Subject: [KUNMIDEAS-L] "War Zone?" To: KUNMIDEAS-L@LIST.UNM.EDU
When I first moved to the La Mesa neighborhood, I,
too, resisted the label of "War Zone" to describe my
community.
I soon realized that it was the property owners, north
of Copper Street, for whom this term is the most
problematic. They're VERY worried about their property
values, understandably.
But it is THEY, and the APD, who have declared war on
those of us, south of Copper, who rent.
We can't function, as a result. We're constantly under
the most miniscule scrutiny. Yeah, we're poor. We work
on our own cars, and sometimes, those are on concrete
blocks in our yards. Selective enforcement sees to it
that it is only OUR cars that are cited as
nonoperating vehicles.
Selective enforcement of ordinances, laws and
legislation torments us. Things that are considered
"Quaint," things tourists snap photos of in other
neighborhoods in Albuquerque, are considered
indications of insanity and slovenliness in the War
Zone. I specifically am thinking of the Aztec Hotel,
covered in wine bottles, stuffed animals and plastic
flowers. If you "decorate" like that in the War Zone,
the city will use the "nuisance" abatement ordinances
to get you EVICTED and get your property condemned!
I have called the police, only to have them stand in
my yard, screaming and cursing at ME! If you live in
the War Zone, you MUST be up to something, or must be
crazy.
I was stalked by a mental patient. He was robbing me.
He beat me. He tried to rape me. The police did
NOTHING. In fact, they used the fact that I'd called
the police so many times as an excuse to get ME
evicted by the "nuisance" abatement ordinances!! If
there are too many calls to the police about a
specific address, they can enforce that law!
NOBODY would help me. I was instantly homeless, and my
neighbors broke in and robbed me blind.
Apparantly, stalking laws only apply to middle class,
heterosexual women.
Now, I suspect my stalker was this guy, Hide (Hyde?),
who just killed five people, including two cops!
The neighborhood association, which, poetically, calls
itself the La Mesa CIA (community improvement
association) played a MAJOR ROLE in getting me thrown
out of the neighborhood.
I had marched with them in antidrug rallies. I had
attended their meetings. For years, every child in the
War Zone was welcomed in my home for sanctuary,
instruction, food, clothing, etc.
But the CIA blamed ME for criminal activity of these
kids, when they were NOT at my home. I, of course,
said, "Those kids are at my home from 3pm-9pm (just
before cerfew), weekdays. They're at my house for up
to ten hours a day on weekends. Imagine, then, how
MUCH trouble they could be causing, during those
hours, were they not with ME! And what are YOU doing
to improve their lives, save them from incest, educate
them? Have you ever given any of them one pencil for
homework??"
As a result, I was made homeless, treated as a
criminal, and banished from the neighborhood.
It all happened in FRONT of the kids. So, they got the
clear message, "If you TRY to improve conditions in
this slum, THIS is what we'll do to you!"
I had sent copies of my emails about the stalking to:
APD Chief, AFD Chief, Mayor, Abq. Tribune and the
Governor's office. An animal control officer, present
the day of my eviction, HEARD a fire marshall say,
"the mayor wants this house bulldozed to the ground,
and that bitch locked up."
People are DYING of neglect, prejudice and selective
enforcement in that community. There's no rehab.
There's on social outreach. There's no job training.
There are NO JOBS!!! And our CARS get towed, in
selective sting operations -- ostensibly looking for
no seat belts, broken lights, cracked windshields --
when we're pulled over for unannounce road blocks that
fill city coffers and leave us without transportation
to our DISHWASHING jobs in the far, North East
Heights.
SLUMLORDS, in the University area? PLEASE!! WE have to
stockpile water, because our landlords leave for
vacation without paying water bills! Our CEILINGS
collapse in the monsoons! Our electricity and gas go
out more than WE do! It's not safe to walk two blocks
to the grocery, for all the punks vending crack
outside the Philadelphia Ministries "Half Way" house,
which is really just a SCAM for the so-called
"Minister," who holds the residents hostage as forced
labor for his CONTRACTING business!!
We walk through human feces, daily. Our kids have
asthma. We have rats. You can't drink a beverage at
night, without leaving a light on, because the ROACHES
will climb into your glass AS YOU DRINK IT!
NOBODY cares about us. We are FORCED to be criminals,
in order to just survive.
La Mesa means "The Table," yet there's no room at the
table for US!
WE didn't declare war; THEY did.
Rogi Riverstone
http://rriverstone.com
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