Neighborhood chop shop ring
This morning Miranda and I found ourselves unwittingly involved in an investigation of a possible neighborhood chop shop scandal! The primary suspect? Our next door neighbor and local realtor, Maureen!
(Background on Maureen: she’s the realtor that our landlord hired last year to try and sell the house we’re living in. After a bitter turf war over our apartment, I’m sure you can understand when I say there is no love between Maureen and us. And why any implication of her running a chop shop out of her garage makes us giddy with delight.)
We were tipped off to these allegations by an Officer of Considerable Girth this morning in the alley, as we were loading the car for a trip to the recycling center. The conversation basically went down like this:
OOCG: Did you call me?
Me: Hmm… no.
OOCG, pointing back toward Maureen’s trash: We got a call about a possible chop shop being run out of the alley here.
Me, leaning out of the garage to find three crumpled bumpers and a tire next to Maureen’s trash cans: Really?! Crazy!
OOCG: Do you know your neighbor?
Me: Yes. I doubt Maureen is running that kind of operation out of her garage. She’s a realtor. (devil on left shoulder chimes in) But she does have two daughters in their young twenties. Not sure what they do.
OOCG: Do you know if she’s home?
Me: Hmm. No. I just got out here. Actually, I thought you were here about the graffiti. A couple garages have been tagged this week. Our garage got tagged last year. As a matter of fact, there’s been a lot of graffiti in Andersonville lately. Up at Women and Kids… they recently got hit pretty badly, Reza’s not too long ago… and there’s a house on Berwyn down the way… and there’s some up…
OOCG, cutting me off, sounding concerned: Really? I hadn’t noticed. They all got the same tags?
Me: *Shoulder shrug*
OOCG: Ok, well I’ll start coming down these alleys then. Thanks for your help.
Then he drove away.
Part of me really wants Maureen to be using her schmoozy, pushy ways to pedal stolen car parts. But, sadly, I think I remember seeing some other bumpers down the alley in front of another neighbor’s trash cans about few weeks ago. I didn’t think much of it then, because clearly I have not watched enough Law & Order or CSI Miami to immediately think chop shop at the sign of an abandoned bumper. But it does appear someone is just dumping bumpers in hopes of throwing the cops of their trail, or framing Maureen! Maybe she’s done one too many dirty house deals or sold one too many lemons? The curiosity is killing me!
10 Comments
- Miranda replied:
Well, the real estate market *is* down…
May 26th, 2007 at 12:00 pm. Permalink.
- KP replied:
I picture Maureen in the next door garage, at a fold-out card table that most people use as extra seating for the kids during thanksgiving…counting money…cig dangling off her lower lip…squinting over her green see-thru poker visor…making sure the korean and caucasian wimmin next door don’t notice her…
May 26th, 2007 at 2:57 pm. Permalink.
- Anne replied:
must…drink….liquor…with….you….and….hear…about….scheming…realtor…next….door….sounds…like….great….story
May 26th, 2007 at 9:47 pm. Permalink.
- Rozanne replied:
I’m laughing over the OOCG acronym–that could apply to many a Chicago police officer.
I used to live in Edgewater, and walked to Andersonville all the time. I hope Andie’s didn’t get tagged! Andie and I go back to the days when his restaurant was just a hole in he wall.
Keep us posted on the chop shop mystery!
May 28th, 2007 at 7:52 pm. Permalink.
- collene replied:
hah! I too go way back with Andie’s! I remember when it used to have a drop ceiling and we would sit in fear as the saganaki flames came dangerously close to setting the place on fire. there were burn marks scattered all over the ceiling from past near misses. Opah!
But to answer your question, I think Andie’s has so far escaped the graffiti craze.
I’ll keep you posted on the chop shop!
May 29th, 2007 at 12:09 pm. Permalink.
- Laura A. replied:
i need a latch for the center arm-rest console on my vw (which sadly broke after trying to cram too many sticks of lip balm into it)… maybe even a set of low profile shiny chrome spinners… can you gals keep an eye on your alley for me? thanks!
May 29th, 2007 at 3:13 pm. Permalink.
- MJ replied:
We keep getting bumpers dumped in front of our garage. I’m sure Maureen is distributing bumpers throughout all of the alleys to throw the officers off track. We need to call Dateline to investigate. Maureen is also responsible for dumping a couch, club chair and wave runner behind our apartment. She will stop at nothing.
May 29th, 2007 at 3:59 pm. Permalink.
- karrie replied:
OK…I say we get a thermos of coffee & a pack of cheap smokes & surveil the alley. I want to wear one of those crazy english caps Barertta used to wear. Or…a cruddy coat like Columbo….
ps. rozanne….I LOVED the old Andies!
Thanks fo the flashback…I completely forgot.May 29th, 2007 at 8:09 pm. Permalink.
- collene replied:
God, that is SO Maureen!
May 29th, 2007 at 10:39 pm. Permalink.
- Rozanne replied:
What a relief that Andie’s has been spared!
There sure was some funky-ass art on the walls back in the drop-ceiling days. He’s retained one or two of the pieces from those days in the new restaurant, notably the groovy zodiac bas relief.
Did Andie ever give you any free T-shirts or bottles of cheap Greek wine for being such a good customer? I’ve still got my Andie’s T-shirts. They date back to about 1988! Jeez!
May 29th, 2007 at 10:44 pm. Permalink.
