I appreciate how Francine frames the issue of crime and stats, and at the same time things are said here that are real "yellow flags" for me. Makes we want to say, STOP! That said, all dialogue can help bring awareness. As Francine points out, stats don't tell the whole story. Very true. Stats are one set of metrics, utterly meaningless outside of context or purpose. I like her labeling them "politics," eve if that isn't completely accurate, but her point is quite valid. They can get thrown around like sound bites. A point no one has made about stats is that they alone are totally misleading. For example. Pew could go months and months without some one type of crime or another happening. Then, all of a sudden, there is a rash of incidents. The police figure out the actors, make arrests, and we go back to no incidents of that type. But the stats don't capture all of that. They merely report som number or some period of time. Safe communities are a product of ongoing work and cooperation by residents, public safety entities like the police. Safe communities are the result of proactive actions like growing community awareness and use of block watches, and other efforts. Francine mentions landlords and bad tenants being one part of the mix. Raising this both scares me, but also brings to light a very important issue. It scares me because of the potential to stigmatize and blame "those people." But her underlying point is so true. A community with too many rentals/ owner not occupied dwellings creates the potential for issues. Tenants can be awesome. I've had ten ants in one of my houses for ever who are real assets to the community. But it isn't all like that. My point, her point perhaps is that the quality of a community is more than just numbers or pointing to "those types" of people. Caring about our property values, knowing our neighbors, holding bad landlords accountable, many things play a role. In the time I've been in HP, I've seen the neighborhood improve in many ways. And I expect that to continue. There are areas and/ or blocks that are problematic but I think they are shrinking. The answer is ongoing work by everyone, and a focus of improving the neighborhood block by block. Caring about the whole of it. Economic inequality for everyone is the greatest factor that influences neighborhoods and results in crime. Anytime discussion seems to blame areas near HP, I am concerned that we get uncomfortably close to stereotyping and profiling people.
On Oct 18, 2013, at 7:58 PM, Francine <francine937@aol.com> wrote:
Hello,
As I have reached out to the community just for us as members to be aware of our surroundings . I want to relay that the "reality" is statistics do not matter. The truth is there's things that go unreported. There are issues that many are afraid to address for fear for there families , and there own safety . I myself have been in those situations. The closer we get to the east end; the harsher it can be. Overall this is a great place to live! Some landlords just do not care who they rent there homes to. So we as neighbors end up being the ones who suffer. Statistics are just politics in my opinion. The problem is , to not allow this to continue to torment the members of the community. Our children, grandchildren, family members should feel safe visiting this neighborhood; and living here for that matter. The same landlords continue to rent to the same kind of people. I have lived here for 32 years! I love seeing the people I grew up knowing, and seeing. In any event, everyon! e can voice there opinions, or point out statistics . The truth is, if you are not exposed daily to what's really going on the stats are meaningless. I hope we can form a friendly , family oriented neighborhood watch awareness to Highland Park.
Fran
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