I was just witness to the theft of a large planter off our neighbors (across the street) front porch. Two black men (in their 20s) were parked in the alley on the side of the house - the driver got out of the car and while looking around walked thru their front side garden and picked up the larger planter - I yelled at him and he threw the planter in the car and sped off the wrong way down our alley. After calling the police, we noticed that they had also taken 6 smaller planters off of our porch! The police showed up in just a few minutes and we made a report and got a case number. The neighbors across the street are not home but I left them a note and the police said they should also report it to 311. The police were very nice and said we should always report it - even if it was just planters.
I just wanted to warn everyone to be on the lookout for yourself and your neighbors - nothing is safe in your yard.
By the way we live on Cal Rodgers just one house down from Tom Miller.
What is going on?!! Last week I was turning onto Tom Miller from Zach Scott and the Police were arresting large man with a white van (hopefully it was not full of our property). There were two police cars and it looked very serious. We really need to be diligent about calling the police and reporting it on this blog if we see ANYTHING suspicious. Our safety and property values depend on it.
Last night around 8:30, my son and I were coming down Tom Miller on our bikes/razor and had to get out of the way from a speeding car quickly to avoid being hit. The car was heading towards Berkman drive. I normally get someones license plate, but was too buzy getting out of the way...I am quite sure this was the thiefs making their gettaway. The car looked to be an older model dark pewter colored, nissan altima...that is all that I remember...dos this sound the same as the care that you witnessed taking planters...?
I for one am going to be writing down any suspicious license plates...for possible future use...
We need to get the message out that he Mueller Community is working together to keep crime out of the neighborhood...
Yes, that is exactly the car. I could not get the license plate either and did not see what model car it was but was told by other witnesses that it was a 4 door sedan and that is the same color and timeframe. They sped off across Cal Rodgers and down our side alley that parallels Tom Miller and without even slowing down turned right onto Mattie and left onto Tom Miller and I presume out on Berkman. They were really moving after I yelled at them and did not slow down at any corners. They could easily have run into a car, people or dogs as they were going the wrong way down our alley. I was also amazed that they pulled this off in the daylight. They had apparently already taken all six of our planters off our porch steps before I happened to see them stealing our neighbors big ceramic planter.
I agree we need to watch out for our neighbors and suspicious cars and people in our neighborhood. We are an easy cut through from several neighborhoods around us and it is easy to make an escape.
By the way, the police wanted to know if we still have officers patrolling here like we did for awhile. I do not know - do we?
I used to see patrols but not in the last couple of months. If this gets bad enough, we should consider cameras for each entrance to the subdivision. Lets face it, our subdivision is much more affluent than our neighbors and, unless we have some strong deterrants in place, criminals are going to get bolder. I don't want to have to move my porch furniture indoors and padlock my doors all the time. I don't want to have to think twice about going to my mailbox at night. We really need to think ahead here.
That camera is a great idea, with a sign, stating the Neighborhood is recording the exits and entrances. Would definitely deter the casual car scoping out alleys etc. I'm willing to pay a few bucks more thru the HOA, for that peace of mind.
The people who live on the other side of the greenways are not our enemies. To monitor Mueller's "doors" because a few bad apples are committing property crimes sends a terrible message. Let's keep the doors open and welcoming, while keeping an eye out for each other.
I agree with you, Steve, But, we do need to be diligent and also not leave really nice things on porches (and no, I don't count planters as really nice things, although they can be expensive!) But, I have said before, I see really nice strollers, razors, garden furniture, etc... that could be seen as "tempting the devil", as my mother would say. I tend to leave my porch looking trashy to discourage would be thieves. At least that is what I say to myself when I don't want to bring in the wet dog towels are sweep the steps. :)
What about some "neighborhood watch" signs around the hood? We had a great neighborhood watch system in my old neighborhood...we just posted all that we could on our listserv when suspicious behavior occurred and had signs all over the place. Theft still occurred as it would in ANY PART of Austin, but based on our experience there, it seemed to really help when people communicated and kept an eye out.
What does it take to have an 'official' neighborhood watch program? I know I read some postings last year on this listserv that discussed someone organizing this here.
