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it's expensive being poor
2016-Nov-14, Monday 05:02 pmWhile my car has been parked at my house this year, it has been rear-ended by a drunk driver, nearly-scraped by a doped up driver (who destroyed other cars on the block and a fire hydrant which took months for the city to finally repair), and had the driver side door messed up by someone trying to break into it.
Now I can add bullet holes to the list.
When the first few bullets were fired around 10:10pm, they sounded like they were practically in front of my house. I was sitting by the front window, so I dove for the floor and started dialing 911. Then the second round of bullets were fired, and I realized that the sofa probably wasn't much of a barrier. I ran upstairs to sit in the bathtub to finish dialing 911.
After confirming that police were on the way, I went outside to start looking around. It's pitch black here. We do have street lights on our block, but they are dim and nowhere close to my house. As police headlights brightened up the area, we discovered that 3 cars had been hit by bullets, including mine.
I gave them permission to get into my car and door to try to retrieve the bullets. They waited for a crime unit to come out and do the work. They finished around 1am. I discovered today in sunlight that what was left of my badly-functioning door was now completely dismantled by police and practically unusable. I went to my usual mechanic today to see what could be done, but it pretty much needs just replacing completely, which will cost several hundred dollars. I only have the minimal liability insurance required to drive legally, so that's no help for the damage that other people do.
I've got it scheduled for Friday. I considered just painting my usual hashtag #WarzoneInMinneapolis onto the door with the bullet holes left alone. There are plenty of kids on this block, though, and I figure it's best not to add to the background noise of their impression of "normality" in the Jordan neighborhood of Minneapolis. So I'll get at least one of them repaired.
I was woken up again around 5am this morning by more gunshots, but they were much farther away, so I just went back to sleep eventually.
I woke up after 10am and eventually went out to survey the car. I talked to another neighbor about the incident. He was a black guy a few years younger than me. He mentioned that he'd been shot recently by a paint ball gun by someone driving in a car, and he still had a bruise from it. Yuck.
When this car is no longer usable, I'm sure I'll rely solely on public transportation from now on. I figure we're only a decade away from self-driving car services that make private ownership just a luxury. I might as well join the trend early. We already have several people at work who always use bicycle or public transport, so I'll be in good company.
For now, though... I'm annoyed by sudden expenses that rich people don't have thrust upon them by strangers during the night. At least no windows were broken in the car or house. I think we have another citizen patrol scheduled this week. I'll be there.
Now I can add bullet holes to the list.When the first few bullets were fired around 10:10pm, they sounded like they were practically in front of my house. I was sitting by the front window, so I dove for the floor and started dialing 911. Then the second round of bullets were fired, and I realized that the sofa probably wasn't much of a barrier. I ran upstairs to sit in the bathtub to finish dialing 911.
After confirming that police were on the way, I went outside to start looking around. It's pitch black here. We do have street lights on our block, but they are dim and nowhere close to my house. As police headlights brightened up the area, we discovered that 3 cars had been hit by bullets, including mine.
I gave them permission to get into my car and door to try to retrieve the bullets. They waited for a crime unit to come out and do the work. They finished around 1am. I discovered today in sunlight that what was left of my badly-functioning door was now completely dismantled by police and practically unusable. I went to my usual mechanic today to see what could be done, but it pretty much needs just replacing completely, which will cost several hundred dollars. I only have the minimal liability insurance required to drive legally, so that's no help for the damage that other people do.
I've got it scheduled for Friday. I considered just painting my usual hashtag #WarzoneInMinneapolis onto the door with the bullet holes left alone. There are plenty of kids on this block, though, and I figure it's best not to add to the background noise of their impression of "normality" in the Jordan neighborhood of Minneapolis. So I'll get at least one of them repaired.
I was woken up again around 5am this morning by more gunshots, but they were much farther away, so I just went back to sleep eventually.
I woke up after 10am and eventually went out to survey the car. I talked to another neighbor about the incident. He was a black guy a few years younger than me. He mentioned that he'd been shot recently by a paint ball gun by someone driving in a car, and he still had a bruise from it. Yuck.
When this car is no longer usable, I'm sure I'll rely solely on public transportation from now on. I figure we're only a decade away from self-driving car services that make private ownership just a luxury. I might as well join the trend early. We already have several people at work who always use bicycle or public transport, so I'll be in good company.
For now, though... I'm annoyed by sudden expenses that rich people don't have thrust upon them by strangers during the night. At least no windows were broken in the car or house. I think we have another citizen patrol scheduled this week. I'll be there.