Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Security/cars

[David L. Mandel (75407.2361]

A few days ago Bob Middelman of Vancouver asked about security issues.

It's definitely been an issue with us in an urban setting and in a low-income,
troubled neighborhood to boot. We've had a fair amount of vandalism, especially
to cars.

Our short-term solutions:
        - Motion-activated bright lights in vulnerable areas; helps for a while,
anyway
        - Don't keep anything that looks like it might be valuable in a car
        - Get zero-deductible comprehensive auto insurance. It doesn't cost much
more and will cover that punctured tire, broken window, etc. (Not all companies
sell it.)

Longer term: 
        - If you're still designing your community, maximize visibility in
vulnerable spaces; have people's entrances, parking areas, play areas, etc.
where others can see them from their homes.
        - Have patience and actively seek to get to know as many of your
neighbors as possible. A trio of troubled brothers and one other apparently
confessed to a rash of tire pokings we experienced last winter. Soon after that,
we had the brothers' grandma, who is their de facto parent, over for dinner, and
the boys have begun to come over more and act in a much more responsible and
responsive manner than had been the case.
        - Don't build fences where you don't need to. We resisted a wave of 
fence
requests during the first episodes of vandalism shortly after we moved in. The
requests came especially from some of the late joiners and who weren't yet tuned
in to our goal of not setting ourselves out from the larger neighborhood. Now I
think everyone is glad we didn't erect them.