End of Silence

This started out as a rant about squeegee guys, but I decided to make an overall crime post. First, the squeegee rant, does anyone else feel like they’re living in NYC circa 1989 all of a sudden?

On my way to take the kids to day camp, I stopped on the northbound frontage of I-35 at Riverside. An aging bearded guy in a Guero’s shirt came up to my car with a squeegee and a wet rag. I immediately rolled down my window, told him that I didn’t have any cash or change (which was 100% true) and asked him not to clean the windshield. He proceeded to do it anyway, which stunned me. He said something about having kids in the car, so I suppose it turned into a good deed in his mind. However, I think cleaning the windshield when told not to do it is crossing the line, even if he didn’t demand money for it. Anybody else think that?

On my way home, I passed the southbound frontage of I-35 and Oltorf and found a second guy with a squeegee. I also passed the guy from the morning who was still in the same area, but on the southbound frontage.

In other crime news, last night was National Night Out. Our neighborhood had a small gathering of roughly 20-30 people with reps from APD, Fire and EMS. We feel we’ve been experiencing a spike in crime over the last year or so, but I’ve heard things from those living in Hyde Park and there was a story about a Rundberg neighborhood getting fed up with crime this past week. What about you? Do you feel crime is on the rise in Austin?

Last, the new police chief, Art Acevedo, seems to be busy making changes at APD. He’s in his third week on the job and there’s been at least one or two news stories a week on what he’s been up to, just search his name on Statesman or News8Austin. A local blog reports that at a talk last week Acevedo said that Austin is a major metropolitan center and we can’t run the police department like we’re a college town with a few thousand students. It’s early to tell, but it appears that he might make a difference.

VH1’s latest reality show is called The Pickup Artist. From their description, it’s about “eight lovable losers who’ll be tutored on how talk to and romance women”. They’ll be learning from a guy named “Mystery”. Try to hold your laughter. It gets better once “Mystery” actually appears. He looks like a goth Bob Schneider.

Why am I even talking about this show?

Well, my friends, it’s set in Austin. It looks like they’re living in a sweet pad out on Lake Travis. There are several shots of downtown and the first episode takes place at a club called The Foundation, which I guess is where Element used to be?

I don’t think I’d recommend watching it, but if you want to be able to watch a show and say, “I know where that is!” then be my guest.

Anybody know if they’ve completed filming? I’m guessing that most shows finish filming before they air.

Update Oh yeah, you can also view a preview for free on iTunes.