Posts Tagged Pigtown
Storm or Shine, It’s On
Saturday is the Pigtown Festival, in the lovely part of town I live in. I will be visiting for a beer and to check the scene.
If the weather is too bad, though, I will merely change the celebration venue to my house. Nothing like some alcohol to enjoy a tropical storm by.
Not So Subtle Reminders
This evening, while grabbing a quick bite to eat from the local Safeway, I was reminded of why I never shop there. As I stood waiting in the Express lane, I was the second person behind a woman who decided that she would break her purchase out among a couple of different credit cards. This process went on for what seemed like forever, as the woman had the cashier remove items from her bill to get one of the cards to process. At the end, the woman had to scrounge for change from her wallet. If memory serves, the final amount needed was .69 cents. If I had loose change, I would have thrown it down on the belt.
On top of this, I was able to watch one of the people who lurk outside the store trying to sell what I can only guess were stolen DVDs. Wonderful.
I love my neighborhood, but it’s times like these when I am so glad I choose to shop elsewhere. No more visits to the Safeway in my neighborhood, that’s for sure.
Pigtowner Packing Heat
One of my neighbors in Pigtown is packing heat! After some setbacks from the Maryland State Police, one of my neighbors is now licensed to carry a handgun. Fearing for his personal safety, Sebastian Sassi decided to file a permit. In typical bureacratic fashion, the permit got lost until the media was contacted.
I have not had many dealings with Sebastian, but I do know that he is one of the few people in this city who should be legally licensed to carry a weapon on his person. I feel just a tiny bit safer knowing this.
On Home Security
On the pigtownsafety list, there has been abundant conversation concerning the desire of many residents to secure their homes. The deterrent method that has been the focus of many recent threads on the listserv has concerned installing security bars on windows.
Personally, I am a bit annoyed at this message traffic. I understand that some of the criminals are coming in via breaking windows, but I also think a fair number of these break-ins are occurring via other means. I think that it makes sense with certain windows–basement windows. Nonetheless, I do not think it is something that you should put on all windows.
On one level, I think it is a bit of a knee-jerk reaction. I just do not think that the mad rush to install bars on windows is good, from both an aesthetic and psychological level. It is rare when you can get somewhat ornate bars, but I just do not think they look terribly good. Psychologically, it seems to me to send the message that you are a prisoner of your own home.
I am all for securing one’s home, but I think bars on windows is just an extreme reaction that is not necessary. At the end of the day, if a criminal wants into a house, they are going to find a way in. Bars on windows are just a simple deterrent. A better deterrent would be doing simple things–making sure your alarm is monitored, not putting expensive things in view of passersby, and just keeping aware of those folks in the neighborhood.
What I am saying does not do much for those who have been victimized by the criminal who smashed a window, but I just simply refuse to give into the current common refrain I hear to get security bars. I, for one, will just say “No.”
Poor Planning by the Baltimore City Parking Authority
Last night, one of the community organizations in Pigtown, Citizens of Pigtown, held a meeting to distribute our parking permits from the Baltimore Parking Authority. For most of the residents of Pigtown, there are two permit areas we reside in–Area B or Area 15. I live in Area B, the area closest to M&T Bank Stadium.
The instructions for the permit distribution were simple, as I had to bring the following items:
- receipt from the Parking Authority showing the completed renewal for this year;
- vehicle registration; and
- proof of residency, e.g., driver’s license.
I brought along all of the required items, and when I arrived at the location they were distributing the permits from on Washington Boulevard, there was a line out to the street. After a short time waiting and talking to one of my neighbors, a woman came out with a list of names on a sheet of paper. On the sheet of paper, there were probably not more than 40 names. Of that number, my name was not on the list.
The woman explained that the Parking Authority did not give them all of the permits for the area, and my permits were not among the fortunate few. Of course, I was a bit perplexed as to how my permit could not have been one of the fortunate few, considering I renewed my permit online on 13 January.
It was a good effort by COP, but I will be swinging by the Parking Authority office on Friday morning as a result of the Parking Authority’s poor planning.
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