actually, i'm moving from 19th and poplar, the very most edge of fairmount. i've heard gunshots on my block, had my house broken into (while i was home!! i had to DRIVE the intruder in my car in order to get him to leave. long story), been offered drugs, and had a "neighbor" ask for money over here (another long story). i've also lived in south boston, cambridge, and the garden district of new orleans. the only place where neighbors have ever asked for money is philly! hmmm.

Yea, Im from NYC and never had a neighbor ask for money?!? I have walked down the block and seen a lady performing oral sex on a man which was the norm for that brooklyn neighborhood, walked by a few dead bodies and had panhandlers approach me but NEVER had a neighbor ask for cash until I moved here.

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Joanna

While very effective, the only problem with the confrontational approach is a potential ripple effect; i.e., these hooligans could always come back and quietly vandalize your property, and unless you have them doing it on videotape, you're SOL in doing anything about it.

I've found the opposite, when you stand up to them and get them to leave you alone, then indeed they leave you alone. There is one specific kid in my neighborhood that is just completely worthless (I've seen him put in a cop car twice) who once I yelled at him for sitting on my steps, won't even look me in the eyes and apologized the one other time we caught him. Maybe Port Richmond kids aren't as tough as Fishtown kids.

I had the same problem with pedestrians walking over the mulch around my tree and scattering it all over the sidewalk, so I put up some inexpensive and very easy-to-install foot-high railings that I bought at Home Depot and haven't had a problem with that since. It also keeps the neighborhood dogs from piling it on around my tree too.

Thats it. Set the boundaries, they will sell their place to someone in a few years, hopefully to me! If you give any more money they will think your soft and will hit you up, or spread word to the others about you being soft.

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Chris
Sustainable Building
From Foundation to Finish
www.thestockgroup.net

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy"
Franklin

A friend of mine lived on the 1200 block of Palmer St. The neighbor kids would sit on the Top of her car and not get off. My-kids-on-stoop-problem seemed pretty manageable in comparison...