05/05/08 11:22 - 55ºF - ID#44241

The greed of the suburbanites

will be their own downfall:

suburbancrime writes at 01:43:40 05/06/08 - Comment #34757: The point of this blog is just to explore this myth or idea that the suburbs are free from crime where as the city is somehow this teeming cesspool of filth and crime. I run up against people who think like this everyday...I work with them.

The blog came out of a discussion on the cameras going up on Elmwood to prevent "crime". Some of us felt that cameras going up in the city contributes to this idea that the city is always unsafe and has to be closely monitored.

For the reasons above, I don't necessarily care to compare statistics between Tonawanda and Buffalo. Not to mention, crime statistics in the suburbs are horribly, horribly skewed. A lot of suburbs will record a crime as happening in the county to avoid the crime as being part of the statistics for their area.

There do happen to be people who break the law in the city and the suburb. That's the point of of this blog. Opportunity to commit crime is an important component to why crimes occur and with the increasing vacancies in the suburbs, the people in the suburbs with an inclination towards crime, now have the opportunity to commit crime as well.

jon writes at 09:04:15 05/06/08 - Comment #34751: Although I understand your point, crime is committed by individuals who choose to break the law. And there happen to be people in both the suburbs and in the city. So of course crime will exist. And given more opportunity with abandoned homes and such, I would also guess crime will rise a bit.

Anyways, I thought I'd look around for some hard numbers about crime in our areas. Here is a 2006 comparison I found. Not sure how relevant this is to the topic at hand, but I found it interesting.

:::link:::

suburbancrime writes at 02:11:11 05/05/08 - Comment #34727: I liked this article because I think it speaks succinctly to crime being, in part, a product of a negligent environment that becomes conducive to criminal activity. The broken window theory at work in the suburbs.
I think we'll see more middle ring suburbans experiencing a rise in crime due to foreclosures and vacant properties.
The suburbs will experience what the urban cities experienced when the government turned its back on the cities and subsidized the move to the suburbs.

james writes at 12:35:25 05/05/08 - Comment #34721: I don't know why we have this Eisenhower era view that the suburbs are crime free. Hasn't everyone seen Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet?

Permalink: The_greed_of_the_suburbanites.html
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05/05/08 11:21 - 55ºF - ID#44240

The decline of the suburb

Permalink: The_decline_of_the_suburb.html
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05/05/08 11:03 - 55ºF - ID#44239

More drug busts in Tonawanda

Lots of the white stuff in North Tonawanda

Permalink: More_drug_busts_in_Tonawanda.html
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04/28/08 01:16 - 42ºF - ID#44169

Driving in the suburbs

Concerned about the chaos of driving in the city ??? Erie County Sheriff's deputies had a busy weekend rounding up drunk drivers in the suburbs:

Here's another read:

Best wishes for a quicky recovery for the involved individual, but do you notice how the focus on this young suburban woman is the injury and not the criminal act that caused the injury? This article would look a whole lot different if this was an urban youth!

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04/24/08 01:18 - 65ºF - ID#44125

Suburban Crime Blog

I wanted to write a thought provoking entry explaining the purpose and thought behind the suburbancrime blog, but the reason is pretty simple. Irritation.

I feel irritated when people tell me they love visiting the city, but, goodnessâ€¦. they could never LIVE in the city. Or my co-workers who are convinced that I, as a city resident, have my house and car broken into routinely and that I have danger lurking for me around every corner. These individuals smugly believe that they and their children are safe from crime in their suburbs.

We can explore that assumption here. Iâ€™ll try to focus on Buffalo, but Iâ€™ll branch out to other suburban areas too. If you have any news on crime in the suburbs to shareâ€¦please e-mail me!

Hereâ€™s a few interesting links to start with:

Boston man with intoxication levels three times the legal limit found slumped over in his vehicle:

Illegal immigrants working in Cheektowaga Mexican restaurant:

Drugs in Clarence

Union Leaders recently arrested for racketeering. The racketeering and bullying of these individuals harm the City of Buffalo and at least one of the twelve (probably more) lives in the suburbs of Buffalo. The article doesn't provide their home locations, but one of my coworkers in the suburbs is a neighbor to one of the individuals who was arrested.

imk2 writes at 09:38:19 04/24/08 - Comment #34370: many, many, many years ago i dated a guy who was in the business. you wouldn't believe how many suburbanites he had as customers and he didn't even deal the "white" drug, but rather, crack and still so many of the customers were white suburbanites driving saabs. i can only imagine what the demographic profile of a Buffalo coke dealer's clientÃ¨le looks like.

metalpeter writes at 05:40:35 04/24/08 - Comment #34359: That place was so good it really was. The odd thing is not this time but the time previous I voted for it as the Best Mexican place in the artvoice awards. I think the place has been open for a couple years but not sure.

Before I bash the burbs there have been some great movies and shows about them and there dark side: American Beauty, The Burbs, Desperate Housewives, and WEEDS come to mind quickly.

I like the idea of the blog. The burbanites to make some good points about crime. Let me clarify that by saying the ones who used to live here and then when the you know who started moving into there hood they decided to move out. But that doesn't mean there is more crime that is more of a culture thing. As an example as I'm walking down the street there is some asshole sitting on his porch and he has his car radio blaring. Now I can't even sit outside if I want to cause I don't want to hear his crappy music. I felt like reaching into the car and turning the radio down, it is not to tough to make it loud enough so only you can hear it, it is called sitting in your car!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

See people who aren't from the city don't understand that there are good and bad parts and sometimes it is block by block and not by the part of town you are in. As an example if you know anyone who lives in riverside tell them you like there house in blackrock. If they are a stable family they will Correct you cause black rock is where the ghetto and white trash people live. I used to have this debate with a friend of mine. He lived in Willimsville about maybe 5 minutes form UB. I never said he lived in Buffalo but said he lived in the city and he did and he would get very upset.

mrdeadlier writes at 02:36:47 04/24/08 - Comment #34353: I saw the link to the Mexican restaurant in Cheektowaga and figured for sure it was 5 de Mayo! Half the time I'm in there the servers barely speak English, and the other half... they don't at all. But still, the food is the best thing going since Don Pablo's waved farewell.

suburbancrime writes at 01:32:03 04/24/08 - Comment #34346: absolutely!

james writes at 01:31:10 04/24/08 - Comment #34345: If we find news stories detailing the scum of that Gomorrah which are the suburbs should we email you?

Permalink: Suburban_Crime_Blog.html
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