kind of scary

[leeniek]

This took place in my neighbourhood... just down the street from me actually!

http://thespec.com/News/Local/article/794476

This area has a checkered past. Back in the 70s and 80s and maybe even the early part of the 90s this area was really tough and run by the mafia and there were open disputes between the rival crime families.  The mom of one

of the crime families lives just two blocks from me and I see her and her boys all the time.  They say hello and how are you.. and somehow they heard about my son's brain tumor and ever since then they ask after him too.  The Christmas after he was diagnosed (he was diagnosed in late January 200 the mom was at my door with a plate of cookies and in her broken English wished us well.  He does odd jobs for any neighbour who needs it and I think they all have a soft spot for him. 

Things have changed in the area since the city made bayfront park



It's more of a hotspot now because people can walk their dogs by the water etc... but to see what went on just around the corner is sickening and I hope they catch the b**tard soon!! 

Thanks for letting me ramble!

 

[dc sunshine]

Geez Leeniek - keep your doors locked.  That's disgusting.  Specially when its targeting specific people.  Grrrrrrr

DC

P.S.  That was a nice gesture by Mafia Mom - your son must be a great kid

 

[leeniek]

Thanks DC!  I'm not sure what to make of it and neither are the police.  One of my friends is a lifer.. she was born and raised down here and now she is raising her family here and she has never seen anything like this before.  I'm a transplant north ender.. I grew up on the mountain and ever since I was a kid I loved the lower city.  When I was in high school and my bff lived just a block from where I do now I looked at the houses in my row and vowed one of them would be mine one day and guess what.. it is!!  My mom had a coronary saying we'd get murdered etc as Barton Street had a bad name but all we have met are decent hardworking people.  We have had issues now and then.. a few summers ago there was alot of gang activity in the survey but they have moved elsewhere and we had some crackheads renting a place and they're gone now too.. crack houses can happen anywhere.  

My son shoveled mafia mom's snow for a few winters and I think her boys may have been in jail for at least one of them but she always paid him $20 for his time and gave him a can of pop.  I'm not sure how she found out about him being sick.. the ambulance in front of our house may have sparked some interest and likely she heard through the grapevine. 

After living in inner city Toronto I always lock my doors front and back and I have a lock on the back gate too so no worries on that situation.  Any time my front door is open the dog is lying in front of it and she goes into defenes mode if anyone dares to step on our walk. 

 

[gonefishin]

   reading your last post I couldn't help but hum a song with some words about my home state.

just got home from Illinois

lock the front door oh boy!

 Got to sit down

take a rest on the porch.

   Hi Leeniek /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif

   Just like our family before us, we live where we do for many different reasons.  Be safe, and take care of that family of yours!

   Hope all is going well with you and yours!

  dan

 

[catering101]

Wow, i guess it is sort of scary if someone in the neighborhood disrupts the peace and order of the place.Session data I hope everything subsides eventually and those who are doing it will stop.

Be safe and always look out for yourselves!

 

[gypsy2727]

Crazy times it is Leeniak

My neighbours house just got broken into ...it's just their summer home

They are from Toronto and did not really know anyone around here and keep to themselves when they come up for the summer.

Well,,,, they are introducing themselves now! and installed an alarm system

It's good to know who your neighbours are ..they will watch out for you

 

[leeniek]

Gypsy you're so right!  I know everyone who lives on my street some not by name but I can tell you who lives where.  We have a couple of rental houses and they keep changing tenants every few months but I figure out pretty fast who the new renters are.  You'd think if someone had a summer home that they'd want to get to know their neighbours.. it'd make sense to have the local people looking out for their place when they're away. 

Things seem to have quieted down now... I think everyone is more concerned over what happenned in TO this past weekend with the G20 violence.

 

[gypsy2727]

I know what you mean about T.O.!

 My daughter is attending University there and she says it's a nightmare! She works part-time at Sunnybrook Hospital and even security in the hospitals have stepped up making eveyrones life miserable. 

regarding my neighbours ....they are really nice people...and were just not well informed about security ...its a very quiet place here and you would never suspect any wrong doing but I guess it happens everywhere.

so I guess the morel of the story is get involved with your community

My in-laws neighbours had their house robbed in broad daylight! On a Sunday when everyones mowing the lawn, gardening, bbqing and generally socializing.They went away on vacation did not let any neighbours know (they were not social) A truck pulled up Sunday afternoon and cleaned them out! All the neighbours did was to say "I didn't know they were moving.....who were they anyhow ....does anyone know?"

 

[leeniek]

I saw in the paper that a few hospitals and the Eaton Centre were on lockdown on Saturday and GO transit suspended service until 10am Sunday morning.  My daughter was late for work because of it.. normally on a Sunday she takes the GO and then walks to the restaurant (we're right between Burlington and Appleby GO stations) but she ended up taking the city bus and that got her to work fifteen minutes after her start time.  They were fine with her arrival time as we were totally dead all weekend.  Normally we do 450-550ppl on Saturdays and Sundays but this past weekend we only did 400 each day and we were done and out of there by 3pm each day.. definitely not the average weekend.  

Now the mayor of TO is looking to the federal government for compensation from the G20... I wonder how that will go over. 

City people seem to think the country and smaller towns are safe.  My inlaws live in Woodstock and when Victoria Stafford was abducted the town was in shock that something like that could happen there.  We were there visiting when the OPP was going door to door and we even had to speak to the police even though we were visitors from out of town. 

That's funny about your inlaw's neighbours... I bet they started talking to their neighbours after that!  I always let the neighbours know when we're going to be away.  We always get my friend's daughter to dog sit so I let them know that we'll be gone and not to be alarmed when they see someone going in and out of the house.. she's watching the dog. 

 

[chefedb]

When I had a restaurant in New York we saw signs of someone trying to break into a basement window > The window had bars on it.  I then  had the bars wired with a 220 electric line which when pushed  in would give one a heck of a shock. My insurance man saw it and said , Ed you could get sued  I told him that whoever pushed the bars in would not be around to sue????? Welcome to Brooklyn. I also kept a 30/30 sawed off under the rear counter.

 

[gunnar]

Just to give you folks a breath of relief, The house I am living in (well... behind, in a garage studio i built) hasn't been locked up since 1978, when my parents bought the place. It has had the same phone number since that time, no alarms, nothing as far as security...except being 10 miles from anywhere you would want to be. No problems, yet we are 15 minutes away from any major service you could require.

never mind what else I said, i ended up ranting .

 

[leeniek]

My parents always left the car unlocked and never locked the house up until they went to bed at night.  My dad owned a construction company and he never locked the truck or the toolboxes he had built for the truck and never had anything go missing. My mother in law to this day unlocks her doors when she gets up in the morning and leaves it that way until she goes to bed.  She doesn't lock her car either and has never had a problem.  One of my friends is the same way.. her door is always unlocked and when I go over there for a visit I walk in and say hello..it's just the way she is.  Me.. I need locks.. my years in TO have done that to me I'm afriad..

 

[gypsy2727]

Gunner ,I loved the earlier post ......LOL

Leeniak I totally hear you on that one...I lock my doors even when I go to the grocery store ,which takes me at least an hour since I'm 20 minutes from town.

I am a T.O. girl born and bred. You don't take your chances being from the city and you don't know who to trust...You become "street smart"   Even out here in the Kawarthas ya never know

 

[gunnar]

Gunner ,I loved the earlier post ......LOL

Oh... you caught that before i was able to edit?/img/vbsmilies/smilies/blushing.gif I am a nice guy... really I am .... til you mess with my dog, then you get the switch /img/vbsmilies/smilies/mad.gif/img/vbsmilies/smilies/lever.gif.....at best....

 

[gypsy2727]

Hahahaha

I live out in the country Gunner ....I've seen it all

It's alot of fun out here .....just gotta keep one eye open and your boots on when your sleeping!

all kidding apart I would not choose a better place to live

Gypsy