the kids). This image was ported to the Internet (here on this page) (the children were out of the frame) so that any tenant who wished to keep an eye on their property could do so, from any location as long as they had web access, and so that we could watch our own property from any location. This page was not available from any link on the Internet (it was an orphan page), and it could not be Googled or searched for, or found. As far as search engines were concerned, the page didn't exist (we'll change that forthwith). The only people having access to this page were those who were specifically invited to view it and who were given the url. We invited anyone who suffered a loss here (when, not if), to contact us or the building owner and we would freeze the full-motion files and provide them to law enforcement. We saw this as a kind and worthwhile service, designed to help and protect worthwhile people (our neighbors).
On 5-12-2010 we received a call from the landlord of this building stating that two tenants (elderly women from the ground floor) had complained repeatedly about this service, suggesting that it "invaded their privacy".
First to consider, of course, is the fact that this is a PUBLIC alley. News flash: You have NO "right to privacy" in a PUBLIC PLACE. We're stunned that that must be explained to ANYONE. Second, of course, is the fact that as any individual moves around any suburb, they are viewed and recorded on security web cams at the average rate of about 4 cameras per block (per a year-old study on or by CNN). Spend a whole day in a busy city and you might appear on as many as 520 web cams. So why would these two tenants target just one camera with such a complaint? That's a very good question.
We had gone out of our way to be nice to these two ladies.
We didn't complain (and this took some serious tongue biting) when one or both of them stole the plastic planters we had set down on the walkway for a moment, en route to our car, a year or so ago.
We helped one of them stop a drunk from blasting his stereo at 2 in the morning, literally bouncing items on her floor when the bass kicked in.
I helped one of them cut brush for half an hour one day (no thanks was extended).
We went out of our way to make sure our vehicles were parked part-way into the alley so they could easily walk behind them, next to the fence, to get to the laundry room and dumpster, and on one occasion when we parked a little too closely to the fence, we apologized profusely and offered to re-park, and when the tenant said that wasn't necessary, we re-parked anyway, because that's what decent people DO, and that's how good people treat their good neighbors.
And this is how they repay us?
We knowingly risked a ticket every single day, for parking partially into the public alley, for the express purpose of saving these ladies 20 feet of walking around our vehicle. And this is what we get!
We're (un)lucky enough to have a type of halfway-house across the alley, populated almost exclusively by illegal aliens. They drink and hammer on their old beater cars almost 24/7, and when they come barreling out of their driveway they come within inches of hitting our cars. Sometimes they do hit us. I have a cracked headlight at this very moment from being hit. Still, I parked away from the fence and close to the alley, risking even more damage to my vehicle every single day, just to be nice to these illogical women.
And when we park at the edge of the alley instead of pulling all the way into the stall, it makes it much harder for anyone else to pull into and out of these narrow spots without clipping the adjacent vehicle. Regardless of that, we STILL parked that way to save these ladies a few steps. How utterly damned stupid we were. Why would we risk our property and our pocketbook for them ever again? We will not. Why couldn't they muster the simple human decency to simply come and talk to us about their concerns with the camera? We just don't know.
We had previously thought these were nice folks -- folks we wished to protect and help. That sentiment is now dissolved. It's virtually guaranteed that more than one publicly viewable Internet web cam is covering this alley from different vantage points even now, so we wish these ladies God-speed in finding THOSE "offenders" and getting them to shut down THEIR security cameras and motion-lights as well.
Web cam view that was deemed to be an "invasion of privacy" by two tenants
(deck at lower left belongs to owners of the web cam, and the area
below the fence is a community storage area, not someone's patio)Legally, no one can prevent anyone, at any time, from filming a public place, or even a private place that's in full public view, and disseminating that footage in any way they desire. The very notion is absurd. Every once in awhile we see some poorly-trained and ignorant cop try to stop someone from videotaping a scene; the cop invariably gets shut down, fired, and sued. Legally, no landlord can control what a tenant films, or views, from the window of their apartment. That notion is even more absurd. For ANY person, but especially a person in a position of authority over someone else, such as a landlord/tenant relationship, to even suggest that that person may not record and publicly disseminate footage of a public place, is civilly actionable as an attempt to hinder or strip that person's civil rights (because of one of our businesses we keep a leading 1st Amendment attorney on retainer and we've hands-down won every single 1st Amendment battle, even against the likes of the Almighty (so they thought) Hewlett Packard Corporation). We believe it is also actionable when a tenant files a complaint which seeks to strip another tenant of their civil rights, and filming a public alley for the purposes of security is so squarely centered under the umbrella of the 1st Amendment that to win such a suit would be a slam dunk in every sense of the phrase.
We could certainly continue to film this crime-riddled public alley, and we will. Perhaps these tenants would like to try to prevent us from looking out our windows, as well.
Google satellite views show this building. We heartily invite these ladies to file a complaint against Google for "infringing on their privacy". They may also wish to file complaints against the crews and passengers of every airplane that flies over Seattle.We've removed the live image from this page, not because there was the slightest legal (or moral) compunction to do so, but because we no longer wish any tenants to enjoy the benefits of our security system. Our cameras still record, but the image is ported to the Internet to a password-protected page. Only we can view that page; no tenant or neighbor here will ever again be allowed to use this service or keep an eye on their property using our cameras. The view through that camera lens is the exact same view we have through our window. Henceforth, we will NOT search for or provide footage for any tenant who suffers a loss in this alley. As of now, they're on their own. Neither will we report crimes we see back here (except DUI and public drunkenness) if they do not involve our property.
We had also mounted a motion-activated light next to the camera, designed to scare off thieves, vandals, taggers, etc. Another similar light is mounted on a garage about 30 feet from ours, and yet another is mounted in another area covering this alley. Indeed, such lights are heartily endorsed and encouraged by every single law enforcement agency in the country as the cheapest, most effective single thing a resident can do to thwart property crime. One of the tenants who complained about the security camera also complained about the security light that conveniently turns on when people are present in the area(!). Both of the tenants who complained have cars parked in this alley and sometimes use them at night. Now, due to their bizarre complaints about the light, they're welcome to fumble in the dark and they deserve no less. Again, the question of why folks would complain about something that is designed to help them is a mystery. We had thought we were living around decent, helpful folks -- people who would help when needed and who were happy to be helped. We were mistaken. We will try exceedingly hard to refrain from trying to help people in the future. There is clearly no point. No good deed goes unpunished, etc..
The light will be turned off, and the camera will be replaced with one with a lower LUX rating, so as to see as clearly at night, as in the daytime. We see that, just today, the daycare across the alley has also installed a new motion-light that shines exactly onto the area ours had. Perhaps these ladies will go over there and try to get that light shut down as well. We find that behavior really, truly stupid. Sorry, but it just plain is. We will occasionally turn our porch light on and off as needed to see on our deck at night. If tenants want to complain about that as well, they can go suck an egg.
To reiterate: None of the footage of this camera will ever be available to anyone who suffers a loss back here. Do NOT ever ask us for it. We just won't be bothered to help you.
NOTE: A tenant in this building has begun a childish regimen of reporting vehicles parked on the public street out front as "abandoned", even if they're not. All it takes is one cowardly dirt-bag to start filing complaints like these to turn a neighborhood into a war zone. We suggest you keep an eye on your vehicle(s) until this guy gets tired of playing this game and moves on to pester some other neighborhood, or he is legally stopped with a criminal harassment charge. We do know the identify of this jerk. We'll post the offender's name, picture, telephone number, criminal and civil background, and unit number of their apartment on this page once we have gathered enough evidence to file criminal charges of harassment, and have filed for an anti-harassment order against the individual. What kind of human being would pull a stunt like this, and why? It seems this guy believes he, and he alone, has some God-given right to park directly in front of the building on the public street, and if anyone else who lives at this address parks there, he'll try to trick the city into towing them. This attitude became apparent immediately after he moved in; he was insistent upon parking in the dumpster area out back (it's not a parking stall). He continually left nasty-grams on the windshields of tenant's cars, insisting that they "move over", even though their compact car was parked squarely in their own assigned parking stall, so that when he parked in the dumpster area he'd have "more room to open his door". Of course it was nuts, but it drove those tenants crazy. When they moved out, and before the new tenants moved in, this guy decided he'd simply take over the old tenants' stall! When he was told he couldn't do that, he came back the next night and parked diagonally across two stalls, so as to prevent either of them from being used. When he was told he couldn't do THAT EITHER, he threw a tantrum and began calling the city, reporting daily drivers out on the public street, as abandoned vehicles, trying to get them towed. This is not a mentality that deserves kindness, understanding, or negotiation. This is a mentality that needs to be dealt with through the courts and by law enforcement. This behavior is called HARASSMENT and it's squarely against the law.
In any case, like everyone else, we're sick and damned tired of crime, drunks, thieves, taggers, drunk drivers, pedophiles, vandals, keyers, imbeciles who throw beer cans into boats, scumbags who throw trash onto cars, honkers, speeders, and every other type and strata of assorted human vermin. This alley has seen all of that and will continue to. Perhaps we're weary most of all of the bizarre and misguided mentalities that work to thwart those who would try to stop these crimes. Our equipment could have helped all those who were and will be victims to this nonsense. But we have withdrawn that offer.
Here's a lesson we seem destined to learn over and over and over:
"You can't care more about people than they care about themselves."
The counter-productivity of human beings never ceases to amaze us.
Good luck to all, and please leave us the Hell alone.
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UPDATE 5-13-10:
We find that we're becoming more outraged by this situation, by the hour. The complaints of these two ladies was over the top. The call from this landlord was outrageous and so il informed as to be obnoxious, not to mention actionable. We're considering legal action that will serve to educate these folks. This is really a bit more than we're willing to choke down. The audacity of the tenants AND the landlord is stunning. The call from the landlord was, in our view, pushy and insulting and we would never tolerate a repeat performance. Had this been effected in person he would have been escorted from our home. It's one thing to act like that when a tenant deserves it -- it's quite another matter to behave insolently when you're dead wrong. We'll see how we feel in a day or two. A CC has been sent to our attorney.
UPDATE 5-13-10:
A short consult with our attorney provides the following information:
(1) To film a public place, or a private place that is in public view, is as "legal" as it gets. Period.
(2) To disseminate that footage publicly, or in any other not-for-profit way, is also as legal as it gets. In fact, it falls squarely under the umbrella of free speech, which is constitutionally protected under the First Amendment. (we all knew this in the first place, didn't we? It was taught in fourth grade for God's sake).
(3) To make any attempt to prevent an individual from exercising his/her right to free speech is actionable in civil court and may also qualify as a crime.
(4) To file a complaint with a landlord against a tenant in hopes of stopping that tenant from exercising his/her right to free speech qualifies as an attempt to strip that person of their civil rights.
(5) For a landlord to act on such a complaint is doubly actionable, since the landlord ought to know better from the get-go. We're sorry that this landlord didn't know better.
Our attorney suggests serving each of the ladies and the landlord with a cease and desist. We're undecided at this time if we'll follow that advice.
That's it in a nutshell, like it or not. Please feel free to consult your own First Amendment attorney, or ask Hewlett Packard about the law -- they ought to know it backward and forward by now.
So what to do about this case? Should we file charges? A civil suit against the ladies and/or the landlord? The bottom line is that we're quiet, respectful people. We don't like drama, trouble, courts, or lawyers....we use them only as a last resort. We'll go far out of our way to avoid problems with anyone, always. When routine problems do occur, we'll go far out of our way to negotiate and come to terms and agreements. The exceptions are when people simply COME AT US out of meanness and evil intent. In those cases, we don't negotiate, we're not nice, and with exceedingly rare exceptions, we'll hand them their heads. We don't much like people who act like these folks have. We don't like ANYONE who starts trouble and causes problems just for the heck of it. Just walking down the street can piss us off when we encounter bullies and shysters and people who run into our vehicles and people who mistreat children and--- well, our list is long. Let us say we just don't like instigators.
Every single apartment building has trouble makers. Sometimes old ladies are the worst offenders. We're not sure why but it's a widely and clinically recognized phenomenon. If you're going to live in ANY apartment building, you're going to deal with trouble makers. They take all forms, from the "LOUD FAMILY" who is genetically obnoxious, to the drunks, the dopers, the wife beaters, drug dealers, drug manufacturers, thieves, vandals, smart-asses, you name it. If you take every one of them to task for every infraction you'll spend your life at that endeavor. You have GOT to let as much as possible roll off your back, even when it's somewhat painful to do so. Some people are better at this than others. In a perfect world, no one should "have" to put up with the world's idiots, but this is real life and the fact is that to some extent you just do. Suck it up and move on if and when you possibly can. After all, in a hundred years, who'll remember, or care.
But how much BS is enough? When do you stop ignoring trouble-makers and begin standing up to them? Our policy has been to let it slide if it's just an incidental thing. That policy changes when people specifically target us and come at us for no good reason. If they have a legitimate reason to come at us, they'll find us apologetic, compassionate, helpful. If we have a party, let's say, and it bothers our neighbors, we'll apologize profusely, we'll shut the party down INSTANTLY, we'll buy the neighbors nice dinners and it will never, ever happen again. Of course it would never happen in the first place because we don't drink, do drugs, or party, and we don't even own a stereo. But if we did, and if we abused our neighbors' trust and God-given right to peace and tranquility, we'd make good on it. It's when a neighbor comes at us and attacks us for no legitimate reason except that they're feeling mean or bossy and think they want to try to push someone around and since we've been nice to them up to that point, they feel we're weak and are just the perfect targets. They are so mistaken.
We had a situation here a couple of years ago in which a downstairs drunk (famous throughout the neighborhood and local down-home honky-tonks) was in the habit of cranking his stereo to levels that actually made items jump on the floor of the tenant who was affected. The guy was clearly doing it on purpose, at 1 or 3 a.m., because, after all, he's just a jackass. We finally got tired of hearing the tenant yell at him and pound her walls, so I went down to see if we could assist. Even while I were there the guy did it again, so we called the cops for the woman, who was afraid to call them herself, and we got it stopped. It hasn't been a problem since. We never had any direct interaction with the guy, never cared to, and never even passed him around the building. This is one of the women who complained about our security camera and we now so very deeply regret the kindness she was shown.
A year later we heard a commotion on the sidewalk below our balcony. We had several people over and we all stepped out to see who was yelling at whom. The same drunk was on his porch, screaming at the top of his lungs that he was going to kill us. Us specifically. By name. No reason was mentioned, but he kept on at this insanity for 5 to 8 minutes, while his wife stood there and tried everything she could think of to get him to shut the hell up. She was clearly mortified, but then it seems she's probably mortified by his behavior on a daily basis. We all just stood there and watched this guy rant like a spoiled three year old for quite some time. This wasn't something he was "threatening" that he "might" do, he was stating clearly, over and over and over, as loudly as he could, that he WAS going to kill us. To this day we haven't the slightest clue as to his reason or motivation. He probably doesn't either. For whatever reason, he never looked up to see us standing there. We realized at that point that he was (1) more than just a drunk, he was insane, and (2) he wasn't just an inconvenience and an embarrassment to the building, he was downright and documentably dangerous to the building's tenants.
My visitors signed statements and I sent the whole package in to the local police, advising that this was to be held and not processed unless we had further trouble from the guy. We can activate that complaint and bring charges at any time. But I also sent a copy to the landlord. The landlord's reply was this, verbatim: "That's not something I can get involved in". We do have that email on file.
So........we then had an inkling that our landlord wasn't really cognizant of his responsibilities.
Subsequent to that we suffered through the usual BS that exists around any apartment building: trash thrown onto our car, beer bottles and cans thrown into our boat; our car was flagged twice by the city to be towed as an abandon vehicle even though it's a daily driver (a tenant here formally complained to them). You know, just good neighbors doing what they do, watching out for one another and being decent human beings. We call it the "Planet of the Apes" syndrome. We complained to the landlord about the tenant who was trying to get our car towed. The landlord said that's not something he would get involved in (we have the email on file).
Since we became weary of all the petty vandalism, we decided to mount a security camera out back. We'd had one out front for three years, ported to the net, and there were no complaints, so we put one out back as well. It would act as a benefit to all tenants, ourselves included. Of course if you've read this page from the beginning, you know what happened then.
The thing that we find most curious is that this landlord couldn't be bothered to even speak to one of his tenants when that tenant spent five or eight minutes screaming that he was going to kill us, and this landlord couldn't be bothered to speak to another tenant when that tenant was repeatedly committing an act of fraud in trying to get our vehicle towed, but when two old ladies come along with a complaint that is apparently ACTUALLY ILLEGAL, this landlord has the time and interest to expose himself to a Federal lawsuit and possibly even charges when he rails us for fifteen minutes over the phone regarding the perfectly legal (and some would say very decent and helpful) installation of a security camera which protected their very own properties!
So WTF.
At this point we will limit ALL interaction with this landlord to written form. Every interaction will be documented henceforth. Period. This is somewhat heartbreaking because, while my wife had issues(!) with this landlord for making us endure 3+ months of extreme flooding with no compensation whatsoever, I, on the other hand, still liked him a very great deal. This incident, however, has cost him my trust too, completely and utterly, and I now see him as a potential threat to a peaceful and trouble-free life here. And incidentally, we both developed deep, tickling coughs, apparently due to the mold levels during the flooding, and we're unable to shake them five months later..
We've owned businesses in eleven states and two countries. I've worked in Federal law enforcement (narcotics and then political corruption). We've lived in three countries. We've just about seen it all (at least we think we have until we watch the news). We know that human nature can be spectacularly inspiring, or downright putrid. We don't know why people spend so much time trying to get over on other people. We live a quiet life, we mind our own business to the Nth degree, but when provoked too far, we will react. Our reaction, generally, is to turn the light on. We've found that in virtually every case, the cooties will scurry back into their holes the minute it's bright enough for all to see what they're up to. That will be, from this point forward, the purpose of this web page.
We will NOT engage in the reeking gossip that permeates every single apartment building in the country. We won't report on the actions of any tenant who screws over any other tenant. We simply don't care. That crap was going on here for decades before we moved in and will continue for decades after we're gone. What we WILL transcribe here are events which directly effect US. If we end up filing a suit or filing charges here, those documents will appear on this page. If we receive ANY further frivolous and harassing complaints, those will be posted here as well. Legitimate complaints will be apologized for and rectified (and posted here as well). We don't expect too many of those, since in our 35 years of marriage we've had exactly TWO complaints filed against us -- both from tenants of this building in the last 48 hours. When bogus complaints are filed here, they'll be posted here. And if you come at us with bullshit, we'll expose you and come after you just as hard or harder. Don't think that's fair? That's just too bad. Prior to this we'd have done anything for these ladies. But now, if we see someone burglarizing them, stealing their cars, mugging them -- we'll simply close our door and turn up the TV, because we now know they'd likely file a complaint against us for that help too.
We're the best neighbors we know. --Until you come at us with bullshit. Then we'll take you to task, to court, to jail, to the public forum or all of the above and more. You don't even have to be nice to us -- just ignore us and we'll still treat you well. But try to get our vehicle towed and cost us $300 in towing fees and fines simply because you're a dirty little asshole and you need something to do with your time? You just make enemies. This is inhuman and evil. We won't negotiate with you, we won't be nice and we won't cut you a break. We'll simply nail you, no matter how long it takes.
We ask only to be left alone here to live in peace. If you MUST gossip, and most of you must, then gossip about SOMEONE ELSE. If (when) this crap comes back to us, directed AT us, we'll post it right here on this page and set it straight, and we'll identify the culprit, or even the suspected culprit, and if you don't like that then go hire an attorney, because we already have.
As long as we're left alone, this page will remain blank beyond this point. But think of this page as a bite-sized hunk of whale blubber: The more you chew it, the bigger it'll get. We've turned the other cheek as much as we're inclined to here. We're done.
Now, please, you all have lives to live. We suggest you go live them in some at-least semi-honorable way, and leave us alone.
Bob,
From this point forward we ask that interaction and correspondence with us be done in writing. Interaction should be limited to direct business concerning our unit or the building. We require hard-copy documentation of what’s said. Unless there is an emergency that can’t wait, email will suffice (it generally comes to us every four minutes).
To comply with your requests, even though we were not legally required to do so, we have taken the actions outlined on the page featured below.
The new URL of our page is here:
http://www.truth-or-consequences.com/apartment_living/parking.shtml
No reply, please.
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Updates, anyone? Or are we done here?
It's entirely up to you.
UPDATE 5-26-10, 13:33:
I was tarping the boat due to impending rain. The woman directly below us, who had complained about the security camera and the security light (per the landlord's statement), approached me and asked why she could no longer walk between the boat and the fence. I asked her how many complaints she had made against us. She said, "I haven't made any." Since I refuse to hold conversations with liars, I said, in reply, verbatim: "Please leave us alone." The woman immediately moved closer to me and asked again why she couldn't walk between the boat and the fence. I repeated, "Please leave us alone" again. She asked a third time. I repeated the same a third time. She asked again. I answered the same way again. Finally she said, "Well OKAY then", and she departed. If need be, if this continues, we'll seek an anti harassment order against her.
UPDATE 6-14-10, 18:12:
We've now been made aware of attempts by the main instigator in this fiasco (the woman we helped with the stereo problem long ago) to incite others in the building to harass, pester and annoy us. We are now actively documenting each and every affront by this woman and when we have enough to take before a judge we'll file against her in District court in Seattle and seek a restraining order. We believe this woman has a streak of nastiness in her character that she is unable to control. We're betting the courts can help her get a handle on it. We wish she had better things to do than to actively conspire to cause us grief. We cannot ever recall being confronted with any individual so absolutely bent on creating trouble where no trouble need exist. We suspect that this page will end up being vary large indeed, before this is resolved and the attacks are stopped. What a specimen.
UPDATE 6-23-10:
A thief tried to steal the outboard from our boat during the hours of between midnight and 5 a.m.. The thief got it unbolted from the boat and disconnected the fuel line and was probably working on the security chain when either something scared them or they gave up. Was it the drunk? Was it the imbecile who turns vehicles in as abandon when they park on the street in some area that he believes is "his" area? On this particular night, the boat was parked out of range of our cameras. Who would know that except people who live in this building? What a fine crowd this is. More cameras would have probably prevented even this attempt, but of course some folks believe that would be a "violation of their privacy". They don't seem to be intelligent enough to grasp that those very same cameras would protect THEIR property too. --Same with motion lights, and it's the same if the video feeds were ported to a PUBLIC internet page where anyone who was bored could monitor the footage and call police when they saw something going down. We're truly sick of the stupid. We'll probably port the cams back to a public page and the illogical tenant can, bluntly, go f--- herself.
UPDATE 6-28-10, 22:49:
We noticed the Asians (the guy who likes to try to get cars towed if they park on the public street in "his" spot) are again parking in the back alley, making foot access to the north side of the building difficult or impossible if you're pushing a grocery cart. This also blocks access to the building's dumpster. The city will simply leave overflowing dumpsters where they are if they're inaccessible, and THAT affects US (and every other tenant in the building). We've all been through it before. If the dumpsters overflow again because of this, we'll take our garbage to the dump and send the building owner the bill for the dump-fee and our time @ $55/hr, plus gas and $.50/mi. After all, he's been made aware of the problem, in writing, before, and has apparently chosen to ignore it by allowing these people to park in front of the dumpster. This tenant is one stupid, belligerent son of a bitch and we've become bone-weary of idiots in this region. There seems to be a higher per-capita percentage here than in any other region we've lived in, including eleven states and three countries (one of them a Third World nation!).
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Dumpster, above right, can't be accessed by city sanitation due to tenant car (center) parked in a space that isn't a space (same guy who parked diagonally across both areas awhile back for the purpose of......what, exactly? We'll likely never know). Building owner was made aware of the problem verbally and in writing many months ago. This has, in the past, resulted in the dumpster not being emptied by city. One might suggest the offending parker just move his car on dumpster days, but experience here has shown that doesn't always happen. Solution? Let's all think really really hard now.....Oh! I know! PROHIBIT PARKING IN FRONT OF THE FREAKING DUMPSTER! Trust us -- it ain't f---ing Rocket Science. Problems like this are EASY to solve. Most building managers/owners solve dozens of problems like this every day and hardly break a sweat. But at some buildings, the problems are left unresolved for months or years. Honestly, we wouldn't care less -- except that we like to be able to take our own garbage out when it's full, and we can't if the building's sole dumpster is overflowing, having been blocked by some petulant dipship who's convinced he's more special than anyone else, and it's overflowing because the city couldn't empty it! Most people feel the same way about wanting to be able to take their own garbage out when it's time (it's one of life's little pleasures), and would resent a guy who makes that impossible through sheer, selfish arrogance. When the dumpster is overflowing, and it's so incredibly avoidable, it starts to wear thin on one's sensibilities and folks begin to wonder WHY such a dog-simple thing can't be solved or prevented. WE could solve it! Our freaking CAT could solve it! We've solved it at least a dozen times at various rentals we've managed or owned, but it appears to be impossible to solve here. Makes ya wonder. And after awhile, it makes ya testy.
We find that other conditions in the building are beginning to just plain piss us off. The halls are filthy and have been for six months, most hall lights are burned out and have been for nine months (I have personally asked for new bulbs, MONTHS ago, stating that I would change them myself) -- never got 'em. Never even got a reply. I'm tired of having to pay for and replace the building's north-side porch light at my own expense. We're tired of overhanging (overgrown) bushes on the north-side walkways (will they get trimmed back when we're finally crawling on our hands and knees to traverse the walkway? I've trimmed them back myself in previous years; I won't do it again without sending a bill). We see that tenants in the basement are having to run extension cords from their apartments to the common laundry room to make the washers work. Two days ago we caught two older kids actually standing on the outboard on our boat -- we watched one of them enter the apartment directly below us (that's the woman who doesn't like the security light that shined on and protected her car). Maybe we'll next catch them running over the hoods of the vehicles in the alley.Seattle PD has a new online "crime map" which shows car thefts, vandalisms, burglaries, assaults, rapes, drug-busts, muggings and vehicle riflings all through this neighborhood. We've now been forced to store our boat out of the area at considerable expense, and we've had to bullet-proof our car by removing absolutely everything from it and setting up an alarm. And the rents in this building just get higher. But whatever you do, WHATEVER YOU DO, don't turn on a security light or mount a security camera at your own expense for the benefit of all because that's bad....
UPDATE 7-12-10:
They're BAA--AACK.
The Asians are back blocking the building's dumpster. Staggering.
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