The below incident took place in the area of Maryal and St. Marks.
I had an odd contact with a door-to-door solicitor about 4 pm Thursday, (Dec 16). He knocked on the door and when I answered it, asked me, "Do you live here?"
I said, "Yes."
Then he said, "This is Thursday, isn't it?" I nodded, then he went into a spiel about a low-cost attorney legal plan. Told him I wasn't interested and closed the door. When he left, he didn't close the gate of the little fence out front, so I went out to close it and saw him walk around the corner, not visiting any other houses.
I just thought it was a little off. Description -- a middle aged, somewhat heavy set African American man in a rumpled beige sport jacket and wrinkled chinos carrying a briefcase.
To all elderly women walking alone to shopping along Marconi Avenue and Watt Avenue: Please be aware of bikers speeding on sidewalks at your back who frequently startle you, tailgate you, or crash into you (or have near misses) or brush your heels with their wheels. It's terrifying when you walk slowly with your walker or utility cart to the grocery stores and road-rage angry bikers on sidewalks are aiming for your back. The only thing preventing them it looks like, are the passing cars honking to alert you to what's speeding directly at your back as you walk on the sidewalk. The sidewalks on Marconi Avenue in places are far too narrow for pedestrians and bikers to share, yet they're running elderly pedestrians off the sidewalks simply because the elderly have no foot path lanes to call their own and bikers are not riding in bike lanes due to heavy traffic. The victims are the women walking alone, elderly women, sometimes with walkers or canes, sometimes visually impaired or hard of hearing, and it's keeping us at home much too long. There must be a bike-free sidewalk time during the day when we can do our shopping without fearing the silent, speeding sidewalk riders at our back.
ReplyDeleteA door-to-door solicitor recently knocked on the door and said he wanted to talk about how I can save money on my electricity bills. He fit the description of the man described as the lookout in the La Paz burglary, which is the street a block from me. The description of the man who recently knocked on my door a few weeks ago wore a white shirt with long sleeves and dark trousers, very neatly dressed with a tie, as if he worked in an office. He had very dark brown skin, thick, curly hair, and spoke in an accent very hard to understand. I couldn't make out whether it was a Southern accent or a foreign accent, but I didn't understand a lot of the words. I politely told him if he had information about electricity, to please leave it in my mailbox. He walked away wishing me a good day and walked down the block, not stopping at any other homes, turned East on Marconi Avenue. That was all I could see from my window. Just thought I'd mention this as I read this blog and when someone mentions a person wearing clothing you'd find in an office--white long-sleeved shirt, dark trousers, very neat appearance, and showing up on someone's doorstep, I thought I'd mention it since the descriptions were similar. All I noticed is that the man who showed up on my doorstep didn't knock on any other person's door, just simply walked up the block and turned on Marconi Ave. I'd expect that type of dress from someone coming from a house of worship or talking about religion, but not from a pedestrian without a truck from any electricity company parked in front of the house. He said he wanted to talk about PG and E and how to save on bills. But there was not PG and E truck. And this area uses SMUD for electricity, not PG and E which is where the natural gas bill comes from. How come he didn't knock on other doors? Could he be a man who just wanted to find out whether someone was at home? I don't know. I just told him to put any information in the mail box about how to save money, and I'll be sure to read the helpful information. Be careful. I've owned a home here for more than 16 years, and I'm tired of strangers knocking on the door. But if I don't let them know the family is home, it's even more scary because I moved here for safety having lived in more scary New York in the 1950s.
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