Today 12/7/03 about 1 PM someone threw a beer bottle over the fence from the alley behind my house at my dog who was barking about something. Later around 3 PM I decided to ride my bike though the alley to see what I could see. It runs east - west south of Oregon Ave and north of Colter St, 39th Ave - to 42nd Ave, it T's at 40th and a section runs south between 41st Ave and 40th Dr.
Up until the section were it T's going east from 42nd Dr there was your typical graffiti and broken bottles in the alley. At the T there is a park that belongs to our HOA (Mandalay, I am one of the board members) where people keep tearing down the wall to get from the school to the alley. I went south at the T as I had never been that way. In the section between Colter and Medlock I saw two illegal cable taps from boxes in the alley which ran across the alley to houses on the west side of the alley which must be somewhere on 41st Ave. The area looks very run down and seedy. The alley continues south until it T's again and runs east - west which looking at my map (doesn't show alleys) must be some where south of Medlock Dr and Pasadena Ave. I went east and came out on 39th Dr south of Medlock. From there I made my way back to the east end of the Alley south of Oregon Ave and went west back towards the park.
Just past the alley entrance on 39th Ave it is blocked with a large pile of tree branches and palm fronds. I could get through with my bike, but a car can't. That section of the alley is unpaved from 39th Ave to about 40th where the T is. There was a large amount of what looks to be gang graffiti, there were several skulls with X for eyes and names, and a section that said West Side something that was covered with junk. Just before I got to the T section behind the park about 40th Ave and Oregon Ave, I encountered a Latino or Indian male about 5'6'', skinny, dark skinned, wearing only underwear briefs with some sort of pattern on them. He said something to me which didn't sound like Spanish (I understand a small amount of basic Spanish). This was just east of where the wall keeps being torn down from our park to the alley. There were a couple children playing in the park with a male parent watching them. I called crime stop when I got home about 10 minutes later at 4 PM and reported a suspicious person. I think this part of the area needs a serious looking at, the gang task force should go take a look at the graffiti in that section.
By Scott
Up until the section were it T's going east from 42nd Dr there was your typical graffiti and broken bottles in the alley. At the T there is a park that belongs to our HOA (Mandalay, I am one of the board members) where people keep tearing down the wall to get from the school to the alley. I went south at the T as I had never been that way. In the section between Colter and Medlock I saw two illegal cable taps from boxes in the alley which ran across the alley to houses on the west side of the alley which must be somewhere on 41st Ave. The area looks very run down and seedy. The alley continues south until it T's again and runs east - west which looking at my map (doesn't show alleys) must be some where south of Medlock Dr and Pasadena Ave. I went east and came out on 39th Dr south of Medlock. From there I made my way back to the east end of the Alley south of Oregon Ave and went west back towards the park.
Just past the alley entrance on 39th Ave it is blocked with a large pile of tree branches and palm fronds. I could get through with my bike, but a car can't. That section of the alley is unpaved from 39th Ave to about 40th where the T is. There was a large amount of what looks to be gang graffiti, there were several skulls with X for eyes and names, and a section that said West Side something that was covered with junk. Just before I got to the T section behind the park about 40th Ave and Oregon Ave, I encountered a Latino or Indian male about 5'6'', skinny, dark skinned, wearing only underwear briefs with some sort of pattern on them. He said something to me which didn't sound like Spanish (I understand a small amount of basic Spanish). This was just east of where the wall keeps being torn down from our park to the alley. There were a couple children playing in the park with a male parent watching them. I called crime stop when I got home about 10 minutes later at 4 PM and reported a suspicious person. I think this part of the area needs a serious looking at, the gang task force should go take a look at the graffiti in that section.
By Scott
