Most dangerous city?

The Associated Press and MSNBC ^ | 11/21/2005

[texasguitarslim]

  MSNBC.com Most dangerous city? Ranking says Camden N.J. city's mayor blasts report; "We're doing so many nice things now"

The Associated Press Updated: 9:24 a.m. ET Nov. 21, 2005

CAMDEN, N.J. - For the second year in a row, this destitute city has been named the nation's most dangerous, according to a company's annual ranking based on crime statistics.

Last year, the distinction seemed to hurt city boosters' feelings more than it harmed revitalization efforts. This time, city leaders are offended by the ranking, calling it unfair.

"We're doing so many nice things now. It's unfortunate that somebody always wants to bad-mouth Camden," Mayor Gwendolyn Faison said.

The city took the top spot last year from Detroit, which remained No. 2 in the most dangerous city rankings, to be released Monday....

[wardaddy]

Are you saying black culture is in trouble....at least the crime commiting part of it?

[Nipplemancer]

I agree with you, but not about Camden. As a resident of the Great State of New Jersey, I say that the reason is Camden happens to sit on a gateway to hell. It's true, look it up in Encyclopedia Brittanica under "Famous Portals to Hell - A to D"
The aquarium is nice, but you need a Fallujah-like convoy to get there or else you'll be hit with IEDs, insurgient ambushes, and carjackings. Oh yea, if you let your kids play with abandoned cars, it's the Police's fault that they die in the trunk.

[durasell]

The ghettos in L.A. are very deceptive. I try to visit the Watts Towers whenever I'm there and the place just gives me the willies. Looks like suburbia, but very dangerous.

[wardaddy]

there has been a huge reverse migration...not as big as the original that was fueled largely by the automotive and related fields


Nashville has a sizable middle class black family group who have resettled here...a new group....not like the old aristocratic mulatto-creole class found in Memphis, NOLA, Mobile or Atlanta

I had dinner a few nights back with a young black professional couple. She was rural from Tifton GA area and he was Memphis born. They had been in Kali for over 10 years and he was a nicely paid Sony exec. They are fairly conservative. They both love it here. He volunteered he would never go back to Memphis. I asked why?...you guessed it...the crime. I asked him to get me a Vaio next time they're handing them out ...lol

[durasell]

You're dead on. I've encountered many black families -- city employees mostly -- who have bought land "down south" with plans to retire down there. They moved "up north" as children and want to return.

[wardaddy]

i lived at 115 and morningside....on my stoop is where that off duty cop shot the Exeter scholarship kid from down on the flats who had come up near CU to mug someone for money to go to a movie while he was home for the weekend from Exeter

he and his brother made the mistake of mugging an off duty cop...it was big news around 1984...long ago now

i looked on googlearth the other day and all that has been gobbled up by CU....used to be brownstone grad student housing....not sure what it is now, but looks new

i used to go to that quaint Italian joint in east Harlem where all the bent noses and celebs went(?)

[Sprite518]

Yes absolutly..... It's a culture that effects all races, but Primarly blacks. I guess some people call it the hip hop culture. Just think about this for a moment....

When you talk to most young black students. What do they inspire to be? Most of the time you will hear a professional singer, athlete, or actor. This is an unrealistic goal considering in any of the professions only the top 1% of the top 1% actually make it big. Moreover, some black students that do try to do well in school are ridiculed for trying to be, "White"

[durasell]

The restaurant: Raos? On 114?

Harlem is undergoing a revitalization. You can't touch a brownstone there for under a million. And a lot of the old mansions on Sugar Hill have been snapped up and completely renovated. The downside is that a lot of small businesses are getting pushed out by escalating rents.

[Sprite518]

Atlanta I believe if I am not mistaken the largest black middle class in the country.

[Clemenza]

i used to go to that quaint Italian joint in east Harlem where all the bent noses and celebs went(?)

Rao's. Overrated, impossible to get a table. There is a great Italian bakery on 116th street, however.

[wardaddy]

I know I will get flamed for saying it but I much more enjoy the company of black men and women who act like me.

Me when I'm behaving....not when I'm acting like the Credit Card commercial Visigoth.

But hiw can one say what I just said without sounding arrogant?

my wife and I comment frequently when we meet someone black and have instant rapport....as opposed to walking into a government building and getting the old black lady Alfie Woodard staredown...which no amount of chatting up will help....you know the main reason is communication rapport and commonality

[Clemenza]

From what I understand, most of the black middle class are in the area south of Atlanta proper, not in the city itself.

[wardaddy]

whoops..sorry about the bent-nose comment gumbatta.

i expect inbred incoming..lol

[DakotaRed]

If poverty is directly linked to crime, I'd like to know why there wasn't so much more crime during the 1930s era of the Great Depression. Given the poverty of that decade, shouldn't the entire country have been swallowed up by crime?

As far as I'm concerned, it's the eternal welfare system that keeps people in poverty and prevents them from bettering themselves, as well as the ongoing victimization of poor Blacks and Whites that convinces them they are owed something for nothing. Add to that parents that just don't give a damn about their kids any more.

[Clemenza]

BTW: Of course, many Freepers believe that the only places with crime are where the "illegals" are. Not too many illegals in Gary, Camden, or St. Louis.

[durasell]

Best Italian bakeries are on Arthur Avenue -- though keep the cab waiting while you run inside to get the calzones.

[Sprite518]

Well yeah I do not care what race they are if they think just like me.... I think most people tend to like to hang out with people that think the same way.

I have an issue with ALL government workers (with the exception of the military). I just get the impression that they are lazy.. Some talk up a good game, but most of them are all talk and no bite. Kind of like a Poodle.

[wardaddy]

Wow...some folks were just beginning to nab brownstones in Inwood and around Columbia-Pres and also that high point around 150th and St Nicholas (?)

[Clemenza]

LOL. No bent nose here, must be my paternal Polish genes.

To be honest with you, the only southerners I ever encoutered who resembled the inbred/peckerwood stereotype were the folks I used to see while traveling in North Florida. Most of the folks on the Mississippi Gulf Coast seemed OK genetically. Suprisingly large number of Paddy Whackers too.

[Sprite518]

Yes most of the middle class tend to be South and East of the city.