OT: crime on the Bradley campus

[abesimpson]

I'm not saying i agree with politics and the economy being the reason, but what do you think is instead?

Same pattern as any other city with a bad area:
1. Densely populated areas (like a few thousand college students living in square mile or so) tend to have more criminals and victims to target.
2. Older residential areas tend to lose their property value as they age. Also, the abundance of rental properties also decreases value for those who own. Eventually, a lower socioeconomic class of people moves in and poorer areas simply have more crime.

Anyone familiar with the south-suburban Chicago has seen this pattern. Nicer, middle class south-suburban towns that were being built up during the baby boom have become rougher areas in more recent decades and the former residents have moved on further south. Tinley Park, Mokena, Frankfort, and Plainfield (most of Will county except for the Joliet area really) are some of the fastest growing cities in the country because of this.

[bake]

I walk the campus 2 or3 times a week as well as the uplands. I think it is a matter of paying attention yo your surroundings. Yes there is crime on the edge of campus. Agree bu can continue to buy property. I would challenge the city of Peoria to collaborate with campus police to increase patrols and lighting. There are many examples of universities listed in the thread. Time for bu to execute a few of those strategies.

[Chico]

I walk the campus 2 or3 times a week as well as the uplands. I think it is a matter of paying attention yo your surroundings. Yes there is crime on the edge of campus. Agree bu can continue to buy property. I would challenge the city of Peoria to collaborate with campus police to increase patrols and lighting. There are many examples of universities listed in the thread. Time for bu to execute a few of those strategies.

Wondered when the police and city would get part of the blame instead of the ones making the area unsafe for law abiding students and others.

[SFP]

Not PC but what else can it be? I agree B4L. Also you have to believe Peoria economic condition does not afford it, the services it needs to blunt this epidemic. Yes Chico it is caused by social economic issues. I believe as a country our social fabric is being frayed from all directions. How do you fix it is the question? It will take a political will that neither party is willing to go because one side is afraid to alienate part of their base through the truth and the other side is not willing to concede they have had a part in deteriorating Main Street (not literally Peoria's Main Street) which had the ability in shaming unsavory behavior.

How many guys here have ever stepped in and try to help the children of our working poor? 99% of the time as B4L indicated it is a young single mother with very little skills trying to make a living who herself was not raised in the most pristine environment. We can point fingers and try to blame the other side or we can all step it up and try to make the change we need. There are organizations which you can volunteer to make a difference. With the percent of children living in poverty and waking up to hunger in our country ever so increasing it will only get worse unless this crisis is met straight on. I also believe that there needs to be a strict doctrine for the young parents of children on welfare such as drug testing, going after your GED or trade school diploma or working if it is picking up trash. Not what you would call PC but these are trying times for the majority of hardworking Americans and we need to justify every cent that comes from our taxes.

[Chico]

B4 and SFP, make all the excuses you want for the ones causing the problems right now around the campus and throughout the city, but law abiding citizens shouldn't have to be victims.

[Chico]

First of all I don't talk any kind of game and don't need you to tell me when to shut up. I give my opinions on threads I don't start and if they differ from yours I guess you could say you're constantly telling others they are wrong also. You gave the answer for the biggest reason in your post#36. Guess I just can't figure out why because of that reason streets can't be safe like they were when myself and many others were growing up in worse times than now.

[Da Coach]

I think we all know where the crime is coming from. It is not student-committed crime, it is non-student crime coming from criminal thugs in the Peoria community directed at BU students. The demographics around the campus, especially that east side, have changed dramatically in the last 30 years. The one thing nobody can seem to agree on is how to fix the problem. The government's attempts at fixing crime and the poverty & lack of education that drive it have only made things much worse. But then they keep telling us that if we just raise taxes and spend even more on social welfare programs, that will finally make a difference. Everyone knows it won't, but the political reasons why our government leaders keep saying it will are obvious.

[SFP]

B4 and SFP, make all the excuses you want for the ones causing the problems right now around the campus and throughout the city, but law abiding citizens shouldn't have to be victims.

We can point to another bygone era or live in the present time and come up with solutions that will work in today's climate. Yes, I remember the days when you could leave your front door unlocked and your keys in your car in case the neighbor needed it for something. I'm not making excuses for anyone's unsavory destructive behavior. I believe the decisions that these thugs make are reckless and need to be met with force but in the long run increased police presence will not stop the systematic issues in this community. There needs to be a completely different actionable program which draws in the good of the community, along with with safety and the perceived value in education. The question, is Peoria as a whole fed up with the status quo to change the political will and in doing so creating a system which will be attacked by an invested outside fringe who profit from this sort of chaos? As of today, NO! Now the next question is, what can BU do to blunt the violence directed towards its wards? In the really old days before even your time Chico communities built castles.

[Chico]

We can point to another bygone era or live in the present time and come up with solutions that will work in today's climate. Yes, I remember the days when you could leave your front door unlocked and your keys in your car in case the neighbor needed it for something. I'm not making excuses for anyone's unsavory destructive behavior. I believe the decisions that these thugs make are reckless and need to be met with force but in the long run increased police presence will not stop the systematic issues in this community. There needs to be a completely different actionable program which draws in the good of the community, along with with safety and the perceived value in education. The question, is Peoria as a whole fed up with the status quo to change the political will and in doing so creating a system which will be attacked by an invested outside fringe who profit from this sort of chaos? As of today, NO! Now the next question is, what can BU do to blunt the violence directed towards its wards? In the really old days before even your time Chico communities built castles.

Liked your last line SFP. Gave me a good laugh. But that was to protect from invading Armies, not your own citizens.

[tornado]

Years ago every kid received proper moral education and a good dose of the fear of God & knowing right from wrong 7 hours a day in school...and 365 days per year at home..
now they likely only hear - if at all - maybe only an hour or so a week if they attend church or possibly more if they have good parents who teach the right thing.

BUT -- now, of course, they can't teach anything like that any more at school - and instead teach a doctrine that everything goes and there are NO true moral rights or wrong - relativism..

so is it any wonder nobody bothers to obey or respect the laws and the common rules of decency unless they are likely to either get caught...

[SFP]

Years ago every kid received proper moral education and a good dose of the fear of God & knowing right from wrong 7 hours a day in school...and 365 days per year at home..
now they likely only hear - if at all - maybe only an hour or so a week if they attend church or possibly more if they have good parents who teach the right thing.

BUT -- now, of course, they can't teach anything like that any more at school - and instead teach a doctrine that everything goes and there are NO true moral rights or wrong - relativism..

so is it any wonder nobody bothers to obey or respect the laws and the common rules of decency unless they are likely to either get caught...

I was following you until the very last part but I agree. We had parental involvement but as well we had strong centralized communities without a bunch of political windbags telling us how we need to educate our children. So what has changed? Well we are being led by PC police all over this country and also the once strong thriving small communities are no longer in control of the cultural social economic dynamics around them. It sounds to me that Peoria needs to vote in politicians willing to take this challenge head on with a new approach. Someone willing to throw caution in the wind and find the people in those communities that are willing to take it over. Obviously the status quo has not worked.

I know in my days if I ever pulled a bonehead move I'd be met with force at home by my dad. Today his tactics would get him thrown behind bars. I also had the fortunate situation to be raised by two very educated hardworking god fearing individuals.

[tornado]

The McDonalds that's just a half block off the Bradley campus was robbed yet again...drive-up window smashed with a brick and entered

http://www.pjstar.com/news/x459327349/McDonalds-on-Main-Street-burglarized

pretty soon - like some of the McDonald's in the high crime areas of Chicago (there's one near the Uniter Center) - they will have to replace all the windows - even the drive up window - with STEEL PLATES and just use a bank-teller-like sliding drawer to pass payment & food thru the robbery-proof barrier.

That same McDonald's just east of the Bradley campus was robbed yet again at gunpoint yesterday...

"The gunman, described as a tall, thin male wearing all black but white
gloves and holding a cloth over his face, entered McDonald's at 1017 W.
Main St. just before 5 a.m. (Tuesday) as two employees entered to begin their shifts.
The robber demanded all the money in the restaurant's safe and received
an undisclosed amount of cash. He fled in a white van, which one
employee told police had been parked outside the business the previous morning."

http://www.pjstar.com/news/x1905499308/McDonalds-on-W-Main-robbed-at-gunpoint

[Prexy IX]

There is no greater threat to Bradley than a violent crime committed against a student on or near the campus. IMO, a plan should be developed to create a buffer zone around the campus with the partnered development of student housing, private housing and retail/office/entertainment facilities. A plan was developed and implemented to build a substantial endowment. Another plan(Renaissance) was developed and implemented to improve and add to the facility inventory. Now a fundraising for neighborhood/campus expansion should be undertaken. Even if part of the endowment were to be set aside, it could be argued that this money could be viewed as an investment. This was done at UIC. The property south of Roosevelt Road along Halstead was a no-mans-land. The University bought land as it became available using funds from the endowment, worked with city to develop a TIF district(yielding $75M), and partnered with a private developer. Today, the South Campus is a wide area of student housing, private housing, retail, restaurants--more than a billion dollar development. And the campus is much safer.

[Prexy IX]

Sorry, Halsted street

[AZ BU Fan]

Most serious 'crime' at BU is the increased ticket and seat fee plan for the MBB program...

I am just guessing, but would think crime on, or close by, BU's campus would be less than similar inner city colleges/universities or even larger universities that are the size of cities (Ohio St, ASU, etc).

Crime - A sign of our times - innocence lost due to breakdown in a family structure and the emergence of state supported/reliant citizens and illegals...