My husband, our 2 boys (ages 8 and 9) and I have lived here in Hawthorne twice now, first time was for a year, this time it's been 5 years. You want to know if Hawthorne is a good place or not to raise kids......let's see....this past Wednesday (6-13-07) my neighbors on both sides of us and my husband & I were outside talking about the MAJOR problems we are all having with the people who live on the end of our building, when we heard a click...pop, pop, BANG. We were already planning on moving from here (been packing since November), but this crap was the last straw. Crime is everywhere, you really can't escape it. On the plus side of that night, the Independence police response was quick, I swear I think the whole department was here...was kinda nice actually. And I wasn't the only one who had that same thought. But I realized that if we feel safer with all those cops around, something is wrong. Hawthorne used to be BAD then it got "good"....and now it's worse. I know your post was back in April (sorry I'm late) but I hope others will read this too...As for your second post, I don't know why it isn't listed, but alot of things need to change drastically. About 2 or 3 years ago (when it was "good" here) I know that a huge part of that was because we had at least 2 patrol cars all day driving around. Have barely seen that, which makes no sense because cops are called to Hawthorne [u]daily[u]. With so many stupid people here, it's not safe, especially for kids. But there are those of us here who actually care, we need (and are

) getting together to "help" Hawthorne get rid of the riff raff as so to speak. I called the office today & told them they really need to get cops to live here, as I thought they had in the past. I think it would be a fair trade, rent free (or greatly reduced) for the cops and they can patrol day & night. And the good people here can rest at night without having to worry about bullets coming through their kids windows, or prostitution, or drugs. This could be a great place to live, but nothing will change unless (as with anywhere) we do something about it.
I hope your boyfriends ex isn't living here, or moved since April. If she is still, maybe show her this & she will change her mind.