Posted on 12/07/2005 10:53:13 PM PST by 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....
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Are you saying black culture is in trouble....at least the crime commiting part of it?
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.
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.
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.
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(?)
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.
Atlanta I believe if I am not mistaken the largest black middle class in the country.
Rao's. Overrated, impossible to get a table. There is a great Italian bakery on 116th street, however.
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
From what I understand, most of the black middle class are in the area south of Atlanta proper, not in the city itself.
whoops..sorry about the bent-nose comment gumbatta.
i expect inbred incoming..lol
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.
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.
Best Italian bakeries are on Arthur Avenue -- though keep the cab waiting while you run inside to get the calzones.
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 (?)
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.
Yes most of the middle class tend to be South and East of the city.
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