News
Fill out this form to email this article to a friend
Quality of life corrodes
By A TIMES EDITORIAL
Published September 10, 2007
Violent crime, especially murder, plagues St. Petersburg's black community. Experts agree that homicides represent one of the most destabilizing forces in a community, and the corrosive effects of homicides are most acute in low-income areas. During the last three months alone, four men have been shot to death in St. Petersburg's black community.
The ill effects of such crime are evident everywhere, both tangibly and intangibly. Leaders in these neighborhoods struggle to attract businesses that can provide jobs for the chronically unemployed. They struggle to keep the handful of professionals remaining there from moving out.
Without viable businesses and a critical mass of professionals and other law-abiding residents, no community can enjoy a decent quality of life - clean streets and sidewalks, well-maintained homes, beautiful yards, safe parks, well-equipped recreational facilities and friendly neighbors.
Homicides, along with other violent crime, will block all chances for black communities to enjoy the amenities that otherwise safe and thriving neighborhoods take for granted.
In Midtown, Childs Park, Bartlett Park and other black areas, many residents have experienced violence for so long they apparently accept it as being normal. In reaction to the most recent shootings in Childs Park, for example, residents told the St. Petersburg Times that gunshots are "common" in the neighborhood.
Gunshots should not be "common" anywhere in St. Petersburg. As long as gunshots are normal, the amenities that add up to a good quality of life will remain out of reach. The police alone cannot prevent violent crime. They need the eyes and ears and earnest support of residents who are outraged at the violence - who will not hesitate to snitch on violent criminals.
Until residents begin to assist the police in preventing violent crime and catching killers, the city's black neighborhoods will remain depressed.
[Last modified September 9, 2007, 23:00:12]
Share your thoughts on this story
Comments on this article
|
by Truth
|
09/13/07 02:41 PM
|
|
Edward is totally correct. Rick Baker and his corrupt administration are too busy bowing to the Uhurus. And the Uhurus want no police intervention in their world. Unfortunately it spills over and ruins the rest of the city too.
|
|
by Phrances
|
09/12/07 11:46 PM
|
|
Is the person who wrote this article for real, does he/she really have a clue as to what they are writing about, those incidents were isolated incidents in Child's park part of retaliation for the killing on 18th Ave and 17th. Get all your facts!!!
|
|
by Lynn
|
09/12/07 11:44 PM
|
|
I have seen many white men/women (in nice cars, suits), come to the Midtown, Bartlett Park and Child's Park areas to get drugs, and BLACK women or men. Finally, the police department has just been one that was approachable by the black community.
|
|
by Sherry
|
09/12/07 11:41 PM
|
|
I am appalled at this article which I did not see. As a resident in the Bartlett Park neighborhood for over 34 years. THIS is a two fold problem that stems from years of problems from within the police department and through out the community.
|
|
by Resident
|
09/11/07 09:55 AM
|
|
I moved to Bartlett Park with my family a few months ago, am I crazy? No. Maybe the St. Pete times should invest more time into their stories. There is amazing changes happening and this community is potentially one of the hottest areas in St. Pete.
|
|
by edward
|
09/11/07 09:08 AM
|
|
Remember that police officers take their orders directly from the Mayor and CC. Their priorities are different from most citizens.
If you want better police work you need to oust the mayor, council and the crooks running the police department.
|
|
by Aaron
|
09/11/07 07:02 AM
|
|
La costra Nostra is what the Itilians call it "This thing of ours". People dont snitch because they know they have no protection from the police afterwards. Same as the Mob they dont tell because the police will not protect your family from attacks.
|
|
by Aaron
|
09/11/07 07:02 AM
|
|
La costra Nostra is what the Itilians call it "This thing of ours". People dont snitch because they know they have no protection from the police afterwards. Same as the Mob they dont tell because the police will not protect your family from attacks.
|
|
by Martee
|
09/10/07 01:45 PM
|
|
Jacob, there's a big difference between being a vigilante and merely making an anonymous phone call to give police information or leads -- that's all that's being asked -- snitching is what will get offenders behind bars - not silence - lighten up!!
|
|
by Holly
|
09/10/07 01:04 PM
|
|
No Jacob, it means witnesses need to come forward instead of protecting the criminals. It is commonly known in these neighborhoods that being a "snitch" is the worst thing you can do...
|
|
by Richard
|
09/10/07 12:45 PM
|
|
Meanwhile, the SPPD thinks it's more important to operate speed traps than to deploy cruisers into those areas as a deterrent. I wonder if the family of Amuel Murph would agree with the SPPD's priorities.
|
|
by Bab
|
09/10/07 12:06 PM
|
|
Kind of chicken and egg. What came first? The ostrich mentality by residents or lack of help from police? I think common sense answers that...
|
|
by Nick
|
09/10/07 10:00 AM
|
|
Gunshots are common in black areas, yet on most weekday mornings I can count no less than a half dozen police cruisers parked on 4th street trying to nab speeders. Go figure. Where are our priorities?...
|
|
by Bill
|
09/10/07 07:52 AM
|
|
These are fine sentiments, but fall on deaf ears. I'm sure the St Pete Times has super-low circulation in the neighborhoods referenced above.
|
|
by Jacob
|
09/10/07 06:47 AM
|
|
Oh, so it's the residents fault that they haven't policed their own neighborhoods and driven out crime? Vigilante-mob mentality --- oh yes, that's exactly what we need.
|
News
Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
Print
Email story
Comment
Letter to the editor
