Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Baby, You Can't Drive My Car...Or Sleep In It

A reader writes in:
"I left my home this morning at the corner of Racine and Wilson and wondered why the windows of my car parked on Racine were all fogged up. Upon closer inspection I found out that someone had broken into my car and was sleeping in my backseat!! I have been out of town for 5 days and got back late last night. I wonder just how long my car as served as this guy's temporary home. I called police, and they arrested him for trespass. These guys really are pushing their limits.

The photo is hard to see as the car window reflects my image, but if you look carefully you can see his hair, his ear, and his jacket as he sleeps soundly."

32 comments:

  1. Look...you weren't using it. What's the problem? Just wake him up and ask him to where he'd like to be chaufered (sp?). I'm sure you'll back me up Ron... right?

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  2. Wow that is nuts!

    That is why I always keep job applications on my back seat, just the sight of them scares away most Uptown residents.

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  3. Dude: Jesus man, whats that smell?

    Cop: Yes, probably a vagrant slept in the car. Or maybe just used it as a toilet and moved on.

    You and The Dude have something in common. Hopefully you still have your Creedence.

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  4. After my car window got busted when I parked in front of the crack house (hey, I didn't know!) at the corner of Malden and Leland, I sprang for a garage spot behind my apartment. Well, about two months ago, someone smashed my window AGAIN, this time stealing my Garmin--while I was parked in the garage. I've also noticed tallboys in paper bags around the garage, and this morning I went out to my car to find the garage door about 1/3 of the way open. My neighbors and I figure the rats are just getting really aggressive.

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  5. Just post a sign on the garage that says "W-2 Job Training Center". Your alley will be a ghost town for years to come. OK, won't mean much in IL, but that was Wisconsin's Welfare to Work program. Otherwise, just stock the garage with several cases of obscure west coast microbrews and slap some nuclear waste signs on your garage door. Might keep the vagrants away, but Homeland Security might show up...:)

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  6. We used to wonder why the car garage door was open when we had shut it. Turns out, that the doors leading into the garage could be opened by a screwdriver or a pen or anything long and flat. We installed a metal plate over the latch a year and a half ago and have had no problems since. We also upgraded the locks at the same time.

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  7. That's balls. Someone got into my Jeep a while back and apparently just sat there and ate Cheetos.

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  8. My wife had prostitutes turning tricks in her car when she lived in Wicker Park in the 90s. It was a crappy car, but she had it completely detailed when she found out.

    Gross, man. I think I would have had a hard time controlling my anger in that situation.

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  9. Somebody broke my back window on the 4900 block of Winthrop about two months ago. No signs of sleeping though.

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  10. I have a friend who has since moved to another state, he used to park at Leland and Racine and the homeless kept breaking into his van (it was a beater) so he reached an agreement that he wouldn't lock his car and they wouldn't use it as a toilet. Personally unless I drove a true beater I would lean towards the shotgun method, with salt loads. I got a good laugh from mmmmm...beacon - I thought of the same scene from the Big Lebowski and The Dude Abides.

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  11. what happened to the rest of the comments in this thread? There was nothing ofensive in them....

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  12. I think the censorship is getting a bit out of hand on this site. The BPN board, in it's heyday, was a much more democratic forum for discussion. UU is good for information only, not discussion of issues.

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  13. we need to be better neighbors. someone probably saw this and did not call the cops...

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  14. Just another problem with having too many social service agencies in the neighborhood. They attract the trash of society. I hope our new alderperson takes a strong stance against the over concentration of shelters and methodone clinics and a pro-stance for working families living in a safe and crime free environment and YES I do think there is a strong relationship between those that use these services and crime.

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  15. Of course there is a link. It's been proven. A quick Lexis-Nexis or Google search will proffer several studies and articles that support this.

    But what are we as citizens to do about it? I think continually calling the police is always a good idea, and installing locks, plates, motion lights, signs, cameras (real or fake) and the like will surely deter and lower the crime in your allies and streets.

    But then where will they go? It won't send them running away from the clinics, the shelters and the community organizations that give plenty of hand outs. Being homeless is not a crime, and having problems with mental illness and substance abuse is horrifically sad, but don't we all donate to charities and pay taxes and even, some of us, volunteer to help make a difference?

    At the end of the day, it isn't enough, and the concentration in combination with our alderman being out of touch, defiant and even, yes, corrupt has surely shown everyone we need more action!

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  16. I suppose that the owner of this blog has a right to censor certain comments, however, it would make considerably more sense if they only censored posts that were (1) inflammatory or (2) off-topic.

    Removal of my two posts is a bit silly. Read quickly b/c I suspect that this comment will be removed post-haste.

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  17. The only thing I was guilty of, was responding to a billyjoe post. Caring Neighbor, please explain.

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  18. This is why I keep a bag of morals and work ethic in my car. They are like kryptonite for human cockroaches like this.

    I am not sure why my previous post was censored. I (half joking) suggested using a legally registered shotgun to subtley teach this gentleman a lesson.

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  19. To those who are complaining about "censorship" on UU:
    If someone suggests that another person needs to be "shot" or anything of the sort, joking or not, it will deleted. We have no tolerance for this, or people who visit UU to simply derail the conversation. If you respond to a post that is doomed for deletion, it will be deleted too for comprehension's sake. It takes one second to delete a comment. We suggest if you find these policies too harsh, you visit another forum. It ain't happening here. Good Day.

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  20. That's all fine and good UU, but half of the posts deleted were not responding to the post that suggested people be shot. They were legitimate posts. I think in your haste to remove offending remarks, you inadvertently deleted worthwhile posts. And, for the record, I have no problem with the standards that you set for your blog.

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  21. For the record, I responded to a post that suggested it was "buyer beware" when moving into the neighborhood. I did NOT respond to any post regarding a shooting.

    I understand that need to delete posts suggesting that someone be shot, but you may want to read the comment to make sure it is not offensive or responding to an offensive comment before deleting it.

    Enforcing a policy against comments inciting or referencing violence does not require you to throw out common sense. It only requires you to read. I understand that it may be difficult to admit that you should not have deleted my comment, but it would be a significantly more honest approach.

    Mistakes do happen. Let's not try to cover a mistake by suggesting that we go elsewhere if we don't like it. Such a suggestion sounds eerily similar to someone suggesting that people move out of Uptown if they cannot tolerate drugs, gangs, property damage, etc.

    Lazy actions, coupled with terse comments do little good, unless you are campaigning to be on Shiller's staff.

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  22. You have said your piece now. Back on topic.

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  23. Yes, and speaking of...this guy found someone asleep in his car! Yikes!

    And when I have friends visit they are "pleased" to see they can park on the street sans permit in this 'hood.

    So that starts another thread: should we have permits? Do they deter parking by non-residents and, therefore, lower the amount of "strangers" in the area that could be parking to quickly visit thugs, buy drugs and reek havoc on us owners and renters? Do they make us pay a small fee which gets recycled back into our streets and schools (ideally) for some security and the right to have cars towed?

    Just a thought...

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  24. So that starts another thread: should we have permits?

    This is actually an interesting idea I never considered. Would the gangbangers and drug dealers spring for parking permits? If not, would they risk losing their car to the city after a couple of tickets? Do they even rely on cars? Would it merely force them to park elsewhere or to move completely if their customers and suppliers can't park on their street without being ticketed?

    Anyway, I ask too many questions...

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  25. BTW, I don't think permits would stop a guy from sleeping in your car if he's got a mind to.

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  26. Im not a fan of permits. I have friends I havn't seen for years due to panic attacks about having to park.

    Most of the gangbanger's cars have no city stickers and or temp plates. Scary how they seem to be able to drive around with this. I have a car on my street that has had a temp plate for over a year.

    Oh.. a neighbor of ours had his plate stolen a few weeks back. So keep an eye out for that going on as well.

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  27. chipdouglas said...
    Im not a fan of permits. I have friends I havn't seen for years due to panic attacks about having to park.

    Guess it depends on where you live. My friends starting coming around again after my street finally got enough owner signatures to enact permit parking. Prior to that, some residents were having to park 4 or 5 blocks away whenever there was a concert at the Riv or Aragon.

    My best advice, never leave anything in your car, not even spare change or MOTS' cheetos (that was pretty funny!) Beyond that, and most of all, what Weekend said:

    we need to be better neighbors. someone probably saw this and did not call the cops...

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  28. Racine between Wilson and Leland is a 24-hr permit zoned street. It does not stop people from parking on the street and obivously does not stop bums from sleeping in our cars.

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  29. I don't own a car, but the reason I thought about permits is that perhaps they do deter. I thought maybe you could call 311 to have an unpermitted vehicle ticketed and/or towed, which might increase awareness that residents are paying attention to their cars and other people's cars.

    Maybe this guy noticed the car hadn't moved, since the owner was gone for 5 days. Perhaps he just thought it had been abandoned, as I have seen happen on Uptown streets before. No excuses, but maybe more action concerning cars and parking could really deter from messing with cars around here? Would be nice to see some data on this if there is any...

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  30. My best advice, never leave anything in your car, not even spare change or MOTS' cheetos (that was pretty funny!)

    Actually the funny part is that they brought their OWN Cheetoes into the car...

    Racine between Wilson and Leland is a 24-hr permit zoned street. It does not stop people from parking on the street

    But wouldn't a phone call to the police do it? A few tickets to the interlopers and it might stop.

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  31. We are on a first-name basis with the officers who ticket on our street all day long. I've actually emailed with a Sergeant at the 23rd district and he also encourages us to "call 911, it's the appropriate thing to do. Also, if you think about it, having officers driving down your street more often while writing tickets will result in higher police presence in an area that could definitely use a little more of it. So it really benefits your block in other ways as well". We call 311 every evening at 6pm when the Truman students park for night class and there is no parking for residents returning home from work. People either don't care about $60 tickets or simply do not notice the 6 signs on the street.

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