7/30/93:  A street sweeper followed the garbage truck up my alley WITHOUT PICKING-UP any of the debris being left by that same garbage truck.  (Over the past 6 years, most of the leaves religiously swept into the gutters by uninformed neighbors have remained there until I and a few other neighbors found the time to dispose of them.  The street sweepers seem to avoid our block during early November each year.)

8/1/93 - 8/11/93:  A battleship gray, compact Chevy Malibu station wagon was illegally parked diagonal to the curb next to the empty lot (on the next block south).  Not once during those 11 days did this vehicle receive a ticket or otherwise get the attention of whatever parking checkers are supposedly paid to cover our neighborhood.  (It was removed Wednesday because of a call I made to MPD regarding other matters.  Our street is so seldom ticketed that some residents don't even bother to buy overnight permits - let alone park on the appropriate side of the street to facilitate sweeping and snow plowing.  Many of those scofflaws also cause litter, noise and other problems on our block.)

Oct 1992 - Jun 1993:  The alley pole light behind the group home (immediately north) was missing - allowing the unsecured area where the garage used to sit to become a nightly gathering place for local and out-of-area teens visiting the girls sneaking out the front and rear windows of the group home almost nightly.  (The street lighting department was informed at least 3 times by phone, twice in person to higher level officials giving presentations to local neighbors and one or more times by Alderwoman Anderson's office.)

1990 - present:  The storm sewer drain in the alley (immediately west) is jam-packed with sticks, brooms and whatever else 'recreationally starved' local kids can drop in it.  Although I often see the storm sewer 'vacuum' type trucks traversing our block, they seldom stop to clean-out our storm sewers.  (I'm the only person in the neighborhood who publicly admonishes both adults and children who use these as convenient trash cans, so ours are not as full as they could be.  But, the overnight visitors who leave their convenience store trash and beer bottles/cans almost nightly do manage to fill them enough to require routine clean-out.)

1987 - present:  I've yet to see citations issued to any of the very few neighbors who routinely and quite purposely place their old clothes, wet garbage and other trash OUTSIDE THEIR COMPLETELY EMPTY garbage carts.  The run-around and buck passing one encounters when attempting to get the police, health, sanitation, building inspection or ??? departments to do anything about these publicly visible vermin breeding grounds would make the carnival booth/ride operators at State Fair envious.

1987 - present:  Although we are fortunate when we do get the police to come to our neighborhood, the White officers still want to leave as fast as possible - regardless of the consequences of their actions or inactions.  The 911 system still does not treat threats of violence seriously - thereby ensuring more violence than would otherwise occur.  While MPD uses the excuse that they don't have enough squads for 'minor' ESCALATING disturbances, they always have time to send half a dozen squads AFTER THE FACT.  That OVERWHELMING response serves only to protect themselves from citizens outraged by:

• the violence just witnessed,
• the tardiness of the police and/or
• the uselessness of seeing so many 'protectors' after it's too late for action.

Given the reality of single parenthood and the inability of increasing numbers of adults to argue without resorting to terminal violence, far too many families are no longer instilling self- or any other discipline within their children.  Until our society learns how to re-create and sustain more normal, disciplined families through natural, self-sustaining socio-economic neighborhoods, those at the pinnacle of the public discipline system, police officers, must assume the role of 'Disciplinarian' for whatever families, block clubs or other social organizations request their help.

9/92 - present:  Since September of last year 28 of the 38 flats held out for rent on our block have turned-over.  22 of those 28 are owned by individuals not residing in our neighborhood.  The flats/houses having the most problems with crime, trash and general decline are each owned by people not living in Milwaukee County or Wisconsin.

Based upon my observations over the past 6 years, a general rule can be stated that: 

"The farther away from a property the owner lives, the more likely there will be problems associated with that property that increase the velocity at which both it and the surrounding neighborhood deteriorates."

Thanks to MPS policies, parents can send their children to any school and no longer need to concern themselves with neighborhood issues.  Parents are no longer motivated (most often by tantrum throwing kids) to remain in the same area where their children attend school and establish life sustaining friendships.  Rather than confront and resolve recurring problems on an ongoing basis, families can now just run away from them by moving to another supposedly safer neighborhood.

10-27-96 update:  Sunday Hyperactive Kids - Sundays were always worse when children given Ritalin all week at school but not on weekends by their 'parent' would be unusually disrespectful - spitting at adults; trespassing at will on porches, garage roofs; throwing rocks at anything and anyone.  These children were almost always 'visitors' to our neighborhood.  My impression was that these kids were being drugged because their teachers didn't have the time to help them learn normal coping skills.  They were more hyper on weekends due to coming off a week long 'high' - suffering the normal mood change associated with going cold turkey on Saturdays.