Here's a link to an ADN article which summarizes the beginnings of a workshop session which strives to address crime and policing in Spenard.
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/crime/story/630233.html
Though most of the comments were fairly good and informative, there were some who's complaints were less than constructive. Crime is a complicated mulit-faceted phenomenon. I think it's like health care; we can spend a majority of our resources on critical care or we can spend less overall by investing in preventative measures.
Increase in crime has been a problem; I'm nervous of the effects of the coming economy possibly creating even more desperation. It may skew the efficacy of the new approach which may result in it being rejected.
Showing posts with label crime. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crime. Show all posts
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Pho, Skis, Booze, and Ammo
So the other day I noticed a new business pop up at the corner of Spenard and 30th in the old French Oven Bakery, an ammo store. I'm not sure if it's just ammo they sell or whether they also deal in guns. In typical Spenard fashion, within a 100 foot radius from the new ammo shop, there's a flower shop, a liquor store, The Burger Stop, a pawn shop, a Vietnamese restaurant, Cafe Croissant, a ski shop, a motel, a bar, the DMV, and Enstar.
There's some obvious relationships to the ammo shop which seems ripe for trouble. I think the name of the new addition to this area of Spenard is 'The Ammo Can', no messing around with nuance or a clever reference to the last frontier. It's like the gigantic 'Liquor' sign on the relatively new Brown Jug store. I think 'The Ammo Can' should have been even more honest with names like 'Kill' or 'Die' or 'Shoot 'Em'. The obnoxious yellow 'Liquor' sign at Brown Jug might as well be 'Drunk' or 'Wasted' or 'Inebriated'. Spenard doesn't seem to mess around when it comes to names of it's businesses.
The fact that the new ammunition shop is in such proximity to a house of ill repute, a bar, the In-Out Liquor store, and a depressed group of multi-family housing seems to be a dangerous concoction set to explode. Not that i think it's related, but a couple of weeks ago they found a body literally frozen between the walls of the building just to the north of The Ammo Can and the pawn shop.
I'm curious if there's any public hearing process for co-locating a gun store, liquor store, pawn shop, and low income housing. In some circles of business, they would call it 'synergies'; oh mustn't forget the flower shop, to apologize after the crime spree of course.
There's some obvious relationships to the ammo shop which seems ripe for trouble. I think the name of the new addition to this area of Spenard is 'The Ammo Can', no messing around with nuance or a clever reference to the last frontier. It's like the gigantic 'Liquor' sign on the relatively new Brown Jug store. I think 'The Ammo Can' should have been even more honest with names like 'Kill' or 'Die' or 'Shoot 'Em'. The obnoxious yellow 'Liquor' sign at Brown Jug might as well be 'Drunk' or 'Wasted' or 'Inebriated'. Spenard doesn't seem to mess around when it comes to names of it's businesses.
The fact that the new ammunition shop is in such proximity to a house of ill repute, a bar, the In-Out Liquor store, and a depressed group of multi-family housing seems to be a dangerous concoction set to explode. Not that i think it's related, but a couple of weeks ago they found a body literally frozen between the walls of the building just to the north of The Ammo Can and the pawn shop.
I'm curious if there's any public hearing process for co-locating a gun store, liquor store, pawn shop, and low income housing. In some circles of business, they would call it 'synergies'; oh mustn't forget the flower shop, to apologize after the crime spree of course.
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