Sunday, September 23, 2007

Someone's shooting out my streetlights?

So this morning, my roommate points out to me that all of the streetlights on my block, and then a whole bunch on the cross street closest to my house are busted. Not in a "not working" kind of way, but in a someone blew out the glass cover and the streets (and at least one of my neighbor's cars) are covered in shattered glass. Of course, I called the LAPD, and they couldn't give two shits about whether or not someone in my already sketchy neighborhood was up to no good.

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31 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

once again, the LAPD lives up to its reputation. a false call about shots fired at a hip-hop show at the warner grand? 100 cops show up in force. a true call about shots fired at street lights? nada.

you know what, the reason they didn't come out is because there wasn't a taco truck parked nearby.

on another note -- we'll see whether they make any progress into that recent bomb scare at Home Depot.

9:24 AM  
Blogger Marshall Astor said...

Basically, I've figured out that the LAPD won't send a car out unless a crime is in progress. If you call while a crime is in progress and then an hour or three later, when they show up and the crime is done being "in progress", they get pissed at you for calling them. What they seem to want is for you to call them while you're being shot/mugged/raped, and then to politely ask the criminal to stick around until the police come to pick them up.

4:06 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Once when I called LAPD (while a violent crime was in progress, by the way) I was told, "Unless someone is lying in the street bleeding, we don't have time to come out. We have other things to deal with." Huh.

8:03 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Maybe it's the same little punks with a BB gun who just shot out my neighbor's car window this morning.

2:50 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Geeeze. First you get your panties in a bunch because the cops are too rough on your homies at a rap concert brawl and the taco truck fights, then you whine because they don't show in force because someone threw rocks at your streetlight? Damn!!!

11:03 PM  
Blogger Marshall Astor said...

Yeah, we are, because it's apparent that when some people call the cops or ask them to provide a service, said service is provided. But when the rest of us do so, we get told to get bent.

When Walled City was robbed, by my neighbors who were running a meth lab next door (which the police did nothing about, not to mention my ex-landlord), the cops basically told me the best way to protect myself was to buy a gun and wait for someone to try and break in and then kill them. They didn't want to solve any of the problems in the community and their idea of a solution was to encourage one civilian to kill another in faux-self defense.

The only reason I was able to get a fingerprinting specialist down, or to get extra patrols was because I made calls to friends high up in the department who were able to devote resources from Metro, while Harbor Division did nothing.

3:10 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well, it sure doesn't help that we've had 3 new captains in the last 5 years and they shift personnel around like it's a game of checkers.Just as soon as someone gets to know the neighborhood and starts having an impact, they get transferred. Before we bought our house, we checked the local captian's area assessment. You know what it said? Occasional car break-ins. So I'm thinking that's not a huge deal, that happens everywhere. Now, had they told me about the gangs and the drugs, maybe that would have influenced my house hunting.

10:05 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Don't worry, Janice Hahn's gang tax will solve everything.

10:29 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Graffiti rules!!! Support your local vandals!!!

(Don't I sound controversial and subversive?)

12:10 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Nice sockpuppeting, "imbg," but your style (such as it is) shows through.

Anyway, did anybody read the Letters section of the Daily Breeze yesterday (Tuesday 10/2)? There's a letter in there that sounds like it was written by a committee of some of the douchier commenters here at LOTE. Either that, or it's an employee of the Community Redevelopment Agency being unusually frank about what he's trying to accomplish...

2:48 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh, and speaking of news: I saw one of the Port Town Security cars Monday afternoon on the actual street! In motion! There were beads of water all over it, so I assume that the driver had just come from the car wash and had elected to save 75 cents by air-drying it with a quick drive up and down Pacific. I tell you, that Port Town operation is a class act from the ground up.

Still no license plate on the back, by the way.

2:55 AM  
Blogger Marshall Astor said...

I didn't read the letters section, and I can't find it online - can you elaborate, IMBG?

11:23 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't think I could properly evoke the semi-literate, bigoted and self-satisfied tone of the letter with a description, so I'll just type the whole thing up for you.

Do Poor Deserve Ocean Views?

Why is Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn so excited about former President Carter arriving in October with his Habitat for Humanity crew? The family connection is touching but building homes for the poor is the opposite of what we are trying to do here.

Where in the world do the poor enjoy ocean views that others work tirelessly to afford? I am new to San Pedro and I haven't seen any city with so many rehabilitation homes, projects and low income houses. I think we have to start moving the poor away from our ocean views and relocate them inland. Once inland they can work 12 hours a day, save responsibly and aspire to live here. This is what I did and continue to do.

Hahn should be helping out the poor by providing them maps of the Inland Empire.

--Richard Arellano
San Pedro

12:52 PM  
Blogger Marshall Astor said...

Wow. What is that an example of - neo-gentrificolonialism?

2:52 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yeah, that letter was -um- interesting. I do have to confess though, I wish Habitat had chosen sites that were blighted rather than empty and spread the project out a little more. A lot of areas could use a little lift and the Habitat folks are good people. I'd like to see more fixing up and families moving in all over the bay side of town.Every little bit helps.

8:04 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

As shit-stupid, vulgar and mean as Mr. Arellano clearly is, he still deserves some grudging credit for at least being honest about his position regarding poor people and San Pedro. I suspect that quite a few people with actual leverage in the process of planning Pedro's future share his belief in a sort of Manifest Destiny wherein the sea breezes and ocean views of San Pedro must be taken from the undeserving poor and restored to their rightful owners, the well-to-do; but being better educated and less impulsive and dumb than he is, they are able to express that desire in a more genteel (i.e., coded) fashion.

3:02 AM  
Blogger Phillip said...

Fuckin-a-mazing. I don't think I have any more words for that. Thanks for the type-up, imbg! I bet it felt dirty, transcribing that spew...

4:52 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i saw that one too. i'm guessing he's not going to get any christmas cards from janice hahn anytime soon.

where's the compassion?

8:14 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

That was actually pretty funny. However, one thing I have noticed over the years is that there are more homeless, low class, gangsters, criminals etc etc than ever. And it's not getting any better. Most of these people have been carted in here via government programs. Does anybody feel safer in San Pedro than you did 20 years ago?

You ask for compassion? Where's the compassion from that little gangster who moves in and victimizes your wife or child? I'd rather have Richard Arellano as a neighbor, any time, over one of those mofo's.

10:46 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Good points 10:46. There's way too much riff raff in Pedro.

8:46 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Personally, to me Arellano sounds like a crotchety old pig whom I've no desire to associate myself with.

However, I understand the thinking behind his views. It's not a belief in Manifest Destiny that leads one to think "the sea breezes and ocean views of San Pedro must be taken from the undeserving poor and restored to their rightful owners, the well-to-do". It's merely the idea that the people who work for it are better deserving than the ones who are handed it on a silver platter.

You want something? Earn it.

Pedrans love a good fight. Except when it comes to open economic competition. That's when they cower behind Marxist ideals.

Anyway, you say people think property should be "taken" from the poor. Substitute "taken" with "competed for" and that's an accurate description of the way I see it.

For the record, I don't have a problem with the 30-something homes Habitat is building. Let's just not let the less self-reliant get into the habit of feeling entitled to handouts.

5:12 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

That letter from Richard Arellano was well written and expressed a view held by many. That IMBG would use the words "shit-stupid" to describe this man shows this reader that IMBG may have heard these words a lot growing up. That IMBG desires to be "genteel" and use "code" when expressing views is disturbing. I too would rather have Richard Arellano as a neighbor. At least I wont have to decipher any codes.

4:20 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

So Arellano worked hard, 12 hours a day, saved his money and aspired to live here. "This is what I did" he states. And IMBG calls him "Shit Stupid". Was it his hard work, his saving or his aspirations?

4:32 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Maybe he is "Shit Stupid" because he actually thinks that removing poor people will somehow make San Pedro more affordable.

7:46 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Not sure what you are talking about, 7:46. From what I read, Richard never said that removing the poor people will make San Pedro more affordable. He said he worked hard to be able to afford to live here and thinks others should work hard, too.

While I don't agree with the way he said it, Richard seems to be saying that San Pedro has more than its share of low income housing and rehabilitation homes. Think about it. Everyone is for helping the poor, at least the poor that also help themselves. But is having San Pedro carry more than its share of the burden really fair? I don't see other cities stepping up, i.e., Hermosa, Redondo, Manhattan, Palos Verdes, Rancho Palos Verdes. Hey . . . here's an idea . . . Rancho Palos Verdes has quite a bit of vacant land. Let's have Habitat build some low income housing there. Do you ever wonder why that isn't happening??? Because the people in RPV wouldn't let it happen. However, they're all for having the low income homes built in San Pedro.

I'm relatively new to San Pedro. Pedro is a beautiful place with great people. However, it has much more than its share of blighted areas. It will never improve if all our neighboring cities (and us) focus only on San Pedro to house, feed and care for all the indigent people. There's a way to push back without fighting against what Habitat is doing.

Anyway, I'm all for Habitat and am all for every city and every person doing everything they can to help others. I just think that Richard's point, while not worded in the kindest way, is something to think about.

8:57 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Does anybody else find it ironic that a thread mostly dedicated to bashing or defending this man's comments about San Pedro's overwhelming burden in housing the poor or homeless in our downtown oceanfront area falls under the blog headline of "Someone's shooting out my streetlights?" It seems the knee jerk brigade who quickly make snide and derisive comments about downtown gentrification are blinded to the blight that we have below Gaffey -- until it quite literally shoots them in the ass.

Adding irony on top of irony, what Habitat does is actually good because it provides pride of ownership to some who otherwise could not dream of owning their own home -- and that's what we should be discussing. How do we create an environment so that people who spend lots of money to get a harbor view from the Vue can be good neighbors with a young couple that have scrapped enough money to buy a small bungalow off Centre?

We need to dedicate ourselves to attracting good people to downtown to replace those who have no interest in making this a better place i.e. gang members and shelter service owners that sponge of government funding at the expense of our quality of life.

10:21 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anonymous wrote:

I just think that Richard's point, while not worded in the kindest way, is something to think about.

Richard's point, while not worded in the kindest way, is certainly worded in an unambiguous way. His point is that anybody who does not make or have as much money as he does shouldn't get to live here. To pretend that he is issuing an impassioned, if unsubtle, plea on behalf of all San Pedrans for a better quality of life is simply dishonest. Arellano wants the poor gone because he thinks that ocean views and breezes are for people like him.

1:36 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

One of the ten million anonymice wrote:

That IMBG desires to be "genteel" and use "code" when expressing views is disturbing.

That's not what I wrote at all.

Like I always say: if you can't read well, at least read slowly.

1:38 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yet another anonymous wrote:

It seems the knee jerk brigade who quickly make snide and derisive comments about downtown gentrification are blinded to the blight that we have below Gaffey -- until it quite literally shoots them in the ass.

What on earth are you talking about? I don't want San Pedro overrun by yuppie douchebags and soulless development, and I don't want anybody shooting out my street lights. As difficult as it may be for you to comprehend, there's no inherent contradiction in this.

Overly simplistic, false-dichotomy thinking is a trap, kid. Chew your way out of there, if you're capable of it.

1:50 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Richard Arellano is my hero. Yuppy douchebags? Wow. First it was Shit Stupid, now Yuppie Douchebags. So young urban professional people are now douchebags IMBG? I think not. You would be lucky to be around young people willing to settle in San Pedro. They don't steal your stuff; pay taxes and urinate where they're supposed to. As for soulless development...well, I have seen some of the old Pedro development and it looks like it has souls, lost ones. I love Shit Stupid, thats hilarious! Seriously did ya hear that growing up??

4:04 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

utooez wrote:

Richard Arellano is my hero.

Stop the presses.

2:20 PM  

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