Highland Park crimes? (Knoxville, Chattanooga, Maryville: real estate, apartment complex, houses)

[financelife]

[LEFT]This was the last post in a Highland park thread, which was conveniently closed after this remark.
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[SIZE=5]hayley45[/SIZE]
Junior Member

Join Date: Dec 2009
1 posts, read 162 times
Reputation: 10




Hello all, I just moved to Highland Park in August. My husband and I are UTC students. I really liked living here until 2 weeks ago when some thugs broke into our home and stole quite a few things. Thankfully we were not home. I really was surprised because of all the hype about how this neighborhood was so good AND we have an alarm! That's what surprised me the most that someone would break into a house with an alarm when there are plenty of other more vulnerable houses. Very disspointed in the neighborhood now and am contemplating moving. What do you guys think?


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All I would add is that I would not live there with young children. However, break ins do occur in other neighborhoods around the city and not just Highland Park. I just wonder if it happens more often in thuggish areas like HP.
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[rightbraintrain]

Highland Park is not a good place to be, regardless of the trumped up real estate. Sure, they're trying to revive it, but it's going to take a long time, if ever, for that area to be considered "safe."

[craven72]

I'm sorry that happened to you. I've sent you a pm to have you contact me so we can help you.

This sometimes happens in HP, but it happens ALL OVER THE CITY. Today a lady at my company was run over on her way to work (I just found out while typing this she didn't make it), and it was a hit and run. Turns out the car was carjacked. From NORTH CHATTANOOGA.

We are very aware of the problems we still have in HP, but we are aware and fighting them. FWIW, I know several people who work for glass companies and construction, and they all say they have more calls to repair windows due to break-ins in East Brainerd (which actually has the highest burglary rate in the city, but no one admits it). And honestly, it only takes one person to cause havoc.

I personally don't believe in running away when something like this happens, because then they win. If our residents hadn't dug in years ago, HP would be unlivable today.

[wilsonmom3]

Originally Posted by craven72

I'm sorry that happened to you. I've sent you a pm to have you contact me so we can help you.

This sometimes happens in HP, but it happens ALL OVER THE CITY. Today a lady at my company was run over on her way to work (I just found out while typing this she didn't make it), and it was a hit and run. Turns out the car was carjacked. From NORTH CHATTANOOGA.

We are very aware of the problems we still have in HP, but we are aware and fighting them. FWIW, I know several people who work for glass companies and construction, and they all say they have more calls to repair windows due to break-ins in East Brainerd (which actually has the highest burglary rate in the city, but no one admits it). And honestly, it only takes one person to cause havoc.

I personally don't believe in running away when something like this happens, because then they win. If our residents hadn't dug in years ago, HP would be unlivable today.

we also have family members at the company...what a tragedy for that family, (husband of the women killed also worked there) But, as it turns out, the hit and run driver only made up the claim about the carjacking, according to the news. looks like he was drunk and hit the woman so he made a false report to the police that his car had been hijacked so it would look like he was not the one that had done it.

[craven72]

But, as it turns out, the hit and run driver only made up the claim about the carjacking, according to the news. looks like he was drunk and hit the woman so he made a false report to the police that his car had been hijacked so it would look like he was not the one that had done it.

Yeah, that came out later, and I haven't had time to come back and mention it. My apologies.

Back to the topic: I must say that fighting the nay-sayers is wearying, but I'll say it again: break-ins happen everywhere. The small town I grew up in has them. The unincorporated mountain community where my partner is from is rife with them. Honestly, there is nowhere to run from that. You simply do your due diligence with your locks and not be a target (not that people who are broken into are targets, and not that due diligence wasn't done, but often this happens) and hope for the best.

Financelife, I sent you a PM. I think I know where your house is. I'd like to speak to you sometime if that is ok. I'd like to help. Being broken into is disconcerting, to say the least.

As far as HP is concerned, again, our issues are no worse than other neighborhoods in the city, and we have less problems than most of them. A big difference is that we know what our problems are, and when they occur, we spring into action immediately to deal with them. Honestly, East Brainerd has the highest burglary rate in the city (per the police department), but do you ever hear that on the news, or people saying they're afraid to live there? No. The media isn't going to say that about a mostly white suburban area. I know someone in an apartment complex on Gunbarrell whose neighbors were robbed at gunpoint, but no one reports on that. But if anything happens within a 3 mile radius of HP, the media calls it that.

HP isn't for everyone, but I remain concerned about narrow-minded, provincial attitudes scaring off people who really would like living here. Those of us who live here enjoy it for a variety of reasons, and we're not going anywhere. We've dug in our heels, and we're going to continue to see the results of our hard work. We really need cool new residents to help us continue this, and scaring them off unduly with 1970s era white-flight claptrap and outright misinformation isn't going to help. Believe me, we're not going to hide anything from anyone, because we don't want people moving here who won't feel comfortable - that's a pain in the butt for all concerned, and none of us need to go through that.

For anyone who is interested, there is a blog on Chatterati for HP:

http://chattarati.com/neighborhoods/...and-park-blog/

[TheresaIvey]

So sorry to hear about your break-in. Especially during the holiday season. I'm 43 and between the years 1988 and 2000 I've had the following things happen:

apartment robbed twice (1988 Maryville, TN),
my laundry stolen once (1989 Knoxville, TN),
a car broken into once (1996 Lindsay St, Chattanooga),
and my home robbed twice (2000, Brainerd Side of Missionary Ridge, Chattanooga.)

But since early 2002 I've lived in Ridgedale (the community to the East of Highland Park on the east side of Willow) and I've never had a problem with anyone stealing since moving here. Going on 8 years with zero problems - a huge improvement over my experiences in other places.

Sometimes being robbed has no rhyme or reason, and sometimes it is because someone KNOWS you will be away, or you have SEEN something worth stealing in plain view, or you have looked like you might be the kind of person to have something worth stealing. You would be surprised what people will pick up on.

Also consider the time of year.. my laundry was stolen on Christmas Eve. I was young and dumb enough not to stay with it the whole time. Never did that again.

When they broke into my car, they were attracted to an empty totebag laying on the floor. A flat-obviously empty totebag... well after that I began stashing even the most innocous of things out of sight.

When my apartment got robbed twice in Maryville, I was appalled and confused when the cop chewed me out for the friends I hung out with. Then the light bulb went off when I found out later it was a co-worker who heard me announce my forays out of town in advance. So I quit announcing impending trips at work. His brother in law was the maintenance guy were I lived. Small world.

Then when I moved to Chattanooga and got married (divorced now) we got robbed the first time when we went on vacation in August, and the a follow up robbery when we went shopping on Black Friday in Atlanta. Don't know if they just saw the empty driveway, or if my husband blabbed to someone. So after that HE stopped blabbing about our trips in advance.

After those experiences I have learned to hedge my bets as much as possible. Some robberies are random and there is nothing you can really do about it but some people get robbed because the person doing the robbing has decided that you have something they want. Stand outside your house and see what is visible that indicates you have something worth stealing. Where do you shop? Do you carry in bags from fancy department stores? Did you put out cardboard boxes that show what you bought instead of taking them directly to the recycling center?

My best advice can be applied regardless of what neighborhood you live in... be wary of advertising your wealth/possessions and your comings/goings. Try to be the less appealing target.

[eloyfan]

A sincere question, not calling out one group, but WHO is most responsible for the breakins in HP? White guys on meth, blacks, who? Some of all groups, so to speak? What is the criminal demographic (of those who have been caught, obviously)?

It would be a commendable enterprise to get this cleaned up. Since I hope to move to the area one day in the coming years, I would like some advance info, if you please. I would most certainly get involved in efforts to get the community back from the scum.

[VolDude]

Unsure why the race of a perpetrator matters.

[RiverAveGuy]

Because it's a "material fact".

[eloyfan]

Originally Posted by VolDude

Unsure why the race of a perpetrator matters.

Didn't strictly allude to "race". That's why I added "criminal demographic". In some neighborhoods it can be white teens. In others, middle aged bums. Who's getting pinched for these crimes, if anyone?