Proper planning helps alleviate stress and we learn from our experiences. I've also since learned to keep my car parked whenever possible. Not if I had only read the SEPTA detour plans ahead of time on Friday.... ;-)

I just wanted everyone to know a woman was mugged last night just after 11:00 on Parrish at Taylor by three black teenage girls. Her cell phone and wallet were taken. The three were last seen heading north on Taylor. The one who seemed to instigate it was athletically built, another was slightly heavier. The third was off to the side & couldn't be seen well. They appeared to be 15-16 years old.

Our car was broken into on Ogden Street sometime over the July 4 holiday weekend. There was nothing for them to steal, as we don't keep valuables in the car, so they ransacked it instead, I guess looking for something worthwhile. I'm surprised they took that much time to search the car as I would assume the alarm was going off after they broke the window to get in, though I am not surprised no one heard it with people being away for the weekend, and windows closed, AC on, fireworks going off, etc. Just another $100 (glass deductible) reminder to keep valuables out of the car, even when you think it's parked somewhere safe in front of a neighbor's house!

I learned this lesson when I lived on Capitol Hill in DC when someone broke into my car and took a roll of paper towels I had left on the seat. I would have happily given him the paper towels, which probably cost me less than a dollar, to save the stupid $100 deductible on the window. Now I try not even to leave garbage visible in the vehicle.

This was actually our second break-in since moving to the neighborhood - the first time the guy got away with two bags of clothes I was bringing to Goodwill! Like you said, I would have rather given the guy the clothes and save myself the $100!

This break-in may have been the result of a confrontation with a guy whose car was parked illegally blocking our street on July 4. We were coming home from the hospital, with our newborn, and we asked him nicely to move his car so we could turn on our street and his reaction (rude, cursing, uncooperative) makes me think maybe he came back later and tried to make trouble for us. That's the only reason I can think of why our car with NOTHING valuable in it, let alone in sight, was targeted for a break in.

So I'm on my pre-bed Xbox360 round... blowing off steam from school and work.. when all of this ruckus is heard in the driveway. I look out to the light show of police cars and a young officer cuffing a much younger man and leading him back to a radio car. I look out the front window and there are 6-7 radio cars and a van that have corralled a small white sedan in the lot near the train fence at 32nd and Thompson. Apparently there was more than one young person in the apparently stolen/joyridden car. By 11:30, there were only 2-3 radio cars and a few officers on foot near the train tracks still waiting/searching for others involved, apparently. Anyone got the scoop on this drama?

Teddy - Not much to tell beyond what you worte ... you hit the nail on the head. It was actually the second stolen car of the day to crash at 32nd & Thompson! Another crashed into the pole on the corner around 8am ... I am sure you have seen the debris.

The incident you spoke of also netted a 9mm and "a decent amount" of pot according to an officer I spoke too on Saturday night.

The officer also said both the cars were stolen from farther North Philly ... there is a big car theft surge right now. The crime is being committed elsewhere and just crashing in our neighborhood!

Saw a car with its passenger side window smashed right on the corner of 18th and Brandywine this morning.

Our ford explorer was broken into last weekend on the 2700 block of PA ave. It was parked down by the train railing. Nothing stolen - nothing visible in the car (we leave NOTHING in there) - just a royal pain to deal with. Happy summer!

This morning on 30th between Poplar and Pennsylvania - two cars were damaged. It seems someone driving down 30th side swiped/hit the cars. Damage was substantial. The owner of one of the cars told me that this is the FOURTH time in ONE MONTH that his or his wife's cars have been smashed or had windows broken in the same vicinity.
Surprised that noone on 30th would have heard the "accident"....