Urban living not working out due to crime

[Tradd]

I have several friends who’ve moved into Chicago the last few years for various reasons. More active nightlife, but also being able to take public transit, walkable neighborhoods, etc. One of the three left his car at home with his parents in the suburbs, but the other two sold their cars. After several years in the city they are now all getting out ASAP.

All three (guys in their 30s) have been victims of crime on the CTA, either on the L trains or platforms. Phones and wallets taken. These attacks were all during morning/evrning commutes, not late at night.

Two of the three have been victims of robberies while walking home from the grocery store, in broad daylight on a weekend day.

Two lived on the north side, one in the south loop.

Even the close in old suburbs of Evanston and Oak Park (which has tons of Frank Lloyd Wright houses) are crime ridden.

[catherine]

This hits home. We moved to VT to be near family but also because of the adorable town/city of Burlington. Over the past couple of years, it has sadly gone the way of Portland and San Francisco. Addicted spaced-out people wandering the main pedestrian street in town, a lot of homeless who were, frankly, chased from an innocuous spot near the lake to a bunch of pods in-town, and shootings. The mayor is not running for re-election. I think there are compassionate ways to handle these issues, but I haven't seen much done effectively.

Sad to hear about Chicago... I have done a lot of research in Chicago and in the suburbs, and I am a huge Frank Lloyd Wright fan.

[Tradd]

In Chicago, murders and such may be apparently going down, but robberies and the like are on the rise. The smash and grab robberies are a big thing, especially with high end stores downtown.

[iris lilies]

We moved to bucolic no- crime ( or low crime) tiny touristy town Hermann from The Big Bad City. We are casual about locking doors and don’t even bother on our cars, although some of that seems to be automatic with our new car. But that’s a whole Nother post where I can complain about it!

but anyway—then last spring a piece of shit shooter took out half of our police force because he didn’t want to go back to jail. The police were called to talk to him because he was acting up at the local convenience store.

really shocking for our little town.

Tradd, also St. Louis had a measurable decrease in homicides 2023, but the other crimes are way up.


City fathers are well aware that constant minor crime causes people to flee the city, and by “minor crime “I don’t mean armed robberies such as your friends experienced. I mean car cloutings, petty theft of property, etc.

Avenging Michael Brown seems the order of the day and it is a breakdown in the social order. But yay for the eternal victims, now getting theirs

[pinkytoe]

Media continues to report that crime is down but I imagine those numbers can be reworked as needed. There is way too much what I call lawlessness here - stolen cars, porch pirates, homeless fires, robberies, theft and a disenfranchised police force to deal with it all. It makes me want to move to a smaller town for my last chapter.

[Tradd]

I’m in a nice NW Chicago suburb. I’m about 45 min from the city limits.

[Yppej]

This hits home. We moved to VT to be near family but also because of the adorable town/city of Burlington. Over the past couple of years, it has sadly gone the way of Portland and San Francisco. Addicted spaced-out people wandering the main pedestrian street in town, a lot of homeless who were, frankly, chased from an innocuous spot near the lake to a bunch of pods in-town, and shootings. The mayor is not running for re-election. I think there are compassionate ways to handle these issues, but I haven't seen much done effectively.

Sad to hear about Chicago... I have done a lot of research in Chicago and in the suburbs, and I am a huge Frank Lloyd Wright fan.

I have heard this about various places in Vermont. Do you have a feel on Springfield VT? It is smaller, maybe not like that? Still thinking of an escape from Massachusetts.

[bae]

Even out here in the hinterlands, we are experiencing a sharp rise in drug and mental health issues, homelessness, property crime, and lots and lots of scam activity. And this is not an easy place to get to, nor are there supportive services available in any quantity.

[gimmethesimplelife]

Crime and especially drug use is on the rise in Phoenix, even in the pseudo upscale neighborhood I work in. Shoplifting has increased dramatically at the grocery store and there have been a few incidents of what I believe were fentanyl inspired customer (?) collapses in the store with said individuals flopping around like fish out of water on the buffed clean flooring.

As a Valley Metro Rider, I sometimes see people at bus stops either smoking fentanyl - it has a really toxic smell, too - or hunched over unconscious under it's influence. I witnessed a middle aged man recently fall splat on the floor of the light rail train I was on, also flopping around like a fish out of water. This was one day after I witnessed similar on the 7th Street bus southbound.

Fentanyl is some serious (expletive) in Arizona but something I can tell you - you can't avoid this drug by moving somewhere rural in Arizona - it's everywhere, sadly even in Nogales, AZ.

Now here is something I've never posted here. When I had my liver infection late 2016, the hospital staff gave me fentanyl - likely a smaller dose than the individuals above took - before my absess draining procedure. I can see why it's so addictive. I was flying for hours with zilch need for additional pain killers. From this one legal, medically administered dose, I can completely understand why fentanyl is.such a nightmare. Couple the intense high with the fact it's so cheap in a country with declining opportunities and a declining standard of living - this is the end result.

Does anyone see a way out of this? Rob

[ToomuchStuff]

Wish I did. The daughter of my late friend/coworker and bosses medical assistant, has a big fentanyl problem, and is now pregnant the third time by another drug dealer. She has overdosed several times and many of us would like to see her get off the drugs and eventually have a relationship with her kids, for their and their late grandmothers benefit.

[KayLR]

Add to all this the smash & grabs. In my former city (I've moved to one of those rural backwater towns) shoplifting and driving stolen cars into storefronts and stealing whatever they can (many times into pot stores). Then they sell the stuff, probably to help fund their habits, pay bills, whatever.

One pot storeowner in Seattle was interviewed on the news this morning. Their windows are constantly boarded and re-boarded up from (videorecorded) thieves smashing or driving stolen vehicles through the windows and walls to steal merch. They've been told by the city they cannot erect those concrete barriers in front to protect their property. So they'll likely close up and go elsewhere, leaving an eyesore behind.

This is why downtown Portland looks like a ghost town.

The police are bare bones, underfunded (or de-funded) and in many cases have their hands tied. Speeders and other scofflaws on the freeways are rampant because of the do-not-pursue policies.

It's just a shitshow.

[jp1]

If the store owners control the property in front of the store I don't think the city or police really have any say over whether they put big barriers in front of the store. Unless there are zoning rules about such things. And if rules like that exist then the business-owners need to fight to have that changed. Moving to the suburbs will just move the problem to the suburbs.

[iris lilies]

If the store owners control the property in front of the store I don't think the city or police really have any say over whether they put big barriers in front of the store. Unless there are zoning rules about such things. And if rules like that exist then the business-owners need to fight to have that changed. Moving to the suburbs will just move the problem to the suburbs.

Of course there are “zoning rules” against concrete barriers in front of stores. They have to do with sidewalk egress, that is not going to change with business owners “fighting to have that changed. “ This is naïve.

[jp1]

Do you have a link to these zoning rules against bollards?

[iris lilies]

Do you have a link to these zoning rules against bollards?
Nope. I know from years of doing work in my neighborhood that there are all kinds laws and ordinances detailing sidewalk access. Some of them are even federal.

For instance, there is a federal law about crosswalk material. A nearby neighborhood thought they had solved the crosswalk aesthetic problem by painting cobblestone images on the street, rather than using actual cobblestones. Cobblestones are forbidden. But that did not make the federal guidelines because… I can’t remember exactly, I think because it was supposed to be a different enough material from street pavement for unsighted people to distinguish.

It may be true that the kinds of “bollards “you are envisioning may not be what I’m thinking about. We have street bollards of many types all over the city of St.Louis and all of them are some degrees of hideous.

[ToomuchStuff]

A lot of the bollard issue is placement. Leaving enough room for wheelchairs, etc, as some put them in the middle of the sidewalks, effectively leaving not enough room for a wheelchair on it, but they tend to leave enough room for them in between.
Have a convenience store that did that after being driven into 8 times for the ATM. Late jeweler friend had to have them closer to the door (where the building would still be damaged), to not interfere with handicapped access, while a gun store moved them out in front of their sidewalk, right behind the parking stop blocks.

[ToomuchStuff]

Actually the joke I remember was one threatened to put them in, and turn those spots into handicapped parking, using the bollards as sign posts or time limited spots (posts for those allowed).:laff:

[gimmethesimplelife]

Add to all this the smash & grabs. In my former city (I've moved to one of those rural backwater towns) shoplifting and driving stolen cars into storefronts and stealing whatever they can (many times into pot stores). Then they sell the stuff, probably to help fund their habits, pay bills, whatever.

One pot storeowner in Seattle was interviewed on the news this morning. Their windows are constantly boarded and re-boarded up from (videorecorded) thieves smashing or driving stolen vehicles through the windows and walls to steal merch. They've been told by the city they cannot erect those concrete barriers in front to protect their property. So they'll likely close up and go elsewhere, leaving an eyesore behind.

This is why downtown Portland looks like a ghost town.

The police are bare bones, underfunded (or de-funded) and in many cases have their hands tied. Speeders and other scofflaws on the freeways are rampant because of the do-not-pursue policies.

It's just a shitshow.That was the one wonderful thing of many that I loved about the Portland I knew from 1991 to 1996 - downtown. Downtown Portland was incredibly scenic and cool and human scaled all at the same time. I once even walked right on by Vera Katz, a former mayor of Portland, while walking around downtown. I miss that downtown, I really do - sadly I have seen online the pics of graffiti, vandalism, boarded up stores, broken windows, homeless tents, etc. This is not the Portland I knew! So glad if it absoutely had to decline, I was there when it worked and was affordable and was something extra special. Rob

[KayLR]

That was the one wonderful thing of many that I loved about the Portland I knew from 1991 to 1996 - downtown. Downtown Portland was incredibly scenic and cool and human scaled all at the same time. I once even walked right on by Vera Katz, a former mayor of Portland, while walking around downtown. I miss that downtown, I really do - sadly I have seen online the pics of graffiti, vandalism, boarded up stores, broken windows, homeless tents, etc. This is not the Portland I knew! So glad if it absoutely had to decline, I was there when it worked and was affordable and was something extra special. Rob

Yep, even the Elk has been vandalized.

Just a few years ago I was able to take my granddaughter Christmas shopping down there when it was still magical and stores like Nordstrom were lovely. Grateful we have that memory.

[KayLR]

https://komonews.com/news/local/redmond-hashtag-cannabis-crash-and-grab-crime-crisis-stolen-car-vehicle-kia-boys-hyundai-bollards-denial-city-king-county-washington-seattle-pot-shop-marijuana-store-teen-suspects-surveillance-video-products-juvenile-police-investigation-pursuit-law

The storeowners also contend these are groups of juveniles stealing cars and doing the crash-n-grabs. Since they're juveniles, even if they're caught, they're released and back at it quickly.

[LDAHL]

We’ve been seeing a trend of businesses leaving cities that are unable or unwilling to maintain an adequate level of civilization for them to operate safely and profitably.

[littlebittybobby]

okay----since everyone else had their say and this thread has about run its course, i'll reflect upon the subject.  i'm qualified, since i reside in one of THE most crime-ridden hell holes in the entire country!  yup.  like i tell the spoiled whiners on the fairbanks, ak newbies f-book group: ya just hafta adapt to your environment.  see?  so, yah--situational awareness, do not flash cash in public, avoid controversy(which took me awhile to learn), and stay in after dark, etc.  but yeah--try hard not to let trouble find you. ladies--don't go for a jog in yoga pants at midnight, and stuff.  i know it doesn't fit with the no-victim-blaming notions libs have, but better safe than sorry.  hope that helps you kids.  thankk mee. later.