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Things I've experienced living in Indio, CA so far:
You know you're living in a bad neighborhood when:
1) You see at least one apartment unit that is boarded up and/or tagged on.
2) You come across street gang "taggings" into the concrete.
3) Some neighbor randomly asks you if you smoke or want weed/drugs.
4) You happen to live right near a juvenile detention center that is just down the street.
5) You also happen to live right across the street from the county fair that sometimes experiences gang fights, weapon or not, which doesn't help much.
6) You come across random shopping carts in your area.
7) You hear subwoofers blasting loud hip-hop/rap music or Mexican music from their cars late at night.
8) Your younger brother tells you that he has almost actually been shot with a .44 from some stranger who was holding it behind his back in another sketchy area that is just down the street from a coin laundromat.
9) Your city is sometimes featured in local "gangster" hip-hop/rap videos.
10) You come across street signs that have street gang tagging and "slap tag" stickers. Usually both.
11) You happen to live literally right next to a so-called "shopping mall," which is not much more than a semi-abandoned building with a barbed-wire fence surrounding the roof and ugly wall colors, plus graffiti on the side walls, and is also a major hangout for the homeless, drug addicts, and/or tweakers. I mean, do you really call this a mall?
12) Your local high school STILL has classroom portables that have been there for at least, what, 20 years or more, if that.
13) You hear sirens (be it ambulance, fire, or police) coming back and forth on a main street nearly every day of the week.
14) You come across a nearby neighborhood that so happens to comprise of houses which have spiked fences and bars on the windows, and sometimes doors, even if it doesn't seem to be a really bad area. Sometimes, an area like that may have blue tarp on some of the fences.
15) You sometimes see a pair of shoes (or more) hanging on an electrical wire.
16) You sometimes see at least two police vehicles going through your neighborhood on a regular basis.
17) You sometimes so happen to come across a house whose backyard contains a dead tree, a makeshift wooden shed, or a run-down trailer.
18) You sometimes come across a tagging on a garage door of a house that contains a drunk message.
19) You go through an alleyway in a nearby neighborhood that showcases backyards that contain all sorts of junk and trash that's usually worn-out or old, sometimes in a pile!
20) You can actually tell the difference between a gunshot and a firecracker.
21) The nearby library is another main hangout for the homeless, drug addicts, and/or tweakers.
22) The city has set its curfew time to 10PM for everyone under 18.
23) You happen to live right near an abandoned church.
24) You come across a billboard that advertises weed.
25) You sometimes hear about local Halloween stories about how the trick-or-treat candy is sometimes laced with drugs (bath salts, LSD, etc.).
26) You somehow hear about a fight (gang-related or not) that happened at a local high school football game at either local high school.
27) You happen to know, or did know, some people who are/were affiliated with street gangs. Usually Sureño street gangs. Or people that are local rappers.
28) You happen to know someone who actually performed a school shooting and killed one of the school officers at the local high school and was actually a student. You also happen to know that he was the same student who started a fist fight at that high school two months earlier.
Here are the things that have personally happened or known about in my area so far:
One time, I woke up to the sound of a police officer screaming while chasing someone suspicious at four in the morning.
Another time, someone had jacked my bike that was locked to a tree outside my apartment unit. I know, should've known better.
Earlier this year, right when I was about go for a walk, out front I witnessed six police vehicles, all in one parking space, and a chopper in my area. They were there because of an incident of domestic assaults.
I actually happen to know someone who shot and killed one of the officers at Indio High School, and he was a student. He was also the same student who started a fist fight at school two months earlier. It's even on YouTube. He is now in the juvenile detention center that is down the street from my area for who knows how long.
Just this last week, on two separate nights, I witnessed gunshots just near my area. The first was from a drive-by shooting that happened in front of Denny's on the 111. The second time was just down the street in another sketchy area.
Even the Dollar Tree that is just right near my area is quite a bit sketchy, with some gang tagging right inside the building.
Whatever you do, please DO NOT walk behind the "mall" after dark. A lot of times, the police venture down there.
Do bring some sort of weapon that is concealable with you wherever you go in Indio.
From my experience, the worst area of Indio happens to be the area north of the railroad and south of the 10 FWY. This area is known as North Side Indio (NSI) and is home to several street gangs that formed here in Indio.
That's all for now...
Last edited by Brandon Graves; 10-12-2017 at 09:12 PM..
-When you can hear blasting music or TV next door, or when you can hear your nextdoor neighbors arguing.
-When you are walking and just minding your business when all of a sudden you come across a yard sale (or a mini "swap meet") in the front of an apartment complex in your area.
-When even some of the businesses in the historical downtown district near your area have been shut down and boarded up.
-When you happen to live right near a prison that is about to become even bigger as soon as construction is over.
-When there is at least one security guard working at a Food 4 Less or Cardenas, both of which are within walking distance.
-When you have heard a local story involving a man getting shot at an AMPM that is supposedly closer to a good area, but yet is literally right to gang territory that is on the same street.
-When your younger brother has told you that he ditched school to go to a nearby park just to mess with the homeless.
-When you go eat out at a nearby restaurant and you go use the restroom only to discover that the restroom has been tagged and/or vandalized.
-When you see a bike outside an apartment complex that might get jacked just at any moment.
That's all for now...
Last edited by Brandon Graves; 10-13-2017 at 02:14 PM..
-Once the street lights turn on, it's time to start heading on home. Or get you butt on home!
-When your bike has been jacked at a church in a GOOD area even though it was clearly locked up against a tree outside, and then your bike has been sold for drug money.
-When you come across cut cardboard boxes blocking the traffic lights at a particular intersection after street construction has finished.
-When you can hear blasting music or TV next door, or when you can hear your nextdoor neighbors arguing.
-When you are walking and just minding your business when all of a sudden you come across a yard sale (or a mini "swap meet") in the front of an apartment complex in your area.
-When even some of the businesses in the historical downtown district near your area have been shut down and boarded up.
-When you happen to live right near a prison that is about to become even bigger as soon as construction is over.
-When there is at least one security guard working at a Food 4 Less or Cardenas, both of which are within walking distance.
-When you have heard a local story involving a man getting shot at an AMPM that is supposedly closer to a good area, but yet is literally right next to gang territory that is on the same street.
-When your younger brother has told you that he ditched school to go to a nearby park just to mess with the homeless.
-When you go eat out at a nearby restaurant and you go use the restroom only to discover that the restroom has been tagged and/or vandalized.
-When you see a bike outside an apartment complex that might get jacked just at any moment.
At my older neighborhood in Arlington,TX
The neighbors across the street use the garage as an auto shop (mostly audio systems and suspensions). They also frequently host hydraulics shows on the front lawn.
The police and animal control show up one day and take away a large amount of aggressive pit-bull's.
You find out that your house was on the TV, because one of your neighbors had killed a friend and lead police on a chase back to there house.
There's a large welcoming party for a neighbor who just got out of jail (in for 25 years) after they had killed someone. Not the same neighbor as the police chase one.
I know this is overseas, but at my grandmother's apartment in Glasgow, Scotland.
A man runs onto a bus, yells at the driver to go, then another man with knife starts banging on the door and opens the emergency hatches on the bus.
A man comes running up to you yelling "help me" and you find out he has a hatchet in the back of his head.
Kids take a large amount of 8 foot tall fencing and cause a road block on the main road.
Kids wait for you to drive up then start throwing glass bottles on the ground in front of your car.
You watch two very intoxicated guys break into the neighbors car and destroy the interior of it.
your so afraid to park the nice rental car outside. that you stand by the window and watch ever person that comes by. Eventually had a group of guys pick up small rocks and started throwing them at the car.
You watch two kids try to set the local pub on fire with a large box fulled with trash.
somebody had broke the large lock box on the fire hydrant and turned it on for the kids to play in.
The city puts in a new playground and has to put a large fence around it so no one steals it. Someone wound up taking the trees out of the ground.
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