Well, the murders and gun violence continue here. A young black adult shot and killed in Jacksonville Beach last night. Two other shootings in Jacksonville, black on black, so far this weekend. Just doesn't seem to be getting better here at all, but still people keep moving here. Guess to much gang and drug stuff going on. Compared to the two cities we are looking at to move to, those two cities literally have no crime.
We live in a small town north of Atlanta. Very little crime here. It is sad to turn on the news every morning and hear about all the shootings that have happened in Atlanta overnight. I would say probably every home in our neighborhood has a firearm/firearms. I took a class a couple of years ago at the local firing range, so I can handle a weapon if the need be. Husband and son have a "carry" license. I don't feel the need for that right now.
My neighborhood has changed recently, with the new zoning law. It allows multiple houses to be built on what was a single lot. Saw this coming, as Nashville is one of the fastest growing cities in the country. They are tearing down the old single homes to build two side by side houses. They are two story, not very wide homes and start at about 300,000 per home. The sell quickly and the neighborhood is becoming very 'Millennial' younger folk. So, a different class of people are moving in and the old, friendly couples are moving on. I quess the next thing we will see is a Starbucks coming to replace the corner store... As with most cities, the higher the property tax, the more police present.
Lots of new housing, as in apartments and houses, are being built around the county we live in. One area, by local Dodge/Chrysler Dealer, use to be only fields and it's now all apartments. Like a city of it's own! All Millennials and late Gen X moving in. Sure isn't Seniors. The lifestyle pace has gotten much faster since we moved here, along with the traffic and much more crime. I really don't understand why more and more people are moving here, but it really seems as if job salaries have a lot to do with it. The mall down the street from us gets so packed with folks, every weekend it looks like Black Friday there. Another shopping area, a much more "upper-class" area, a few miles from us, has gotten tremendously larger. All of this has gotten way to much for us. Will be REALLY, REALLY glad when we leave.
I wish gangs would just disappear ...they seem to be the biggest problem in the inner cities and major cause of murders. I read about a murder every day in Central Fresno. It happens in every big city every single day. I don't understand how these young people can be so ruthless...killing is nothing to them. I'm sure you've all seen that murder of the young boy(mistaken identity) in that bodega. 5-6 boys dragged another teen out of a store and killed him with a machete....all for nothing. These are boys that are the same age as my older grandsons! How different the world can be even 20 miles from your house...Crazy!
I totally understand your feelings. Certain areas of Jacksonville there is a lot of black-on-black killings. Some are domestic related, while others are the “drive-by” type done by gangs .
Well, we had a shooting/murder this morning at a McDonalds a couple of miles away from us. The area this McDonalds is in has seen a few shootings before, one at this same McDonalds, one at the Wendy's across the street and a murder in the middle of the street next to a Red Lobster. There are a couple of weekly motels in the area that have seen serious crime as well. Anyway, a 32 year old woman was in the drive thru when a guy came up and shot her. She died at the hospital. The guy took off in a waiting vehicle. Law Enforcement believes the woman and guy knew each other. Appears to be domestic related, not gang.
We had an incident a day or so ago where a guy in an RV heard a strange noise outside. When he investigated, he found someone getting away with his expensive bicycle. He stopped the thief, but the thief began fighting with him and stabbed him with his only available weapon--a key. When he had been stabbed several times, he was attacked by his intended victim, who promptly bit his nose off and spit it out. That stopped the fight, and the police arrived, arresting the alleged thief. The state prosecutor turned the case over to the city prosecutor, who promptly dropped the case, stating that a key is not considered a dangerous weapon. The thief is still in the hospital undergoing reconstructive surgery; he also has Hepatitis B, so the "victim" of the theft is undergoing antiviral treatment. Results for the HIV test is not public at this time. Undoubtedly, the person who tried to steal the bike will sue his attacker for damages.
According to the experts, I live in a city that is ranked in the top 3% for crime statewide. The thing the statistics don't reflect is that the majority of the crime involves people that know each other and is not random. It also does not reflect the fact that most of the random violence occurs when I'm home tucked safely in bed. IMO I have more of a chance of getting hit by a car while walking to the store than I do of becoming the victim of a serious crime. I try to be aware of my surroundings, mind my own business, lock the doors and live above street level. All of these simple things help to protect me as much as the police do. The thing that does concern me is the unwillingness of the vast majority of victims and witnesses to work with the police in providing information that would assist them in solving crimes. I really can't understand this almost universal code of silence that helps the criminal element thrive.
A lot of the VIOLENT crime here is among those familiar with each other--mostly drug or gang related, but the PROPERTY crime here hits everyone. Much of that is drug-related as well, but not all. Many people who never felt the need to lock their doors a few years ago now have security systems and cameras.
@Cody Fousnaugh Is it not a shame that so often folks like those take their personal violence with them out onto the street, exposing many others needlessly to it? Why can't they kill each other in their own kitchen? Frank
@Don Alaska I thought most of you folks were armed up there, firearms leniency running so rampant there....... Frank
@Beatrice Taylor "All of these simple things help to protect me as much as the police do." Remember, when seconds mean life or death, the police are only a phone call + 30 minutes away, 1800 seconds, more than enough time span for a huge number of crimes to ensue. "The thing that does concern me is the unwillingness of the vast majority of victims and witnesses to work with the police in providing information that would assist them in solving crimes. I really can't understand this almost universal code of silence that helps the criminal element thrive." I realize this is pretty well-established, but not universal. I believe it stems from several levels of psychological phenomena: Witnesses fear retaliation by criminals and their cohorts, victims fear repeated "hits" by others acquainted with their accused, and both factions have become both distrustful and disrespectful of the police in general. All of this promotes what the prosecutors love to call "vigilanteism", activity during which such solution to criminal activity relieves them of their livlihood, in a way. A self-appointed seer once stated: "Give everyone a gun, and soon there will be no more criminals." Frank
May end up being another "unsolved" murder. All wife and I know is, most people here don't really care about the gun violence here, all they care about is the nice salaries they get here. Just like other big cities that have gun violence, there are those that don't care about it and simply ignore it and go on with life. Where we are looking to move to, much smaller population, demographics very different and much, much less crime. I have the news apps of both cities in Colorado that we are interested in and went to a couple of weeks ago.