The men and women in these posts can do something more than describe all the fighting or running they would do, or laying blame on victims for being ignorant of their own neighborhoods. We LIVE IN THESE FUCKING NEIGHBORHOODS. We sleep here, we wake up here, we work here, and many of us will die here.

I live in Bushwick and follow the unspoken rules of conduct to maintain my own safety. To those people who post with the idea that certain people just do not belong here, be clear that it is THE CRIMINAL who should not be among us. The Anti-Gentrifier must surely notice that the criminal is in want of that very thing you despise in your neighborhood: more money.

We walk dark streets with trash in them. It is embarrassing. The work must be done to create a neighborhood that does not tolerate such low standards. This environment, including its residents, is of our own making and maintenance. It is a sad lot of people here without the social skills and decency to let a stranger pass without threatening or degrading them based on race, gender, or class.

A SPINE to stand with is something we are all born with, not the immediate sense to fear strangers who have never hurt us before. Accept your own responsibilities and expect the same of every-damned-one of your neighbors.

1st off

#71

Your love for the concept of "The Hood" is so sweet. unfortunately since this is New York City it has absolutely no meaning except an unfortunate affection everyone has to the areas they are from, THE HOOD is a term given to the areas of low income residents to create a false sense of pride which has unfortunately manifested into an endearing idea which keeps people down in those areas, especially youths that grow up wanting to be "Gangstas" instead of something Real - I taught 5th grades in Crown Heights that all lived below the poverty level - their talents were lost because of the influence from people like you who felt for some reason that culture is a Positive thing - the reason of course is your personal fear with doing something in your life - like the bully who is actually a scared little boy.

Anyway with that aside, since this is New York City that means that for the past 400 years all these areas have been going up and down tearing down and rebuilding and tearing down - any areas that are Hoods now 50 years ago were either classic upwardly mobal city scapes (for example Crown Heights) or they were FARMS yeah - East New York was once a farm

Hence 50 years from now your precious Hood will be completely different with completely different people and so on and so on

There is nothing you can do about it

My conclusion is that You should quit Your Whining and realize we live in a horrible world but the one thing that should be is that No One Should Hurt Another Person - End of Story.

No Matter what their reasoning is, it is wrong and if you don't like it Than Tough Shit

Seriously, if the police are actually aware of an individual repeatedly attacking women in a particular area of the city but are not alerting the public, every single news desk in the city would be itching to take up that story and turn it into the scandal of the month.

there is apparently a guy in williamsburg who is attacking girls from behind and cutting their faces

Apparently? According to who? This sounds like bullshit. There are dangerous people around, but starting rumors like this is irresponsible. Someone attacking women, yes I believe that is happening. Some "psychopath" sneaking up on women and cutting them? Sounds like an episode of Law and Order.

Bitch, Bitch ,Bitch ! This brings to mind another phrase: "If Ur not from the Hood, Don't come to the Fucking Hood" ! Those of you complaining about by terrorized by those you refer to as "Lowlifes" need to remember Ur the ones invading there Hood ! That aside, Some of you folks aren't the brightest in the world ! Walking home from Ur subway stop from some bar half drunk is not the move ! You make yourself a target to someone out up to no good . They already resent you for jacking up there rents and know you have money . I understand some people have jobs that force them to work late nites and all, but using Common Sense is a skill some of us are born with while others must learn through trail & Error ! Posted by; "STill Not Amused"

Muggings in those areas are NOT uncommon. I can't tell you how many calls I'd get from women living in those blocks who desperately wanted to move to Italian Williamsburg or Greenpoint, just out of the Southside. The thing is, those areas are FINE if you use *common sense*, which, as another posted noted, does NOT mean walking home drunk from the L at 4 in the morning. That does not mean it's your fault; that just means BE MINDFUL. This is not the suburbs.

yes, don't worry be happy.

Jeez 68 posts on a tip story.

In these days, with the economics being what it is - not everyone has the option of owning a home. And if they do - does that give anyone the right to rob them of their money?

@65: There might not be much chance for a better life, but there is a chance. I have to have hope that the situation can improve, no matter how slim the chance is. What'sour other option?

Oh wah! Why am I supposed to feel bad about scumbags who beat up a woman??? This incident happened to a close friend of mine and I am supposed to tell her - "Well that's what you get for coming home so late?" We live in a free country where you are given the right as an adult to come out of your home at any time and to return to said home whenever the hell you want. When we start saying - "well I shouldn't have gone done that alley or I shouldn't have worn that jewelry" then we give in to the criminals.

I could give two craps if these people don't have anything to live for. They are crooks and scumbags who haven't found any other way to make money - god forbid getting a job. If these people decided to stand up and change their communities for a more positive way, they wouldn't have these problems. And I get even more disgruntled when we are told we (I am assuming white people with jobs) shouldn't live in their neighborhoods. What's funny about this is we all can barely afford to live in NY - just because we happen to be white does not make me rich. For years, I have had to hear how terrible it must be to live in the ghetto or hood - well soon we will all be learning all too well since the housing market is so terrible.

oh yeah, they can see home ownership in their future.

There's no future and it's been said not just by me but by many others.

YOU have a future of home ownership, a future in retirement, a future.

There's no future for them. Death is a blessing.

the future's so Bright, I gotta wear shades.

the future's so bright, I gotta wear shades.

don't worry, be happy.

@63/61(?): So you don't believe in rehabilitation? A better future? These people may have given up on a better life but it isn't because one isn't available to them.

That's because you're thinking from the side of the person with "something to lose" YOUR FUTURE.

these people have no future

your future's so bright, you gotta wear shades. right?

The Connecticut suspects had nothing to lose, might as well add in another murder to the rap sheet.

I think it's disingenuous to say these people have "nothing to lose." I won't argue that these muggers' lives may be terrible, but violence against innocent people is not their only choice.

@61: The suspects in the Connecticut case were career criminals, in the suburbs/countryside. I'm not really sure the two things are comparable.

You'll always lose with people who have nothing to lose. If their lives are so great, why don't anyone switch their circumstances with them for one day? one hour? one minute?

Learn from those who were mugged, talk to them and they'll tell you. I'll tell you my experience, went down a dark side street instead of a brightly lit main thoroughfare. two guys ahead of us made a short stop and produced guns to our ribs. Yes, it was that close a contact and unexpected.

When people have nothing to lose, things happen. Some just keep on denying that fact because they have everything to lose. Look at that Connecticut family who's family were murdered. You want that to happen to your family?

Hey, to 56 from 55... okay, you're the exception on this forum when it comes to guns, because clearly you know how to use one, and the eye gouge is one of the best moves to learn. I just get tired of hearing people with two bits of knowledge or less blathering on about how tough they are...

you're not always a victim if you hand your cahs and stuff over. you're just a victim in that moment and then you go on with your life. it's not like you're mugged every day or even once every five years. you'll be more of a victim when you're lying dead in the street. i've grown up around thugs who mug and do stuff like this and they live in a totally different reality than most people. they have no regard for your life or any life for that matter so it's just better to give them what they want. this is as far as mugging goes. i'm not talking about actually being attacked and/or raped. that depends more on the situation.

Wow, that's pretty negative, bitter, and demonstrably wrong #57. Life is better in the ghettos of NYC in the 21st century than it ever was for the VAST majority of humanity for the last 10,000 years. Life in 21st century America is better (no matter what your social standing) than it is for a great many people on Earth today. Indoor plumbing, potable water, dentistry, the ability to go about your day without the king sending someone over to lop off your head because you belive in a different big, invisible, man in the sky than he does, or someone blowing up a Pizza Hut full of teenagers because his deity gets upset when women show their ankles. Make no mistake, their is nothing hellish about their lives other than their consience decision to prey on those weaker than themeselves. Their presense should not be tolerated by freedom loving peoples. I'm certainly no fan of the po-po but this city is too small and too crowded for us to accept such sociopathic behavior from our neighbors. This isn't about standing up to muggers, it's about living the golden rule and not suffering those that don't to live amongst us.

I can't wait for one of the tough guys to get shot because the homey is holding the gun sideways.

they got nothing to lose. Life is already hell for them, death would be an escape.

Learn from the posts where the poster was mugged not from the posts of the tough guys.

"Do not even think of buying a gun. The person attacking you knows how to use it better than you do, even if he's not carrying one." Enough with the liberal fear-mongering. That, and speak for yourself lady. Criminals generaly don't spend time training with their firearms and have an understanding of them based almost solely on pop-culture misrepresentations of same. When someone is holding their pistol sideways and not bracing their wrist, their hit probability decreases dramaticly. As for the cubicle soldiers, I'm with ya on that one. My pronounced love of the .45 ACP cartridge that I posted above is based upon 6 years with the 7th ID (light), seeing combat in Honduras, Panama, and Kuwait; followed by 10 years in the Legion Etranger, most of that in the 2e REP with combat in Sudan, Eritrea, Somalia, and Afghanistan. The eye-gouging, well, the eye-gouge is just a very effective strike. Keeping your fingers loose, drive them forward into your opponent's eye with a snapping motion, then run away. When confronted with a strike towards the face, a persons natural reaction is to lean back, leaving the groin region exposed. When aiming an attack at the groin, a persons reaction is to pike down, thereby exposing their face. Simple street fighting that's all.