Wallyhood received a plea from lower Wallingfordite Jay yesterday that’s beginning to sound very familiar:
I’ve lived in more well-off neighborhoods and impoverished neighborhoods and never have I seen so much crime in my neighborhood. Most of this crime in Wallyhood is attributable to all of the broken windows I’ve seen on my street (I live at 36th & Bagley and walk to 40th to catch the bus).
Since the beginning of December I’ve counted at least 10 cars that have had their windows smashed and their stereos and other personal effects stolen…Our next-door neighbors said this is a chronic problem that they’ve been dealing with for years. They said most neighbors don’t even report the incidents to the police anymore.
This sounds very much like the comments that readers left on the Home Invasion post from last month and our own experience of finding shards of shattered windows and empty holes in dashboards in front of our own and neighbor’s homes.
It’s not so bad as they have it in the University District, where they’ve had assaults, Phinney Ridge, where serial condo burglars are at work, Capitol Hill, where a BB gun sniper was taking potshots at pedestrians or Greenwood, were there was an armed robbery, but it’s still more than any of us would like to be seeing in our neighborhood.
So what’s to be done? Jay has graciously offered FAIL and WIN stamps from FailBlog.org and
an ICanHasCheezburger.com Happy Cat T-Shirt signed by Happy Cat to anyone who catches the criminals in the act and calls the police leading to an arrest or has other information that leads to an arrest. As glad we would be to have a big, fat FAIL stamp to to decorate our house with, we’re not sure bounties are the right way to go, here.
But then, we’re not sure what the right route is. Times have certainly changed from the Wallingford of yore. Watch this vintage Almost Live clip and reminisce.
when I moved in to lower west wallyhood a little over a year ago and began introducing myself to neighbors while walking my dog, many seemed taken aback.
since then, families have been driven out by high rents, FOUR condo projects (actually, FIVE) have gone in and I know none of those people… i have said hello or smiled and am greeted with a blank stare or startled lowered eyes, unless of course, or the most common – they see me and immediately the body language says “don’t talk to me”. If someone was burgaling one of the condos, I wouldn’t be able to tell if it was a resident or not.
Lease is up in June – hasta la vista baby
Move to Phinney. We’re very friendly here.
I live near the John Stanford School, and I’ve had repeated encounters with sketchy characters. Last November, our dogs were barking like crazy one night, and when I turned on the back porch-light, there was some random guy in our back yard making for the back door. I called 911 to report the prowler, but if the cops ever showed, they never let on to us. About six months before that I came home one afternoon to a really junked-out woman trying to break in to a storage compartment on our deck. It’s to the point now where we don’t even open the door unless it’s someone we know.
I live a block away from John Stanford, and I too have had similar problems with sketchy people. My 911 calls have not been acted upon. This is not good. What can we do??
May I suggest starting a block watch with your neighbors. If nothing else you won’t feel as if you are alone. Call Diane Horsewell of the Seattle Police Crime Division at 584-7711 and talk to her about your problems in your part of the hood.
Good Luck
I’ve had my car window broken twice in the last five years. I’m not replacing the stereo and I’m not even locking the car anymore. Seems a streetlight right over the car is no deterrent. I also had some sort of meth-addled person come right up to my front door as I was unloading my car and offer her “services” in no uncertain terms. When I called the cops to tell them she was now attempting to kick in people’s car windows, they never showed. Maybe we should have fireworks every night to get the cops to stay around.
I live near 44th & woodland pk. I know there is aurora and the crack motel nearby, but I hardly see any crackheads, and haven't had any troubles, broken car windows or otherwise. I guess I'm one of the luckys. This place is much better than the U district….
My car window was broken a week ago (Sunday the 1st), and I think it must have been done between 7 AM and 10 AM. Nobody got in, and there was nothing to take, so it seems like pure nastiness. I'm on 39th between Wallingford & Burke. Rumor has it, another neighbor had their car window broken, too. I did report it to the police, but some operator just takes a report if the damage is less than $500.
This is the first incident I've had in nearly 2 years here, though, and I walk quite a lot after dark and generally feel just fine.
This is Jay, the guy mentioned in the original post. I stay up pretty late and the two nights when my roommate’s car and my neighbor’s car were hit, the cars was no further than 20ft. from my bedroom window and I was awake until 3am. I have thin windows and can generally hear what’s happening on the street very easily so if I was awake I would have heard it. Thus, I’m in agreement with Megan, that whoever is doing this, they’re doing it early in the morning – probably before dawn.
I hope that the next time I catch someone in the process of breaking into a car or house I will remember that I have a digital camera in my cell phone and snap a picture. Then I can post old fashioned WANTED posters, perhaps complete with reward!
I live near 43rd and Woodlawn, behind Lincoln High. In the last two years, my car has been tagged twice, and this last weekend I had my windshield KICKED IN.
When I lived here 5 years ago, I never saw this much crime. It’s definitely frustrating.
Addendum:
My windshield was kicked in very early in the morning. I discovered at 9am. There was frost on the car, with the evidence smeared across my hood–wherever the car was touched the frost was removed. You can tell the person jumped up on my hood, and then kicked the windshield. The shoe print was visible in the frost. And like said above, they didn’t try to steal anything, it was just nastiness.