a (not so) beautiful day in the neighborhood

10:57 p.m.:
Mom and I are awake. I have to be up around 5:30 a.m. to get to Starbucks at 6 (opening - what a thrill), and the across-the-street neighbors are just partying it up. Larry Langford's too busy getting inner-city kids laptops in schools that they're just going to ruin in less than a year to worry about drug-dealing, disturbing neighbors.

I can hear one of the small children the woman keeps there screaming and hollering with the rest of them. Excuse me, but since when is a three- or four-year-old child being up at 11 p.m. in the yard with adults yelling back and forth at each other and music blaring from a car left on a healthy environment? Working with children at the Children's Place makes me sympathize with those poor kids across the street even more. They're allowed to roam into the street, unsupervised (the woman goes inside, I kid no one), for hours at a time. I've watched them! I can't imagine some of the children I watch going through this, but who knows? Some of them might. Mrs. Violett was telling me all sorts of stories about the situations these kids come from and how much it means to her to be able to make the sort of positive influence on their lives that she does. I agree, and that's one of the reasons I took on the job at the Children's Place as well.

Twice in the time the idiots have lived across the street, one of the children they keep/have has gotten in one of the cars and knocked it out of gear. I only wish I were kidding. We've called DHR, the police numerous times, and even have a neighborhood watch, but we can't trust anyone with the corruption that exists everywhere. Fortunately, Mom has a friend whose son and friend are in the police force, so they're hopefully working on getting us connections with people who will actually do something. No child should have to endure this kind of environment, and frankly, we're all sick of it.

So, to Larry Langford: there's reason number 5683 as to why you suck as a mayor.