Sharpstown Civic Association, Inc.

My yard is full of litter and animal feces, items have been thrown at my vehicles, my house has been burglerized... We did not realize this was such a horrible part of town before moving in. Is there anything that can be done to improve the conditions in our neighborhood???

forgot to note

(btw, this is in section 1)

YES !!!





The answer is YES!!! We must enforce the deed restrictions.




Section One (SlumTown) has been in decline for the past couple of years and is reaching ''critical mass''. Pretty soon the only people that will like to buy a home in Section One will be those that are likely to violate the deed restrictions themselves. We need to amend the deed restrictions to allow for fines and foreclosure.

---

In the newsletters the Association wrote about how you can contact the city to borrow a cage to trap animals on your property. I contacted the city a few months ago and was told that all the traps were being repaired. When I asked when the traps would be repaired they could not say.




My best advice concerning your dodo problem is to construct or buy a trap. The animal must be on your property and you can not hurt it. Once trapped you have to feed and water it. You can then contact the city for them to haul the animal away. The owner has to pay a fine to get the animal. Repeated violations result in increased fines. I contacted the city and they said you can deliver the animal to them. You do not have to identify yourself or reveal where the animal was captured.




There are many people that walk their dogs on a lease and allow them to leave their ''calling-card'' on people's lawns. There is not much you can do. Your property line is usually far from the sidewalk. In Section One the property line is about 30 feet from the center of the street. The water meter box lies on public property. So if a dog leaves dodo on your lawn next to both sides of the sidewalk, you are out of luck (public property). You could call the police to report the crime occurring on public property but good luck. Be sure to collect the evidence for DNA testing.




I once had a rowdy neighbor that urinated repeatedly on my lawn. I called the substation and spoke with a police officer (HPD). I was treated in a totally and absolutely respectful and courteous manner. I told the officer that children should not have to watch this stuff and he agreed. Finally I told him that I have witnesses and videotape of my neighbor urinating on my lawn and that I was going to call the dispatcher. The policeman then said that the video was not good and that a police officer had to personally observe the urination occurring!




Question: Why is videotape allowed as evidence for other crimes such as robbery, murder, etc. and not for my neighbor urinating on my lawn? Is the policeman right or is he giving me the run-around?








By Sharpstowner