posted by Joe Polk at 4:15 PM /
I honestly can't think of a house that I've seen in Mt. Lebanon that has white picket fences but a woman named illyrias says that those of us in Lebo or Shadyside have these fences to separate us from the crime that parts of the City of Pittsburgh face.
While we don't have drive by shootings in our town, we definitely have had gun related violence (Baumhammers/Constant) and we most definitely have drugs being used in the community as well as other crimes that any town faces. Just take a look at the pages of the police blotter to read about the crime that our police department has to respond to on a daily/weekly basis.
People have joked about the "bubble" that we've always believed has insulated us from the "real world", but the real world is definitely alive and well in Mt. Lebanon whether you choose to believe it or not. I just wish that people outside of Mt. Lebanon would get rid of this "well to do and zero crime" mentality about our town that is still believed. With the exception of drive by shootings, I don't see how Mt. Lebanon is truly different than the city of Pittsburgh or anywhere else.
Link: pghisacity.blogspot.com/2009/02/21st-century-here-we-come.html
While we don't have drive by shootings in our town, we definitely have had gun related violence (Baumhammers/Constant) and we most definitely have drugs being used in the community as well as other crimes that any town faces. Just take a look at the pages of the police blotter to read about the crime that our police department has to respond to on a daily/weekly basis.
People have joked about the "bubble" that we've always believed has insulated us from the "real world", but the real world is definitely alive and well in Mt. Lebanon whether you choose to believe it or not. I just wish that people outside of Mt. Lebanon would get rid of this "well to do and zero crime" mentality about our town that is still believed. With the exception of drive by shootings, I don't see how Mt. Lebanon is truly different than the city of Pittsburgh or anywhere else.
Link: pghisacity.blogspot.com/2009/02/21st-century-here-we-come.html
Labels: crime, police, there really isn't a bubble
10 Comments:
People are clueless. They knock what they know nothing about. They don't seem to understand that no matter where you live, whether it be in the middle of the Hill District, on the streets of Mt. Lebanon, or even out in the middle of the country, there is crime. It's just a fact of life. No doubt, the type of crime is different, but it definitely still exists.
Obviously these people have never seen the movie Traffic.
Melissa Ott
The author of that blog has the typical anti-suburbia bias that is common in the Pittsburgh. It cuts both ways, and she has a point that suburbanites, most of them anyways, do not care about what goes on in the inner city. I'm not one of those people, because I believe that the fate of this entire region is tied to the fate of the city of Pittsburgh. This is why all Pittsburghers, city or non-city, should care that the city is run by an imbecile, and should take an interest in seeing that the voters there put an adult back in charge so that the city, and the entire region can both thrive.
First, I've seen Traffic.
Second, I have experienced "crime" as you refer to it in many places in many forms. But I in my "bubble" have never experienced the type of crime that occurs in the Hill District. And I never want to.
I also don't think anyone should have to.
This is not a statement about suburbia versus city. I live in the city in my "bubble" and I'm quite happy there.
Lastly, having lived in Connecticut and seen many a white picket fence, they are mostly intended for *show* and not for protection. I'm sure there are some decorative fences around? Perhaps a low stone wall?
I certainly never meant to ruffle any Mt Lebo feathers. Now, I'll go off to find the Shady Side blog where I can apologize on.
Mt. Lebanon isn't a bubble of safety?
Um... seriously?
Did you take a look at the map referred to in that blog entry? All those murders were last year! Rick Baumhammers' spree was almost 10 years ago. (and weren't the murders mostly outside Lebo?)
Lebo is a bubble of security, and any suggestion that crime and safety there are in any way comparable as in Homewood or the Hill district is laughable in the extreme.
Mt. Lebanon is relatively well-to-do, and does have relatively little crime. It is an extremely safe place to live.
Jefferson -- I'll ask you the same question that I asked the author of that blog. What types of crimes does Homewood or the Hill District have (besides drive by shootings) that Mt. Lebanon does not?
While they might not happen as frequently here as it happens in other places, there have been armed robberies in Mt. Lebanon. If you don't believe me, please talk to any of the police officers in town.
Is Mt. Lebanon a safer town than most? Yes. But what I can't stand is the attitude that bad things can't, don't or haven't happened here. I am well aware that the Baumhammers was 9 years ago, but the point is that up until that point there was an overriding belief that nothing bad could happen here.
And yes, most of the shootings were outside of Mt. Lebanon, but he was a Mt. Lebanon resident and his first victim was his next door neighbor.
And could you please expand on how "extremely safe" Mt. Lebanon is? I'd like to hear your take on that term.
I think you're both right. Lebo is extremely safe - by anyone's standards. Thank heavens. I'm not going to complain about being labled "extremely safe".
But I don't think it's a bubble either. If it is a bubble, it has a few holes. We are very fortunate that we don't have too many violent crimes. Again, that's supposed to be a positive not a negative remember. However, spend some time in Blaise Laratonda's courtroom or look at the weekly Police Blotter and you'll quickly realize that we have plenty of the crap that our more urban neighbors have - drugs (especially among school aged kids), sexual harrasment, theft, assault, conspiracy and enough DUIs to choke a horse.
And speaking as someone who was nearly killed by a drunk driver on Cedar Blvd, I can assure you that it is every bit as violent as being shot.
Trust me...I have no problem with our town being called "extremely safe" and I am quite glad that we don't have the frequency of crimes that other places around us do. I just want to make sure that people both in and out of Mt. Lebanon realize that we do have crimes that most people don't realize have happened.
I say "double bubble" extremely safe and over protected AND not aware that you are in a that bubble. Recently a Mtl patrolmen knocked on my door @ 1:00 AM to tell me my car door was open, that kind of security is not going to happen anywhere else in Allegheny CO ( I'm not complaining). There nothing shameful about living in the bubble except the ignorance regarding what's out there.
BTW I'm working in NJ (far from the bubble) because my employment situation is so poor.
Who cares if Lebo has the same "types of crimes"? What is the rate of violent crime per capita?
And over how long of a period do you have to measure in order to be able to say that Lebo has the same types of crimes? (If you have to reach back to the Baumhammers' spree, it gives me some idea.)
Jefferson -- I acknowledge that the occurence of crime is greater in other places than in Mt. Lebanon. My point all along is that there is a belief (or denial of fact) by many residents that crime doesn't happen in Mt. Lebanon -- or if it does, it is petty. All I'm saying is that it does happen -- albeit not as often as other places -- but violent crime does occur in Mt. Lebanon, not just petty theft and DUIs.
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