Rant

Lesley wrote: I circulated a paper around the neighbourhood, and while all the other neighbours thanked me, they really don't want to do anything about it.

This is the tough part - the people in the neighborhood really need to get involved as a group to make things happen. When I bought my house 30 years ago things in my neighborhood were pretty sketchy, there were a lot of crack houses, halfway homes and other fun things going on. My neighbors and I got involved with the local neighborhood watch and the police; it was a lot of work, but in time we got the place turned around and it's been pretty decent ever since.

You're in Toronto, aren't you? There's a neighborhood watch association there: http://cpatoronto.org/home/programs/neighbourhood-watch , maybe you could get some help from them.

That's heartening news. I'm in a town about 100 miles from Toronto.

I have a theory that neighborhoods are cyclical, they start out new and 'with it' then various things like this happen and they slide. When the values bottom out, people buy them and fix them up, causing the n'hood to improve again. Then it starts all over.

Lesley wrote: That's heartening news. I'm in a town about 100 miles from Toronto.

In that case, it's still worth checking to see if there's some community group in your town that can help - they usually have people on staff who are trained in organizing this sort of thing, getting ordinary people to volunteer for any kind of community service is tough.

We're going through a similar thing right now. No peeing off the deck, just super crappy neighbors. None of the normal methods have worked so we are throwing in the towel and moving. We're planning to list next spring. House needs too many little things to list now. And if by some chance my crappy neighbors move before next spring, it will mean my wife got me to do all the projects on the honey-do list instead of doing car projects...

I'm so sorry you're going through this. Bad neighbours make your life miserable. I travel so much that home is my sanctuary. I don't feel safe, nor comfortable anymore. Even with the city stepping in and forcing them to kick out most of the tenants, it's still transient people, far too close for my comfort.