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imagine a policeman...

kittykate

knocking on your door @ 6:30 am and asking you if you knew that your car was found on a nearby hilltop- torched to death- completely--

and when you stepped outside your door you realized that your significant other's car had vanished too... along with both of your keys that were sitting on a table in your living room when you went to bed the night before?

welcome to my world.

is this the inherant risk of urban garageless living?

 
Aug 11, 05 3:57 pm
pencrush

did this really happen to you? and if so, did they only steal your keys/cars and nothing else from your apartment?

Aug 11, 05 3:59 pm  · 
 · 
kittykate

yes it really happened to me last night. and yes my ipod, computer, wallet (relatively) full (of small bills), everything else- seemed to be where it was the night before... wierd i know.
i think i might be losing my nieve trust in the goodness of people.

Aug 11, 05 4:02 pm  · 
 · 
pencrush

maybe your significant other took off with the cars... I don't know why (s)he would torch yours though... and why if you live in a city you have 2 cars... :P

that sucks though..

Aug 11, 05 4:05 pm  · 
 · 
A Center for Ants?

that's... so bizarre...

was your significant other gone as well or did BOTH of you wake up to this?

Aug 11, 05 4:10 pm  · 
 · 
kittykate

i guess I'm using the word "urban" very loosely. Santa Fe is "urban" for NM. but not not so much compared to too many other places- and it's totally car oriented, and i live in the most "urban" part- in the heart of the sprawl- the only bit that could possibly be considered "urban"

and yeah- it could've been a good plot for a bad movie, but it definately wasn't my bf.

thanks for your condolences anyway.

Aug 11, 05 4:15 pm  · 
 · 
kittykate

he's been away for about a week.

Aug 11, 05 4:16 pm  · 
 · 
instrumentOFaction

Do you lock your doors at night, KK? if so, were there signs of forced entry? This would actually be the most worrisome part of your predicament. Did the SFPD do any type of scene investigation/ look for prints, etc? I'm sorry this happened to you. Car vandalization is never a good thing to wake up to....speaking from experience.

Aug 11, 05 4:31 pm  · 
 · 

I live in Santa FE, NM too, a co-worker's laptop was stolen form his locked house a week ago. I live up on the hills by Cerro Gordo, hopefully the more removed location keeps me safe.....
Since I got here only 3 weeks ago, I have heard of 3 or 4 incidents like this, a little scary...

Aug 11, 05 4:36 pm  · 
 · 

I mean 3 months, I used to live by Cerrillos though, a more "urban" environment

Aug 11, 05 4:37 pm  · 
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kittykate

yikes...

i used to live way out in the country, and my landlady "didn't know where the keys to the house went" so we never actually locked our doors ever. So when we moved into the "city" I guess my habit of locking the doors at night was a little slack. I feel really stupid for that now- i realized i was living with a false sense of security, and i almost feel responsible...
I think the police are going to start an investigation- though they haven't looked at my house at all. I think i will start pestering them though.

Aug 11, 05 4:43 pm  · 
 · 
strlt_typ
go get 'em
Aug 11, 05 4:50 pm  · 
 · 
architecturegeek
Crime Stats Urban v. Suburban v. Rural
Aug 11, 05 4:51 pm  · 
 · 
larslarson

not to be paranoid...but have you changed
all your locks yet? sorry to hear about your car..
i've had my car broken into about six or seven times..
actually caught someone doing it and stopped my
friends from kicking the crap out of him...there's not much
worse than the feeling of someone stealing from your
personal space...

Aug 11, 05 4:51 pm  · 
 · 
instrumentOFaction

uh...ok. you don't lock your doors. i'm glad you see the error of your ways and will get a new lock installed with brand new keys by the time the sun sets tonight. The days of being able to leave your doors and windows open are gone no matter where you live. I'm sorry this happened to you but i'd say you got off easy...with only property and not personal damage.

if the SFPD didn't dust your residence w/in 12-24 hrs of the burglary, don't expect them to find much of anything. That should have been done by an on-call detective the same day unless the PD was extremely busy. My guess is they won't do one and since you didn't lock your doors, technically i doubt they'll decide this was a burglary and only theft/criminal damage. when you don't impede the criminal you haven't technically 'advised' them it was improper to have them enter your home.

I'm taskchair quarterbacking here but my guess is that if you live in a fairly rural area and in some type of apartment/condo arrangement, the culprits live there too. unless others in the development had similar property damage/thefts and this is some random hijinks, someone close-by may have noticed your boyfriend was gone for the week and took advantage of a less than secure house. Good luck, kittykate. i'm glad you suffered only property damage and not bodily harm.

Aug 11, 05 4:56 pm  · 
 · 
instrumentOFaction

dammson, nice idea but unless an agent of the court administers a search and recovery for evidence its innadmissable. Besides, its easier to actually take a blue-colored flashlight beam and hold it at a shallow angle to any smooth surface to find prints.

Aug 11, 05 4:58 pm  · 
 · 
inkwray

If it makes you feel better my a year ago my car was completely destroyed by a drunk on the wrong side of the road along with 5 other cars.
The tow truck driver showed up before the cops and when the police arrived it was one cop about to get off duty. So after an hour the police started to do what cops do and my car around the middle of the day was taken to a lot and abandoned.
luckily he had good insurance.

Aug 11, 05 5:02 pm  · 
 · 
inkwray

I took the insurance money and instead of buying another car i put it to school and an apartment without a roommate. so it all worked out in the end.
yeh.

Aug 11, 05 5:04 pm  · 
 · 
inkwray

just an assumption. if your keys were in visible sight and the door was left unlocked whoever it was saw the keys took em, ran, found the cars took off had their fun and burned the car to get rid of the evidence.

Aug 11, 05 5:06 pm  · 
 · 
inkwray

haha

Aug 11, 05 5:07 pm  · 
 · 

HEY KITTYKATE WHO DO YOU WORK FOR IN SF?

Aug 11, 05 5:12 pm  · 
 · 
kittykate

haha

i'm going to stop looking at this thread because its making me more depressed

ciao

Aug 11, 05 5:15 pm  · 
 · 
plexus 1

imagine waking up one morning, walking out to the apartment parking lot and discovering that your car has been stolen.

imagine a sister that is kind enough to lend you a car until the situation is resolved.

now imagine waking up the next day, walking out to the apartment parking lot to find your sister's car has been stolen. since it was not my car, my initial assumption was that i was not familiar with looking for that type of automobile, or perhaps i simply was not very observant. after walking the lot twice i began cursing at the top of my lungs in sheer disbelief.

the first car was a 1.5 liter honda civic and the second was a 5 liter ford mustang.

Aug 11, 05 5:18 pm  · 
 · 
strlt_typ
Aug 11, 05 5:21 pm  · 
 · 
kittykate

ok fine i've been peeking... i can't help myself damnit

your flowers almost made me cry again... thanks.

plexus- i'm so sorry. that's story is way worse than mine.

quilian- i work for the an ex-hippy "green" architect named Mark Chalom. who do you work for?

Aug 11, 05 5:46 pm  · 
 · 

MAZRIA

Aug 11, 05 5:47 pm  · 
 · 
kittykate

lucky. do you know of mark?
got any job openings?

Aug 11, 05 5:50 pm  · 
 · 

The guy with the gallery and furniture store? I know him.
You should call....

Aug 11, 05 5:53 pm  · 
 · 

oh i see wrong mark, i dont know him, never heard of him, although hippie in SF, doesnt describe much.....
Im new to the area too, so i dont know too many people....

Aug 11, 05 5:55 pm  · 
 · 
kittykate

no... not unless he leads a double life.
I know for a fact that Ed and Mark know each other though.

Aug 11, 05 5:55 pm  · 
 · 
kittykate

i've also met someone who works there named alexi. I think he lives in my neighborhood.

you should remind him to lock his doors at night :]

Aug 11, 05 5:59 pm  · 
 · 

Alexi is the boss....
Great, friendly guy, he is the Dzurec in:
MAzria Odems Dzurec.

Aug 11, 05 6:01 pm  · 
 · 
kittykate

i met him at "the pie party" after zozobra. he showed my friends and i a shortcut back to our hood. seemed nice.
how's working for mazria?

Aug 11, 05 6:15 pm  · 
 · 

Great actually, great work environment, and very design oriented, plus everyone here is very opinionated, which makes it fun for design discussions.

Aug 11, 05 6:19 pm  · 
 · 
kittykate

hey, that's just what i'm missing...
mark's pretty cool, but sometimes it seems like he designs the same building over and over again. i might just give a call.

Aug 11, 05 6:52 pm  · 
 · 
Devil Dog

kittykate,

i have to point out that you shouldn't worry about your stuff being stolen from your apartment. the bigger issue i see is that someone was in your house while you were asleep; your most vunerable state. read into that for a while.

sorry to hear about your situation but it could have been much worse. please don't lose faith in humanity but also look after yourself. you'll do good in the world but you first have to be in this world to do that good.

remember what teddy roosevelt said; "walk softly, but carry a big stick".

Aug 11, 05 8:04 pm  · 
 · 
kittykate

devil dog.
your words are wise. thankyou

Aug 11, 05 8:52 pm  · 
 · 
vado retro

when i lived in albucrackee we were always getting broken into. the car the apartment etc. one night when i lived downtown someone broke into my neighbor's car and when the alarm went off, he came out shooting. scared the hell out of us. its all banger initiation b.s. thats life in the land of entrapment.

Aug 11, 05 9:18 pm  · 
 · 
zeth01

who really needs a car. especially if you are in a city

Aug 11, 05 9:53 pm  · 
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vado retro

if you dont have a car in new mexico you might as well be dead.

Aug 11, 05 10:13 pm  · 
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kittykate

hahaha

Aug 11, 05 10:42 pm  · 
 · 
larslarson

there are plenty of cities where you have to have a car...
boston, houston, dallas, la, etc. etc.

for other examples see pretty much every city that's not on
the two coasts.

Aug 12, 05 3:19 am  · 
 · 

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