Kids

I made mention before of the children who follow me around when I am walking the property. I sort of collect them as I go, so by the time I go from 1 end of the property to the other and back to my office I feel like a mother dog with a litter of pups hanging off of her.

These kids don't follow me around because I like kids or I invite them along, or because I am nice to them, they follow me around because they are STARVED for attention.

Saturdays here are the worst: if the parents work they have 1 of 2 choices: send their kids outside unsupervised and shut them out of the building until they get home, or leave them home alone in the apartment unsupervised. This is because they don't have jobs that pay them enough to be able to afford childcare.
The parents that don't work send their kids outside to play unsupervised so they can watch TV or do drugs or sleep off their hangover.

The kids are the only people here for whom I have any sympathy. What hope do they have for a better life? Right now they are young and impressionable- and all their little brains get is yelling, swearing, adult TV, and adult role models who don't work, commit crimes, do drugs, drop out of school, and have 3 kids by the age of 18. No wonder the cycle is so hard to break.

All these kids get is negative attention, so as soon as you say hello to 1 little kid playing on the hot asphalt on a Saturday afternoon you have a leech stuck to your leg for the rest of the day. In order to get any work done, I have to be strict with them. Which is hard, because all they want to do is "help" you. I will let them come into the office and help me with one thing (like "help me with this sign" which usually means they end up drawing a picture on the back of scrap paper while I make the sign) then I make them leave.

I took 1 little girl (we'll call her "Jane") to a neighborhood festival last weekend - it was 2 blocks away in a park and I was going in order to hand out fliers for the apartment complex. They had free food, live music, basketball games, and an art booth and bouncy house for kids. The festival was from noon - 5 pm, and after Jane bugged me all morning in the office I told Jane's mother about it and gave her a flier with the information, hoping they would go to the festival and Jane would leave me alone to get work done. But mom was too busy sitting in her new boyfriend's SUV in the parking lot listening to music to take her daughter there. Mom is unemployed, has used up her lifetime supply of public benefits (like welfare, etc.) and lives with HER mom.

I budgeted an hour of my day to go to the fair, so I told Jane I would take her with me when I went, the last hour of my work day. I told her to come back at 3 pm and we would go. Of course she spent the whole afternoon running to my office every 10 minutes asking "Is it 3 o'clock yet!?"

Finally it was, so I ask Jane's mom if I can drive us there, and she says sure. We drive to the festival, and after an hour of bouncy house, playground equipment, a free stuffed animal from the police department, and a sucker, I had to pry Jane away because she was having a great time and even ran into some of her friends from school. It was killing me to go. I told her to ask her mom to take her back, and drilled her on the location. She couldn't remember the street name to save her soul, and I knew her mom couldn't find it. The park is only 2 blocks away, close enough to walk, but not for a kid without an adult. She didn't get to go back, of course, and every time I have seen her since she asks "can we go to that fair again?"

Man, people suck.

Also - I don't care if you don't want to take care of kids, but if that's the case, then DON'T HAVE THEM. Birth control looks spendy now, but it's WAY cheaper than a kid, trust me.

Application frenzy

Not much new so far this week, which is refreshing. More tenants moving out, but for once I am collecting applications like crazy (5 today alone). I sent out a big mailing to all the social service agencies in town, which means they are referring people left and right.
This is good, but a lot of these people won't get approved for an apartment here due to our strict screening criteria. This is frustrating on one hand, because the applications take a huge amount of time to process, not to mention the time I spend showing apartments and helping people fill out the application. I tell people the screening criteria up front -hell, they get a copy of it- but of course if they don't meet it they don't tell you. I hate working on an application for 2 weeks to find out the person won't qualify. On the other hand, at least it gives me hope of renting an apartment, which I have only done ONCE my entire time here. Also, I got smart enough to not let people fill out the application until they bring me the money for it first. Live and learn.

Sometimes I want to tell the people referred from certain agencies to run for it. For example, if you are being referred from any sort of drug or prisoner rehabilitation program, this is probably not the neighborhood for you. Temptation is everywhere.

I have problems controlling my facial expressions. If someone says something I find offensive, don't agree with, or think is just plain stupid, it's very hard for me to keep that thought from expressing itself on my face. This is something that does not work to my advantage in professional situations, like meetings. Or in situations like this....
One of the women who came in to fill out an application today was referred by an organization that serves women who are dealing with domestic violence. She asked about adding people to the lease, "like a roommate". No problem I told her. They just need to come in and fill out an application and if we approve them we put them on the lease. "What about a boyfriend?" she asked. "Umm, same deal", I say.
My brain was telling my face to not make any sudden movements, but seriously, you're being referred to me from a domestic violence shelter and you're asking about adding your currently incarcerated but soon to be released abuser* onto your lease? Oy.

*my assumption. She didn't SAY her boyfriend was currently incarcerated, or that he was the one abusing her, but come on. She still had a black eye. Did she find a new non-abusive squeeze that fast? Miracles happen, but not in this neighborhood.

going to hell

I am pretty sure I was headed for hell all ready, but today I issued a 28 day notice to a pregnant woman. A HIGH-RISK PREGNANCY pregnant woman.

For those of you not in the biz, a 28 day notice means you have 28 days to GET OUT. To be fair, I'm giving her like a month and a half, not just 28 days. It also means she won't have an eviction on her record, we're just not renewing her lease.

And it's all for letting her (probably unemployed) baby daddy live in her apartment. He has a nice long rap sheet: damage to private property, driving while revoked, underage drinking... oh yes, that's right, these two love bird law breakers are 23 and 20 years old, respectively.

What were YOU doing at age 20? Fathering children while jumping bail, driving without a license, drinking underage, and damaging private property? If so, have I got an apartment for you...

Piss on the Stairs

That's it for today. Some "guests" of an illegal tenant got into a building and pissed on the stairs.
URINATED DOWN A STAIRWAY.

The maintenance lady has no sense of smell, which in many ways makes her the perfect maintenance person, but also means I had to walk over to the building and confirm the identity of the liquid on the stairs.

Also, I am trying to evict 3 people this month, all for letting people live with them who aren't on the lease.
Not surprisingly, these people I am trying to evict are all women who let dead-beat boyfriends/ baby daddies / grown sons live with them, but don't put them on the lease, and it's the men who cause all the problems (traffic, drugs, noise, damage, working on cars in the parking lots, etc.)
Seriously, I fucking DO NOT GET women sometimes. It's true everywhere else in my life and it's true here.

Revenge of the Biddies

From the police press release website. I couldn't resist putting this on here, as it's from the mall I used to work at:

Address	Mall (edited to protect the innocent, namely, me)
Arrested person/suspect	Male black, 17-22 years old, 6'00", 180 pounds, short hair, last seen wearing short sleeve yellow shirt, shorts, and sneakers
Victim/Injuries	1. Female, 58 years old 2. Female, 55 years old
Details	On Saturday night, at 9:22 p.m. _____ Police responded to ____ Mall for a strong armed robbery. Two sisters reported that while talking in the parking lot they were accosted by a purse thief. After the suspect grabbed the women's purses they decided to chase. One jumped on the hood of the suspect's car (older model Chevy Beretta) , while the other dove into an open window. Eventually both were half way in the car with their legs dangling outside of it. One victim reports that she repeatedly jabbed the suspect in the neck with her keys, while punching him with her other hand. She also tried to bite him. Meanwhile her older sister tried to grab the steering wheel. While this was happening the suspect was driving in circles, hitting medians and curbs in an attempt to shake the sisters. Both did, in time, fall off, and were transported to a local hospital for treatment of cuts and bruises. One sister also sustained a broken ankle. Suspect vehicle has been recovered. Suspect is still at large.

That is CLASSIC. I would PAY to see a couple of middle aged ladies hanging out of a car while a purse snatcher drives around trying to throw them off like the Dukes of Hazard. That's one bad mamma-jamma, jabbing a guy with her keys, hitting him with the other hand, and trying to bite him.
I can see it all in my head and it's hilarious. What do you think other people in the parking lot were thinking? I can hear the conversation between the 2 sisters: "Madge! Grab the wheel! I'll get the purse!" "Bite him, Doris, bite him!"

When I moved to (insert big east coast city here), we had a self-defense class and the lady teaching it told us that if someone attacks you, you should fight back, because most likely the attacker will move on to an "easier" victim who won't fight back. This makes me question that assumption....