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Post by howard lee on Aug 20, 2021 16:28:31 GMT -5
I have lived in New York all my life, and was only robbed twice (in the 1970s) and beaten up in grade school once. In the near future, it's a crap shoot, but being street savvy, being aware of your surroundings, and having good running shoes helps.
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Post by robjh22 on Aug 20, 2021 20:47:42 GMT -5
I have lived in New York all my life, and was only robbed twice (in the 1970s) and beaten up in grade school once. In the near future, it's a crap shoot, but being street savvy, being aware of your surroundings, and having good running shoes helps. Only robbed twice?? Not picking on NYC particularly. I live near Dallas and certainly wouldn't go in to some areas there, especially after midnight. But one senses that NYC law enforcement is demoralized and (because they are?) demonized and disrespected by a significant segment of the citizenry. You don't see videos in Dallas of wanton thuggery against Jews and Asians and whomever in broad daylight like you do in Brooklyn. I understand that Brooklyn is not necessarily representative of NYC. Or is it? That's an honest question. You shouldn't have to depend on having good running shoes to stay out of harm's way in your own city. |
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Post by gbacklin on Aug 20, 2021 21:37:23 GMT -5
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish.
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Post by gbacklin on Aug 20, 2021 21:49:29 GMT -5
...The very institutions that encouraged and cheered the BLM riots as they decimated American cities (they even called them "peaceful protests"), ....  |
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Post by Cornflake on Aug 20, 2021 22:26:11 GMT -5
"The Black Lives Matter uprisings were remarkably nonviolent. When there was violence, very often police or counterprotesters were reportedly directing it at the protesters." www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/news-and-ideas/black-lives-matter-protesters-were-overwhelmingly-peaceful-our-research-finds That accords with the results of other studies I've seen. About 97 percent of the protests were completely peaceful. We had something like two months of daily marches in Phoenix. If I recall correctly, there was one instance of property damage and none of the culprits were black. The culprits were caught and prosecuted. Prosecution was what virtually all of us wanted for everyone who engaged in illegal conduct. |
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Post by howard lee on Aug 20, 2021 23:14:13 GMT -5
I have lived in New York all my life, and was only robbed twice (in the 1970s) and beaten up in grade school once. In the near future, it's a crap shoot, but being street savvy, being aware of your surroundings, and having good running shoes helps. Only robbed twice?? Not picking on NYC particularly. I live near Dallas and certainly wouldn't go in to some areas there, especially after midnight. But one senses that NYC law enforcement is demoralized and (because they are?) demonized and disrespected by a significant segment of the citizenry. You don't see videos in Dallas of wanton thuggery against Jews and Asians and whomever in broad daylight like you do in Brooklyn. I understand that Brooklyn is not necessarily representative of NYC. Or is it? That's an honest question. You shouldn't have to depend on having good running shoes to stay out of harm's way in your own city.
Robbed meaning face-to-face with perpetrators, and the second time wasn't on the street—it was behind the counter in a liquor store where I worked while I was in college. My parents' original home was burgled twice in the early 1970s, which precipitated their move to a more secure neighborhood.
From what I see on the street, the police here don't seem to be any more demoralized than they ever were. I think they are accustomed to being villified by some. There is an increased presence on the subways and in subway stations and I have noticed a bit more interaction with people in the neighborhood. Yesterday was the 30th anniversary of the Crown Heights riots, here in Brooklyn, between mostly West Indian residents and Orthodox Jews, which stemmed from a young West Indian man being struck and killed by an Orthodox driver. But there has always been anti-Semitism in New York and other cities. And there has always been anti-Asian sentiment, which was hugely escalated by the stupidest, most violent citizens during the pandemic that resulted in physical assaults on Asian people in the street—even elderly women.
If you perceive New York as a city of immigrants, Brooklyn is definitely representative. There are 167 distinct languages spoken in this borough alone. Brooklyn is a mix of working, middle, and more recent gentrifying classes. Manhattan has become a Euro-trashy shopping mall and pencil-towered condo extravaganza, haunted by the homeless. Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx display a mix of working class and immigrant neighborhoods, and each borough has its wealthy, pricey neighborhoods as well. It's a crazy hodge-podge of demographics here.
It depends on when and where you travel in any of the five boroughs. Even if you're out at 2:00 a.m. in the safest neighborhoods, there's always an off-chance that someone needier than you might be lurking. The pandemic has seen much more unemployment and a greater rift between the haves and the have-nots, so one can anticipate that street crime and burglary will increase. It's a good idea to be aware of your environment and who is in it. But I grew up here in the 1970s and '80s, and this is second nature. In spite of all that, I still love my hometown.
Didn't really want to ramble this long; it's late, we had two friends over for dinner and I just finished cleaning the kitchen. I was joking about the running shoes.
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Post by millring on Aug 21, 2021 5:12:34 GMT -5
By that twisted metric, Jan 6 was 97 percent peaceful.
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Post by jdd2 on Aug 21, 2021 6:23:12 GMT -5
So you support what happened on january 6th, eh?
:nods:
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Post by factorychef on Aug 21, 2021 7:16:28 GMT -5
About 8 years ago 2 young punks came up to me in a Walmart parking lot while I putting stuff in my car. They said to give them some money and I turned around and their eyes got white as I had my 9mm in my hand. They where around 15 or 16 years old. Away they ran. I always carry when I'm in Cedar Rapids or Waterloo Iowa. Doug Heard was the one to get me to carry around those places. I also carry insurance in case I get into a shooting just to cover my ass. If you carry you have to be able to use that gun to protect yourself. If you don't use it you may be the one to die.
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Post by Marshall on Aug 21, 2021 8:31:29 GMT -5
About 8 years ago 2 young punks came up to me in a Walmart parking lot while I putting stuff in my car. They said to give them some money and I turned around and their eyes got white as I had my 9mm in my hand. They where around 15 or 16 years old. Away they ran. I always carry when I'm in Cedar Rapids or Waterloo Iowa. Doug Heard was the one to get me to carry around those places. I also carry insurance in case I get into a shooting just to cover my ass. If you carry you have to be able to use that gun to protect yourself. If you don't use it you may be the one to die. You got lucky for sure. If the perps were carrying, somebody would be seriously dead. In my 72.33 years of living in Chicagoland, I've never been personally confronted with robbery. My office in the city was burgled one weekend. Somebody broke into another office in the building, and our office was collateral damage. They stole a camera and some CDs. The investigating cop looked me in the eye and said, "Don't worry. We'll get your stuff back." I thought to my self, "Who are you trying to kid? There are umpteen murders they can't solve." Never heard from the cops again. But I've never been broken into at home, or confronted on the street anywhere. I used to frequent some bad neighborhoods for work on Chicago Public Schools. But always in daylight. |
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Tamarack
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Post by Tamarack on Aug 21, 2021 8:41:21 GMT -5
This hits close to home, literally and figuratively. On May 30, 2020 three middle-aged black women organized a march in downtown Grand Rapids, in response to the murder of George Floyd. It was attended by people of multiple races and ethnicities, including families, pastors, musicians, athletes, etc. After a couple hours they all went home. A separate group marched to police headquarters and were addressed by the chief of police, a black man who came up through the ranks. Shortly after dark some destructive asshole broke a store window (of a black-owned business) and mayhem followed, with businesses vandalized and robbed and several police vehicles burned. Many people arrested, who turned out to be: white kids from the suburbs and other destructive assholes with no political ideology (Including a young blonde woman who live-streamed herself on Facebook while breaking windows and drinking stolen beer - this woman will serve a long prison term for felony stupidity)
The point of this ramble is that I think BLM and others are unfairly tarred with a broad brush when property destruction occurs at the fringes of otherwise peaceful protests. I read lots of anecdotal reports of black protesters telling white "protestors" to chill and indeed preventing damage to property.
Close to home in that on the afternoon of May 30, pre-riot, and on the afternoon of May 31, post riot and pre-curfew, I was moving our daughter's stuff out of her apartment 100 yards from police headquarters. Close to home in that our son is a police officer responsible for patrolling a college campus a few blocks away - he worked some long overnight shifts that week, fortunately nothing happened on campus.
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Post by Marshall on Aug 21, 2021 8:44:32 GMT -5
I should add, maybe, that two of my neighbors have had their houses broken into and robbed while they were away. But those were "professional" jobs. I suppose it helps being surrounded by more high profile targets.
In those cases the neighbors announced their vacations on social media. Money and jewels were stolen.
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Post by howard lee on Aug 21, 2021 8:55:13 GMT -5
[...] In those cases the neighbors announced their vacations on social media. Money and jewels were stolen.
What might be left of common sense in the world would dictate to wait until they returned from their holiday and then post to social media about what a wonderful time they had. Past tense.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2021 9:05:07 GMT -5
[...] In those cases the neighbors announced their vacations on social media. Money and jewels were stolen. What might be left of common sense in the world would dictate to wait until they returned from their holiday and then post to social media about what a wonderful time they had. Past tense.
"Kathy and I are in Europe enjoying the HECK out of our vacation! I can't wait to get home, though. The last thing I saw in the rear view mirror were Rocko and Sluggo, our twin Rottweilers, looking at us wistfully from the living room window as we drove away!" |
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Post by howard lee on Aug 21, 2021 9:18:26 GMT -5
What might be left of common sense in the world would dictate to wait until they returned from their holiday and then post to social media about what a wonderful time they had. Past tense.
"Kathy and I are in Europe enjoying the HECK out of our vacation! I can't wait to get home, though. The last thing I saw in the rear view mirror were Rocko and Sluggo, our twin Rottweilers, looking at us wistfully from the living room window as we drove away!"
Sadly, your dogs could still be shot or poisoned by intrepid thieves. I'd still recommend the past tense route.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2021 9:42:23 GMT -5
"Kathy and I are in Europe enjoying the HECK out of our vacation! I can't wait to get home, though. The last thing I saw in the rear view mirror were Rocko and Sluggo, our twin Rottweilers, looking at us wistfully from the living room window as we drove away!" Sadly, your dogs could still be shot or poisoned by intrepid thieves. I'd still recommend the past tense route.
I forgot to mention the command detonated claymores slaved to my smart phone... |
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Post by howard lee on Aug 21, 2021 10:31:06 GMT -5
Sadly, your dogs could still be shot or poisoned by intrepid thieves. I'd still recommend the past tense route.
I forgot to mention the command detonated claymores slaved to my smart phone...
Dude, are those my tax dollars at work?
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Post by Cornflake on Aug 21, 2021 10:36:28 GMT -5
In six years in New York I was held up at knifepoint once and burglarized once. The holdup was shortly after I got there. I hadn't learned where you did and didn't go. I was where I shouldn't have been. Burglaries were epidemic. The 1970s were probably the nadir in that regard. But I didn't live in fear. What keeps me away from big cities these days is crowds, traffic and the lack of anything I have much interest in seeing.
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Post by epaul on Aug 21, 2021 10:51:13 GMT -5
I have never been robbed or had any place I've ever lived broken into. Locking the house door when I left was something that never even entered my mind until we got the GF house and Charlene made me get in the habit. (farm life is different. Dad always said, just leave the door open, then they won't break a window).
Nevertheless, sometimes, when I'm leaving town for a while, I will tuck away some of my favorite instruments in obscure places. Last Christmas, prior to heading up to the farm for a couple weeks, I brought some instruments up with me and hid the others under laundry, behind the furnace, and other dark and awkward places (along with pulling the necessary fuses to light said places).
Fast forward to a month or so ago when I had to start practicing for the county fair gospel gig... and I couldn't find my gig guitar. I located every other guitar I have, all safely tucked away where they belong in the guitar closet, but I could not find my numero uno, the one I play all the time, when I play, which I hadn't done a lick of for the last six months or more.
I gave up. "Gus, do you have any idea where the Taylor is, I can't find it anywhere?"
"Did you look under your bed?"
"Um ..."
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Post by Russell Letson on Aug 21, 2021 11:45:23 GMT -5
Some kinds of crimes don't go away no matter how well-funded the police are. In a college town, for example, burglaries increase during breaks (when students are away), and alcohol-fueled violence and vandalism are perennial favorites.
Demographic and economic changes anywhere affect the kind and distribution of crimes. Domestic violence and drug offenses increase in hard times. The ethnicities might change, but the conditions that drive bad behavior don't. When we moved to St. Cloud, the wife-beaters were nearly all white--because we didn't have a significant non-student population of non-whites. It's an unpleasant fact that men of color are as likely to mistreat their wives and girlfriends as men of Norwegian and German descent. And their kids are as likely to go a-mugging or a-drugging of an evening. (And they're as likely to promenade around the mall in groups or to get cashier jobs at Target.)
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