thugs in the night

Heard on the news this morning that there have been a rash (a rash?  exactly what is a rash?  what number of a thing do you have to get to before it can officially be a rash?) of muggings or beatings or robberies - I guess they're all muggings - in this normally safe part of town.  These attacks didn't happen in dark alleyways or unlit street corners.  They happened out in the open, albeit at night, in heavy-traffic areas.  One in particular that caught my attention was the robbery of a doctor at the corner of Michigan Ave and Superior.  That is a corner I know well, and in fact, walked through just this weekend with Lacy and friends.

One thing that I love about my neighborhood among the highscrapers is that I have always felt safe.  I can't say that I'd go strolling at 2a.m. but generally, in the daytime, and even early evening, I feel perfectly safe.  There is a lot of traffic at all times, there are very few unseemly characters lurking about, and there are always people walking within shouting distance.

It's a part of town that is in town without actually being in the concrete jungle itself, so to speak.  Four blocks to the south is the river, and on the other side of that is the real commercial district; where executives execute during the weekday, where the buildings are less residential and more financial, where there's a Starbucks literally on every corner rather than every third corner.  It's a part of town that is full of condos and apartments and restaurants and hotels and tourists.  And it's the part that is probably the safest area of the "downtown" area.

I hate that recent events have taken some of that away, and I pray that it's a fluke, a coincidence that a "rash" of these events happened within a few days of each other.  I hope that it does not signal the end of one of the few safe havens in this town.  Still, for now, I guess I have to be more careful about going out after dark, and more cautious even in the daylight.  I do love this city, and still feel it's one of the cleanest and safest I've ever been in.  I still have faith that it will stay that way.

Maybe they'll put more of those cute Segway cops patrolling around here.