I know this is suppose to be about Fairfax, but since many enjoyed my tale of the "Hostage" situation by my house about a month ago I feel I need to share the latest news. (See http://www.fairfaxunderground.com/forum/read.php?2,5038,5038#msg-5038 for Hostage situation story)

My wife and I live in a small townhouse on a corner lot of a busy intersection in Old Town Alexandria and pay a small fortune in property taxes because of the "prime" location. However, our L shaped townhouse community is surrounded on three sides by "Section 8" (or low income subsidized housing). We have been in the house for over 2 years now but just in the past 6 months everything is going down hill.

"Now I dialed 911 a long time ago"

At 1:50 am in the morning on Sunday 9/11/05, my wife and I were awoke by 8 gunshots shot in rapid succession. Being raised around weapons, I immediately recognized it as having the distinct sound of a 9mm semi-automatic pistol. Immediately following the shots, we saw the motion detector light flick on in the private sidewalk behind our house, so we assumed that either someone fleeing from the gunshots or the shooter fled down in that direction. I immediately called 911 to report the incident.

My "nosy" next door neighbors also called it in. I waited a brief time before venturing outside. I walked around the perimeter of our property and hung out on the sidewalk with my "nosy" neighbor husband for at least 20 more minutes. He works for the Pentagon in their security department so he had his 9mm strapped to his hip. (Not only is he nosy, but he is a little too "gung ho" like Tackleberry from the "Police Academy" movies!)

"Don't you see how late they're reactin'
They only come and they come when they wanna"

No police officer came to the scene while I was outside for over an hour after my 911 call. The nosy neighbor and I decided we were both too tired to wait for the police any longer and went back into our respective houses.

The nosy neighbor called the cops again in the morning and an officer came to the scene. The neighbor was walking his two annoying little yip-yip dogs and right behind my house found 8 expended shell casings. The shell casings were found at the corner of my property and the private sidewalk behind my house. The cop collected the shells and then found 3 more (which turned out to be .32 caliber blank shell casings) by where my car was parked on the street next to my house. The nosy neighbor shared this information with me later that day.

My wife works as an attorney for the city of Alexandria so on Monday after she got to work immediately called the Police Chief to demand an answer as to why the lack of response to our 911 call. The Chief was obviously distressed as to the ball being dropped on his watch so he promised to look into it and get back to her.

"They don't care 'cause they stay paid anyway"

Later that night as we were eating dinner, the Police Chief called us at home and explained the 911 dispatcher had received a call from our nosy neighbor before our call. He had said gunshots were fired but did not give a location or the number of shots. And here is the clincher, he also requested not to be contacted. So the officers dispatched to the scene (allegedly 2 patrol cars and an additional K-9 unit... I say allegedly since I was outside and never saw any police vehicles at all), drove around the area, did not see anything, and went back to their routes.

My nosy neighbor is also the nervous nelly type who calls 911 all the time to report stupid shit. Three months ago after the cops came to his front door after one of these calls, nosy neighbor was rewarded with a brick through his front window which is what he was trying to avoid by remaining anonymous.

"I can prove it to you watch the rotation
It all adds up to a funky situation"

The Chief said the dispatcher should have updated the first call with the information I provided and the cops dispatched would have come to my house. He said he did not know why this was not done but was going to investigate further. He also promised to step up patrols in our neighborhood.

With two KNOWN drug dealers located in the Section 8 housing on either side of my townhouse development, I do not put much faith in things getting better any time soon.

I mean what the fuck else is there to do?

We cannot move. The house was purchased two years ago for $325,000. This years taxes increased the estimate to $488,000. We just finished expanding the back and side yards with a brick wall, which will DEFINITELY increase the value of the home. And two of our neighbors have moved and sold their houses for over $550,000 in the past 6 months. This was what we could afford to stay in Alexandria.

This is problem in Northern Virginia. There is no room to develop any further so you get into a bidding war with several other yuppie couples like ourselves over some shitty property which is not worth the money we are overbidding for it. I do not want to commute (been there done that in my 20s in Boston) so Falls Church, Fairfax, Centerville, Reston, Herndon, etc. is not an option (especially with the $3.59 +/- a gallon price in the area).

I guess I just need to put up with it and shut the fuck up. Oh, well... thanks for the vent...

"So get up get, get get down
911 is a joke in "Old Town""

Do you guys think eliminating or modifying the Section 8 program may have a positive effect for those who work hard, get paid well but have to spend $$$ for housing that some get for almost free - at our expense?

Price,

I do not know if I understand your question.

I do believe in low income housing. It does help those who are trying to get out of bad situations. The key word here is "trying." I am friendly with several of these types of neighbors.

It is like Chris Rock said in his HBO special-- "There are black people and then there are niggahs."

That being said, some of welfare families who are living in the Section 8 housing are just perpetuating the cycle. They pay no attention to their children; let them roam around the neighborhood unsupervised, stay up until 3-4 o'clock in the morning (again roaming with no supervision and these are 6-12 year olds), hang out in groups that get up to no good, etc.

These kids have no respect for other's property since they have no concept of what it is like to work hard to get something; everything is handed to them. Their "parents" (single mom and the boyfriend of the week) drive brand new Escalades and Lexus SUVs, have a house, big tvs, Xboxes, Playstations, etc (all the things I work hard to be able to afford).

Again, what can one do? Move?

Well, I had my question since I moved to the States only few years ago and don't know the history nor the rationale behind Sec.8. I lived in a pretty expensive apt. complex (Watergate) and was surprised to see how some people purchased units and then rented them out to Sec.8 eligible families. I'd understand when the government subsidies affordable kind of living, but not what you could call luxury. So, the system must be broken somewhere and the original cause of Sec.8 must has been long forgotten.

Price Wrote:
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> So, the system must be
> broken somewhere and the original cause of Sec.8
> must has been long forgotten.


You just described every government program, ever.

whatever happened to social darwinism? i mean... relief funding for people who moved into a topical area that is hit hard by huricannes seasonally (i speak of florida)? im sorry but relief should not be to rebuild but to move to a safer location. sure new orleans seemed like a freak accident, but when you live below sea level you cant assume it's going to be fine forever. the same goes for hawaii, you live on a volcano, expect to be hit by lava. this isnt anything new!


"the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."

Just my $.02 - There are alot of calls of suspicious noises every day in Fairfax County, including more than you'd imagine being "gunshots". Officers simply don't have time to fully investigate every single call, espically when 95% of them are crazy old ladies, fireworks, and cars backfiring.

On the other side - the calltaker (btw - the 911 calltakers and police/fire dispatchers aren't part of the police department - they're part of the newly created "Department Of Public Safety Communications") should have added your call onto your neighbors, with the updated information that I'm sure you provided. One additional thing - when you call police for a suspecious person, or noise - if you want to be seen by the officer (and if you want something done, you definately want to speak to the officer) then TELL THE CALLTAKER (which I'm not sure if you did or not). Cops are lazy, and because most of these calls are bogus, they'll check the area, then clear the call.

Me Wrote:
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> Just my $.02 - There are alot of calls of
blah blah blah...
> (which I'm not sure if you did or not). Cops are
> lazy, and because most of these calls are bogus,
> they'll check the area, then clear the call.

what are you talking about? protect and serve!... protect the donuts and serve them to their mouths. perhaps if it was reported that someone shot donuts, they would be their in five.


"the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."

However, our L shaped townhouse community is surrounded on three sides by "Section 8"



Gee. I think that is your problem right there. Don't pay outrageous sums of money to live next to a ghetto next time. Dumbass.

people need to start taking 911 seriosuly