Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,678,989 times
Reputation: 10256
Advertisements
Quote:
Originally Posted by NDL
Excellent points made.
I do think part of the problem lies with the image the City projects: police visibility in Charlotte isn't all that great, and then the City promotes the investment it makes in non-essential programs like public art. In this, the image the City projects doesn't inspire confidence. All the while, news outlets run articles whose sentiment is "guess who was murdered in Charlotte today?"
Not good.
Actually, I suspect that they got the public art thing from Philadelphia. It's been mentioned in other threads that they've borrowed, liberally, from Philly. Public art became a thing in Philadelphia to counteract the national image after Frank Rizzo ran the police department, then became mayor. It was like having Boss Hogg run one of the largest cities in the country. Public art projects a totally different image. The difference is that the Philadelphia version put part of the responsibility for public art on companies building new buildings. Charlotte city government needs to crack down on builders. That could free up money to pay for more police.
I do think part of the problem lies with the image the City projects: police visibility in Charlotte isn't all that great, and then the City promotes the investment it makes in non-essential programs like public art. In this, the image the City projects doesn't inspire confidence. All the while, news outlets run articles whose sentiment is "guess who was murdered in Charlotte today?"
Not good.
What makes you think police visibility in Charlotte isn't all that great? So you're saying cities like Nashville, Indianapolis, Columbus and Jacksonville should abandon public art since their homicide rate is higher than Charlotte? I'm not a big public art enthusiast but I'd imagine they're funded through different buckets. It's a simple formula, if you want more cops pay for 'em but I highly doubt that strategy curbs the homicide rate to any significant degree.
I remember when Columbus was pretty safe. Now they are ahead of us. But a good weekend could put us nose to nose.
They're all extremely safe cities, including Charlotte. As soon as there is a spike in crime in Charlotte a thread like this will appear coupled with the sensationalized CO to heighten the fear. Scan some old threads and it's the same old song about "out of control" crime during the spikes, par for the course in the Charlotte forum.
It does seem like there have been more "random" ones this year. You have the uber driver, a guy apparently trying to buy something on letgo, a pretty young kid and a celebrity barber to name a few that don't seem like the victim was involved in anything illegal.
Homicide rate per 100,000 people so far this year so the Mid-Atlantic and other parts of the country. You'll see Charlotte's homicide rate this year is much lower than cities like Richmond, VA, Jackson, MS, Birmingham, AL, Des Moines, IA, Chicago, IL, New Orleans, Tulsa, OK, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Kansas City, Little Rock etc... but our homicide rate is higher than New York, Denver, Los Angeles, Raleigh, Boston, Seattle, Salt Lake City, etc...
It is truly sad when you think Charlotte is having a bad year and you see how much more violent many cities are across the country. It is hard to imagine. Then you compare that to some cities like Seattle that have had just six homicides. Major differences across our country.
Some other cities around the country:
Tulsa, OK: 39 | 9.75
Oklahoma City, OK: 32 | 5.02
New York City, NY | 112 | 1.32
Los Angeles, CA | 120 | 3.00
Chicago, IL | 295 | 10.93
New Orleans, LA | 90 | 23.68
Birmingham, AL | 48 | 16.55
Baltimore, MD | 160 | 25.72
Washington, DC | 49 | 7.29
Jackson, MS | 29 | 16.96
Salt Lake City, UT | 3 | 1.57
Des Moines, IA | 18 | 8.57
Boston, MA | 18 | 2.74
Buffalo, NY | 24 | 9.30
Newark, NJ | 24 | 8.57
Paterson, NJ | 18 | 12.33
Wilmington, DE | 20 | 27.85
Philadelphia, PA | 141 | 9.04
Cleveland, OH | 50 | 12.85
Cincinnati, OH | 32 | 11.07
Kansas City, MO | 60 | 12.77
Denver, CO | 25 | 3.77
Little Rock, AR | 28 | 14.21
Seattle, WA | 6 | .89
Memphis | 93 | 14.18
Atlanta | 30 | 6.57
San Francisco | 33 | 3.87
I'm not sure five months of data shows where the real problems are. Looking at five years of data you will see a much different result. This article and chart paints a much different picture:
They're all extremely safe cities, including Charlotte. As soon as there is a spike in crime in Charlotte a thread like this will appear coupled with the sensationalized CO to heighten the fear. Scan some old threads and it's the same old song about "out of control" crime during the spikes, par for the course in the Charlotte forum.
I know. The bad always out trumps (no pun intended) the good in the news. Sensationalion!!
I'm not sure five months of data shows where the real problems are. Looking at five years of data you will see a much different result. This article and chart paints a much different picture:
This is interesting but not an accurate picture of these areas. For example, Boston city proper is a very small area much and a population much smaller than Charlotte. You would never know you were out of Boston when you are in Charlestown, Lynn, Saugus, Winthrop, Chelsea, and other what seem like neighbourhoods. If you actually counted the murders in all of these burgs that make up Boston (for example) you would see a different picture. I believe that metro would be a better baseline. Nevertheless, interesting. Thanks. It gets out the general idea.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
...
