Current Status Report

As I began writing this blog, I cautioned that reading any single post alone could give a warped view of what is going on here. From reading much of my blog, one could easily surmise that everyone who lives here is a drug dealer and that all of the cops are incompetent and/or corrupt. This is certainly not the case. The good elements of this neighborhood (both police and neighbors) are as good or better than any place I have ever called home.

By writing more about the bad than the good, I have purposefully sensationalized the story. I could write an entire blog about my good neighbors and the good work of many FWPD officers here. However, I have chosen to downplay this because it might belie the fact that the bad elements here are something very different than what occurs in most neighborhoods.

Many things have changed since I began this blog three months ago, and a few important changes have even occurred in the past few weeks. This particular post is designed to give a brief overview of the many different elements which contribute to this story. This will bring the story up to date and hopefully it will rectify any misperceptions which my previous posts might have caused.

The Dealers

During the past month, several guys who I believe are coordinating the activities here have been spending a lot of time walking around the block. Each of these guys has engaged me in conversation to determine my intentions and perhaps my capabilities. As I have gotten to know them better, they have become less guarded around me. One of them recently told me how much money actually comes through this neighborhood. The amount is much larger than I ever suspected. I have no way of confirming what he said, but he is someone who I consider to be credible in regards to such information.

Last week, as I set up my 28’ extension ladder on the side of my house, there were six guys standing on the corner only a few feet away. I casually talked with a couple of them for a few minutes, then started to get to work. Within the next few minutes, every person on that corner had walked across the street to the other corner, thus giving me room to work.

Last week I posted several “No-Trespassing” signs on my property. As I was putting up the signs, a guy who I had not seen around here before mumbled “Fuck your house.” As I turned towards him and shouted “Fuck your house too,” he looked around at the five guys who were standing there with him. Not a single one of them said a word.

Later that day, one of the guys asked me if the signs gave me the right to shoot people for being on my property. I tried not to laugh as I explained that I can’t (legally) do that. I told him what these signs do is let the police know that mine is not a drug house. It tells the police that if they see anybody on my property, they have the right to question and search that person. I told him the signs simply mean that there needs to be a clear line between my property and the illegal activities going on nearby.

During the past week I have not had to ask a single person to get off of my property. During the past week, I have seldom seen the same person standing in the same location on one of the corners for more than ten or fifteen minutes. During the past week, I have only had to pick up a couple small pieces of litter from around my home. During the past week, those who do stand on the corners have been relatively quiet.

I often listen to these guys converse and rap as they stand on the corners here. For the past couple weeks I had been hearing something new, so I asked one of them about it the other day. It seems the corner of Warsaw and Suttenfield is now being referred to as “The Garden Block.” They’ll be talking to someone on the phone and say “Yeah, I’m over here on the garden block.” They’ve even incorporated the name into one of their songs.

These guys could crowd around and get in my way when I’m working outside. Instead, they move away. They could be ripping my newly planted flowers out of the ground just to harass me. Instead, they have named “their” corner after the hard work I have been doing here. I don’t know what they’re doing with all their trash (I haven’t checked the storm drain lately!), but it’s not being left where I have to pick it up. When I have words with one of them, the others could try to exacerbate the situation. Instead they either remain neutral or actually act to calm the situation.

Two months ago, this was looking to be a very rough summer coming up. Now, it looks as though it will be relatively calm. For the most part, people seem to be respecting me and my property. Although they are not respecting the law, I had said from the beginning that this was not my concern. If the amount of money that I was told goes through here is accurate, then to fight for anything more than my own space would be futile and probably deadly.

Two months ago, I felt threatened. Now I am just mildly annoyed. Although there is no guarantee that the current situation will hold, I can live with what I’ve got right now.

The Police

I have seen the police in my neighborhood just about every day during the past two weeks. They have made a lot of stops (usually for walking in the street or for driving infractions). If they come through and some of the known dealers are out on the corners, they will usually return in a short while to check up on the situation. It is not unusual to see a patrol car parked on the street or in an alley here for ten minutes just watching to see what is going on. There are also two members of the FWPD Command Staff who routinely come through my neighborhood.

During this past week, the police have been very aggressive here, and it has made an impact. Each day has gotten a little bit quieter. The day that I was setting up my ladder, a member of FWPD Command Staff passed by in a large SUV. The guy I was speaking with looked at me with a raised eyebrow and said “Looks like they’re sending in the big dogs now.” The other member of FWPD Command Staff that has been here is personally known by most people in this neighborhood. He has family here. I think these guys know that when that officer shows up, it’s time to start quieting down.

I feel bad when I have berated certain police officers for their actions/inactions here. First of all, as I said previously, I don’t always know the full story. My analysis of individual officers might be flawed simply due to a lack of information. But even worse than this is that it paints the entire department with the same broad mark. To assume that a majority of FWPD officers are corrupt or incompetent is more than likely inaccurate and is therefore unfair to the many good officers.

This weekend I called one of the officers (Rice) I know and left a message. This did not pertain to any of the events that I have previously mentioned. It had to do with one of the guys on the corner here and a possible connection to something bigger that just selling drugs. A couple days later, Officer Rice stopped when I was working out front. He had received my message and wanted some clarification on it. We then spoke for about ten minutes about the current situation here.

I told Officer Rice about my calls to FWPD last week (the blue van and the drug dealer buying a gun), which seem to have simply been ignored. I told him that although I realize he is probably not in a position to affect any serious change against the bureaucratic ineptitude of FWPD, he needs to realize how this affects me. I told him that as long as the guys here continue to respect me, then I won’t be calling FWPD any more about the drug activities here. I also made the point that it is difficult for me to remain engaged with FWPD when they don’t even seem to act on information that might be related to past or future homicides. I said that I would still be glad to cooperate with them (FWPD) if they requested anything of me, but for me to try to initiate change myself seems pointless.

The best thing I can do to counter any inaccurately negative perceptions that I may have caused for the FWPD is to mention Officer Rice. This officer seems to work very hard at engaging both the drug dealers and other people who live here. The fact that he would check back on my call and allow me to air my grievances towards FWPD, including many things that are probably out of his control, is commendable.

I have chosen to use pseudonyms for the individual officers that I write about because it allows my message to be directed against what I feel is a seriously flawed department, rather than against individuals. I have done this with the (quickly diminishing) hope that someone within FWPD who is actually in a position to affect change might decide to seriously engage me in this matter. I try hard to put my desire for a better future in this neighborhood above my desire for retribution against the wrongs of the past. It is the actions of people such as Officer Rice which have helped me to remain focused, and I am sure there are many more like him within the ranks of FWPD.

I still think there is something very funny going on at FWPD. There is most certainly either corruption and/or incompetence at the highest levels of that organization. But the fact of the matter is that they are currently working hard to help keep things calm in my neighborhood. I’ll just have to be satisfied with that because I don’t have the time or the money to pursue it further.

My Neighbors

It has been nineteen months now since I notified FWPD and my neighbors of my intention to remove the drug dealers from my property. The response from most of my neighbors has been overwhelmingly positive. There are other people here who call the police, but they usually do so anonymously. There are many others that feel the same way I do about the drug dealers, but for a variety of reasons they will not call FWPD. Even many of the drug dealers here think things are out of hand. They know I have talked with the police, and they seem to be okay with that.

My neighbors have shown me support in many was. Some of them stand by me when I am “talking” with the guys on the corner, letting them know that I don’t stand alone. Others will share information about what they are seeing and hearing. Others simply add moral support by doing things like bringing me a plant, dug from their own garden, to add to my growing collection. I think that some of them see me as the point man in an attempt to calm things down here. If I can put up no-trespassing signs and call the police without getting shot, then they might also.

On the other hand, given that the majority of the activity is centered upon the corner right in front of my home, some of my neighbors think that I am not doing enough. There are some that berate me for allowing this activity to continue. It is difficult to explain to them what I am up to without revealing too much of my strategy. All I can tell these people is that there is a time to watch and listen, and there is a time to act.

I actually had my no-trespassing signs for over a week before I put them up. I chose that day because the police had taken some very aggressive action here earlier that day. I wanted my actions to be seen as coordinated with the police actions. I chose that particular moment of the day because several people were then setting on my property. I needed to show them that I was not afraid of a challenge. As I said, things have been a lot quieter here lately, and I think many of my neighbors see that I had a hand in that.

Myself

Acting like a crazy mother-fucker (okay, it is possible that I’m not acting) can take it’s toll on a person. Even if a confrontation does not turn violent, the constant possibility of this happening drains one’s energy. Being under a lot of stress for a prolonged period of time also can begin to effect one’s mental acumen. I still maintain that most of my actions here, including writing this blog, have been very rational. There are some people who have given advice that is in extreme contrast to my own actions. I would simply suggest that if many of those people were actually in my same position, I do not think they would follow the advice which they are giving.

That being said, I am well aware that I have made several poor choices here and they have manifested themselves greatly in recent days. Shouting obscenities at a police officer is probably not a good idea under any circumstances, but the circumstances under which I did so was completely unjustified. I felt that officer was ignoring me, and I knew that if I called to talk to someone about this, I would be ignored by them as well. I felt helpless, so I lashed out. But rational behavior should lead to solutions, not create more problems. My blog can be seen as a rational choice because I am seeking to engage FWPD on the problems here. Simply shouting obscenities will probably not lead to a dialogue. Whether my interpretation of that officers attitude was correct or not is irrelevant. Even if he was being a bone-head, my shouting obscenities was entirely out of line.

There are two other recent events which have helped me to realize that I have become increasingly reckless in my behavior. Last week, I caused a minor explosion in my back yard. For reasons of legal liability, I won’t say exactly what I was doing (just think of Bill Murray and Caddy Shack.) I got careless, and it was just plain luck that it didn’t seriously injure myself or someone else. Then, while cutting a tree a few days ago, I almost broke my damned leg.

The main reason for all the work that I’ve been doing on my house is to simply make the place where I live look better. But there is an ancillary benefit as well. I think on those days when I work from eight in the morning till ten at night (climbing, jumping, breaking my back and busting my ass) it sends a message to the guys here. If I was hobbling around on a cane, I think they’d just ignore me. But when someone who does the things that I have done here barks, they have to at least consider that I might have a little bite to back it up. So I can justify my aggressive and seemingly reckless behavior to some degree because of the message that it sends to others.

But the bottom line is this. If a man fights with fire (especially in a confined space), or if he fights with a tree that is several times heavier than he is, he’s going to lose. And if a person actually engages in such competitions, it is a sign that he is not making very rational decisions. Hey, at least I still have the ability to recognize in hindsight when I am being a dumb ass. I’m also willing to modify my behavior when it becomes apparent that it is getting a bit out of whack.

I have been very aggressive here for a while. I have been demanding that drug dealers stay off my property and I have been demanding that FWPD back me up on this. But aggression is a difficult beast to control. Although this aggression was borne out of necessity, it has created its own Leviathan. The fact that I would take on physical objects which are clearly more powerful than I am (twice in one week) proves to me that my beast needs to be reigned in. I am going to try and back away from the current situation here for a while and allow myself to calm down a bit. Hopefully the circumstances in my neighborhood will allow for that by remaining calm themselves.

I still have many stories from the past to tell, and I’ll probably think of many other things to discuss, but I’ll probably just let things here in my neighborhood ride out for a while and see what happens - at least until my leg stops hurting.

Here's the tree limb that I cut.

This nest (with eggs) was still lodged in the branches when it fell.

Here is the ladder I was on when the limb fell.
I was four or five rungs up at the time and I'm still not sure how I managed to land on my feet.

Ouch! - That's gonna hurt!

Here's the trash-filled storm drian that I posted about a while back.

The day after I called the City, they sent a crew out to clean it.

They spent about fifteen minutes each on this drain and the one across the street.

Here is the result of their work. I'll take another photo at the end of summer.