Attn: Mayor's office, Sheriff's office, news desk First Coast News, Crime in Jax. blogs...
Sept. 8, 2007
To Whom It May Concern:
My husband went to the corner quick market (I don't know it's actual name) this evening. You wouldn't think that would be a death defying activity. Let me add..I live in Cedar Hills. In the last month I've heard of two robberies at gun point in my neighborhood (one in my block) of construction workers, during the day. I've personally heard two drive by shootings within the last year. My neighbors and I discuss the nights when helicopters fly low shining lights down into our yards for hours (wondering what criminal was running through our neighborhood).
I saw a map of the highest crime areas in Jacksonville on First Coast News the other night. Imagine my feelings of comfort and security when I saw that my neighborhood was well within the red highlighted areas. Do you understand why I sat on the verge of panic when my husband said he needed to go pick up a pack of cigarettes at the quick mart this evening? I wasn't worried about his health. I was worried he might not return home at all!
When I hear the Mayor say he's cutting funds for the Sheriff's dept. but increasing taxes and fees for garbage pick up I see red. When I hear the Sheriff's dept. is planning a sting on the South Side for speeding motorists I wonder..are more people killed by speeding motorists in Jacksonville, than by criminals? When my heart lifted when I went to lunch this week at Roosevelt shopping center and saw 10 highway patrolmen stopping for lunch at the same spot..but I haven't seen a Jacksonville Sheriff all day (in this red highlighted area)..well, I'm a little upset.
Why doesn't she move, you say? Why should I? And where would I go? I have a nice home, a wonderful yard and gardens, nice, mostly older and retired neighbors..why shouldn't we expect to be safe in our mostly quiet, neat and tidy neighborhood? Shouldn't I feel reasonably safe in my home? Shouldn't my neighbors?
I'm in a corner of Cedar Hills surrounded by Jammes and Wilson Blvd. Wilson seems to be the dividing line..the line in the sand..right now. The bad guys on one side and the rest of us huddled here hoping "they" (the thugs (children) and criminals with guns) don't come across. But they HAVE come across. The construction worker working on the rebuild of an elderly neighbor's burned out home was robbed, on my street, a few weeks ago..in daylight. I heard another construction worker, working on another HUD apartment complex being built on Wilson Blvd. was robbed or shot yesterday..I hear the headlines and don't even want to know "the rest of the story" any more. I'm not in a low rent apartment complex. I'm not in a HUD subsidized neighborhood..I'm not on public assistance or social security or food stamps. Don't sit back and soothe your conscience by thinking well..you live around thugs you'll get thugs. Or don't think..oh well..just let them all kill each other and we'll be better off! Who?? I'm educated, worked all my life, have a nice home and car. I'm just like you..why is it OK for my neighborhood to be taken hostage and not yours?
I want someone who has the power and the authority over our City to DO SOMETHING!!! And NOW!
Thank you.
Sincerely,
S. N.
(Retired 60 yr. old female West Side resident)
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Oct. 13, 2007
To Whom It May Concern,
So, the above letter was naive! I have since heard 3 more shootings (personally heard them with my own two ears). There's been a home invasion about 4 blocks away and the thief, thug, whatever, hit a policeman over the head with a bottle and is now in the hosp. in critical condition from gunshot wounds.
I have heard several groups calling for CONVERSATION about organized gangs in our city. Organized gangs? What about the 10, 14, and 15 yr. old little boys running the streets with guns? My neighbor boy is picked up a couple times a week by a boom boxed jalopy filled with young guys wearing black rags on their heads and frowning at anyone who looks at them.
I believe the time for conversation is way past. I have had many conversations..with total strangers..regarding crime in our town. One young, black mom said she's ready to move so that her (very beautiful little girl) child won't have to grow up here! A black gentleman my age said he's in his neighborhood crime watch but won't leave his house after dark, so what good can he do?
I'm laying awake at night waiting to hear the next POP< POP< POP! Or the doors or windows crashing in. This is the town you want to draw people and business's to? Do you think it's only happening here on the West Side? My daughter lives in a nice, fairly new neighborhood off St. John's Bluff..she's as scared as the rest of us. She sleeps with a gun! Is this the picture you want everyone to have of our town? It's the one we all have who live here.
We have THE largest crime statistics (per capita) in the state!!! And if our city didn't incorporate the entire county, those statistics would be even higher, wouldn't they?
Oh, and people are very ignorant if they think that what they hear on T.V. news broadcasts is the only crime going on here. I know of two separate occasions of home invasions in an apartment complex on the South Side. This was the apartment of a 20 yr. old relative, and he did not know the perpetrators, but his friend did, so it was considered domestic, rather than criminal. Think about the stats now!
What is YOUR plan?
S. A. N.
West Side Resident
Dec. 27, 2007
To Whom it May Concern (and that doesn't seem to be many):
So, since my last letter, there have been 3 burglaries in just the block I live in..one was a home invasion..thankfully the residents were away that eve. or it might have been worse.
All of us (the neighbors in this block) are now watching each other's homes. We're telling each other if we're going to be gone for any length of time. We have the Sheriff's dept. number on speed dial. We're wary of the renters in the neighborhood (which is probably unfounded, but we don't know them) and we're afraid. I KNOW that you don't live this way. You being the well to do politicians living in gated and guarded communities.
I was particularly incensed..and as I am just an average citizen of average I.Q...I imagine I'm not the only one..incensed when I heard the Sheriff appeal to the public for help in managing local crime. Presenting a very plausible plan of action utilizing neighborhood patrols. And being totally ignored by the Mayor! Two weeks later the Mayor (completely ignoring the appeal by the Sheriff) presents a "plan" to get together with other "concerned citizens" (WHO?) to "discuss" the problem. NO plan! He also mentions he'll need to figure out, with these "others" where the money will come from to fight crime. We are NUMBER ! in the state and number 4 in the country! for crime statistics (per capita). Being number 1 in the state did not deter the Mayor when he CUT funds for crime this year! I'm completely at a loss as to who to listen to, where to turn for help in turning this crime "wave" around. I put wave in quotation marks because it didn't just happen. This has been a problem for many years now, but NOW the statistics make the problem even more pronounced. The victims of these crimes have always considered it a problem, but now, those who depend on votes are starting to get a little worried. Well, I would be more concerned over your own safety and well being, than votes. The crime at the bottom of the food chain..inevitably moves up the food chain as crime grows and becomes unmanageable. This is not a theory..it's obviously occurring now.
Is anyone else concerned?
S.N.
West Side resident and registered voter!