Post #127700 by mrs. pineapple on Sun, Nov 28, 2004 4:53 PM

I lived in an illegal 'cottage' in the mission in SF, it was about 6' x 25' one room, leaky moldy walls, toilet, shower, stove, sink, and mini fridge at one end, and loft bed at the other. It was in the backyard of a Victorian, and we shared the yard. After about 4 months, the owner moved to New Mexico and rented the house to 2 ladies, and their pit bull. It was the winter of the el nino, and it rained for 40 days straight. They decided that it was easier for them if they let the pit bull poo in the yard, and clean it up every 4th day or so. The 'yard' was about 10 feet of cement between my tiny cottage and their house, plus a long breezeway/ path that went between the houses, and from the yard to the street. It was my entry, and it had no light. Every night for about 6 months, I dodged, or not, gigantic piles of poo, lived with the stench of dog pee and poo, and risked my life by opening the gate and being cornered by a vicious pit bull. I wrote about 10 letters to the landlord, and she 'talked to them about the dog' but she was in New Mexico, so they didn't give a shit (the dog however, different story, gave several steamy piles a day) They actually told me when I approached them, hysterical after being cornered by their dog, that they thought I was being unreasonable. I thought I was losing my mind.

I finally moved, but it gave me great perspective on living situations. I've had some horrible renting situations, I think SF is a really unfriendly renters town, which sucks because so few people can actually afford to buy. I guess that's why.

Our house now is awesome, we have great neighbors, for the most part. Our 90 year old next door neighbor's nephew moves her car out of her driveway and has parked in front of our house, where it's leaked an engine full of oil on the street, but, hey, my 1971 Mercedes has dumped oil across the street, so alls fair!

[ Edited by: mrs. pineapple on 2004-11-28 17:08 ]