Thursday, November 16, 2006

Tonight I went to a neighborhood watch meeting.

There's an organization in San Francisco (and in most cities) that helps neighborhoods deal with safety and some quality of life issues. Tonight's meeting was the first step in organizing the people on our block to help prevent crimes and respond appropriately when they do happen. Volunteers for various tasks were solicited (I signed up for the easiest task) and the beginnings of a plan were put into place.

All in all, it was a very civil and sedate meeting. No one got freaked out about crime and we all made nice nice. That was until the meeting facilitator opened up the floor to anyone with an issue. What we then learned is that people on my block don't really have safety issues, they have parking issues.

Person A was mad that people park across their driveways. Person B urged us to help each other fight parking tickets, by erasing the chalk marks that the meter maids use to ticket cars without residential parking permits. Person C thought that Person B's idea was horrible, and was actually counterproductive to being able to park in our own neighborhood.

An excellent argument ensued. The meeting facilitator yelled at us, and a small part of me secretly hoped that irony would rule the day, and a fist fight would break out at this, our very first neighborhood safely meeting. Alas, it did not come to blows. :(

But maybe we'll make our neighborhood a teeny bit safer. And maybe I'll get to see a good fight at the next meeting. That would make a MUCH better blog post.

6 comments:

Ev said...

If my tongue was that dirty, I wouldn't keep it in my mouth either.

carey said...

Gotta admit, that mug provided my first big laugh of the day. Thanks.

Curious to know what the easiest task is...turning your front porch light on?

Mike said...

Hiya Ev! You may be right about my tongue being dirty, but you certainly couldn't tell from this nearly wholesome blog of mine. It's not like I blog about the conversations I have with Pablo about the relative merits of midget porn vs shemale porn.

Carey, my task is to buy some metal engraver doohicky so that people can borrow it. The guy who volunteered for the previous task has to create a block "map" for dozens of houses. I just have to walk down to our hardware store.

Kat Campbell said...

Cool! Do you neighborhood watchers get to have hats and badges and stuff as symbols of your lofty status? We are so lazy here in Ohio, we post the Neighborhood Watch sign, but nobody attends the meetings.

zelda1 said...

We live in a neighborhood that is protected by the neighborhood watch, but we have never seen anyone watching nor have we been invited to a meeting. I would attend a meeting that might erupt in slight violence. Yep, I wouldn't mind seeing a couple of duds bitch slap each other.

Mike said...

Kat, so far no hats, badges, or accessories of any kind have been offered. I could go for a nice sash.

Zelda1, our would-be fighters were all women, so that would have made the fight even more interesting