Stay alert (Houston: insurance, crime rate, home)

[elnina]

Just a friendly reminder to be very careful and have a good locks at home. Now, especially around holidays, burglars are very active. Remember, if there is no forced entry, insurance will make you some problems...

Is Houston the Worst City in America for Burglaries? Probably - Houston - News - Hair Balls

Also please be very careful when ordering stuff on line to your home address. Shoppers' packages get stolen off porches in matter of minutes:

Shoppers' packages stolen off porches | News - Home

[JoshRall]

Quote
"The somewhat better news is that while we may rank highly in burglaries, we don't in violent crime. So, while thieves may be stealing your stuff, at least it -- in general -- isn't your life."

How true is this?

[BarcelonaFan]

There has to be some uneven development going on in Houston or something. How can it be such a boom town but also experience some of the worst petty and violent crime rates? I know stats are saying they're lowering but it doesn't make sense that with such high development and job growth that would still be a trend. The job market in LA sucks to the tenth degree yet crime is way lower than in Houston. Last I checked LA was at 7% and Houston at some where between 11-12% high crime rate ratio.

I am thinking that the uneven development is benefiting those with skills and pedigrees and pushing a lot of the working poor out of the cities and into the outer areas. I know some of that major job growth is just low wage work too. I also know crime is down in the city of Houston but the county (going to the North) is really really bad.

These are issues the city will have to face or they will have a crazy uneven development that will leave them in a similar boat NYC had in the 90s with crime being pushed out to the outer reaches of the Tri State area.

[BarcelonaFan]

Originally Posted by JoshRall

Quote
"The somewhat better news is that while we may rank highly in burglaries, we don't in violent crime. So, while thieves may be stealing your stuff, at least it -- in general -- isn't your life."

How true is this?

I would say it's generally true. I do not think that people are just out murdering because they're unhappy. Like I said in the post before this one, Houston's development is wonderful but also a bit uneven. Some parts of Houston still feel like nothing was done to help them so the people who did not find themselves benefiting from the growth will turn to crime. I mean part of the new job growth was also just growth in more unskilled low wage labor too and no matter how low the cost of living is in Houston, one still cannot make it off 8 bucks an hour.

This is just a general way to make sense of the high petty crime rate, low murder rate while Houston is experiencing a boom. I am sure there will be some who will negate this analysis with their boorish notions that it's just lazy leeches who were just born bad or turn it into something racial.

[JoshRall]

In Houston, thugs go out robbing for fun.

[BarcelonaFan]

Originally Posted by JoshRall

In Houston, thugs go out robbing for fun.

Well those thugs obviously have felt little in the impact of the city's growth. To them they see it benefitting others. I mean Houston needs to start expanding it's city services, more growth in education, high education, trade schools, partnerships with local businesses, etc.

I mean LA's community colleges alone are better than some Texas universities in terms of opportunities. Their tuition rates for locals are dirt cheap, aid ample and training/externships/internships, dynamic. It's not embarassing to attend one. Houston also has a crappy public sector that barely helps with employment and doesn't allow for too much civic engagement.

For as bad as LA has become economically, I am surprised that the city has maintained itself and did not allow it to fall into chaos. It's actually moderately well run and for it's size it's relatively one of the safest major cities.

Why Houston cannot get it's criminal problem under control while increasing in growth is public sector management problem. This old good ol' boy conservative mentality that you punish the hell out of people who break the law, ruin their lives with racketeering schemes that attach themselves to city services like surcharges, DUI/DWI fines, long sentences. This is Houston's answer to solving the uneven geographical development.