Well I went back to HBG over the weekend to visit family. My thoughts:
- Driving the other way on Paxton St. is exactly what I thought it would be: weird! LOL But they did a fantastic job with it and I think it is going to help out that area a lot. It is also VERY nice to see there will be new lights at 283/Eisenhower Blvd. where there were just stop signs before...that was a death trap!
- The new lanes on 283 to get onto the Turnpike are AWESOME and traffic flows much smoother there now!
- The new shopping center is utter crap. They had a great chance to build something halfway decent and instead they built yet another boring cookie-cutter strip mall (with a parking lot 10X the size than what is needed too). I'm not asking for much, just a lifestyle center or whatever you wish to call them like you find in Maryland. At the end of the day a strip mall is a strip mall, but at least TRY to make it better! SCPA is taking sprawl to a whole new, disgusting level for sure.
- I agree with harrisburger and State St. is coming along nicely, and I really like what they did to the street in the area.
- I simply cannot believe all of the businesses in the HBG area (the 'burbs) that are now out of business! I don't think I have ever seen so many empty stores in prime locations. What is going on?!?
It was definitely good to be back and see what has been going on! But like here in Philly, all of the recent crime was the topic of the town which was very sad to hear. And then in today's paper we have:
Midtown residents try to avoid crime surge
Monday, July 31, 2006
BY CARRIE CASSIDY
Of The Patriot-News
Bret Green remembers hosing down the Broad Street Market floor last winter to clean off blood that had seeped in from outside.
A man had been shot to death near the market's doors in January. The fire department washed away the blood outside, but it found its way into the market, said Green, a maintenance worker.
In the months since, Green's normally peaceful midtown neighborhood has experienced a surge in crime. The frequency of muggings, drug dealing and burglaries in the past six months has spiked so much that some residents in the area, a few blocks from Front Street, said they are scared to leave their homes at night.
"When I'm done working, I go home and don't come out," said Green, 48, a lifelong city resident. "Me and my wife, Gwen, we want to get away from this."
Police have bolstered their presence in midtown, an area bordered by Forster, Maclay, Front and Seventh streets. Patrols with dogs have been added. Mayor Stephen R. Reed has moved seven officers from desk duty to patrol and sent 12 more officers to train at Harrisburg Area Community College and begin patrolling city streets later this summer.
Some residents said they are not leaving it to chance or to the police to protect them from criminals. Many interviewed yesterday said they aren't leaving their homes at night. Neighborhood crime-watch groups are stepping up, too.
Green said he's changed some of his habits to make him less attractive to would-be robbers.
"I don't carry cash on me. This is what I carry," he said, pulling out a debit card. "They won't get any money from me."
The management company that runs Madelle Pierce's apartment building recently hired a security guard, the first one since she moved to Linden Terrace about four years ago.
Pierce, 45, said she's heard stories from friends and residents who have been robbed.
"A couple people got robbed in broad daylight near here. It doesn't make me feel safe. It makes me feel scared," she said, adding that she is happy to have a guard stationed at the entrance of the building.
A few blocks away, Jay Steinas, 36, stood in front of his home in the 1300 block of Green Street. He noted several security improvements, such as motion-detecting spotlights, that he made to his house -- but a bit too late.
Although he has a home-security system, someone recently broke into his home in midafternoon, taking not much more than his laptop computer. Steinas said he has become more diligent about using his deadbolt lock since the burglary.
"I know burglaries can happen anywhere at any time. It just sucks it happened here," he said. "There's been so many in such a short amount of time."
Rick Mitchal, 27, blames the crime surge on drug addicts looking for money to feed their habits. He said a friend's sister, who lives between Second and Third streets, was victimized recently by a man who entered her home, performed a sex act in front of her and demanded money.
"He didn't hurt her or anything. He wanted money," Mitchal said as he rode his bicycle up Verbeke Street from City Island. "People are getting hooked on crack or heroin, and they're trying to get whatever they can from people."
Sitting on his friend's porch on Second Street, John Jackson, 40, of the Allison Hill neighborhood, said a greater police presence isn't the only thing that can be done to halt the recent crime wave. He wants a large recreation center with sports courts and arcade games built in the city.
Jackson said kids need a place to be kids. They are forced to grow up too fast, learning hard lessons on the streets, he said.
"They shouldn't be learning about runnin' and duckin' from bullets," he said. "Every kid has a dream. They should have the chance to live out that dream as a child."
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