Better late than never, the Post-Gazette appears to be embracing modern technology.
As a geek, it's reason enough to smile - every slaying in Allegheny County harnessed and displayed by Google maps. You can even zoom in for the satellite-view of areas you wouldn't dream of driving by. Next, can Google incorporate these dangerous areas (as input from city police department data through a slick API) into their driving directions to reduce the risk of stumbling upon an untoward neighborhood?
As a concerned citizen, it paints another picture of course, forcing us to realize that most of us live in an entirely different world than those folks in Homewood and the Hill District. There was a shooting up the street from me last year, but my experience can't compare with the regular violence and drugs that determines those lives. And for the folks in Shady Side or Mt Lebanon or out in the depths of Allegheny County with their white picket fences? Watching "The Wire" on DVD is as close as they'll get. It's easy to ignore those city problems and focus on why the fire department is taking so long to rescue your cat from its perch in a tree.
All this data in the hands of citizens can only be a good thing. But we need to do something with it. Is that more funding for police in dangerous neighborhoods? Is it more community outreach? More money for inner-city schools? In the least, we can say it's more. Thanks to the Post-Gazette for having the foresight to post this map on their front page and hopefully wake some of us up.
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7 comments:
And for the folks in Shady Side or Mt Lebanon or out in the depths of Allegheny County with their white picket fences? Watching "The Wire" on DVD is as close as they'll get. It's easy to ignore those city problems and focus on why the fire department is taking so long to rescue your cat from its perch in a tree.
You had a good post going here until you went off on the class warfare tangent. As Joe over at blog lebo stated, there aren't any white picket fences in Mt Lebanon. You're getting us confused with one of those new sprawling McMansion suburbs. While there are a lot of people out here who thumb their nose at the city (they're typically the Republicans who live here) a lot of us are former city residents who still love the city and chose Mt Lebanon because it is the closest thing to city life outside of the city.
Well, I don't really believe anyone outside Connecticut has white picket fences anymore, and I'll agree that I don't know shit about Mt Lebo or the outer depths of Allegheny County.
But am I wrong in contending that a drug murder did not occur within a 1/2 mile of your home? How about one block? Did you choose to live where you live? If you live in Mt Lebo, etc, you have different priorities. Period. I consider myself in the camp who's more worried about snow plowing than police presence in my neighborhood. And I (as well as the Post-Gazette) happen to believe there are very disparate worlds within this city.
I assume when you say "closest thing to city life", you mean a place like my neighborhood or Shady Side and not the Hill District. I purposefully included Shady Side in the list because I didn't want to turn this into a city-suburb argument.
By the way, Schultz, thanks for the heads up on Joe's post.
In case my comment over there doesn't make it through, because I read the comment rules policy too late, the major points are:
1) Clearly crime exists everywhere, but crime in the South Side and Mt Lebo and pretty much anywhere else is way better than the crime in Hill District or Homewood.
2) White picket fences are for *show* not protection. While white picket fences have gone out of fashion, I'm sure there are a few decorative fences or low stone walls lying about.
I actually published your comment because it was a reply to my original posting. I'm still wondering, however, what other crimes -- besides drive by shootings -- are occurring in Homewood and the Hill District and not in other places.
Last time I checked, drug sales, robbery, burglary, etc. are happening in all city neighborhoods and in towns across our area, state and country. And how is any crime "way better"? Crime is crime regardless of where it happens.
I suspect that reaction to this post reflects (i) that in the main, it was right on, and (ii) that perceptions of Mt. Lebanon -- among those of us who live there! -- vary widely.
The baseline level of crime in Mt. Lebanon and similar places is, truthfully, extremely low. I don't know about cat rescues, but my neighbor once called the police to complain about leaves that had blown from my yard to hers.
To be sure, there is an "under the radar" level of petty crime in Mt. Lebanon(drug sales and abuse, alcohol abuse) that would surprise many people, though it shouldn't. This stuff happens everywhere.
But once in a great while, something catastrophic and traumatic happens in Mt. Lebanon. Baumhammers did kill in Mt. Lebanon. The Constant incident. The much more recent DeAngelis attack.
The useful contrast is likely between the frequency of these events. It's low, in Mt. Lebanon, and much higher, in certain neighborhoods in the city. It is indeed a different world.
Mike Madison, also part of Blog-Lebo
Mike -- your point is well taken regarding the frequency of certain crimes/events in Mt. Lebanon versus other parts of Pittsburgh/Allegheny County. My point is that there is a perception that bad things don't happen in Mt. Lebanon -- that it is truly leaves in a yard or a cat in a tree all the time. That is clearly not the case and that is the point that I've been trying to make.
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