Last time I wrote about creating an online group for my
neighborhood, in light of recent safety concerns. As I continued to
deliver flyers to all the homes in my area, I started meeting new
people and hearing more stories, of car break-ins and burglars
slicing open backyard-facing window screens.
Last time I wrote about creating an online group for my neighborhood, in light of recent safety concerns. As I continued to deliver flyers to all the homes in my area, I started meeting new people and hearing more stories, of car break-ins and burglars slicing open backyard-facing window screens.
I also learned some good news, that there were already two people in the neighborhood working on a graffiti task force, responsible for immediately covering over any tagging. It took me two weeks to canvass the neighborhood. I never rang any doorbells, simply left my flyer. One day, however, I was a few houses behind Mormon missionaries, and I worried that people who were home but didn’t answer their knocking and ringing would later see my flyer and think I had done it. Wasn’t me!
I have to say, there were more than a few times where I experienced dejà vu and thought, “Oh man, I already did this street!” but let’s face it … lots of houses look exactly the same in these planned communities. Thank god for people with their quirky yard sculpture or door signs to help orient me.
After visiting 160 houses, I have to finally acknowledge my craving for a water feature.
It’s funny, for truth in reporting I pulled up a Google map of my neighborhood and counted houses, and was surprised at that 160 figure. I thought it was half that.
So far we have 15 members, which isn’t even 1 percent. A little discouraging. The web tells me that a typical success rate for cold calls is 1 to 3 percent, but this wasn’t really a cold call. So I searched and found a site where a woman had put out 10,000 door hangers and got 12 responses. Her percentage made me feel a little better: .0012. Plus, I wasn’t involved in such a monumental delivery scheme.
Paying all this attention to safety made me start to hear things at home. I’d creep downstairs at 4 a.m. and peek out at the backyard. And I wondered: what were we supposed to do to prepare for the possibility of someone breaking into our house? I did an informal poll of some Gilroy residents to find out what they do.
“We cut the emergency pull on our garage door so it could not be accessed by breaking the garage door window,” says savvy Christine Maxwell. “We installed locks on our access gates and sensor lights on all sides of the home. We display our alarm company sign and got the one with a solar light so it is seen at night. And we use our alarm, every day, every time. We have the biggest dog around (Irish wolfhound) and he sleeps inside with us. If I hear anything, he is the first to go explore.” Maxwell lives in town near Third Street.
Lindsey Beasley, who lives near Maxwell, has already experienced two break-ins in her family’s one-year ownership of their home. “We have ADT and use it at all times. Even when home we use the chime function, not only to be alerted if someone gets in, but also if our toddler tries to escape. We have wood dowels in the front bedroom windows, and locks on side gates and back shed. Though our dog is small, she still alerts us if someone is coming in,” she says.
Says Coby Morley, “We have double locks on all windows and deadbolts on the doors. We also use our house alarm and chime system at all times, and have a 95 pound lab who alerts us especially at night (even though he’d likely lick an intruder to death).” She lives near London Drive and Church Street. She adds, “In a side note, Gilroy residents have to pay a $20 fee a year to have a house alarm, and the one time ours went off, there were no Gilroy PD available to check it out in our absence. Unhappy face.”
Another off-Church resident on the north side of town, Diana Tupper uses alarms, motion detectors and flood lights. She also thinks green: “I planted vines along the fence line that will eventually grow to become a deterrent for anyone thinking of climbing the fence to access my backyard. Finally, when leaving on long trips, we leave the stereo on and a few lights.
As for my house, instead of a dog we have an incredibly bloodthirsty half-breed wolf. His fangs are really something to see. We use klieg lights for floodlights; a team of KGB and CIA agents designed our motion detector soon after the Cold War ended. Our alarm will render our entire neighborhood deaf, but at least we’ll be safe. I’m just sayin’.
Erika Mailman maintains a very safe website at www.erikamailman.com.
