I LOVE MY HOUSE

Hi, I'm Michael. I moved into Garfield Park in 2001 and began fixing up my 1930 bungalow. After a lot of blood, sweat and tears - I feel I've made a good home for myself and I'm proud of the work I have done. I love living so close to the park and my dogs love it, too. I'm a huge gardening freak, so you've probably seen me out in my yard hours on end.

CRIME

Only one problem - I now feel I am sitting prey to thieves and criminals who have repeatedly violated my home, my car, stolen my outdoor furniture and ruined my landscaping. After 7 years of this... I'm not sure it's worth it to live here. And as of January 11th - I will have a convicted murderer moving back as a neighbor. Six months after harrassing me with hate speech and threats of killing me, he plead guilty to voluntary manslaugher of a man near Garfield Park. He served two years and now he's going to live across the street from me. Why am I still living here again?!

DO SOMETHING

I think rather than give up and move out - I need to do something to fight back! We as Garfield Park residents need to ban together and protect our property! Night patrols? Form a nieghborhood watch? Get groups together to walk our streets a few nights a week? Something has got to be done to stop this! Check out this website - http://members.tripod.com/~ervindavis/manual-1.html