The Downey Patriot

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Neighborhood riff raff

Dear Editor:Imagine you've worked hard, very hard to save for a house of your dreams. We found ours located alongside the golf course off Old River School Road. Once you get moved in, start with the renovations, you and your spouse are happy and feel blessed. Now imagine you look out your window as the sun starts to set and you see a car full of youths parked directly in front of your house smoking pipes of pot and drinking beer, blasting music. At first we thought maybe it was a fluke; we hoped it was. But they kept coming and coming. Not the same car, but different cars all the time. Now imagine you walk to your front door and along the way having to stop to pick beer cans off your lawn, used condoms off your sidewalk and bags of fast food wrappers thrown everywhere. It sure looked like a great area when we shopped the house, what went wrong? Yes, we've called the police. They made one arrest. But you know, they just keep coming anyway. We installed sensor lights. We've tried. In fact, our little visitors don't discriminate the daylight. They'll show up in the middle of the afternoon while we're working in our yard and start puffing away as if nothing matters. What a major disappointment our dream house has become. All the times we went to view the house there was never riff raff hanging about. Constantly looking out our windows, not at the sunset but at clouds of smoke, trash and wasted kids that snarl at your when you check them out. All we can do is call the cops or hassle them off the street. Great, right? Imagine it happening in front of your home. It's been a little over a year now. How would you handle it? Brett Pollak Downey

********** Published: January 31, 2013 - Volume 11 - Issue 42