Neighborhood watch craziness

"Bryan doesn't drive a 1M" (bryantakespictures)
10/23/2020 at 12:10 • Filed to: None

We’re shopping for houses and I was investigating some neighborhood FB pages for giggles when I came across this. Further down the thread, one of them talks about being frustrated that they called the police about this and the police didn’t respond. Maybe because no crime was being committed!?

I currently live in Kent, WA and I’ve gotten some pretty disappointing reactions from people when I mention that. It’s a middle class suburb of Seattle, and not as overwhelmingly white as a lot of the PNW. For reference, the median home price is $493,000 (low for the Seattle area, but not exactly affordable). Multiple people I’ve talked to over the 11 years I’ve lived here have mentioned how “scary” or “sketchy” it is here. One of them was even here after dark one time! Obviously that’s coded language, which makes it all the more disappointing.

Anyway, I just wish suburban white people weren’t so terrified all the time.

DISCUSSION (45)

For Sweden > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M
10/23/2020 at 12:29

Is that a Kia

HammerheadFistpunch > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M
10/23/2020 at 12:31

As a dad, I understand the feel of the unfamiliar car in the neighborhood

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

But this is on a whole other level of busybodies.

Wacko > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M
10/23/2020 at 12:34

Wait, something is wrong, a Mazda protege that’s not rusted to hell, I would be worried too

Wacko > For Sweden
10/23/2020 at 12:35

Looks like a 90s - 2003 protege

TheD0k_2many toys 2little time > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M
10/23/2020 at 12:36

Here in the midwest we would either know exactly whose car it was cause we talked to them after they got out for 10mins or we would move it ourselves with a tow strap if its in the way

For Sweden > Wacko
10/23/2020 at 12:37

I thought it looked suspicious

S65 > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M
10/23/2020 at 12:38

Goddamn, they need a hobby

sony1492 > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M
10/23/2020 at 12:40

L esson being, if your gonna plan to rob a neighborhood roll around in a nice new stolen or financed car.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M
10/23/2020 at 12:42

When I was doing a pipeline alignment study in Lake Oswego near Portland OR we had cards we handed out to noisy neighbors. Even in a nice clean hyundai elantra rental car we were low class for those neighborhoods and were looked at with suspicion. Lucky I am a very white tall guy wearing an orange safety vest .

slipperysallylikespenguins > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever
10/23/2020 at 12:56

Lake Oswego is known by some in the area as Lake NoNegro, seriously. It’s so old and white.

Beefchips > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M
10/23/2020 at 13:01

Sigh, why not just go down to the curb and talk to the driver? Hell of a lot easier than trying to get the 5-0 to come out.

mhr555 > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M
10/23/2020 at 13:05

All this is so ridiculous.

Dear Karen and Karen’s closeted gay husband, no one is coming for you. The cities are not post apocalyptic cesspools how Fox News depicts them. Soros isn’t trying to do X, Y and Z like that chain email you forwarded says he is.

Speaking of this sort of shit...anyone see the ad on other Kinja sites with the minority father rushing home to a suburban home to gather up his wife and two kids and whisk them away to “safety”???

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > slipperysallylikespenguins
10/23/2020 at 13:14

We were excavating basalt bedrock right through the middle of town. It was fun.

Bryan doesn't drive a 1M > sony1492
10/23/2020 at 13:20

What if you’re prowling around for hubcaps?

BaconSandwich is tasty. > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M
10/23/2020 at 13:26

I would expect ritzy neighborhoods like that to have alloys, not steelies with hubcaps. :|

SBA Thanks You For All The Fish > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M
10/23/2020 at 13:28

It’s coded language for “mis-matched rims”.

Say what you want, but people are scared. Was up in Park City the other day— and the place is full of CA and WA license plates— people getting out of LA, SF and Seattle. The fear might be false, but the flight out to ‘safer’ locales is real.

Ask any realtor these days— “How safe is this area?” is back to Top of The Charts for questions prospects are asking. This is happening:

https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/2020-San-Francisco-exodus-is-real-and-historic-15484785.php

SBA Thanks You For All The Fish > For Sweden
10/23/2020 at 13:29

Are you a cop? Because you ask questions like a cop.

ZHP Sparky, the 5th > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M
10/23/2020 at 13:29

Ha this is the same kind of silliness I’ve heard is rampant on sites like NextDoor - might be a good thing for you to check out, but think you need to actually live in the neighborhood to get access?

Our entire neighborhood had their mailboxes robbed recently, so we finally joined to be in the loop on the discussion about that (and the thieves seemed to be stuffing things that they considered to be junk in other peoples’ boxes as they went around the neighborhood...and we had lost some photo prints that happened to arrive that day in the mail, so was hoping they might reappear in someone else’s box). Curious (and also a bit hesitant) to learn the level of minutia my neighbors are complaining about about - hey maybe I’m featured on there being the dark skinned guy in a hoodie walking around at dusk sometimes! (We’re in Portland, so very similar demographics - our neighborhood has a lot of Somali immigrants, so there’s always “concern” around more affordable housing being built in the vicinity)

ZHP Sparky, the 5th > slipperysallylikespenguins
10/23/2020 at 13:31

Ha yup, I’m just at the border of SW Portland and LO. It’s a “nice” place but I can’t imagine being part of those circles or having my kid go to school there.

From recent news there this past summer - https://www.opb.org/article/2020/08/05/neighbors-ask-lake-oswego-family-to-remove-signage-in-support-of-black-lives-matter/

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M
10/23/2020 at 13:34

Once while I was Doordashing, I pulled over a few houses down after a delivery in a subdivision so I could eat a snack. I saw a kid throw down his bike in the yard a few minutes later and run up to the house but I didn’t think anything of it. When I finished my snack I saw the bike still sitting there my eyes traveled up to the porch of the house (up a steep hill). I saw the kid standing there almost in tears and a mom holding his hand looking bloody murder at me. My best guess is that they had been standing there observing the random (white) guy in a car with the windows down parked sort of near their yard eating power bars for at least a minute. I burst out laughing and just drove away but I still wonder what would happen if I did that again. Probably get dragged out of the car at gunpoint if I weren’t the most straight looking white dude in existence (glasses help I think) .

Yeah that’s ridiculous. Because poor people don’t replace hubcaps and you can’t have any poors around. Their skin might even be half as dark as their windows!

I know exactly what you’re talking about though and I know firsthand exactly how unreasonable it often is. Imagine the scandal if a panhandler wandered into the neighborhood!

Reminds me of that time someone knocked on my door demanding ice for a nearly empty bottle of Le Crois at dusk and claimed to have walked an impossible distance that day.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Wacko
10/23/2020 at 13:36

Believe it or not, there is a land where white stuff doesn’t fall from the sky and Mazda Proteges don’t have a non-zero number of rust holes.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > ZHP Sparky, the 5th
10/23/2020 at 13:39

God forbid affordable housing go up in the area! Better tear it down so they have no choice but to be seen in public when they become homeless.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > SBA Thanks You For All The Fish
10/23/2020 at 13:40

Because the traffic isn’t bad enough trying to get into the city. Though with no commute I can kind of see the appeal when WFH.

sony1492 > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M
10/23/2020 at 13:43

Then call the police

For Sweden > SBA Thanks You For All The Fish
10/23/2020 at 13:51

Everyone is a cop

duurtlang > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M
10/23/2020 at 13:56

That’s one of the interesting things about the US . Why are people so scared? It does explain the odd politics and media though. Fear is a great motivator, but it tends to inhibit calm and rational thought.

smobgirl > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M
10/23/2020 at 13:57

Back when I bought my house, I had a realtor tell me he couldn’t work with me because he wouldn’t feel right selling me (single white woman) a house in the neighborhoods I could afford.

Nowhere in Denver is as dangerous as some of the places I go for work (particularly coming from Richmond) . It’s fine.

DipodomysDeserti > Beefchips
10/23/2020 at 14:50

Asking a Seattleite to talk to a stranger?! That’s absurd!

Bryan doesn't drive a 1M > smobgirl
10/23/2020 at 15:39

Well that’s just silly. Spending more than you can afford would be a lot riskier than living in the wrong neighborhood.

Bryan doesn't drive a 1M > ZHP Sparky, the 5th
10/23/2020 at 15:42

I’m in the FB group for my current neighborhood because it’s the only place for timely updates on road closures or maintenance issues. It’s also been helpful for finding recommendations for work or food. But the vast majority of it is people bitching at each other for perceived slights or complaining about “the kind of people that like to use the community basketball court.”

Bryan doesn't drive a 1M > DipodomysDeserti
10/23/2020 at 15:42

Seriously so accurate.

Bryan doesn't drive a 1M > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
10/23/2020 at 15:48

I have seen complaints like that in my own neighborhood. People sitting in their cars “doing nothing” seems to be a very suspicious activity. It doesn’t help that everyone has security cameras now which alert them to any and all movement. Can’t imagine spending my freetime looking through footage like that, but to each their own.

Bryan doesn't drive a 1M > duurtlang
10/23/2020 at 15:49

It explains a whole lot about us. People are scared because we’ve had it drilled into our heads since kindergarten that everyone different from you is out to get you. Extrapolate from there and you can understand many of our social and economic problems.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M
10/23/2020 at 15:55

I found it hilarious but actually being alarmed enough to call the police is a whole other matter. No crime is being committed and it’s not as though I’m taking spy photos of their house for an upcoming burglary. Just a dude sitting in a car (with the windows down) eating.

Reminds me of this one friend whose across-the-street neighbor is always coming over to complain about me street parking vaguely across from his mailbox (not even driveway which I wasn’t doing). Hate to see his reaction if he lived on my street which several times a year is flooded with parked cars on both sides during football games and school dances at the nearby MS gym /HS stadium. It reduces it to a one laner and lots of late night shouting etc but that’s none of my business.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > slipperysallylikespenguins
10/23/2020 at 16:47

... and the number of people out jogging in the morning gave me the impression nobody had to work for a living

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M
10/23/2020 at 16:50

You've got a community basketball court? Lucky. As long as they aren't leaving it full of trash why are you complaining?

WilliamsSW > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M
10/23/2020 at 17:03

Jesus. There’s a guy who, for whatever reason, parks a beat to shit (like bungee cords holding the trunk shut) , rusty silver Mitsu Mirage in front of my house most days. Home prices in the neighborhood average probably ~650k or so but quite a few are over $1M.

He parks the car, then walks off across the street and down the next block. I’ve always been curious as to why the hell he does it, instead of parking closer to his actual destination (the streets are empty ) , but I don’t want to bother him (and I rarely see him actually parking).

Would I prefer that he park elsewhere? Yeah probably - but at the same time there are no curbs, so half the idiots around here park on my grass, which he *never* does, so I let him be. Whatever he’s doing is harmless. I’m certainly not afraid of him. If I was a dick, he might actually be afraid of me if anything.

Wacko > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
10/23/2020 at 17:17

Imagination land?

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Wacko
10/23/2020 at 17:20

Well strangers on the internet are bots until proven otherwise so maybe I don’t exi

*line goes dark*

Jim Spanfeller > duurtlang
10/23/2020 at 17:55

Because ever since we were children, we’ve had “ stranger danger! ” drilled into our heads? Also, the media in America is a private business, and they use fear tactics to make you keep watching/reading/listening to them. It sucks, but it works. If you look at American news compared to news from other countries where news is government-funded (such as BBC N ews), American news freaks out about everything to try to hook you in, whereas something like BBC News will be much more calm and describe what’s being done about the problem. Of course, when news is funded by the government, that could mean that the government has influence on it, but it does remove the incentive to use fear tactics. So both systems have their pros and cons, and I’m not really sure which one is better. But it is something worth thinking about.

Bryan doesn't drive a 1M > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
10/23/2020 at 18:08

It is nice to have. Dude that lives directly across from it doesn’t think the people using it are from our neighborhood and actually managed to get the whole court shut down for everyone for a while. All of the parents complained since their kids wanted to use it and our HOA dues pay to maintain it. They re-opened it after about a month of drama.

Bryan doesn't drive a 1M > WilliamsSW
10/23/2020 at 18:10

It’s that logical leap from “cheap car” to criminal that irks me.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M
10/23/2020 at 18:14

And even if like 25% of people weren't from the neighborhood. . . . . . . ???? Why is that an issue for him?

WilliamsSW > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M
10/23/2020 at 18:20

Yep, that’s irritating - and usually racist, too.

But there’s also the “that car doesn’t *belong* in my neighborhood” crowd, which is also bad.

subexpression > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M
10/23/2020 at 19:07

PNW, coded language, yep checks out. Also, sites like that absolutely cater to the terrified suburbanite demographic, so don’t use that alone to judge a neighborhood.

What you’re talking about is my everyday life. I work in tech, which has been almost completely taken over by wealthy white liberal suburbanites (at least down at the worker bee level I like to stay at), and they’re only comfortable with people like themselves . I think more and more about getting out of this field, but I’m 40 and I’m not good at much else so instead I’m trying to steer my career in directions where I don’t have to deal with people quite as much. Smiling and p utting on the suburbanite act for a few minutes at a time is workable, doing it constantly is exhausting and pushes me in to serious depression .