Suburban Crime, or surburan whine?

[ricco67]

While talking to a Police officer in Bellaire, our conversation gradually went to how a good portion of his job is spent answering calls from the residences call in about EVERYTHING without taking in the whole situation.

He gets called in about a questionable character walking in the neighborhood. Turns out it water meter guy, who has all his credentials, who JUST got out of his COMPANY vehicle! So they wind up being tied up with that poor slob for close to an hour. Not to mention putting said slob behind schedule.

The same thing generally occurs with the paper guy, the gas guy, a neighbor's pool guy, a mobile detailer, etc. One even called police because the LANDSCAPERS were on a neghbor's property on a day they usually weren't!

The dog barking calls are usually ones that make his head want to explode and sometimes causes tension between neighbors which then creates a whole slew of problems.

After having some conversations with members of Sugarland, Cypress, Bunker Hill, Woodlands, Pearland, Clear lake police, and HPD in the Kingwood area; I feel SORRY for these guys.

While some of us talk about the crime in Midtown, Montrose, Downtown and whatnot, it amazes me how some of these bedroom communities absolutely abuse their civil servants or, as I feel it, totally misuse them.

Do those of you that live in the burbs consider it such a nuisance that your neighbor's music is loud enough you can't take 5 minutes to walk over and talk to them about it?

Are we in Houston more tolerant about "crime" as opposed to the typical bedroom community, or are they just a bunch of wussies that don't have a clue?

[sevfiv]

while i wouldn't consider bellaire a suburb or inner-city, i definitely know what you're referring to.

a while back, a neighbor called the police because of a "questionable" car parked out front of their (or maybe even their neighbor's) house. apparently, after about thirty seconds of police investigation, it turned out to be the car of the neice of the homeowner, who was making a visit from out of town. and they had just arrived, so it had only been there a few hours that said, bellaire has fantastic response time!

[RedScare]

Reminds me of my neighbor, when I lived in a condo on Memorial. She moved in after me, and went on about how diligent she was about finding the coolest condo and moving into town from Spring. She thought she was ALL THAT. Problem was, EVERYTHING annoyed her. She was nice about it most of the time, but every noise, she told me about.

There were the motorcyclists on Memorial (I thought it sounded cool). There was the neighbor down the walk. There were the trains (I slept right through them). There were my shoes (though she told me she could tell I walked softly...so, WHY tell me!). She even mentioned that my dog could tell when I came home! One day I mentioned that maybe she was not cut out for city living. Wrong answer. It was all about everyone else's responsibility to keep quiet, not her responsibility to ignore some of the noises of inner city living.

In the end, I believe some people are just anti-social. Others are self-centered. There are varying degrees, of course. And anyone can wear out their welcome. But, a big part of living in a populated area involves being tolerant of others living their lives. I keep an eye out for my neighbors, and they do the same. But, if one of them has a party, we're not speed-dialing the police. We know they will tolerate us when we do something noisy, too.

[editor]

Do those of you that live in the burbs consider it such a nuisance that your neighbor's music is loud enough you can't take 5 minutes to walk over and talk to them about it?

When I lived in Houston, the landlord (Dakota Lofts) had a policy about noisy neighbors -- don't call her, call the police. HPD backed that up. They'd rather not see a situation escallate into a confrontation between two people when they can take care of it before tempers flare.

[brijonmang]

I guess it's more of a "luck of the draw" with your neighbors. Some people are just a lot less accepting and easy going about things.

[sevfiv]

I guess it's more of a "luck of the draw" with your neighbors. Some people are just a lot less accepting and easy going about things.

most definitely...and also just a matter of having respect for others.

i have heard of people actually having the forethought to apprise near neighbors if something loud-ish will be happening (and invite, too, if they're really nice ).

of course there's the rest of the world (i especially like the ones who use their vehicles as public music broadcasters )

[Montrose1100]

Living in Spring, taking care of sick family members, it's not nice to hear the neighbors behind us practicing their next hit single "Death Devil Scream at the World", at 9pm. I don't mind them during the day, usually the television drowns them out, but anything past 7 makes me grind my teeth.

I've talked to them about it, and like I said, I don't mind it at all, just not past 7. I never said "Stop" or "I will call the police if you don't stop", I was polite and friendly.

So it never stoped. They would play until 10. And after the second night, I called the sheriff's department.

I never heard them play past 5pm again.

[dp2]

I've reported this thread to the police.