OK. I've had about as much as I can stand living in DC

[DCKit]

And only reinforces my fears for my S.O. I worry every day he walks out the door.

I was threatened with death, not twenty minutes ago, by a bunch of kids twelve and younger. They were serious, as a heart attack. Really attractive kids, too.

Sick of this shit, and I don't want to leave my bestest friend behind to deal with it.

[dkf]

1. Wow that is rough.

I don't think I could live at my place if something like that happened. So far it seems safe. Crossing fingers.

[quinnox]

2. I hear ya

I couldn't live there. But I know a lot of political people and government workers have to live there. Good luck.

[freshwest]

3. OMG. No way in hell you should put up with that. I've put with stuff like that. I had to move.

Can you guys move further out of town or something?

Oh, I don't know if that's the answer, either.

So sorry. Take care of yourself and talk to your S.O. as soon as you can to decide how to deal with these threats.

Oh, did you call the police yet?

[DCKit]

6. It's DC. It may be a while.

But, yes I did. Got busy signals the first three times I dialed 911 though.

Provides me a lot of sympathy for all those women who are getting the crap beat out of them. How much time to they have before the insane husband/boyfriend/stalker bashes the door in? One chance to call? Two?

Hey NSA, wanna be actually useful? Fuck you useless motherfuckers.

[freshwest]

17. I don't guess you were able to get pictures of the little angels, did you?

It's a tremendous problem when one is mobbed by young teens who won't let you on the way. You can't do anything, it's child abuse if you react in any way. And they have their own families and each other to stick together. I hope the police will be able to contact the parents. Have you ever seen them before?

[DCKit]

23. No kidding.

I could threaten (two bottles of wine in a single cloth bag).

However, as you've noted, if I hit the kid, I'd be the one going to prison.. for fuckin' ever.

Thankfully, it didn't come to that.

[elleng]

4. VERY sorry, DC.

Where were you? I'm rarely in the city, but will be in NW tomorrow and at KenCen Tues. Daughter in far out P.G. County, and I'm often in MontCo and Washington counties, MD.

Would HATE to have such experience as you just did. (I experienced 2 thefts during my 20+ years IN DC.)

[DCKit]

5. 4Th and M SW, half a block from Waterfront Metro.

One of the guards at Safeway was too terrified to call 911. I barreled through the store demanding that someone call the popo. Someone finally did.

The little fuckers threatened me before they went in to rob Safeway.

So sick of this shit.

Little kids folks, only the two girls were of any age at all, and they weren't more than 14. Psychopaths with dead eyes, all the older ones, boys and girls.

[elleng]

7. Damn.

Lived @ 6th + I, SW, 2 blocks from Safeway, when first assaulted, in alley walking to apartment. 'Punk,' w no firearm as I recall. 'Negotiated' with him, gave him cash and/or wallet. About 30 years ago, so don't recall details.

Liked the neighborhood; walked to/from office and l'enfant Metro, and view of river from apt. balcony. NO Waterfront Metro at the time, but motel, restaurants, and fishmongers.

AWFUL about kids; worse/awful about what's happened to education in DC, or what HASN'T happened. Moved 'uptown' to NW (16th St. Heights,) and had kids whom we sent to private + parochial schools.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

10. I used to live there!! Capital Park Twin Towers. I now live in MD and work at HUD.

[elleng]

11. Waterside Towers!

Worked at ICC; retired now, and live in MD.

[DCKit]

14. Jeez, so you know some of it.....

Even I didn't know this bit - sociopaths training other kids to be sociopaths. There are some adults involved, too. Saw them across the street afterwords, three Fagins..

Lucky for all of us (if the popo do half their job) every single one of those psychopathic fuckers walked into Safeway at about two minutes after my cigarette purchase at CVS.

Unluky for me, they know where I live. While I own a shotgun, I'm not allowed to keep it in DC. That's never sucked more than now.

[elleng]

19. Gotta say I'm glad you can't keep it in DC.

Would be SO awful to hear of you having been in a shoot-out with such.

Awful I can't think of my old/first DC neighborhood as pleasant as it was anymore, just pass it to/from National.

[freshwest]

22. Okay, the Safeway will have film, no? This might put an end to this...

Scary they know where you live!!!

[WorseBeforeBetter]

15. I occasionally shopped at that Safeway when I worked on Capitol Hill...

actually, I should say I "braced myself" for shopping at that Safeway. Drove over, parked, got in, got validated, and got the hell out. Good luck to you and your SO... stay safe.

[elleng]

20. Took my newborn daughter there 28 years ago, showed her: 'This is an apple!'

[WorseBeforeBetter]

25. Aww. That's around when...

I started working in the city. I liked that area, but it was iffy. Arena Stage, Water Street, events at Fort McNair, real estate with lots of potential. Geez, I'm getting old... I'm vaguely remembering a way-off-the-beaten-path nightclub over there from around 1984 -- Half Street? Water Street? LOL

[elleng]

28. Yup, and DC auto inspections on Half Street (I think,)

a few blocks from our apartment.

[Laughing Mirror]

47. Do you mean a two-story club in a warehouse at 1824 Half St SW

across from Pepco generators, called the Pier Nine? It had been there since 1970 and was still in operation around 1984, and the building is still being used as a club even today, now operating as Ziegfields Secrets.

The scrap processing plant and the cement mixers are still down there too, and so are some of the old streetcar tracks.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

50. That must be it... definitely a warehouse.

And definitely on the Fort McNair side, not the Tracks SE side. "The Pier" is ringing a bell. But so is Pier 7 on Water Street, and Pier 7 near Annapolis. Gettin' confused in my *old* age.

[Recursion]

8. It's gotten worse in the past year or so

I ended up leaving Barney Circle because I was sick of the kids running around throwing rocks at people.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

9. Damn, where do you live? Come live here in Silver Spring with me! Cost of living is cheaper.

It's safer. It's nice and diverse, and you're still close to D.C.

[elleng]

12. Right. Silver Spring,

Aspen Hill part, near Glenmont metro.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

13. Not far from me. I'm nearest Forest Glen.

[Chan790]

31. Hmm. It's a Silver Spring party.

I'm on University near Sligo Creek. Technically I think Forest Glen Metro is closest but Wheaton is the easier walk, especially at night.

I was just down at that Safeway, about 2 months ago. The hearings for the various zoning and land-use boards are down the block and I was working on a project as a community activist to prevent construction of a dangerous commercial driveway up in Takoma.

It looks like such a nice neighborhood, I'm disheartened to hear that they have those kinds of problems.

[loli phabay]

34. i used to live in silver spring just off forest glen near sligo, still own the property and rent it

Out, left to live in the mountains of virginia for the peace and quiet. Dont miss the traffic at all.

[DCBob]

37. me too... I used to live in SS..

moved to Rockville a few years ago now moved again to National Harbor. Ive never had any crime problems other than a stolen car a few years back. But for sure there are issues in many parts of the DC area.

[justiceischeap]

40. Um...I live right near Glenmont metro. Howdy neighbor!

[elleng]

44. Howdy, justice!

Pass you regularly!

[JI7]

16. what is going on ?

[HipChick]

18. Never had a problem in DC..

a situation like that can happen anywhere..even in the suburbs of NOVA

[WorseBeforeBetter]

21. Or the suburbs of PG County.

That's where some friends and I were held up at gunpoint by a couple of teenage thugs at Landover Mall. In the city, though, I never encountered anything like that. Thankfully. And I was all over that city.

[DCKit]

24. Too funny....

had the cops demanding my ID once when it was running away from them.... not 30 feet. Got robbed at gunpoint not ten feet from two cops, and they treated my like a criminal.


He asked me for my ID and I said "there it goes". The Thief was only halfway down the block.


DC really is a hoot.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

27. Insane!

A friend was living in some apartments near the Waterfront Metro while going through a divorce. He worked in the city and it was convenient to work (and cheap -- the divorce cost a pretty penny). To this day he talks about his car being broken into for a pink Hello Kitty backpack that belonged to his daughter.

I just looked at some real estate listings - new condos for the usual $500K. I haven't been back to that area for a while but definitely want to check it out, especially with the Nationals stadium being built.

[Chan790]

38. Those sorts of things happen everywhere in DC though.

My favorite story ever about car theft was my senior year of college. My friend Matt had bought this beater car for $50 in mid-winter just for traversing the 10 blocks to campus and getting home from his bartending job that ended after the Metro closed. The car was repaired precisely to the point where it would pass DC inspection and no further. I mean this thing had one working door and no windows other than the windshield. The color was listed as black because the replacement hood was black and the rest of the car was bondo gray and rust. The heat didn't work, the A/C didn't work, it smelled like someone had used it for a bathroom, it had a driver's seat and 3 milk crates. The engine ran beautifully though and the entire drive-train probably would have lasted another 100K. Matt had gotten exactly $50 worth of car by my estimation. By April, Matt had had enough of this car and enough money saved up to buy something less horrific.

We're sitting in his living room in early spring along with his roommates playing Madden when one of his roommates says "Hey Matt, there's some neighborhood kids hanging about your car."
"Yeah. Okay."

A few minutes later.

"Matt, those kids are in your car."

Matt gets up in a hurry rushing to get outside and the other roommate says "Dude, you don't know. They could be armed." (Surf bum too. Read it again in a Keanu Reeves voice. )

Matt says "I'm not stopping them. I'm offering them the keys if they promise not to bring it back and let me get my personal shit out of it first."

[WorseBeforeBetter]

45. He he.

Sounds like a college roommate's Scirroco. Considering my *vehicle* was a Schwinn, I was happy to have access to it!

[jberryhill]

26. But they were merely expressing their discontent with the system

As we learned in relation to organized teen violence in Chicago a while back on DU, you were standing in the way of a political protest of some kind.

And... calling the police? Perish the thought.

[freshwest]

29. I must have missed that discussion. Good for me.

[jberryhill]

30. It was a hoot

[awoke_in_2003]

46. More like economics...

as wealth disparity continues as it is, crime is only going to get worse.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

32. Here's where you can find a map for DC showing criminal activities, or at least conventional ones:

http://www.spotcrime.com/dc/washington

[BlueCheese]

33. So sorry to hear about that.

I remember the crack era when D.C. was the murder capital of the country. I know people who've been mugged in other cities, but have been fortunate myself. The one from Queens seemed to shrug it off, like it was a parking ticket; the ones in SF also seemed kind of resigned about it. It's sad how much we learn to expect crime.

[Douglas Carpenter]

35. Wow! I've lived in major American cities before. It so peaceful and tranquil here on Saipan

in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. In spite of all the problems - I guess, I am so, so lucky.

[Laelth]

36. We tolerate far too much poverty in the United States.

We get the nation we're willing to pay for. If we took better care of the weakest and most vulnerable of our citizens, I suspect your experience would be far more rare.

-Laelth

[loli phabay]

39. really, you think aanything excuses this kind of behaviour.

I hate to tell you that even in the richest places on the planet there are still people who are violent asses.

[Laelth]

42. Please keep your words in your own mouth.

I am not "excusing" anything. I was, I thought, explaining what I see as one of the root causes of urban decay, violence, and theft.

Are you suggesting that poverty is not a problem in the US? Do you disagree with my belief that we tolerate too much poverty in this country?

Frankly, I'm just not sure where you're coming from--unless you're defending the original poster from remarks that you consider "insensitive," and, honestly, I worried about that before I posted my comments. My intent was not to offend anyone, but I do believe that we get the society we pay for. If we really cared about poverty, I think we'd throw a lot more money at the problem.

-Laelth

[justiceischeap]

41. Not all thieves or bullies are impoverished. nt

[Laelth]

43. Quite.

In fact, the most successful thieves and bullies in the US are very rich. As a result, I tend to be a little less critical and a little more understanding of the plight of the poor ones. Perhaps it's a character flaw. I don't and won't excuse larceny, assault, or armed robbery, but I think I do understand the main reason we see so much of that kind of criminal behavior in the United States. It's a result of high levels of poverty--poverty that we tolerate.

-Laelth

[DCKit]

52. I'm with you on that point.

However, I do agree that austerity has only aggravated the situation here - people who had almost nothing now have even less.

[Laelth]

53. Absolutely. Austerity in a recession is bad public policy. n/t

-Laelth

[loli phabay]

48. if you can move, you couldnt pay me to live in DC.

[LadyHawkAZ]

49. I have only been there once

when I went to the Rally to Restore Sanity. I walked into a McDonalds for breakfast on the way to the rally and ran smack into a cop just inside the door. Restaurant was closed because it was a crime scene. I never did find out what happened. Not an experience I'd care to repeat. I can't imagine living with that every day.

[DCKit]

51. It's Wednesday and, apparently, the cops took me seriously.

I was going shopping, and the gang was hanging out outside Safeway. One cop car came in from the south and, as they started to leave, two more from the north. I didn't hang around long enough to find out if they were hauled away or just questioned.

I hate bullies, even if they're only four feet tall. I've got too many people in my neighborhood that I'm fond of to allow this BS to go on.

[deutsey]

54. I was held up in DC in the late 80s

Broad daylight, too. Two guys were sitting in an idling car parked beside the sidewalk. As I walked by the guy in the passenger seat said something; I thought he was asking what time it was. When I asked what he said, he pointed what looked like a gun at me and said "Give me your money." It all happened in a flash. He may not have actually had a real gun, but I didn't ask to see it again.

I only had $2, which he took and they drove away. I only felt scared the moment right before they drove off. Me and the guy in the passenger seat looked right at each other and I thought he was going to shoot me. He just nodded his head and they took off.

I've seen some weird things in DC...like the guy wearing a three-piece polyester suit on a sweltering July day (you know how dangerously hot it can get in DC). He had some kind of metallic thing on his head and was walking around zombie-like down the middle of the street with what looked like a divining rod in his hands.

My friend lives and works in DC and we've actually been on the phone talking when he'll casually say, "Oh, there goes another gunshot." Apparently, he frequently hears them.

Nah...I could never live there.