Has Austin become more Vichy than Resistance? (crime, neighborhoods)

[OpenD]

I'm out for a walk at 6 am. I see a violation, despite all the publicity and attention to the regulations. Curious.

I have no paper and pen. I have a cell phone. A quick call to 311 gets a reminder sent to the perp... errr, homeowner. Issue gets resolved. Nobody gets hurt. No sweat.

[Austinite101]

Originally Posted by OpenD

I'm out for a walk at 6 am. I see a violation, despite all the publicity and attention to the regulations. Curious.

I have no paper and pen. I have a cell phone. A quick call to 311 gets a reminder sent to the perp... errr, homeowner. Issue gets resolved. Nobody gets hurt. No sweat.

I agree. And for the record, I could take him too That is, as soon as I learn to drive my 6'4" body and the wingspan that comes with it

[Adamson865]

Originally Posted by OpenD

I'm out for a walk at 6 am. I see a violation, despite all the publicity and attention to the regulations. Curious.

I have no paper and pen. I have a cell phone. A quick call to 311 gets a reminder sent to the perp... errr, homeowner. Issue gets resolved. Nobody gets hurt. No sweat.

Yeah, nobody gets hurt... except relations between neighbors which will never be repaired. It's ironic that a city which trumpets good neighborhoods also encourages self-righteous neighbors to rat on people, all in the name of a silly law which could change by the week on the whims of some bureaucrats.

I'm so glad when I get settled there next month, I'll not be living in Austin proper.

[verybadgnome]

Originally Posted by rah62

Yeah, nobody gets hurt... except relations between neighbors which will never be repaired. It's ironic that a city which trumpets good neighborhoods also encourages self-righteous neighbors to rat on people, all in the name of a silly law which could change by the week on the whims of some bureaucrats.

I'm so glad when I get settled there next month, I'll not be living in Austin proper.

The only ill-will that is carried forward in that situation is the one that the violator chooses to.

So who decides what laws are just and which laws are "silly" and should be ignored? Are you so wise as to decide for the rest of us? Are we not a nation of laws? Are you aware of the dire water issues facing Texas? Would you flagrantly disobey the "silly" ordinances of the HOA community that you'll soon reside in? If so you have just been informed said HOA has the power to repossess your home for infractions of association rules, something the city of Austin cannot do.

Wow, just did some research on Palm Springs, CA. They are looking to get more of their supply from very expensive and energy intensive desalination plants on the coast. Maybe if they didn't waste so much water on golf courses in the desert (5 inches of rain per year) they wouldn't have to drain their aquifer and resort to such drastic measures. Sorry your CA town might try to learn about this word we call "conservation" and then back it up with ordinances and enforcement.

[Austinite101]

Originally Posted by rah62

Yeah, nobody gets hurt... except relations between neighbors which will never be repaired. It's ironic that a city which trumpets good neighborhoods also encourages self-righteous neighbors to rat on people, all in the name of a silly law which could change by the week on the whims of some bureaucrats.

I'm so glad when I get settled there next month, I'll not be living in Austin proper.

How is being concerned about the environmental strain on the water supply make someone self-righteous? And I don't think its a silly law either.

[verybadgnome]

Originally Posted by oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots

Apologies because I'm not from Austin but I'm going to comment anyway. The whole tell on your neighbor thing is taught at an early age. As an example:

We went to Freshman orientation at Hutto High School. The school police officer gets up there and tells all the kids they have the potential to earn $500 every time they turn someone in for drugs/alcohol/paraphernalia/tobacco/chew. It's in cash. $100 for chew/cigarettes. The mantra is "no one needs to know". They made over 80 arrests last year alone and there is over 100k available for cash to kids who are turning in other kids.

Ok, let's not jump to conclusions...I'm not condoning drug/alcohol use. However, there is a great potential for abuse that can ruin some kids life for making a mistake. And, whats to stop the kids from working in pairs? The deal is someone hands some kid some dope, another kid runs to the officer and turns the kid in for having drugs...possession. 500 bucks richer.

Kids deal the dope AND are informants. Priceless.

I'm also not saying there isn't a drug problem. But, do we have to go about addressing the issue in this way?


Also, I like HEB.

The huge distinction is that the guy who turned in the OP didn't not gain financially from his reporting.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by rah62

You can't just leave a note on his door as a common courtesy?

I don't carry a pen and paper around with me when I'm walking around the neighborhood.

But I do carry my smart phone which allows me to call 311 or send an email message regarding the violation.

The notice sent by 311 is a "courtesy call". No fine, no foul, just reminding you to do your part to help conserve OUR water.

[Onedarkrose]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

I don't carry a pen and paper around with me when I'm walking around the neighborhood.

But I do carry my smart phone which allows me to call 311 or send an email message regarding the violation.

The notice sent by 311 is a "courtesy call". No fine, no foul, just reminding you to do your part to help conserve OUR water.

The local government won't keep track of that anyway.

Komeht, just understand where you live and abide accordingly. There will always be an excuse to not be neighborly especially when there is no desire to bewhich is fine. Austin is Vichy when it comes to certain things.

People's idea of being anti-establishment is dressing down to go to work and fancy restaurants. The city is trying to attract a certain type of person here and they're succeeding. All I can say is try to suck it up because there's no going back.

[love roses]

Originally Posted by rah62

Yeah, nobody gets hurt... except relations between neighbors which will never be repaired. It's ironic that a city which trumpets good neighborhoods also encourages self-righteous neighbors to rat on people, all in the name of a silly law which could change by the week on the whims of some bureaucrats.

I'm so glad when I get settled there next month, I'll not be living in Austin proper.

There are water restrictions there too and if you had seen what the drought did last year and the huge fire in bastrop and Steiner, you might feel a bit differently.

[oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots]

Originally Posted by verybadgnome

The huge distinction is that the guy who turned in the OP didn't not gain financially from his reporting.

I'm not sure what that is suppose to mean. The whole point was do we really need to deal with the drug issue in the way it's being dealt with at schools? I've said it's my opinion there is too much room for corruption. But, I guess with everything else...the "perfect" person won't get into trouble".

Just for a hypothetical situation...let's say some kid is walking down the hall with his backpack on. Some other kid slips some dope in it. Then, the kid with the backpack gets turned in. They do a search and voila, the kid is now caught with dope and it's now possession. Handcuffed and locked up. Who do you think they're going to believe? Are they going to believe the kid that says, "I don't know how that got there!".

And, to get a hundred bucks for telling on someone with chew or cigarettes? I just think it's gone too far.

It's ridiculous. Plus, some of these "children" are going from High School into the military. They're old enough to die for their country but not old enough to chew? Oh, I get it...they're only 17 and once they're 18 a miraculous thing happens...they become "adults". Then it's ok.