I have joined the small Neighborhood Block Watch that our neighbors have been organizing. We are going for full certification by the Columbus Police, but concealed carry permits or any type of vigilantism are not options. The group was originally an ad hoc organization to combat the epidemic of graffiti in the neighborhood. The police tell us none of this seems to be gang-related. A Gang Unit officer showed us a booklet of the different Columbus gangs' trademarks, and in this neighborhood it seems to be mostly tagging than any of these gangs marking territory.
 |
| This is the type of graffiti that genuinely scares me and brings out the vigilante within. This appeared last February on the bridge over part of the Glen Echo ravine, less than a mile from where Susie and I live. |
Once one of these "artists" is caught in the act, I am wondering what the punishment will be. I doubt arrest and punishment will be much of a deterrent. My pet theory is that this is not gang-related at all. There are groups of reprobate kids from the rougher neighborhoods who band together, call themselves gangs, and destroy property and commit petty crimes, but this is not Crips and Bloods land here. I think our miscreants are bored kids from New Albany or Bexley who are vandalizing because it is fun, and because they are in neighborhoods where no one knows them or their families. If these kids are arrested, their parents will grease the appropriate palms to make sure the problem quietly disappears, and their charges' future employment or college enrollment is not jeopardized by this.
However, if I am wrong, and these are kids from the rougher neighborhoods trying to show the size of their testicles by vandalizing property of people who have never met them or done anything to them, arrest and even jail will not sufficiently scare them. I have lived in Weinland Park, and before that Franklinton, and these are neighborhoods where going to jail is almost bar mitzvah for many of these kids ("today I am a man"), and the kid who gets in trouble with the law at the youngest age comes home as a celebrity to his peers.
A small incident several weeks ago has restored my faith in the people who live, work, and pass through my neighborhood. Faithful readers of this blog will remember that in June, a week or so after Susie went to Florida for the summer, my red Schwinn Meridian adult tricycle was stolen from my front yard. After filing a report with the police, I made the rounds (online and in person) of the bike shops, pawn shops, and bicycle communities here in Columbus, putting the word out about my stolen trike. Several Facebook friends posted descriptions as their status, and I knew the Third Hand Bicycle Cooperative and other less orthodox channels, such as the World Naked Bike Ride organizers, would keep their eyes on the street.
Almost immediately, though, I ordered a new Meridian online, and by ComFest I was back in business, the only difference being that the new bike was blue. Several weeks ago, I was riding at night (it was around 9:30-9:45 p.m.) back from the Whetstone Library, where I had gone to drop off some books. I was on High Street, headed south back toward home, when a young kid in his early 20s began running after me.
I thought he was going to mug me, so I tried to pedal faster, but he ran after me and shouted, "Hey, you! Is that bike stolen?"
This caused me to slam on my brakes. I told him no, but I did own one that had been. I had never seen this kid before, but word had spread about my theft. I told him that I had been the victim, that the stolen model was identical, except that it was red, and not blue, and I had never seen it since. I also told him I appreciated his being concerned enough to stop and ask me about it.
Maybe the spirit of OSU dropout Phil Ochs rests a little easier when he sees that he was not entirely accurate in this song:
Kill the Poor?
ReplyDelete?????
Delete