Springfield, IL--congrats!!!!! Top in crime!

[iris lily]

For once my city wasn't in a top crime list.

But Springfields,IL? REALLY? Can we blame this on Obama? He did spend a lot of time there.

The others in the top list I can understand: FLint, Memphis, Detroit, I understand.
Springfield, I do not. Fawn what are ya'll doing over there?

http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/americas-most-dangerous-cities-2011.html

[Rosemary]

I don't even live there and my car was broken into - one Christmas Eve.

[Jemima]

I used to live in Illinois, and Springfield is just like state capitols everywhere - they roll up the sidewalks at quitting time-for government workers-and the downtown area becomes dangerous. (However if I'd been asked to guess which small Illinois city was the worst, I would have pick East St. Louis.)

Harrisburg, PA, is the much the same. You can't walk more than three blocks from the Capitol Complex without landing in slums that look dang scary even during the day. There are expensive and elegant homes along the waterfront, but I bet all of those people have a good security system and stay in at night.

[Float On]

I would of never thought that about Springfield, IL. We spend quite a bit of time there and have never heard of a high crime rate.

[Fawn]

Yeah, we Springfieldians were pretty befuddled by the report.

I mean, there are parts of Springfield that I would not go to w/o a police escort. About 3 blocks square.

Maybe they are including the parking tickets at University of Illinois at Springfield in the statistics?

[Tradd]

Well, you do have the governors that keep being sent to jail!

[Fawn]

Well, you do have the governors that keep being sent to jail!

Yeah, but they are all from Chicago! Nobody has lived in the governor's mansion since Edgar.>:(

[domestic goddess]

Yeah, and all those politicians (and crooked governors) robbing us blind must account for some of the crime rates.

[ctg492]

Perhaps it is my ripe old age of 50, but I swear in the last year it seems everywhere got bad. I ask myself daily if it is the Media, local news papers trying to get the best shocking headline to sell papers or the broadcast. Where is safe I ask myself daily??? I used to think the rural area was better then the city. Not anymore, it seems. Meth labs out in rural northern Mi, where I used to think the Amish only wandered. :(

[Fawn]

ctg--never fear!

Because of my work, I go into every neighborhood of (apparently) one of the most dangerous cities ever.

Two times in 22 years have I had a bad feeling about my circumstance. By keeping my body between the danger and the door, have manged to escape both times w/o harm.

There is a big difference between real danger and imagined danger and it is a good idea to know the difference and what defences might work, i.e a shotgun vs. martial arts vs. simple self defence and a 911 call. !Splat!

[RosieTR]

I used to live in Illinois, and Springfield is just like state capitols everywhere - they roll up the sidewalks at quitting time-for government workers-and the downtown area becomes dangerous. (However if I'd been asked to guess which small Illinois city was the worst, I would have pick East St. Louis.)

Harrisburg, PA, is the much the same. You can't walk more than three blocks from the Capitol Complex without landing in slums that look dang scary even during the day. There are expensive and elegant homes along the waterfront, but I bet all of those people have a good security system and stay in at night.

I always wondered why that was. Phoenix is like this, too. New, nice buildings with lofts/apts/businesses then like one street over: total yuck. Junkyards, loose dogs, boarded up houses, the whole works. We live a few miles from downtown and the between area is where the gunshots (usually) come from. Of course, this means everyone has to commute, which means traffic and all that. Phoenix has implemented these folks who go around as "Ambassadors" and generally help keep the downtown itself safer esp coupled with a fair bit of police presence. I would guess that the neighborhoods nearby will gentrify eventually.

[iris lilies]

I am resurrecting this post for a random unimportant, but vaguely interesting-to-me comment.

You know how serendipity plays in our lives and it is always odd and inyeresting? So two days ago I was searching the archives of this site and put in search term “Christmas” and my name, iris lily. Well, the second thread to show up was this one about Springfield, IL.

Guess where I was going the next day? Yep, Springfield, IL. So odd. And I cant digure oit where “Christmas” exists in this thread.

I had an assignment to judge a flower show st rhe State Fair in Springfield this week. I love the IL State fair. It seems smaller scale, and the grounds prettier, than the huge Iowa State Fair. And to the topic of this thread, there are a lot of run down places on all sides of town, and a LOT of homeless people milling about.

I can see where crime is rather high (leave out the obvious joke material about criminal acts performed in the State house) and overall, this town, which I really like for some great tourist things, looks like a bad advertisement for Democratic control of a broke state.

In addition to the State Fair, we walked the block of Abe Lincolns’s home. i was sorry to miss visiting hours for the old capitol because I find that building’s interior so elegant. The exterior is huge, heavy, blocky, nothing like the interior.

[Yppej]

Rosemary referred to Christmas.

[gimmethesimplelife]

I once dated a man from Springfield, IL. He had nothing good to say about the place other than housing was cheap there - this was back in the early 2000's when you could buy a decent house there for under 60K. Other than that, he was so glad to be out of there and often expressed a wish never to return and the fear that hell was actually Springfield, IL. That's a pretty strong indictment but I have to say I've never been there and I know people that feel the same way about El Paso - a city I find home-like, affordable, interesting, and a good cultural fit except for one glaring defect - it's in Texas (no Medicaid expansion for the working poor, something I am permanently unable to forgive). Rob

[iris lilies]

I once dated a man from Springfield, IL. He had nothing good to say about the place other than housing was cheap there - this was back in the early 2000's when you could buy a decent house there for under 60K. Other than that, he was so glad to be out of there and often expressed a wish never to return and the fear that hell was actually Springfield, IL. That's a pretty strong indictment but I have to say I've never been there and I know people that feel the same way about El Paso - a city I find home-like, affordable, interesting, and a good cultural fit except for one glaring defect - it's in Texas (no Medicaid expansion for the working poor, something I am permanently unable to forgive). Rob

I think El Paso is the armpit of the SW, but I aint no fan of the SW or of Texas.

The tourist things in Springfield are pretty spectacular. Besides all of the Lincoln stuff, and there is a lot, there is a major frank Lloyd Wright house owned by the state,
and open to the public.

[Ultralight]

Are Iris Lily and Iris Lilies different people?

[iris lilies]

Are Iris Lily and Iris Lilies different people?
No, same person. I have two accounts. One is old and is enabled to do administrative stuff on this site. The other is a plain vanilla account.

[iris lilies]

Rosemary referred to Christmas.

Oh, ok, now In see it! Thanks.

[Teacher Terry]

My brother lived there for 30 years and loved it. I have visited but it was a long time ago. He retired to the west coast for warmer weather.