Tag: crime

Uh.. happy holidays!

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Look, I could curate what I decide to post when, in accordance to the holidays, or I can talk about relevant and current happenings when they’re fresh and breaking.  That’s what life is, unflinching and unforgiving in the face of capitalistic traditions like holidays and seasons, and shit happens no matter what time of the year is.

So when bodies are being found in the trunks of abandoned cars outside of Waffle Houses right before the Christmas weekend is under way, it’s worth mentioning, even if it’s kind of a wet blanket in the goodness and joy of an impending holiday.

Especially since it happened at a particular Waffle House that was not only not that far from where I used to live, it was one of the Waffle Houses that I’d been to several times the mornings after a bender of earlier years.

I say it often, that not a day goes by that I’m thankful to have gotten from my previous home; I’ll always miss the experience and memories accumulated by living there, but I will never, ever miss the degradation of the area and the steep downhill direction South Fulton county was headed.  When I moved out, I was concerned over the escalating petty crimes, the break-ins and bad driving behavior; through the magic ear of NextDoor, I’ve been able to know that it’s been going further downhill with loitering and gunshots entering the fold.

I never thought, but I guess I should have expected, that eventually some fatalities would come into play, and dead bodies being found in the parking lots of Waffle House?  Yeah, I think that’s one of the nails in the coffin of relief that I truly feeling having gotten away from the area.

Jesus Christ, that was something you don’t really expect to hear happening in your neighborhoods, much less your former ones that you’re glad to have gotten away from.  But either way, given the direction that South Fulton is headed, I can’t say that I’m the least bit surprised.

Whatever though, it’s unfortunate that it happened, but as callous as it sounds, better them over there, than anyone over where I am now.  The holidays are supposed to be a time of relative peace and happiness, but clearly some people haven’t gotten the memo. 

Regardless, to all of my now, zero readers, Happy Kwanzaa.

Didn’t see this coming not

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Shocker of the century: a Publix supermarket built in the ghetto is having crime problems

I used to pass by this place on a routine basis, but when it was still under construction.  However, the signs were up, lauding the future arrival of a brand-new Publix supermarket, and I remember thinking “they’re building a Publix, here??”

“Here” was basically in the epicenter of a very ghetto area.  The corner of Marietta and Moores Mill is an area where one cross street is a pretty substantial truck route, on a road with lots of industrial companies, flanked by several buildings enshrouded in razor wire.  I get that the side opposite Marietta from the Publix is the notorious west side that is predominantly African-American but also unfortunately mired with the most substantial crime rates, but it doesn’t absolve everything east of Marietta Blvd. from being squeaky clean and safe.

I get that the some of the backbones of gentrification are strong and prominent anchor entities like major grocery stores like Publix, but there’s always a tremendous amount of risk when it comes to being the first ones to the party, because they’re almost always the sacrificial lambs when it comes to the process of trying to improve a rough area.

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Well you don’t often see that on Nextdoor regularly

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Dead body on highway I-75/I-85 North-Old National bridge

Dead body??  Shit, I mean, Nextdoor is a pretty active online portal for people who like to gossip and meddle around in other peoples’ business as well as go off to the extreme on trite details.  And admittedly, for no other reason than the aforementioned things is precisely why I still have my Nextdoor account to my old neighborhood, because just about every single day, something is posted that validates my decision to move when I did, and is a constant reminder of just how good it was that we moved when we did.

Usually, and I know, because I keep a written record of all the asinine headlines, things are often revolving around suspicious persons in the neighborhood, bitching about the HOA, or the unfortunate amounts of crime present in the hood.

But dead bodies now??  Shiiiit.

Naturally, I wanted to find out the context of this supposed dead body, and sure enough, the news was thankfully on it; I mean, on the south side of the Metro Atlanta area, it’s usually a Christmas miracle when any modicum of media actually goes down there for anything other than the airport, or some super tragic crime. 

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Stamford gets it

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

This I like: Stamford, Connecticut proposing law that would fine individuals who haphazardly walk and text at the same time

Seldom does a day go by where a dickface on their phone manages to inconvenience me.  Whether it’s while driving or while on foot, at least once a day, it’s inevitable that I will get stuck behind someone not paying attention, because their face is buried in their fucking phone.  Short of making it law and penalizing those who violate said law, this is something that will never have any chance at improving; and even if there is a law in place, that’s still not going to deter every jackhole who thinks they’re better than the law and completely incapable of getting busted by it.

Regardless, I have to give kudos to Stamford (along with Honolulu) for at least trying to curb stupid behavior by proposing to make it illegal to walk and text at the same time.  As long as there are police willing to enforce this kind of behavior, I could see it actually having a degree of effectiveness at deterring people from doing so, or at least adopting better etiquette and learning how to get out of the way if they have a dire and essential text message to send immediately.

$30 for a first-time offense isn’t a back-breaker, but it is inconvenient.  If I I’m out with mythical gf and we’re on our way to the movies, and I get busted texting and walking and get a $30 fine; that’s basically admission for two right there, that I have to throw away due to my own idiocy, instead of getting movie tickets.  $30 lost basically means no drinks, popcorn or snacks, because I’m responsible with my money and $30 lost in one place will essentially mean $30 not used in another, expendable way.

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Draconian Punishments: driving with cell phones

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been driven to my wit’s end because of people constantly driving around while distracted by their cell phones.  It doesn’t seem to matter that such behavior is classified as illegal and ticketable by a police officer, but the reality is that there simply aren’t enough cops out there monitoring for this shitty behavior, and they’d most likely be disinterested in ticketing people for cell phone use when there’s speeders and even more reckless drivers on the road to keep vigil for.

At least once a day for the last few weeks, I’ve identified situations where I’ve nearly been merged into, witnessed someone absent-mindedly drive into a potentially harmful situation, or simply not gone on a light-turned green, if not multiple of the above.  My favorite (read: the shit that infuriates me the most) are the people whom you can see their heads dipped down, as the foot comes off the gas when their eyes leave the road, and they slow to dangerously slow speeds while they check something on their phones, and then resume driving like a retard when they realize they need to pay attention to the fucking road again.

Needless to say, I have laid down on my horn on nearly a daily basis, and I’m absolutely sick and tired of people on the roads who can’t seem to get the fuck off their cell phones.  Such doesn’t change much on people outside of their cars, but at least the repercussions of their idiocy aren’t necessarily potentially lethal (as much).

Regardless, the only way that this behavior is ever going to improve is to integrate draconian punishments for those caught violating the rules.  Fear of tickets and fines aren’t good enough, as it feels like 80% of drivers are still content to drive around with their eyes anywhere but the essential view ahead of them, so I think we the world, need to change things up.

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Good intentions, predictable outcome

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Didn’t see that coming: grassroots movement declaring a ceasefire in Baltimore, challenging the city to ‘nobody kill anybody’ over a 72-hour period, results in two men dead from gunshots

I hate to (I really don’t) goof on what’s ultimately very good intentioned, but come on – this is Baltimore we’re talking about.  This is a city in America where the life expectancy is something that sounds like medieval times, when the bubonic plague was ravaging the realm, that’s how much violence is a problem there.  It may sound like a cliché to some, but there is a shred of reality in the notion of surviving each day, because violence in Baltimore isn’t just commonplace, it’s a way of life.

I’m not (entirely) saying all this because I love to take potshots at Baltimore; I’ve seen the looming threat and constant presence of violence in that god-forsaken city.  I remember when my mom wanted to be alone for a weekend, she’d jettison my sister and I off to Baltimore to stay with an aunt and cousin who lived in the deepest, darkest part of Baltimore, and I remember hearing the nightly routine of dirtbikes and ATVs that buzzed down Monroe Street that were speculated to be MS-13 drug trails.  I’ve seen fights on the streets, and I knew a friend of an acquaintance who was jumped and hospitalized in ICU during an Otakon, in a very populated area near the Harbor.

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Not a day goes by

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I’m still subscribed to my former home’s community on NextDoor.  Partially, because it slipped through the cracks and I neglected to address it after I had moved out, but also in part because it’s turned into this inadvertent source of amusement, fascination and a constant reminder of how glad I am to not live in the community anymore. 

Don’t get me wrong, I loved the shit out of my old house.  The house itself was great, and if it were remotely possible to uproot homes, and plop them down onto other places like Sim City, I totally would.  It’s just that it just happened to exist in a community that went in completely the wrong direction from where I had hoped it would.

Needless to say, based on shit I read on NextDoor on nearly a daily basis, the neighborhood has progressively been getting worse since I moved out.  And after every single I read about disgruntled residents of my old community, and all the neighboring communities dealing with some unfortunate issues on too often of a basis, all I can do is shake my head and take a huge sigh of relief.

Like, the first few weeks of life after the move, I was admittedly in a state of unease at the general change in life.  But as the transition eased, and the NextDoor notifications continued to trickle in, with stories of break-ins, shared security cam recordings of suspicious activity, and oh yeah a shooting incident, all melancholy feelings were gone and completely replaced with pure, unadulterated relief.

Residents airing out their grievances, passively-aggressively shaming behaviors they don’t agree with, and my favorite, the rant featured above, are daily occurrences on NextDoor now, and it’s like a trainwreck that I can enjoy even more, now that I’m but a mere bystander, and not a fellow resident.

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