Stevens Court

The good news is that the efforts of the MPD, our building's management team, and at least six residents (by my count) have immeasurably improved the quality of life here in a very short period of time, and we did it by speaking out. This is the only way to keep the information flowing.

I welcome all of the other Mallbrook tenants to join me in sharing information and helping us keep a watch on our neighborhood, starting with our own building and the streets and alleys that surround it. The good news is that this isn't hard or even dangerous.

In the next few weeks I'm going to look into buying an outdoor patio table and chaining it to one of the fences inside of the community garden areas, so that we can spend time outside in the back alley, perhaps get a small charcoal grill, and help get some eyes on the alley. I know that this can be done, because several of the Residence Halls on the University Campus have similar setups. If anyone is known for stealing outdoor furniture and doing crazy/stupid/illegal stuff with it, it's rowdy college guys. So, if the University can pull it off, I'm sure we can set something up in our alley.

Once we have a place to meet, we can hold cookouts and the like. Bring out a transistor radio, listen to baseball games, and generally have peaceful gatherings that are respectful of our neighbors' need for quiet while keeping some eyes on the alley. Spending time back there will give us more opportunities to police it for litter and garbage, and if anyone in the building has a dormant green thumb they might help maintain some of the area gardens.

Thanks again to the folks in the building who've spoken up and helped management to clean up our home. We're winning.

Posted by Alex at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Forty dollars can buy you a sturdy push broom, a rake, a tough dust pan and a roll of outdoor garbage bags in South Minneapolis. That, a little heavy lifting, and the time since my last post is what it took to clean up all of the broken glass, cigarette butts, garbage, paper, broken concrete, and other assorted garbage in the back alley tonight. One of the residents of the building helped me, and he told me some of the horror stories from the first floor.

I was very grateful for his help. The only spot that really gave me trouble was this 150 lb. piece of concrete that I had to heft into one of the dumpsters alone. When I was in high school I cut, hauled and split firewood for gas money, and I'm still in decent shape, so this hopefully won't have caused any lasting harm.

The other resident and I spoke briefly about getting a couple of lawn chairs and a barbeque grill around here. It'd be nice to go spend some time down in that alleyway, roast some brats, and listen to the Twins season opener. Eyes on the street is the only thing that will really help the crime problems, and we're going to see what we can do to keep cleaning things up.

Posted by Alex at 8:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Tonight's problems started at 2:07 AM. I was woken up by men in the back alley yelling up to "Bill". They go away after a while and I start to drift back to sleep. Then, at 2:34 AM I'm woken again by men making loud bird noises up to the building, trying to wake someone up on the third floor. It's that same damned bird whooping, like they're in an old western movie.

2:40 AM as I write this. There are loud, deep pounding noises on the doors downstairs. I'm terrified to go down.

I'm going to get dressed and walk to Dinkytown to sleep on a friend's couch. It's dark, I'm afraid to turn the lights on. I don't want them to know I'm leaving. The pounding continues. I can hear it, two floors beneath me. I dress and get everything I need, then look through the keyhole.

Everything seems clear, so I leave.

Posted by Alex at 2:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The security camera facing the back alley of the building has been sabotaged. Its cable is severed and hanging from the ceiling about three feet from the camera unit. This was no accident--it's been deliberately severed. Here's a photo:

The building manager has gotten involved and she assures me she's going to take immediate action to get this place cleaned up and respectable again. I'm grateful for the work week, and need to get away from this place for a while.

Posted by Alex at 7:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A black man driving a red car drives up to the back door and starts honking his horn, looking out the window toward the third floor. I grab a photo of his car. He honks for a couple of minutes, then drives away. His car is here:

Posted by Alex at 2:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

More trouble in the back alley. This time a bald white man, thin, with a fur-lined hood around his shoulders is looking up at the third floor of my building and whistling, again, like a bird. He gets into a beat up white and blue sedan, old and broken down with patches on the rear hood. They begin to drive away.

A group of three guys come out of the building next door and walk to their shiny white sedan, minding their own business. The men in the beat up car flag one of them and he walks over to their car. He shakes his head and I hear him say "sorry, not today" and return to his friend's car. The two cars leave separately.

Posted by Alex at 2:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

2:38 PM, Saturday 17 March 2007. Hollering in the back alleyway. Two african americans in baggy clothing drive up in a minivan. Blueish green. They're making whistling noises like they're birds. They mill about for a few minutes. Someone on my floor goes down to the alley. A few minutes later I hear a man with a booming voice yelling obscenities in the alley. The two get back into the minivan and drive away.

Posted by Alex at 2:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)