Creepy

[dancerjodi]

Waltham folks - Mr. Dacey is dead! He had a heart attack Globe Article .

In other townie news, there's been an increase in gang activity again http://www.dailynewstribune.com/homepage/x1344107633 . Granted its not South Central LA or anything, but I wonder what the newer residents may think of this. Its interesting that despite gentrification on the South Side we seem to be heading back to the way things were (at least for teens) in the late 80s/early 90s. Is everything cyclical? There were fighting gangs of kids around Charles and Felton streets when my Dad was a kid too, though the color lines were less blurry (you couldn't walk down those streets if you were white unless you were accompanied by someone of color that was cool enough to earn some respect - thankfully my Dad had some friends like this).

I guess because I've always thought of Waltham as a city and most cities have these kinds of issues I'm not surprised. With crowds and poverty and poor parenting come these sorts of things. To have the 'stuff' that a city has to offer you have to deal with the consequences. Some very poor people haven't been priced out yet as often happens, I think to a large degree because of the amount of services and programs in the area. What seems to be happening is a shift to where the middle class is moving out as they age and don't like the way things look (like my parents) or are priced out of purchasing or renting without subsidies while the upper and lower classes hang on. It makes for an interesting dynamic sociologically. The yuppies in the hives (ugly rows of new condos off Moody street) are starting to have children, so it will be interesting to see what happens as that generation ages.

All of this comes in the face of a new Mayoral election. One of the City Councilors (who was also incidentally the DJ at our wedding) is running against the current Mayor. It should be an interesting battle to watch!

Comments

[knome.livejournal.com]

Check out 'Freakonomics' for an analysis of why crime didn't keep going up as folks expected it to during the 80's/90s.

Short answer: It's the Echo Boom.

[knome.livejournal.com]

... I should prolly have said "According to Freakonomics it's the echo boom"

:-)

I, of course, am no expert on socioeconomic matters!

Freakonomics

[dancer.livejournal.com]

I have read it - didn't they attribute it to the availability of abortion (and its related results)?

Re: Freakonomics

[knome.livejournal.com]

Not just abortion, but also birth control. Essentially, it is postulated that the decreased population pressure caused resources to be more available to youths, who then had less reason to commit crimes. Which jibes squarely with the common notion that crime is mostly socioeconomic in nature.

[mizdarkgirl.livejournal.com]

West Roxbury has a middle class white gang called the Fruits and Vegetables. They worked in the local grocery stores (hence the name) and went to good schools like CM, Boston Latin and BC. "At least one of the gang members is the child of a police officer, two law enforcement sources said yesterday."

I was babysitting for my niece once night so I had the lights really low when I was trying to get her to sleep. The local idiots (F&V/FNV) started drinking in the driveway because they thought no one was home. I flicked the porch lights... Nada. So I opened the door and told they had to leave because there was baby sleeping. One the brats (who later went after another kid with a baseball bat) walked up the stairs, whipped it out and PEED on the stairs! Then wiggled his penis at me as his friends cheered! WTF!?! These are white kids, in a good neighborhood, two parents at home with good paying jobs, good schools... So sometimes it isn't a class issue. In this case, it is helicopter parents gone bad. "My kid isn't doing anything wrong he gets all As"

In addtion to the F&Vs we also have the Heavy Hitters/Heavy Hitterz/HH and the Mack 10s/Mac10s. But then again Cambridge does have the "Weekend Bowlers".

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/05/11/teenagers_gang_disturbs_west_roxbury/
http://www.mass.gov/da/suffolk/docs/10272005.html
http://www.scsdma.org/NEWS/newsworthy/2006/060622transcript.html
http://www.scsdma.org/NEWS/newsworthy/2006/060504transcript.html
http://blogs.townonline.com/parkwayBlog/?p=3

Re: Freakonomics

[knome.livejournal.com]

These guys are lightweights compared to the Cicero, IL gangs I grew up around. Believe me, you haven't seen gang trouble until you've had to deal with The Noble Knights. ;-)

But yeah, I completely see your point. I'd bet that this whole trend is also the result of socioeconomic issues though... because parents can't/won't spend much time with their kids, so those kids get their values from TV and other kids. Hence, the craziness on par with espisodic cop shows and all of that 'Yo yo yo' crap.

Re: Freakonomics

[dancer.livejournal.com]

"These guys are lightweights compared to the Cicero, IL gangs I grew up around. Believe me, you haven't seen gang trouble until you've had to deal with The Noble Knights. ;-)"

When I was younger (HS age) it was The Latin Kings :). They used to fight fairly often with kids from out of Boston. We used to have a kick-butt carnival behind the modern-looking 'bubble church' in our neighborhood until there were massive bloody knife fights there two years in a row (started by some kids in Boston, that for whatever reason came out to Waltham to kick butts). The mayor wouldn't let the carnival back after that, which made my social group pretty annoyed.

Thankfully, these kids don't seem to do much with guns beyond threaten with them thus far.