What do we do with the crazy neighbors?

[NoName007]

Put ’em in the bunk with the captain’s daughter? No, that won’t do in this case.

I am signing in anonymously for various and perhaps obvious reasons once you see what I’m writing about. There is a house near ours that has been the focus of police activity several times in the past couple of months. Once we witnessed a huge group of guys beating down one man (hard to tell the age, we’re not that close to them, though we could see what was happening and called the police). They were stomping on him, kicking him, even appeared to be recording it with cameraphones. The victim appeared to get up and go with the police when they arrived (the beaters seemed to scatter).

A few weeks later, we were awakened in the middle of the night by a violent-sounding screaming argument from the same house. We also noticed that the police had stopped by the house earlier the same day, don’t know what about.

A few days ago, we heard someone screaming for someone to call 911 — you guessed it, same house. Appeared to be a domestic violence call. We don’t know what’s going on in that place, but suffice to say that the police seemed friendly with the person who was being accused and eventually everyone left.

The whole situation has us perturbed and a little freaked out, as you may imagine. We’ve looked up the address and it appears to be a rental. Has anyone else had issues like this? Is this something where we should alert the landlord, or would a landlord already be aware of multiple police visits to his/her property?

Needless to say we are not jazzed to be in such close proximity to a place like this. Anyone have any insight, suggestions? Maybe I’m just venting, I don’t know. We’re trying hard to give them the benefit of the doubt — maybe the guy who seemed friendly with the police *is* the landlord and was working on getting the disruptive element out…

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[mellaw6565]

We had the same situation with the rental house where “Addie” now lives (yeah – we love having her in the neighborhood). But it took the neighborhood confronting the landlord about the partying and violent activities going on (including a drive-by shooting)before he would do something about it and kick the tenants out (which happened to be his sons). Now things couldn’t be better (and quieter).

If you search this blog, there was a link to the county/iMap site which will tell you the name of the owner of the property. I would start there – if the owner is also the resident then there is probably not much you can do about the situation since it seems pretty volatile.

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[Zenguy]

Some friends had a similar situation with a rental on the corner that had several “ladies” entertaining many “gentlemen” for short periods of time and I am sure a little drug distribution as well.

The police said to be patient, make sure to let them know you are there and that you see what is going on, make notes of comings, goings, special events (aka beatings) and my friends always took pictures of their garden when people were coming and going too. The immediate result was that they stopped parking on the friends side of the house and eventually they just moved on since the johns were too scared. Make sure to partner with the police so they can build a case.

Fun times, but worth the effort to preserve our neighborhoods.

Good luck

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[j]

It sucks living in a place where you don’t feel secure. We used to live in the Alaskan Junction until our house was broken into when we were sleeping. Nothing like having police in your house at 3am yelling “SPD come out with your hands up”. The same night was had a fight outside where there were many men and a couple with baseball bats. That’s when we knew it was time to leave. It’s never a good thing when the cops come to your door and they tell you that “other people need 911 too.”

With them being renters, it seems like there is something that can be done. Have you tried going to the West Seattle Community Safety Partnership meetings at the SW Precinct? I think they may have changed their name, but its a great resource. There are generally police officers there that want to hear your safety complaints. I’ve been several times, especially after our robbery because I wanted to become more active as a way to heal from the traumatic experience.

Not to change the subject, but our new neighbor is mentally ill (schizophrenic). She has not had electricity or water for 5 years now. We’ve had the city come to inspect, but they don’t think her house is ready to fall down yet, even though it looks like it. Very sad. Anyone out there with ideas?

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[Zenguy]

Try and find out if she has family that could have her committed. I am guessing if she did that something would have already been done, but maybe they live far away and have no idea. I am curious how she makes it through the Winter? This Winter was pretty bad by Seattle standards.

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[JanS]

Zenguy, I immediately thought the same thing. And without running water, how does one flush? shower? brush teeth? do laundry? Someone really needs to look in on this woman.

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[Zenguy]

Thanks for planting that picture!

When I was younger and lived next door to an old lady behind the Admiral theatre, her house was full of newspapers and the like to the ceiling and piles of pidgeon poop on the front porch…poor thing.

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[j]

She has no family. We have looked. She’s living off her parents trust. To be honest, most of you have probably seen her. She’s always walking from the Morgan Junction to the Alaskan Junction. You would NEVER know that she doesn’t have water or electricity. Our neighbor is the one who gives her jugs of water to use. You can flush your toilet with a bucket of water. After we had the city do an inspection, she figured it was us and wrote nasty notes to us about how her house is private property and no one can do anything about it. She has MANY multiple personalities so you never know who you are going to get. If committing a person was that easy it would have been done, but since she has no one looking out for her it’s very difficult. That’s why I’m looking for someone who has any idea of how to get around the system.

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[j]

Zenguy – To answer your question about the winter. She bags everything up in her house and sits in her window with a coat, hat, and scarf on. It is brutally painful to watch this from your kitchen window. We gave her a huge basket of nonperishable food for Christmas. She does not seem to use her chimney, and to be honest, it doesn’t look like it works. Also, she never uses candles, so when the night sets in, so does she.

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[Zenguy]

J, that is truly heartbreaking.

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[JoB]

is it possible for her to get electricity through the assistance program? and maybe water too?

is she on meds? does she have a case worker?

have you called social services and said how concerned you are for her?

if she has a trust.. who manages the trust? perhaps she can be helped through them.

so many people fall through the cracks of our nation’s safety net.

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[Zenguy]

So, true JoB. Good questions I just did not know to ask. Sounds like the medication is the biggest issue.

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[soclwrkrinmotn]

If she has a trust, then she should have a trustee or legal guardian looking out for her. Where the heck are they?

Unfortunately…(and fortunately because of some abuses of the system) due to the changes to mental health practice and law from the 80s, there is no way to have her committed, unless she is a danger to herself or others.

Again, a perfect example of our society not caring for the vulnerable…

Let me see what i can find, too, in the way of resources…

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[keleeso]

How old is she? I wonder if the vulnerable adult program could help. If a report is made, they might investigate and then contact a non-profit guardian to petition for guardianship. If a guardianship is started, a Guardian ad Litem will be appointed and will do an investigation to see if a guardianship is in the best interest of this woman.

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[JoB]

i love it when people start thinking in terms of solutions…

there are so many here with so many areas of expertise..

i foolishly think there is little we can’t make better with a little effort.

NoName007..

if you want to email me with the woman’s name and address.. i will be glad to email someone who can pass that info along to someone who may be able to help… without disclosing any of your personal information if you wish to remain private.

joanne at brayden dot org

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[soclwrkrinmotn]

keleeso, that is the only thing I could find, too. :( There has to be more.

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[j]

Sorry noname, I think my issue with crazy neighbors took over your thread. Noname’s original post was about horrible renters.

I mentioned my crazy neighbor because I have no idea who to contact about her situation. After trying to go through the city for building code violations and getting nothing in regards of help for her, my husband and I don’t know where to turn to.

JoB, good advice on calling Social Services. I don’t know her last name. Do I just call them and tell them the situation? I would say she is in her late 50’s, possibly early 60’s.

I’m a teacher so I’m off all summer observing what goes on. Last summer I saw someone drop in, but I don’t know what for. I have not seen anyone since. This is our first year living here, and it seems that our other neighbors have given up. I know some of them have tried to help her, but she has refused any services they brought to her so it’s tough.

At first we thought about calling City Light to ask them about the electricity, but after really looking into her yard, it’s clear that the wires going to her house have been down forever. He yard is in no shape to have the lines reconnected either.

Thank you to all for ideas and suggestions. I’m willing to try anything to help her. Anything I do has to be confidential because I don’t trust her disorder and when she gets mad, it truly scares me.

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[keleeso]

I am a paralegal, and I handle our guardianship cases. There is a rigorous process for evaluating someone for a guardianship. I don’t know how feesable it would be in this case, but if there a chance she may be harming herself it may be worth a try.

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[j]

Thanks keleeso. I haven’t seen her harm herself and to be honest, she takes great care of herself. To be honest, I don’t even know if she is truly living off her parent’s trust fund. There are so many rumors about her swirling around our block. Last week I heard that her mother was still alive, but has a restraining order out against her. So complicated…

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[JoB]

j..

sorry i confused you and noname.

if i were you, i would call.

god luck.. keep us posted.

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[Gina]

It could be that she can afford utilities, but is paranoid that people could be “tracking” her through the wires or pipes.

Affording, and being afraid of are two different issues for the mentally ill. There used to be someone down 47th in the Genessee Hill area that had all his gates wired shut, windows boarded up, and foil on doors and windows to “keep out the evil rays.”

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[JimmyG]

It’s called self-neglect and you should make a report to APS (Adult Protective Services) at 1.866.363.4276. It’s available 24/7 and you can’t be held liable for any referral you make as long as you’re calling in good faith.

You don’t need to know her name, just give her address and the details you do know about the situation.

If you go to the DSHS web page there is a whole section on self-neglect.

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[j]

Thanks everyone. I’ll be making some calls on Monday. Anything to help this poor woman. My heart breaks for her, especially on holidays and during the winter.

She’s actually a “good neighbor” if you can look past the state of her house, yard, and moss ridden car in the driveway (most people visiting us can’t look past it). She looks out for our house. When we moved in, we thought we lost our cat and as we were walking around looking for her, we noticed our neighbor checking her back lot. It was very sweet.

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[j]

One more thing….

JimmyG – I went to the APS website and it is a great resource. The only part that worries me is “APS can’t remove a person from his or her home against their will or force them to accept help.” She will most definitely decline.

I’ll still pursue it because you never know!

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[JoB]

j..

it may be that the best resolution doesn’t involve removing her from her house… but getting her better treatment and fixing the house.

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[Author]

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