Comments on in bloom: beatdown in Bloomingdale

That could be true. Although it's not like if yo...

2009-11-17T17:04:55.104-05:00

That could be true.

Although it's not like if your shades are down people don't think you have stuff. I mean, it's your home. Obviously you have stuff.

It wouldn't be unreasonable for people to shut their shades when they're not home or not downstairs. I was more thinking that 5:00pm beatdowns could be avoided if the homes in our neighborhood seemed more actively inhabited.

Again, I think you raise a good point about people not wanting to showcase their stuff.

Pat, I think people keep their shades drawn becaus...

2009-11-17T13:31:46.431-05:00

Pat, I think people keep their shades drawn because they don't want people to see what they have and where they keep it. It would be interesting to see the effects though.

I am so sorry about Brad and am glad he is alive.

What scares me the most about this story is that i...

2009-11-16T15:27:06.449-05:00

What scares me the most about this story is that it happened at 5 PM in the afternoon/early evening. I have noticed that despite those blocks of 2nd Street being sandwiched between the busy avenues of Florida and North Cap, it's generally quiet, and I've rarely encountered people when making my way down to the 90/92 bus stop on the corner of 2nd and Florida.

Stories like this may just scare people away from walking down 2nd Street, and I think the foot/vehicle/bike traffic on 1st Street does a lot to curb this kind of crime from happening.

This is a very disturbing incident because there a...

2009-11-16T15:02:24.597-05:00

This is a very disturbing incident because there appears to have been no other motive than to kick someone's ass.

According to MPD's crime statistics, violent crime is up 10%
in the 1500 foot area around my house from last year. I'm not sure what to make of this since I'm not an expert, but it seems like there is a problem and that it has gotten worse.

I have no idea what effect this could have, but my housemate and I were talking about a NYT article that was about how being able to observe your neighbors (i.e. open shades, close proximity, etc.) is a great benefit to city living. We also noticed that most houses on our street don't have the shades up on their first floor picture windows.

Obviously this suggestion won't solve the problem, but what about a concerted effort to get people to leave their shades up on their first floor picture windows? Bloomingdale has a ton of these huge windows. Presumably people are in their living rooms watching TV or hanging out. It might help deter some crime because from the street it would demonstrate to people that people are home and, theoretically, could see you commit a crime.