2007 safest and most dangerous states and other gripes (Albuquerque, South Valley: insurance, violent crime)

[jghoo]

Most Dangerous/Safest State Award 2007

The fanbois will say"here we go again". Others may say "leave if you don't like it". I am here for the weather.

Many people who believe ABQ is in no need of improvement will suggest people move if they don’t care for the poor state of affairs in ABQ. Most people come to ABQ because of the GREAT weather. They also stay because of the weather. I see ABQ compared to cities 3-4times its size when it comes to crime. Get real people, compare apples to apples.
just look at the stats I recognize the listed stats are for NM. Given that Albuquerque is by far the largest city I believe they are relevant..Albuquerque has a gang and general crime problem. When a person brings up stats the fanbois will say oh those are old or "they are wrong". South valley in itself proves there are issues. ITS A GETTO. You think I’m wrong, why do houses take nearly a $30k hit over there. It looks like Mexico (as far as I know I still send my taxes to Washington DC). Chavez taxes the hell out of NE Heights to help pay for south valley. Why doesn’t that lame a$$ mayor put red light cameras in South Valley? Oh yea, no one would pay them. When I take my dog to get a rabies vaccination the vet is required to notify the city so they can send me a bill for a dog license. My dog is chipped and is well taken care of, I don’t need to pay the city to take care of my dog. What about all the mangy mutts roving south valley? I go to the city building to pull a permit to work on my house. Oh you can't do that, you will have to take a test. HUH? When you get a permit YOU STILL NEED AN INSPECTION. If you don’t do the job right the inspector should catch the mistakes. I have since gotten said inspection. The inspector did not bother to look at the job, he just signed it off. Someone is going to claim all of those shyt boxes in south valley where put together by licensed professionals with permits....roflmao.
Trust me folks Albuquerque ain't all that.
People have told me there are problems with traffic not yielding to emergency vehicles. I wonder why? Maybe its because of a bunch of hillbillies driving around in tow trucks with all variations of colors flashing like its some big emergency. In many civilized states blue is reserved for police, Red for emergency vehicles. Hey hillbilly tow truck driver YOU DONT NEED ANYTHING MORE THAN FLASHERS. I continually pass police cars stopped in the middle of the road. GET out of the road. This ain't the OK corral. Big city police manage to take care of business without parking in the middle of the road and blocking traffic willy nilly. Buy some cones and flares for gods sake.

Just because you have green chili and dust doesn’t mean there are not major issues that need to be addressed.

I posted this because I am tired of posts that always defend Albuquerque in a manner that portrays negative posts as just people who don’t know what they are talking about.
While I may not know what I am talking about, but I’m not too far off.

Its not because Albuquerque is small town (that would be good), its because the establishment is apathetic to the real issues. A restaurant closing at 8 or 9pm is small town (I getting used to that).

PS If you buy into the Chavez BS check out this site. Look at the studies with respect to red light cameras and accidents.

TheNewspaper.Com: Front Page

Red Light Camera Studies Roundup

[RamblinKat]

I would love to see localities get serious about ways to rein in crime -- it would take a tremendous effort and would have to be spearheaded by innovative thinkers. I never like it when a community says "Oh, it's the drug people doing it or causing it [crime]" without ever thinking WHY ARE SO MANY OF OUR CITIZENS INVOLVED IN DRUGS? Is it OKAY to have a whole quarter or more of your fellow citizens involved in crime??? Do we HIDE it or THROW UP our hands about it, or try to draw them into the BIGGER COMMUNITY??? Do we THROW whole sections of towns away, like the people there don't matter? Yes, I am angry at them, at their choices, but are they hopeless?

It is a sad situation, not just in NM! There are many children in these blighted areas, who are absorbing bad attitudes, hopelessness, etc! There are the elderly crying bitter tears over their families and no way to step in! I have no answers, just a hope that others will!!! What can be done about the poverty? The lack of education or the lack of desire for education, which may be from a bad personality, or may be from a feeling of being unequal to the task!!! These state tests, they must STOP! It is wrong to force a teen into school, then to say YOU WEREN'T GOOD ENOUGH, you tried but it doesn't matter! No diploma for you!

Somehow the LOST SHEEP AND LAMBS must be gathered into a fold of acceptance and happiness and goodness!

[jghoo]

RamblinKat,

I do think you are right in many ways. I also do not claim to have all of the answers. I do think it takes new blood in politics. Politicians with vision and goals. Which is in itself an issue.

[Steve-o]

But hey, theres abundant sunshine, right!?!? WOOT WOOT!

[RamblinKat]

Don't knock the sunshine! The sunshine is great! At least we know the crime is NOT caused by a Vitamin D insufficiency!

New thinking about the problem is a MUST. It is really not okay to have that much crime. I bet if someone could overlay the states with bad education systems with the crime list, there would be a lot of overlap. But why do states have bad educational systems? That is another puzzler.

But I have no real answers or ideas, other than to say, crime will go up or down depending on attitude of the people. There has to be a will of the people to stop it or slow it. I don't know what to do with groups of people who think crime is okay or who bury their heads in the enchanted sand and say everything is fine when it's not.

Not all of us have $300,000 to buy a cool house in a safer area or an enclosed area. It is not fair to be law-abiding and yet have to be on guard against really crazy amounts of crime. But I have encountered a lot of people who think "you don't have the money for a 'good' neighborhood, so too bad for you." It's snotty and it's mean.

[desert sun]

So how does Albq's crime really compare to other cities its size? I imagine not that much worse ,probably lower than alot.New Mexico's state listing is comprised of the wholes state and there are alot of small towns in NM with above average crime which help out withg the #2 Most Dangerous state award.

[Riverdog]

I don't live in ABQ yet, but while I was trying to make my decision, I got my crime stats from the FBI website. desert sun, you're right - ABQ is comparable to many cities it size that are in the safest states. I went down the list until I got bored. All stats are from 2006, the last year that is not labeled preliminary:

Albuquerque
Population 500,955
Total Violent Crime Reported 4550; including 34 murders

North Dakota, Vermont, Maine New Hampshire, Wyoming, South Dakota, Montana, and Iowa have no cities that are of a comparable size.

Milwaukee, WI
Population 581,005
7698 violent crime incidents; including 103 murders

West VA, CT, Idaho & Utah - no cities to compare.


Omaha, Nebraska
Population 416,770
2505 Violent Crimes; including 33 murders


Virginia Beach, VA
Population 442,784
1256 Violent Crimes, including 19 murders.

That's where I got bored.

[Tim Rankin]

My 2 "home states" are Md and NM, both in the top 4 most dangerous.

I guess life insurance is in order...

[yukon]

I have to agree with you on the emergency lighting. Most cities I've lived in, from 5 million to 500 population, blue was for police, red was for emergency (ambulances), and yellow was for caution (tow trucks, etc). It made it VERY easy for you to tell when you needed to pull over. NM does need a law like that.

[camsgirl]

No laws regarding emergency vehicle light colors? Or at least ones that limit certain colors to only emergency vehicles? That's certainly good to know since I will be moving to Alb. in July. I keep reading that they do things differently there.

I'm making a heated (no pun) effort to vacate the place often referred to as "the armpit of California" - Bakersfield! In making my decision to move to Alb. I, of course, checked the stats. Alb. is twice the size as Bakersfield, and has half the levels of smog and particulates, that's a huge improvement, as far as crime is concerned, it has about the same levels of crime, taking it's size into consideration.

Everything about Alb. was better and was what I was looking for, except the crime levels, which would be nice if they were lower, but I do fine where I'm at with the crime. I don't like it, but I know what places to stay out of. I think I can handle 9 out of 10 improvements to my living conditions.

As far as having backwards people in local government, Bakersfield has a very old and long line in the "good ol' boys club" that I don't see changing any time soon. (Just don't break the law if you're black or hispanic) Lots of southern mentality and pockets of white supremists.

Every place has its share of ghettos, to one degree or another. Our society is continuing to expand the gap between the have's vs. the have not's and education is probably the key. But how do you change generations of mis-guided thinking? We probably won't see sweeping change our lifetime.