WTHR-TV had an alarming report about the rise in violent attacks being committed on downtown patrons by loitering teen-age hoods. Mall security bounces them out at 9:00 p.m. every night, whereupon they begin preying on innocent downtown patrons. WTHR reported that more than 2,000 such criminal incidents had happened in the area during the past year. One couple came to Indy for a weekend get-away. When the husband made the mistake of stepping outside of Houlihans to have a smoke, he was approached by a group of teen-agers who began beating him up for no apparent reason. After badly beating him, the teen-agers simply walked off. A shooting took place right in front of Houlihans last weekend.
Mayor Peterson and IPD better figure out how to get a handle on this right away. There are certain times that I simply won't go to Circle Centre Mall anymore, namely Friday and Saturday nights, because these thugs are menacing all over the mall, often deliberately bumping into you with hard pushes. This kind of activity has completely destroyed Cincinnati's downtown. If people don't feel safe going downtown, they will flock to restaurants and shopping malls in the suburbs. The City has made too much of an investment in downtown Indy to let these low-lives destroy it. Unfortunately, most of these teen-agers are African-Americans. Any effort at cracking down on them will be criticized for being racist.
You couldn't be more right. We stopped going to Circle Center on the weekends for this very reason. We also stopped seeing movies downtown.
ReplyDeleteAny move the city makes will be instantly condemned as racist and oppressive. However, if the city wants a bigger convention center with higher-end conventions, they've got precious little time to get this under control. It's sadly only a matter of time before an out-of-town visitor is seriously hurt or killed during a convention by these roving gangs. The city can ill-afford a hit like that when it's at the cusp of truly becoming a world-class destination.
As someone who will be attending a high-end convention in Indy in the near future, I will keep this in mind and warn my friends about the situation.
ReplyDeleteIts a sad situation since Indy went to great lengths to get the convention to move there, and its been well enough received to have the convention extend its contract for several years.
I lived in Indy for three years. I saw the crowds of teenagers hanging out downtown. I didn't feel threatened by them. I believe because many of the raced whites who come into the downtown areas and see so many African-Americans are scared.
ReplyDeleteI was appalled at the harassment of these young people. At the time, I lived there a law was found unconstitutional in trying to prevent these young folks from hanging out.
I see three things that offends raced whites about these youth represent, poor, criminal and to many...all stereotypes.
Most businesses to hire security guards or police to protect their scared clientele.
Interesting ... AI screams 'entrapment' when Hamilton County cracks down on its growing problem of man-on-man sex acts in public parks but now outlines a completely different mentality for downtown Indy’s problem with AI’s misperceived ‘African- American, low-life, thugs!’
ReplyDelete(Btw, we lived in downtown Indy for several years not that long ago; never once did we feel threaten by the folks you are describing and, yes, we walked throughout the heart of Indy daily. Too, while it doesn't really matter, we're two little, white, middle-aged lesbians!)
So is Sandra Chapman, an African-American reporter for WTHR, who did the story showing footage of large groups of African-American teen-agers loitering on downtown streets at night also a racist?
ReplyDeleteGet real, Sandra Chapman (WTHR) was not taking a cheap shot at Peterson(D) by characterizing African-American youth as thugs or low-lives; that AI alone.
ReplyDeleteAs a downtown resident, I see a lot more of what's going on down here than you do 46038. What I describe is consistent with reality. Also, my comments are not a cheap shot at Mayor Peterson as you falsely assert, nor was I implying that Chapman's were. The fact is the film footage for her report showed large groups of African-American teen-agers, not whites, not Hispanics or any other group. Anyone who visits downtown late at night, particularly on weekends, knows exactly what I'm talking about.
ReplyDeleteI live downtown, too, and have for years, even working at the mall on weekends for a long time, and I've never really felt threatened by the packs. Maybe some violence has started to creep in - terrible, but not surprising. I don't go to the mall area as much on weekends because it's loud, crowded and annoying in the movie theater. And, yes, I admit, when I leave the mall near Alcatraz and the corner are packed with loitering kids, I occasionally think to myself, I hope nothing happens. And I probably wouldn't think that if it were a bunch of white kids. Let's be honest. A lot of people feel that way. Can you imagine any scenario in which you'd think twice about seeing a bunch of loitering white teenagers?
ReplyDeleteMost of the time, I don't think about the loitering groups. I will now that I've read the reports of random beatings, and I will avoid the mall even more on weekends. Let's just hope it doesn't spread to the canal. Frankly, I'll give them the mall territory (or I would, if it wouldn't hurt conventions and tourism) if they'll give me the canal and Mass Ave. So far, so good.
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