Repairs
$500 later I have a new driver side rear vent window in my car. It's a damned shame that my insurance company bases their deductibles on a calendar year, but c'est la vie.
Many people have asked me when I'm moving out of my neighborhood. Besides the downward lifestyle move relocating would entail, I don't really know how much difference it would make. According to all the police with whom I've spoken, the simple fact is this: I live alone and work long hours, making me a choice target. Thieves don't even need to know if I have anything worthwhile in my home or car, since they know they have ample opportunity to look for themselves. Unless I either (a) get a roommate (not likely at this stage of my life and level of independence), or (b) move to a gated community (not likely due to my income level and general abhorrence of the concept), I will remain a prime target for burglaries and window-smashing.
Of course, I could always move to the outskirts of Nowhere, Montana, and live in a cabin miles from my nearest primate neighbor, but that doesn't suit me. It would only be a matter of time before I lost what little semblance of socialization I have and became a manifesto-writing, bomb-throwing anarchist, and I hate sequels too much for that.
11 Comments:
I live alone, work long hours and travel for extended periods of time and have not once, in living in the same house for 18 years, had anything...anything...happen to my house or cars. Granted, I own 1 car that is kept in the garage, but there was a time when I owned 2 and there was never any type of damage gone to the one that sat in the driveway. In fact, the only time that I've ever had my car burglarized was years ago in the MIA parking garage. My trunk was popped and my spare tire taken.
It is where you live, Kevin, and it could be just a couple guys who know something of your routine and have had success there before. They are creatures of habit and love sticking to what has worked in the past.
Your plan about moving out to a cabin in Montana sounds grand to me. Ted K. gave that kind of lifestyle a bad name.
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I live on south beach (supposedly a high crime area), drive a bmw (though an old beatup one), and have never had any problem whatsoever.
Actually I take that back -- my dad's car had the window pried open to get at the guest parking pass. They've since changed the parking pass system to deter thieves.
You didn't have anything visible inside your car, did you?
How about moving to a condo?
Lower crime neighborhood?
Bulletproof glass?
Do you have a garage attached to your house? I live alone, BUT my car is always, always, always parked in the garage, and my lights are on timers, so no-one ever knows whether I am home or not, based on the "activity" they can perceive from the street. I also leave the television on for the dogs. Oh, and then there are the dogs.
The only thing that pisses me off is the nimrods who leave flyers and things on my door, since it's a big old advertisement that there's nobody home. If I ever catch one of those people, I might shoot them...
P.S. If you don't have a garage, perhaps consider getting a motion-detector light fixture, and pointing the lights at the car?
Somebody knows your hours and routine. Can you change anything?
If you leave your car empty, unlocked, and accessible, whoever it is might take spiteful revenge and trash it.
Are there neighbors with whom you could create a Neighborhood Watch Committee?
Do the nuns across the street have alibis? (yeah I know: they have habits.)
I blame Alesh.
I agree with the above. It's the neighborhood, the thugs that know your routine, and lack of garage space. I would move. My two cents. You've heard it before.
Forget Miami. Relocate to Boston! :-D
Ugh squared (since I forgot to comment "ugh" after you posted the picture).
I guess it's a balance. If the break ins, theft and damage are not bothering you enough to want to move, then maybe they aren't that bad in the general scheme of things, or you have more inertia holding you in place than force to make you move.
But you could probably do a few lights that are not easily accesible, set on a timer to go on and off. Maybe something that makes a fucking loud noise and makes threats. You are probably being hit by the same person/people each time -- criminals really are like that, according to my friends at the sheriff's department up here.
Maybe we should all start sending you house listings from other areas ;) I just worry that one day these numbnuts will go after you, not your car.
To answer a couple of points (if anyone is still reading comments here), I have floodlights on a randomized timer all around the house and in fact, the burglar had to stand silhouetted in a spotlight to smash the window. I don't have a garage available to me, so that isn't much of an option. And the nuns have alibis (but not habits that I've ever seen; it must be a modern order).
I moved to Miami from DC, and had my car broken into at least 5 times. But each time it was b/c I had left something on the seat of my car. So, make sure you NEVER leave anything in your car.
I have a strange philosophy @ these break-ins, too. I see them as a sort of neighborhood tax. I didn't move from my neighborhood after the break-ins, and ended up becoming the most popular neighborhood in DC. Plus I was blessed by a rent-controlled apt! I suggest you stay. Stick it out.
Plus, I recommend that you make yourself more visible in the neighborhood. You work long hours. Can you spend some of that time volunteering in the neighborhood, or taking a walk down the street and chatting with neighbors? I had no break-ins after I become known in the neighborhood for being a friendly "Connector" who greeted everyone -- in English or Spanish. You'd be surprised how beneficial it can be to have allies in the neighborhood -- from all walks of life -- who could stop that "thug" from breaking into your car again.
Just my two cents ...
- CJ in Little Havana
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