The Neighborhood ... Is There A Story Here?

I am looking for the next story to write and find myself wondering if it's in my backyard.  We moved 18 months ago to the east side of Austin, close to town but not too close.  We live near a park in a cluster of single family homes and duplexes, some built at the turn of the 20th century (and remodeled) like ours others brand new.  I like to say we have 100 year old wood floors and 7 year old plumbing :-).  It's a terrific place with proximity to restaurants, bars, music, sporting events and the feel of a neighborhood, without the noise of busy downtown streets.  The neighbors are terrific, some are retired, most work and many participate in the community meetings.  The word bliss comes to mind ...

But ... yeah there's a but as you expected there would be ... our peace in the "hood" has been disrupted.  One of the neighbors is unhappy.  It's a bit hard to explain.  Basically the unhappy neighbor is not following the rules, partly because the city made some mistakes.  The unhappy neighbor wants special treatment, exemption from rules and laws and they are not getting it, so they hired a lawyer.  A very expensive lawyer.  Actually a team of lawyers - they always show up in pairs or groups of three.  The lawyers have been very busy issuing "cease and desist" notices to various neighbors to prevent them from speaking to the city. The lawyers have also slapped lawsuits on other neighbors and the unhappy neighbor has  been sued themselves in return.  It's a mess, a complete mess that has impacted our happy place.

Perhaps there is positive side of things.  You see, if there's a story here with villains and heroes and plot twists and back door deals with city leaders ... it could be an opportunity.  Maybe a great opportunity for a writer looking for a good story.  Hmm ... if I added some rifles and a shooting or even a murder ... and it wasn't clear who done it ... and perhaps a sneaky romance between a few married neighbors ... hmm this might be good.  It could be a Texas version of Peyton Place.  Now we're talking.