Violent neighbors

[Keaira]

fionabell,

You have the right to express your views. And I am in no way  bullying you. I have my issues with this country that I wont go into here, because it's not a political thread. But  you know, if you don't like it here in the US, you can move out. there's a whole world of places you can go to. Or you can run for office yourself. Or you could send your issues to your representative so they know you don't like the way this country is run and that you demand changes be made to fix  everything that's broken. Until you actually take action, quit  complaining. posting your political issues to a forum wont get noticed by a senator. Especially on this forum.

So, Can we please get back to the topic at hand?

[envie]

So, Can we please get back to the topic at hand?

but please without judgment and unnecessary offense.

Fionabell, I don't understand at all where you are coming from. Geographically and ideologically.
I am a war refugee and sexual minority. I come here to find a little comfort, give some support and not to take some more beating and insults.

So please if you have nothing to say in support of Felix' situation then start your own anti-immigration thread and then like minded people can join in.

[Felix]

Keaira I did call the police last time it was clearly bad bad stuff going down over there. The night I made the thread I was hearing them fight, but I wasn't sure if it was bad enough to intervene, or if I was just hyperaware of it from the previous incident. I know, too, that I can be a twitchy guy (from my own scary experiences) so I'm kinda extra careful to try to monitor whether how riled up I am actually correlates reasonably with what is happening.

When the cops showed up the other day, the neighbors went silent and pretended not to be home. So their door got pretty much kicked in. It made me uncomfortable to hear, so I tried to tune it out and go to sleep (it was like 3am), and so I'm not positive he wasn't arrested. But he was definitely home the next day, and I don't think the girl spent any time away at all.

[fionabell]

fionabell,

You have the right to express your views. And I am in no way  bullying you. I have my issues with this country that I wont go into here, because it's not a political thread. But  you know, if you don't like it here in the US, you can move out. there's a whole world of places you can go to. Or you can run for office yourself. Or you could send your issues to your representative so they know you don't like the way this country is run and that you demand changes be made to fix  everything that's broken. Until you actually take action, quit  complaining. posting your political issues to a forum wont get noticed by a senator. Especially on this forum.

So, Can we please get back to the topic at hand?

It got political. I didn't mean it to. All I was saying that the housing in a country should be affordable for the people already in it before they import more for the purpose of making the ultra rich, richer.

I apologize to Felix once again for insulting him and also for hijacking his thread but I meant to do neither.

I'll make a thread about it in the political forum and I'll use Tekla to get my point across as the 1% use her to get richer at all our expense.

Felix, call the cops.

[Keaira]

It got political. I didn't mean it to. All I was saying that the housing in a country should be affordable for the people already in it before they import more for the purpose of making the ultra rich, richer.

Now that, is something I totally agree with you 200% on ^_^

[tekla]

1% use her to get richer at all our expense.

I hate to derail this, but I'm dying to know how Jerry Garcia or Bob Dylan, or Mick Jagger got rich at your expense.  Those millions they made, are you saying they should have been yours?  Is David Gilmore living in a mansion he kicked you out of?  And yeah, there is a Sir Paul McCartney or Rodger Waters or a Metallica in the mix from time to time, but most of the people I work with do OK, but 1%?  That's $380K a year in the US, (to be in the top 1% in the world it only takes $34K, and if you are making more than $1,225 a year, you're doing better than 1/2 the people in the world.)

But last time I checked no-one was ever forced by evil powers (their friends however may be a different story) to go to a Dead concert, or buy a copy of American Beauty, or Exile on Main Street.  No one is forced to buy a ticket.  You don't have laws that compel people to buy tie-dye shirts with skulls and roses on them so they can walk around looking like a rainbow threw up on them - nah, they do it all on their own.

And I don't think I'm being 'used' (or it sure doesn't feel like it).  I take those gigs because I choose to do that, as opposed to other things I could do.  Has my worked helped them 'get rich' - sort of, but not really.  What I do helps expand the range of people they can 'service', and Sir Paul is not playing to 50K people without a sound system.  But drop all that, and guess what?  He can still play and sing, and write and entertain.  So it's just a question of scale, not intent or inception.


And, just out of general interest, there is more abandoned houses in the US then there are homeless persons here.

[Keaira]

1% use her to get richer at all our expense.

I hate to derail this, but I'm dying to know how Jerry Garcia or Bob Dylan, or Mick Jagger got rich at your expense.  Those millions they made, are you saying they should have been yours?  Is David Gilmore living in a mansion he kicked you out of?  And yeah, there is a Sir Paul McCartney or Rodger Waters or a Metallica in the mix from time to time, but most of the people I work with do OK, but 1%?  That's $380K a year in the US, (to be in the top 1% in the world it only takes $34K, and if you are making more than $1,225 a year, you're doing better than 1/2 the people in the world.)

But last time I checked no-one was ever forced by evil powers (their friends however may be a different story) to go to a Dead concert, or buy a copy of American Beauty, or Exile on Main Street.  No one is forced to buy a ticket.  You don't have laws that compel people to buy tie-dye shirts with skulls and roses on them so they can walk around looking like a rainbow threw up on them - nah, they do it all on their own.

And I don't think I'm being 'used' (or it sure doesn't feel like it).  I take those gigs because I choose to do that, as opposed to other things I could do.  Has my worked helped them 'get rich' - sort of, but not really.  What I do helps expand the range of people they can 'service', and Sir Paul is not playing to 50K people without a sound system.  But drop all that, and guess what?  He can still play and sing, and write and entertain.  So it's just a question of scale, not intent or inception.

What is it that you do?

And, just out of general interest, there is more abandoned houses in the US then there are homeless persons here.

I did not know that. Out of all those, how many do the banks own the property to? and how many were abandoned because of unsafe conditions? just curious. ^_^

[tekla]

Lots are just in places that are undesirable to live in.  Lots in rural areas as smaller farms consolidated.  More in places where the business/factories/mines - whatever - shut down.  So there are very few per capita in LA, or NYC - but lots in North Dakota.

Hell, entire sections of Detroit are abandoned.  You used to be able (and I think still can) buy a house for only a couple of bucks if you promise to move in and fix it up.  But, then again, you'd be moving to Detroit and if you lived to look for work, you'd have a hard time finding any.



I'm the senior tech/crew chief at a big rock club in SF, and occasionally at a smaller one that's a lot more famous.  I do other shows too.  I'm a carpenter, electrician, computer idiot, video idiot, and also sometimes plumber, maintenance man and janitor too.  I do lights, sound, backline (the actual instruments), set decoration and all that kind of theater/band stuff, and quite a bit of general theater operation work.  But mostly I stand around making wise cracks, critiquing the news and insulting people and I yell at people for working unsafely because I hate filling out accident reports. 

I also do research and writing work on the side for business-types and lawyers.

[Keaira]

Wow Tekla, you certainly seem to stay busy. ^_^

Both of my Sisters are in Detroit. Funnily enough, one is doing real estate and the other is setting up her new spirituality store online.

[tekla]

My GFs family is from around that area too, sad what's happened to the industrial base.  But all that downturn creates opportunity, so I understand some neighborhoods are getting the hipster treatment.  Kind of like Reno, which used to be a cowboy/gambling mecca (it was always a dump, but it was a prosperous dump for a while) but really fell on hard times about 10 years ago.  But the combination of lots of space really cheap, and a stripped down police force (who didn't care all that much in the good times) has given it an explosion of art, particular electronic music.

[envie]

Keaira I did call the police last time it was clearly bad bad stuff going down over there. The night I made the thread I was hearing them fight, but I wasn't sure if it was bad enough to intervene, or if I was just hyperaware of it from the previous incident. I know, too, that I can be a twitchy guy (from my own scary experiences) so I'm kinda extra careful to try to monitor whether how riled up I am actually correlates reasonably with what is happening.

When the cops showed up the other day, the neighbors went silent and pretended not to be home. So their door got pretty much kicked in. It made me uncomfortable to hear, so I tried to tune it out and go to sleep (it was like 3am), and so I'm not positive he wasn't arrested. But he was definitely home the next day, and I don't think the girl spent any time away at all.

Felix this is serious. There are only few options seems like. Either they leave or you leave or they stop fighting as the situation like this is unbearable for lengthy period.
It's good that the cops broke in and got involved. Now the neighbors are on the record and if it happens again the likelihood of the police taking actions is greater.
If the cops find enough evidence of domestic violence or public disturbance they can press charges without the girl being involved.
Keep us posted here if it helps you to processing the situation!

[Felix]

Felix this is serious. There are only few options seems like. Either they leave or you leave or they stop fighting as the situation like this is unbearable for lengthy period.
It's good that the cops broke in and got involved. Now the neighbors are on the record and if it happens again the likelihood of the police taking actions is greater.
If the cops find enough evidence of domestic violence or public disturbance they can press charges without the girl being involved.
Keep us posted here if it helps you to processing the situation!

I've been in the building for four years and they've been here for a week. If they make my life unbearable I can get them gone, but my comfort isn't really what I'm worried about so far. I'm worried about them, and of course about my kid.

My daughter is on blood pressure medicine and antipsychotics, so she sleeps hard. She hasn't been woken by the violence yet. If that happens, or even if she just finds out about it and it upsets her, I'll probably go to the building owners and raise hell.

They were mostly quiet last night and the night before. There were some ambiguous noises that might have just been loud sex or high-spirited discussion. It can be hard for me to track because they don't seem to even be home until after 2am half the time.

It does help to post here and to talk about it.

Also hey fiona you're fine, no problem. We all have stuff we believe in and care about.

And re abandoned buildings, they were for years my primary residences. I wandered a lot in my teenage years, and if I'm outside in the weather and there's an empty building sitting there, I figured it was as much mine as the actual landowner's. I was always careful to be either invisible to or friendly with the neighbors.

[envie]

They were mostly quiet last night and the night before. There were some ambiguous noises that might have just been loud sex or high-spirited discussion.

at least some change in the pattern!

[Hermione01]

@Felix,

I hope you can find better accommodation soon. Seeing you have a young child, can't you apply for community housing? The stress and strain isn't worth going through each day wondering what will happen next, even if your child were lucky enough never to witness these violent incidents, the toll would be great on yourself.

I think immigration (legal and otherwise) in the US is largely different from Australia, both politically as well as culturally.


Though I'm sure the Aborigines wish your relatives had all taken that anti-immigrant deal more seriously a few generations ago.

So true. If our ancestors didn't kill them off with bullets, bringing in diseases pretty much finished most of them off. Then, to add insult to injury, we forced the remaining few from their nomadic, primitive existence, with which they were happy, into the Englishman's 19th century Christian standards in 5 minutes flat, with disastrous results.

I was only born in Australia because my parents were immigrants. Where do we draw the line where immigration is concerned, how far back was it okay and suddenly, once we've made a mess of things that we concern ourselves with stopping immigration? (Just a rhetorical question, not expecting an answer)

[tekla]

Felix, are you prepared to testify in open court about this?

[Felix]

@Felix,

I hope you can find better accommodation soon. Seeing you have a young child, can't you apply for community housing? The stress and strain isn't worth going through each day wondering what will happen next, even if your child were lucky enough never to witness these violent incidents, the toll would be great on yourself.

Section 8 waitlists never open up, and project housing waitlists also almost never open up, but there are some other options. We just got on a roughly year-long waitlist for a rent-controlled complex that only accepts elderly and disabled people. They won't count my daughter's disability, so I just self-declared. They said that's fine and I don't have to prove anything. The 3 sites we are eligible for are in all honesty just as skeezy and scary as the place I live now, but my rent would be capped at 30% of my income, which would change our lives dramatically. There are also occasionally openings at individual for-profit sites that get government grants to provide a certain amount of rent-controlled apartments, but those places are dropping out of the program in droves as gentrification sets in.

I've looked into a roommate situation, which has worked really well for us in the past, but that's problematic. People don't want to live with children, and they especially don't want to live with disruptively strange children. My transition and lack of a career also raise red flags. The people who want to enter into a joint housing thing with us are usually people who are too dysfunctional for me to risk trying to live with.

But that's all kind of a digression. We have stable housing, which is better than some of her peers have. It kinda just is what it is right now.

Felix, are you prepared to testify in open court about this?

Yep yep. I'm not sure I'd be prepared to let Leah do so, but she hasn't heard or seen anything yet anyhow.

[Chloe]

I've been in the building for four years and they've been here for a week. If they make my life unbearable I can get them gone . . .

Felix, if approaching her is not an option TALK TO YOUR OTHER NEIGHBORS in the building about the noise and see if you can garner some "popular consensus, additional support" with the police ?

Your child does not deserve this it is these idiots, not you, that needs to be moving on! I am a freely-professed "trans-parent" (12 & 14) and assure you Our Kids Will Be Considered First! Worst case ? Find a lawyer who consults for a small up-front fee and see what they and building management has to say then ?

Just the suggestion of possible "fees and damages" can often work WONDERS !

[Felix]

Felix, if approaching her is not an option TALK TO YOUR OTHER NEIGHBORS in the building about the noise and see if you can garner some "popular consensus, additional support" with the police ?

Your child does not deserve this it is these idiots, not you, that needs to be moving on! I am a freely-professed "trans-parent" (12 & 14) and assure you Our Kids Will Be Considered First! Worst case ? Find a lawyer who consults for a small up-front fee and see what they and building management has to say then ?

Just the suggestion of possible "fees and damages" can often work WONDERS !

Building management does tend to be on my side, their problems with my daughter's noise notwithstanding. I'm good at documenting things, and they are quite willing to work with me once the slightest whiff of legality or liability comes up. Some of my neighbors are aware and on board, but the other direct neighbor of these people is a paranoid stoner, and he's no help.

It just hurts me that they fight. I want them to stop fighting.