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Thanks for the words of encouragement. We feel like we're under siege.
South Dallas version is just pull out the assault rifles and take care of the problem. Don't have to worry about police, as they are smart enough to not show up until after the shooting stops, anyway.
Look up the word consensus, if both local police and national statistics disagree with you it is quite a stretch to claim one.
In any city there are pockets that have higher crime than others.
Statistics don't mean squat if your business is located in a high crime area.
A small business can recoup from only so many break-ins.
I agree completely, and am making no claim that there aren't areas with higher crime or that it doesn't impact small businesses. I'm just saying that as a whole crime is down, so it probably isn't any more of a contributing factor to small businesses folding than any other year. I don't doubt for one minute that the area around the thread starter's business is suffering more crime or that his own business is hurting as a result.
The crime stats are lies thing just doesn't hold water, unless one believe all these cities in the US all just started using improper reporting methodologies at the same time last year.
If we get hit badly, it will ruin us. Everything we've invested. Everything we've worked for. Same with our neighboring businesses. We're all on the cusp. So do we leave now? It's too bad because Austin has many good points. But City of Austin isn't offering help of any substance. Someone in the city manager's office did warn us away from keeping dogs or carrying guns.... Something to the effect of "They haven't hurt you physically."
If we get hit badly, it will ruin us. Everything we've invested. Everything we've worked for. Same with our neighboring businesses. We're all on the cusp. So do we leave now? It's too bad because Austin has many good points. But City of Austin isn't offering help of any substance. Someone in the city manager's office did warn us away from keeping dogs or carrying guns.... Something to the effect of "They haven't hurt you physically."
If it's not a walk-in business, then maybe consider moving to one of the outlying suburbs where crime is much much lower.
I'm familiar with the Austin area..I work in Austin but live out in the county, northeast of Austin.
Considering what burglary would cost..maybe the cost of breaking a lease is cheaper ?
I think there is a lag in the data, i.e. wait until next year's data, I'm sure the rates will be going back up.
I am in RI. Next door in Massachusetts their rates are way up in the last 6 months or so bucking the national trend.
All sorts of similar things going on in RI as what the OP mentioned (I feel your pain, BTW). For example, about once a week or more we have a fire in an apartment building or house that's been converted into several rental apartments. You can't even believe how often this is happening lately. Not too hard to figure out the dynamic with this. People on their very last of last ropes now, and suddenly facing eviction and homeless, too, so they set a fire before they're evicted as a final sort of "F^*k you" to society and/or the landlord. Sadly, this has displaced quite a few families and tenants who were living in the other units as now the whole home/building is uninhabitable due to the fire.
We've also had a rash of arsons, where late at night someone is going around in the Providence (our capital) urban area and setting old vacant businesses and random buildings on fire.
This week we had a husband and wife amateur burglary team get arrested. A neighbor saw them casing a house and called the cops. In their car the cops found stolen goods from other nearby recent burglaries.
I see it in my eBay retail business. People have less money to spend than ever, less then one year ago, less than two years ago. Things are just deteriorating slowly. Things under $30 sell okay, less than $100 okay too but like pulling teeth to get a sale. People are incredibly reluctant to spend on anything that costs several hundred dollars...
In the last two weeks I must have read about at least 20-30 specific suicides in the news nationwide, as well as numerous random and not-so-random shootings of others followed by a final bullet to the head or finished off by the police.
Slacker, Schwagger, Wanker - y'all go ahead and refute me and do your little Happy Dance. Maybe it will cheer me up.
It's ironic that you should mention fire. I've had this recurring fear recently of coming to work to find a smouldering lot. I think it's because you just don't know what people are thinking or willing to do. We've had so many rude surprises on this property recently. One of our neighbors had a run a few months ago. Apparently loaded trailers and the trucks that pulled them were stolen days apart. It just goes on and on.
We have looked at Dripping Springs to the SW in the past. Some pretty areas out there. But Austin may follow us out there, the way Hwy. 290 is developing.
Last edited by austin-saca; 10-07-2010 at 07:55 PM..
Have you ever thought about...digging up holes to put sharp poisonous bamboo shoots on the other side??
Don't forget the Bouncing Betties...
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