Thinking peripherally about the post and comment below, specifically about the “energy left by violence”:
A kid got shot last weekend, a couple of blocks from my house. On the same weekend, there was a stabbing at one of my old haunts. In the last couple of years, we had an attempted break-in and what may have been a casing for a robbery over Spring Break (though I doubt it). I do believe in lasting energy caused by violence, not in any kind of physical manner, but rather in the anxiety of knowing ill will against you. Paranoia, fear, pain, confusion.
I still don’t feel unsafe here despite what looks like a surge in undesirable activity. These are moments where my foundations are rattled, but ultimately the violence we see here is generated by having a large population of young people trying on adulthood and independence for the first time, figuring out the consequences of stupid decisions. There are occasional murmurings from my white coworkers about who the violence is caused by, who is getting arrested here for drug dealing and whatever else, and while they may feel it is the folks “from Chicago,” parlance for people of color who are moving to the outlying areas after the Chicago public housing system underwent a huge change in the late ’90s, the numbers show it’s almost all young white people and alcohol is almost always involved. And interestingly enough, the last time I took a look at the numbers, neither the arrest rate nor the arresting offenses changed all that much whether the student population was here or not. Townies!
And true to form, all four events I mentioned in the beginning of the post involved young drunks getting into serious trouble. Students or townies, I don’t know.
It’s a pretty charmed life as far as our safety is concerned, the kind of existence where I feel our lives would be more affected by the installation of a speed bump on the road out front than the installation of a greater patrolling police presence or a personal security system.
I’ve got coworkers (and parents, ahem) who are also quick to blame any “influx” of new residents from up North.
I think it’s relative. My coworkers and parents live on the East side, where they are seeing (in their eyes) a rise in crime, violence, and poverty.
I was contemplating the West side on my drive home today. I was thinking about how I haven’t really noticed many effects of the “recession”. In fact, I’ve mostly noticed an upswing since university began. Since PU has been raising their tuition, I’ve been noticing a different caliber of students. Some of my neighbors, for one anecdotal example, live alone, in units that are now costing upwards of $1000/month. Our parking lot has a substantial number of luxury vehicles, not all of old vintage. Need I even mention the flash of class seen on campus?
I know our Lafayette school system is noticing a difference in student population–much more at-risk children, children in poverty, and our SpEd classrooms are reaching full capacity.
Lots of homes in my parents’ neighborhood are in default, repossessed, and/or laying empty. This is a neighborhood which arose only a few years ago. Driving down some parts of Lafayette/downtown is amazing in regards to the obvious levels of poverty.
But here on the West side?
Like you said, our biggest problems are reckless driving and drunks roaming the neighborhoods. As long as it isn’t too late on a weekend night, I generally feel 100% safe walking alone.
It speaks to how sheltered we are, being in a “Big 10″ university town. This is also the reason why we more intensely feel, notice, and fear”outsiders” entering our warm little bubble.
For me it hits home when I know, I definitely know, I shall always want to live in a well-to-do university town.