21 comments

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  Enumclaw

  1 year ago

  Sorry to hear that brother.
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  Mark

  1 year ago

  Yeah, kinda lame.
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  taylor

  1 year ago

  I feel your frustration. The four or five times (way too many!) that I've need help from the police, they've been completely unhelpful, if not insulting and arrogant.
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  Paul

  1 year ago

  That just pisses me off!
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  Mark

  1 year ago

  I wonder - have you all seen The Wire yet? I swear that is so true-to-life.
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  joshua

  1 year ago

  that is jacked up man.
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  CM

  1 year ago

  wtf.
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  mike

  1 year ago

  Wow... that's amazingly sad... and messed up.
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  Frank

  1 year ago

  This is the kind of stuff that should go straight to the mayor. They say they are serious about policing...people should be called to account and fired. They need to fix the apathy of a young man being run down. How nuts is that?
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  Mark

  1 year ago

  I wish I could call up Mayor Nutter and be like, "dude, check this out." Wait, maybe I should.
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  Frank

  1 year ago

  Mark, honest-to-gosh, this is exactly the kind of story he needs to hear about. He has breakfast at Little Pete's most mornings, so you could catch him there. If I see him there I'll tell him...and tell him to contact you. I'll write the info and link on a 3x5 for him.
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  roz

  1 year ago

  that sucks, i am so sorry to hear that... i hope that this get some attention.
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  Leah

  1 year ago

  OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WTF! I'm in total shock reading this!! That sucks so much!! I'm sorry Mark! I feel as if it's my fault!
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  Dave

  1 year ago

  What a horrible situation to have outside your home. I can't believe sometimes how broken the city is. Things like this are an annoyance to the emergency responders. Sadly it's more the norm than the exception.
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  Mark

  1 year ago

  @Leah - LOL - it can't be your fault, friend. I don't blame anyone. In fact, I don't really mean to stir the pot with this blog post, I'm really just sad that it happens. It's a bit sadder that (this time) it happened in front of my house, but so many worse violent incidents are happening all over Philly and I would just love to see an end to it.
  
  I've been recalling that season in The Wire lately about how one theory is if you solve the small stuff first, maybe the bigger stuff will become more manageable. I wonder where that starts? In my neighborhood it's probably by seeing to it that kids use the playground for basketball and not for drug deals. I hope it can.
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  Ingrid

  1 year ago

  I can't believe there was enough time for you to call 911 twice, for them to drag the kid away and a squad car just came out and surveyed the area. Ridiculous. I imagine there is a lot happening in Philly at 1am, but still.
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  Leah

  1 year ago

  I was just noting to Roz (in a separate email) that the worst I ever noticed in the soccer field was some kids drinking occasionally. A lot of the neighbors were like, "Hey, they're kids! They're going to drink!"
  
  But I can definitely say that O.R.C.A. (in my limited experience with them during their existence) was really great. They managed to get a lot accomplished in a short period of time. I know that the FNA had a police representative that came to their civic meetings to update the community on crime, and he also handed out a card to people with a number to call to report stuff. He basically put it in terms of the squeaky wheel getting the grease. The police patrolled more where they were aware of issues. I'm not sure if O.R.C.A. has this, but it might be worth mentioning or checking into if you're going to their meetings. I'm still getting their email updates if you want me to forward you the notices of when they're having meetings....
  
  Let me know!
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  Zadi

  1 year ago

  OMG. That's completely and utterly horrible. What is the point of 911 if they behave in that manner? Unbelievable... and sadly not uncommon. Jeez.
  
  Is the park lit at night? I remember in my old neighborhood shady things would go down in the park across the street until they installed bright lights... then people felt safe using it to jog on the track and play ball.
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  Mark

  1 year ago

  @Leah - thanks for the reminder about ORCA - I've been meaning to get to their next meeting.
  
  @Zadi - I know, right? The park is lit, but only until 9:30pm. After that, it's shady - in all senses of the word.
  
  In the end, though, we're not too whiffed by this whole episode. It's sad, but I don't see it as a reflection of our neighborhood as a whole. There is so much great energy here, and we're certainly going to continue looking for the bright spots. We're no fear mongers.
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  BradyDale

  1 year ago

  This is a really intense story... but I have to tell you what my real takeaway from this is... what the hell? We're virtually neighbors! Okay, not really that close, but I drive right by your neighborhood all the time. I bought a house up here, too, only I'm at Franklin and Lehigh.
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  aquidneck redneck

  1 year ago

  completely different where I live. a similar weekly scuffle that ended with a few teenage girls ripping their shirts off and screaming about being pregnant or something ... then minutes later 3 squad cars and a police SUV bring the entire street on lockdown. that put a rest to the weekly attacks on our street for past month or so.
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