Neighbors Looking Out For Neighbors In The Eco Village

Flickr Photo


When there is intense police activity in the Eco Village area, "Patty Cake" calls my cell phone to find out what is up...

Sometimes I know what's up. Sometimes I have no idea. Sometimes I know exactly as much as her, but from a different visual angle: there are a lot of police cars. They appear to be looking for somebody.

Last night, "Patty Cake" heard a gunshot and saw many police cars. She called me, but I was at the U of M campus with my 11-year-old son and knew nothing. So she called Peter Teachout, the Chair of the Hawthorne Neighborhood, to make sure his family was OK. "Patty" had one phone number, but she needed another one. I went into my cell phone directory and gave her JoyAnne Teachout's number.

"Call me back if anything happened to them," I told her.

She called me back, but the Teachout family was fine. JoyAnne, like "Patty Cake," had heard the single gunshot and--like "Patty Cake"--had called it in. And, yes, JoyAnne could see police cars a-cruising.

But they were fine. Everybody was fine. No telling what was up, but it appeared to be a non-event; possibly even FIRECRACKERS. No need for a police raid, hopefully.

This is the Hawthorne social network in action. Though we are hearing gunshots less often, especially in the Eco Village, the network remains strong.

"Patty Cake" wondered aloud where stray bullets go when so many crappy houses have been demolished.

Into trees, I speculated. Into embankments and dirt. Into houses that are farther away.

See, this is another reason why I prefer wooden fences to chain link.