I’ve been keeping an eye on the recent outbreak of violence in the city I was born in and more so since they’ve been taking place in the neighborhood I grew up in… and my mother still lives in; for a bit of reference, you can read http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20120619/NEWS01/306190046/1006/RSS.
The increase of drug and gang-like activity in that part of the city is one of the reasons why I moved my family to Newark 20+ years ago and literally a day or so before some girls my daughter was hanging out with killed another young girl for her Starter jacket… and it seems now that this section of town has gotten progressively worse. Like I said, I was born and raised there… and I won’t go there unless I have a damned good reason to go.
It scares the shit out of me that my mother practically lives in the middle of this insanity. The city has been working its ass off to lure businesses to town, especially in the relatively new waterfront district – our version of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. We even have our own minor league baseball team but it doesn’t do the city any good to waste millions of dollars on developing that side of town when almost no one can visit there at night; to do so is literally putting your life at risk.
The residents are cowed; they know that if they were to rat out the dealers and other crimes that they might see, they’re signing their death warrants because reprisal is pretty much a given.
The police chief is being pressured to resign because, well, he’s not been doing much to keep people safe. I read an article where he says that his cops will now – and literally – walk the beat, something that even I remember from my childhood. The cops’ problem, other than manpower, which most police departments have, is a lack of visibility in the troubled areas. Sure, there are patrol cars and cops on bikes but their presence needs to be stepped up and to the point that you will always see a cop at every turn and, yeah, especially at night.
It really sucks to see what’s happened to the part of town I grew up in and the streets I used to walk without fear…
Kdaddy23's Blog 
mysterycoach
19 June 2012 at 14:50
That’s awful. I’m sorry to hear rhis.
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kdaddy23
19 June 2012 at 14:59
I’m sorry, too. My home town ain’t as glamorous as NYC, Philly, or Baltimore but it just sucks to see the criminals taking over, dealing their drugs, killing people like they don’t have anything better to do, and the police unable to do a damned thing about it.
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Ariela
21 June 2012 at 02:04
I’m sorry 😦 Why on Earth is your mother still there!! So funny that you moved your family out to Newark, I’ve heard the quality of that city has also declined over the years. Sigh.
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kdaddy23
21 June 2012 at 02:12
Um, that would be Newark, DE , not NJ! The University of Delaware is here so decline isn’t allowed! Sure, we have crime here but not as bad as Wilmington – where Mom has lived and owned a home for almost 40 years. She won’t leave.
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Ariela
21 June 2012 at 02:29
Bah ha ha, now I feel like a jerk!! That makes sense, living near a big university is always smart. There’s crime everywhere, no place is exempt no matter how awesome. I guess there’s just varying degrees. Does your mom feel tied to the community somehow? I wish she would leave since it’s so dangerous, and I’m sure you wish the same. I honestly don’t know anything about DE, and had no idea that Wilmington was so horrible. Sigh.
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kdaddy23
21 June 2012 at 12:47
Ariela, she has the ties of someone who has lived in this neighborhood for a great many years; hell, I remember her taking us to see the house when it was being built from scratch! Nothing short of the house burning down is going to get her out of that neighborhood and, in a way, I understand it – I just don’t like it. Reports are that Wilmington is well on its way to break its own 2010 record for shootings and they’re almost all taking place within the area my mom lives in.
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Ariela
21 June 2012 at 13:17
Oh wow. If I were her, I think I’d stay too. Seeing a house built from the ground up and then living in it for so long… that’s special. I get it.
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