damn homeboys!!!!!!!

When bad people start to learn that what they do and how they do it has consequences to THEM then maybe things may change. As it is now do the bad do, get caught, and your back home before dinner! Doesn't matter what part of the city your from evil is evil and there is no punishment to alter their thoughts and behaviors. Even though it may be the parents indirect fault etc. there certainly isn't enough empty jails, Police, or money to deal with the people whom don't and can't respect themselves to think they will ever change.

It is sad. These people are worse than H1N1. There is no shot that will ....oh wait. I take that back.

This saddens me too, Rachel. I lived in Maplewood and the 10th Ward for 15 years in beautiful homes and picturesque neighborhoods where drugs, violence and other crimes became part of the nightly scenery. I witnessed a stabbing on Magee Ave in 1992 and it took the police/fire/ambulance 40 minutes to respond. We called the police 5 times a month (at minimum) for ongoing drug sales on the corner of Riverside and Parkview and police responded to 1/2 the calls. Then I lived in the Winchester/Dewey area next door to a released sex offender who failed to register and attacted a 17 year old neighbor. Now I'm in the Park Ave area (which also has its pockets of crime) but not nearly as much as I witnessed in the Maplewood/10th ward area.

Rachel- I lived off Dewey for just a couple years. I'm just a little younger than you. My parents were outraged/scared out of their minds that I was moving there. I thought they were overreacting. Unfortunately, all I saw, day and night, were unsupervised young people, ages 2 to 22, out and about at the most inappropriate times--school aged kids out past dark, teenagers and older out all night. As I'd pull from my side street out onto Dewey, the young men staring motorists down grew more and more unsettling. I moved out and avoid driving down through the area. I agree 100% with the people here who blame bad parenting and dysfunctional homes. It's not just Rochester; it's a plague in all our nation's cities. We need JAIL and WORK CAMPS for those with more than three strikes. We need women who can't stop themselves from getting pregnant to choose between incarceration and medical procedures to ensure they will not bring any more children they can't care for into the world. If some man/men in their lives are forcing them to become pregnant, then these men can go right to the work camps. You can't buy a house, drive a car, or do many other things in this world until you prove you are responsible and capable. Why should people be allowed to procreate? HOW IS IT FAIR TO THEIR CHILDREN??? We as a society need to get past the idea that getting pregnant and birthing children is a natural right. No society can function with this incredibly disproportionate amount of sh***y parents and inadequately raised children.

I WAS a landlord in Maplewood from 1991 until 2001. I took care of my house, respected my neighboors, and made many friends. Then someone bought the house next to me and rented it out to scum bags. The pattern continued over three years, and more and more houses turned into nightmares. I sold and moved. I later did a service learning project through my college to improve Maplewood. I found that in the end the issues here come back to horrible family situations and children running the streets freely. I can only say until they start throwing the parents in jail for their kids crimes this will continue to spread. The good people of Maplewood are shadowed by the awful human scum moving into the cheap rental properties. They add no value just bad morals and lack of respect for other human beings. Our society is truely falling into a recession of it's own. I feel your pain because I once loved living in Maplewood. Some of the best times of my life were spent in the early 90's to the turn of the year 2000 were spent there. I pray that someday we will go to the root of all our problems. Bad parenting and broken homes. Once we fix that these affordable neighboorhoods will once again be filled with young hard working people enjoying life. For nowI did the white flight. I am very glad I did. I know my children are safe.

As long as you have "people" (use that term loosly) who do not place value on life these crimes will happen. The Ghetto/Rap/ Gang banging Culture that these "people/kids" are living are the real issue. No parents around to teach them right from wrong, Just friends and the street. Its sad...But its gonna get worse.

Actually Scott, it started changing even before the 90’s. I’m obviously a bit older than everyone responding here. Either that or I lived in the 10th ward longer to remember. In 1972 when I was 12 (sigh), the father of a girl I was friends with, lived for a short time above the Bullwinkle Café on Lake Ave. We would ride our bikes there and stop at Maggio’s Pharmacy across the street to stock up on candy. I knew even then that something was changing and it wasn’t a change for the good. I always thought of Driving Park as some magic, invisible force field that would always protect my neighborhood. Ya I know, stupid. Like I said, I was 12. Chris Tillet, all the best to you and others in the Maplewood area who are still willing to work to improve the neighborhood. I admit I finally threw in the towel in 1998 but it will always be my first home and one that I still have very fond memories of.

Unfortunately Rachel, the neighborhood started going down hill back in the 90's. I was born at St. Mary's and my "first" home was 479 Augustine St. After several moves, I wound up back living on Augustine St. in my late teens. I had a friend that once owned a pizza shop on the corner of Dewey and Driving Park, an I also "grew" up at George Cullen's. All those years in the 10th ward, it just seemed that the neighborhood got worse and worse. It is a shame, beause as you say, it is a beautful area. Hopefully, something can be done to save it. God Bless!

It's like crime and drugs, going hand in hand, are slowly creeping outward from the central city area, like an uncontrollable cancer, and infecting everything they come in contact with. The police cannot control it - they don't have the manpower or money. It will only get worse and eventually the city will become a place to totally avoid. Law abiding eople will continue to expand into the suburbs and surrounding towns, that is, those that haven't already left the state! We'd better stop putting dollars into entertainment and city attractions until this crime pattern can be reversed before it gets any worse. Otherwise, we won't have a city anymore.