Un-Neighborly

We have this house nextdoor that's a rental.

I have nothing against renters, have been one many times myself, but there is just something that's unlucky about this house.

When we bought ours, the neighbors were this lovely family. Everything was good. The block had that community feel and we all got along reasonably well. But a few years ago they sold. Someone looking to 'flip' bought it couldn't unload it so after many months they put it up as a rental.

The first people who moved in, we called the Hillbilly Rednecks From Hell. It was a guy, his woman, their 3 teenaged kids, several cats and 2 dogs. We had a bad feeling when they had 5 pickups *towed* to the front of their house and immediately put on blocks. Then we discovered that the 2 dogs were vicious and they thought nothing of just setting them lose into the neighborhood every morning. When they kept them in, they would crash thru the front window to attack people--including me. Their kids were future Prison Inmates and thought it was funny to throw lit firecrackers over our fence into our dog run.

Many calls to the police, animal control, and others was involved.

Then they just disappeared one day leaving all their junk and junkers behind. The landlord had crews come to put the house back into livable shape and it took a long time till it was rented again.

This time we have an extended El Salvadorian family living next door who don't speak english (making communication a little difficult). When confronted they pretend they don't speak Spanish (making communication impossible). They have no dogs. But they do have kids who like to loiter in the front yard of and vandalize *our* house. They don't throw firecrackers in the dogrun. Instead they throw rocks and garbage--mostly garbage. Their many, many cars all work, but they park them all over their lawn, everyone elses lawn, and other peoples driveways and parking spots. They have loud keggers that last all through the night and calling police for noise violations doesn't do anything because they act dumb. Trash piles up in their yard--until they throw it over into ours that is--and it's just repulsive.

I am back to making my calls.

Our house isn't in a bad neighborhood. It's actually a very nice, yuppie one. It's why we moved there. Probably why these people decided to live here too. But if you want to move into a nice neighborhood, you can't treat it like that. You need to act better than that.

After all, why take the effort to leave a ghetto/trailer park/etc and then take all that is a negative stereotype of those communities with you? Just stay where you were. Make everyone happier.