Fort Wayne ,,,well I'll be ...I spent some time out near there, Monroeville to be exact. That was back in 1965, The house I was staying at was right across from a ballfield.. Every night we sat and watched a ball game . It seems like it was a thousand years ago. I wonder what it is like there now.
It was a sleepy little town then. I got such a kick one time when I went into town to buy a box of Polaroid film and the guy at the drug store/general store had no idea where I could get any unless I drove to Ft. Wayne. The town was so quiet that I could not pass up taking a photo of a corn stalk growing up out of a crack in the main street.
I did get to Ft. Wayne a few times and as I remember the down town area it was about 4 or 5 streets and town hall at the end .
It seemed like a nice clean place but looked like it was falling over a bit . The town hall had a few broken windows up at the top .
It amazed me that the road from Monrroeville to Ft. Wayne ( Monroeville Rd, ) at that time had NO speed limit and there were a few RR crossings with no lights or bells , you were on your own ..

Not to take away from the NW Philly aspect of the posts....

Fort Wayne is not like what it was TEN years ago, let alone tossing it back to the 60s!!!
As for Monroeville....it's built up a bit, but still is trying to retain a lot of that "small town charm" that USED to be indicative of the Midwest.

Our particular block is much of what Rhawnhurst USED to be like about 25 years ago...on the surface that is. It LOOKS like it only. Tree lined streets, curbs, no 2 houses built the same (architects must have loved that)...none of the "cookie-cutter post WW2 housing that pervades a lot of cities today (and a lot of older suburbs).

And that is where any similarity ENDS...(abruptly).

If you like boomcars..move here. If you like people treating YOUR property as the neighborhood trash receptacle...move here. If you like fireworks shot over or onto your house...move here. If you like gunshots and public urination...move here. If you like cops catching a perp on your lawn at 2AM...by all means, move here.If you like stress...move here.

I've steeled myself a bit to deal with this. You just HAVE to. I've already seen WAY too many (good) people move away, citing they can't take it anymore. Me? I just went out and bought a couple guns...something I NEVER had to do at ANY time in philly, although I spent a LOT of time (& rounds) as a guest at a gun club on Keystone St. Then again, I'm one of the GOOD guys...I shouldn't be forced to move.

But we can blame landlords that snatch up houses, turn them into hovel-esque RENTALS and move in the worst human flotsam on the planet...all for the all-mighty BUCK. And who reaps the "benefit"...WE do...decent, WORKING people who are told to either "deal with it or just move"..., while all the time, WE can't go out and enjoy the area, are targets of thieves, burglars and who knows what else simply for he fact that we EARNED what we have, and never had our hand out for the "freebie gravy train" that too many undeservedly enjoy. Fair should be fair.

I've had two articles printed in local papers about what I'm trying to get done, and you'd think the city would lend some sort of hand...BWAHAHAHA...yeah right. like THAT'S going to happen. It hasn't. by the way.

Sadly, this is a disease that permeates EVERY city in America.

Sorry to ramble on like that...I'm just passionate about making this area I live in prosperous again, no matter WHAT the city wants (or doesn't want) to do. Blame it on a military mindset...no retreat...so surrender!
And until such time as the heavens open up, drop me a TON o' money on my front steps and I can start living MY dream, we'll just fight from whatever trench is available, and work through whatever nightmare is dealt to us.

Just remember...forget everything you heard about the "Heartland of America"...unless you live WAY out in the "sticks" near a LOT of Amish...!

It ain't your Father's Indiana anymore!

__________________
We're ALL in the same boat...just at DIFFERENT oars!

Bob G.

Celebrating your birthday CAN be "hazardous" to one's health...

Submitted for your approval, a loudass audio-moron constantly driving past my house, attempting to unseat the plater from the walls.
I shine my trusty laser pointer cat toy into his car (not illegal according city/county ordinances), and he stops, backs up and proceeds to unleash a tirade of racial epithets and proposed sexual deviancies upon me and my wife. In other words..."The MOUTH That Roared"...LOL!
I then pointed a BB gun at him (not the best defense...just an intimidating one)...nope...he didn't back down. In fact, he said GO AHEAD...SHOOT ME... And I told him IF he came ONTO my property, I'd oblige him (yeah, I was bluffing worse than a riverboat novice)...

Still, I've always been one who doesn't mind HELPING PEOPLE OUT when they ASK for it, so imagine my angst at NOT having my REAL gun handy (enough) to bow to his desire. Another missed chance at helping one's fellow man.

Well, after bantering words with this lower primate, I call the police. They arrive and I explain, calmly how this guiy has been annoying this neighborhood for MONTHS with his loud bass speakers. I suggested that if he didn't want any confrontation, he SHOULD have just shut the damn thing off wheever he came down the street.

The police were shall we say..."less than understanding" as far as *I* was concerned...seems they believed HIS lies more than MY truths....yes, I have NO criminal past at all. SO much for 54 years of "good behavior", eh?

Well...seems that the police call is being turned over to the prosecutor's office for "consideration" pursuant to a RESTRAINING ORDER....on...you guessed it...ME!
((my quiet light is more of a threat than 130 Db rap music...didn't know that))

Another funny thing...I didn't hear the word JUSTICE in there either.

So that means that HE can do what he wants...and I can do NOTHING, when HE is the one doing EVERYTHING to annoy ME and this neighborhood, and I have done NOTHING to him in the first place....yeah, right....that dog just don't hunt for me, sorry!

IBut if it comes to going downtown, I"m prepared with documentation about this guy...frequency of drive-bys..times, etc. Personally, I'd LOVE to get me one of "those" lawyers that would salivate at the mention of SUING THE CITY AND THE COUNTY over false informing (by this moron), failure to enforce the noise ordinance to ensure a "quiet repose" as it states IN the ordinance, and for defamation of character (mine).
I could sue for $1 MILLION dollars (just like Dr. Evil), but I would settle out of court for ...say...$200K (nice round figure).
THAT would be enough for me to take the money, pack up the whole thing and MOVE THE HELL AWAY from this city (taking OUR tax monies with us)...at least that would be a few thousand LESS each year in this city to help the limp, lame and lazy.

The sad part is that this house is almost paid off...and my wife grew UP here (it was her parents' house before we got it), and damn it all....I should not HAVE to move when I'm NOT the one initiating racial intimidation, audio terrorism, or anything else these "people" do to get good folks to move away. Fair SHOULD BE fair. Laws are there for everyone..or they mean nothing at all.

Be nice to have about THIRTY people walk up, surround his car, drag him out and beat the living piss out of him...and tell him that EVERY time he booms through the area..the same thing will happen...wonder how many times it would take before he "got the message"? Now THAT used to be called justice.
Hell...at this point, I'm all for buying this idiot a PLANE ticket back to his "motherland".

Anyway...that is how I spent my birthday....no one ever said it not "fun" living in America's Heartland...or did they?

__________________
We're ALL in the same boat...just at DIFFERENT oars!

Bob G.

Bob G., can't you just come back to Philadelphia? I can guarantee that Rhawnhurst is nowhere near that level of audaciousness. My parents still live there. It would always be nice to know that there are more nice people living near them. Besides, you could have all the figs, tomatoes, pears and peaches you could eat!

HG:
Audacious doesn't even BEGIN to cover that activities of these "people".

My Grandmom used to live at Loney & Loretto Aves. I know Rhawnhurst quite well. Took THREE buses to get there, but it was worth the ride...every time my Mom and I went there!
The neighbor had a KOI pond...and flowers galore! It was a nice corner property. And it was about as serene as you could get in the city.

I have a very similar property here in Fort Wayne...but THAT is where ANY similarity ends (quite abruptly).

These "people" live by ONE creed alone:
"What's YOURS is MINE...and what's MINE is MY OWN"

They think they have the God-given RIGHT to disrespect you at every turn, deface your property (I still can't get my lawn growing on our front yard), wake you from a sound sleep at 3AM on a regular basis, deal drugs on YOUR block, and so many other abnormalcies that I won't list them all...

And the police effectively have their hands tied, thanks to the ACLU, NAACP and otheres, all for the sake of "diversity" and "equality". The police have become more "diplomat" than enforcement officer these days.

Dear, there is NOTHING equal about being chased from YOUR home, your house...your neighborhood. Yet I have seen that time and again around here. The one detective that came over even told he that he ADMIRED my sticking it out all these years. And he is originally from NYC, so he KNOWS what I deal with.
Yet all the time, the reply when I question those in authority is:
"Well, if you don't like it...why don't you just MOVE?"

And then I get this "Am I really HEARING this?" look on my face, at that totally asinine sentence I just heard.
I am the GOOD GUY here.
I don't BOTHER anyone.
I do everything I can to take PRIDE in what I have toiled for.
And I get THAT response?

No one wants to make the "bad guys" move...they'd much rather have THEM drive YOU away...for more low-income housing (after your house becomes the latest rental).

Sorry to vent...I just get bothered when equality means something 180 degrees AWAY from what Websters Dictionary states.

Thanks for the invite...I will keep it in mind, rest assured.

You've helped me get a litle closer to my "center" again...LOL!

Thanks!

__________________
We're ALL in the same boat...just at DIFFERENT oars!

Bob G.

Oh, Loretto and Loney, very nice. My parents are at Loretto and Shelmire, so I know it all very well. When it is time to come back, you know you always have a home in Philadelphia.

Hey Ft. Wanye..
I too had a problem with a nit wit radio guy . He would drive down the street every night about 1:30 or 2:00 am with the stupid thing thumping .
One night I followed him and saw where he lived . Oddly he shut off the noise about a block from his house.
Any way ,early one mornning I walked by there with a brick with a note tied to it and set it on his windshield.
The note read , Hey A-hole ,,,,,I know where you live now . The next time your radio wakes me up at 2AM I will deliver a new brick on your front seat,

That was a year ago and He has not been heard since.
You have to be just as rude as them or they dont understand.

Cripes, Dogg...that kind of behavior HERE would get you a restraining order...BY the frigging PERP himself...LOL!
(Justice must be blind AND hard of hearing)

I've done the laser pointer (legal), as well as a MILLION candlepower spotlight (also legal), and SOME of these intards STILL don't get the message. Slingshots are kinda cool...quiet and they NEVER know where it's coming from. Grab a 40 lb bag of pebbles for $2.00 at the local Hechingers...and yer good to go for a few months...LMAO!

But...thanks to technology, I've got my latest "Ace in the hole"...

A Crosman CO2-powered BB pistol (CP99 compact...new on the market)...and I'll be honest with 'ya....at 335 FPS muzzle velocity, this can do some damage <vbeg>!
I could nail me a $hitload of rats down by the river at Unruh St. with THIS baby, like my Dad and I "used" to do years ago.
My buddies and used to buy ALL our "weapons" at the old Woodhaven Mall...and the Woolco there...talk about the good old days!

BTW...in Fort Wayne, we can STILL own and shoot BB guns...(and apparently in some neighborhoods use FIREARMS)....maybe THAT'S why we call it the "badlands"...gezzus, that hearkens back to Philly days...places even the PD wouldn't go (North Philly)....got 'em here now too...!

Damn shame I can't get the city "fathers" up to speed on the ADVERSE effects of LOUD car stereos....maybe they're DEAF???

Vibro-Acoustic Disorder
Sound as a WEAPON (LRAD)
Educational failure issues
Hearing loss (DUH?)
High blood pressure
Migraines

And these are only SOME of the physiological problems related to this. There are a lot more dealing with auto safety, property damage, and the like.

But I don't merely make this $hit up....it's FACT.

Just wish more people would grow some balls and speak the hell UP about it!

"Maybe tomorrow"?

(typical head in the sand response)

It's not a problem that a little C-4 couldn't fix...once and for all, is it?

__________________
We're ALL in the same boat...just at DIFFERENT oars!

Bob G.

great idea!!!!! I love it!!!

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