RECENT COMMENTS
Weekend robberies across the area
A spate of recent robberies:
9/17/10 4:00 p.m.
1700 block of Mechanicsville Turnpike
A male reported he was robbed at gunpoint by three unknown males.9/17/10 8:42 p.m.
3100 block of East Marshall Street
A male reported he was assaulted and robbed at gunpoint by three unknown males.9/19/10 12:45 a.m.
1900 block of East Grace Street
A male reported he was robbed at gunpoint by two unknown males. Two arrests were made.9/19/10 10:48 p.m.
2300 block of M Street
A male reported he was robbed by an unknown male and female.
The suspects in the robbery on M Street are described as a black male and female in their 20s. The man displayed a silver hand gun. The suspects both had on dark clothes. The female was wearing a fashion hat with an elastic band that was pulled down over her face. The male had dark clothes on and some sort of shorts that were likely gray and had a buzzed haircut. Both of the suspects were 5′ 8″ or 5′ 10″.
TAGGED: crime
In the Chimborazo School rehab thread I said 32nd and Marshall was sketchy. 10 people cried foul and said how wrong I was. See above..robbed at gunpoint at 8:45pm? Yeahh.
Frankly, none of these areas are “sketchy” and I guarantee that the residents in the respective areas probably feel very safe most of the time. The events of this weekend demonstrate that robberies are just as likely to occur in the Bottom as they are to occur in a historic area like Chimbo or a transition area like the area off the M St roundabout.
Watch yourself, watch your neighbors, and let’s not let ANY of this deter what we all have up here, which is, frankly, a rather AWESOME community!
OK…make that 11 :-p
The thing is I do live there. I don’t go out after dark and I stopped taking the early morning bus to work for this very reason. Easy to say watch out for your neighbor, but as far as I know there’s no guardian angel watching over me. I don’t think we should sugar coat what really goes on.
I do agree with you comments and I, too take similar precautions. I just hope that people stick with it and work to bring this area back. I think we’ve made great strides and things like this energize me to report that sketchy person who walks by and is clearly out of place rather than just shrugging it off.
I wish more law-abiding citizens roamed the streets after dark.
Frankly, the status quo sucks and ignoring it doesn’t improve it. It is not being a Cassandra to say so. Crime is down. That is good, but we are not out of the woods yet. My neck of the woods has been relatively quiet lately, but as I’ve said before, I don’t feel particularly safe.
katzenjaammer…you’re not wrong…the 3000 and above blocks of Marshall St is sketchy. The Blue Wheeler doesn’t help that area at all. The vagrants that hang around that place are unsavory…have you ever looked at the trash dumped into the empty lot across the street from that dump?
katzenjaammer – I agreed with you on the Chimbo. School renovation thread. I lived for a year and a half at 32nd and Clay, and at night it felt sketchy. I drove everywhere I went as I could never find a route that seemed safe to walk, other than down my own block in broad daylight. I did make friends with my next door neighor, a wonderful lady, but not many other neighbors.
The Blue Wheeler attracts a lot of loiterers, IMHO. I’ve been told that the owners are caring about their customers and that I should feel safe around it, but I just don’t. I will note, however, that the residents of the assisted living home at 32nd and Clay are pretty harmless.
again- why are people making a mountain out of a mole hill? this is one incident- not a slew of mass robberies! how many people do you think were robbed in the fan last weekend?? and no one seems to think that area is sketchy!! wtf! as for the blue wheeler, it is both bad and good. i live directly across from it- and i actually have a really good relationship with the guys that run the place. if there are people loitering outside of it- i tell them, and they shoo them away. They don’t like people hanging out around there any more than the rest of us, but it’s a public sidewalk, so they don’t really have much say in the matter.
the littering is a problem. last winter i ‘shamed’ a guy into apologizing for littering. he had thrown a bag into the street, so i walked across the street, stared him straight in the eye while i picked up and threw away his trash. then i went into the store. by the time i came out he was stammering some apology to me about how ‘he never does that’ and so on…. hopefully he thinks twice now, just in case i’m watching;) hehe.
but anyways… the overall point was that this area STILL is not that bad. if you want to live in the suburbanite village of the west end, then please MOVE. i’ll take variety and character over cookie cutter norms any time, even if it means making more of an effort for my neighbors and neighborhood. that’s what makes up a neighborhood afterall- having people bind together for a common goal- to make our place of dwelling awesome!
I currently live at 32nd and E Marshall and the Blue Wheeler within sight of my house. I’ve lived here for over 3 years and I have never worried about my safety at 8:45 at night. Never. I was out on my front porch when this robbery happened and I had no clue the guy was getting robbed. I walk in the direction of Broad St and Chimbo Park in the evenings with my dogs and I have never worried. I pay attention to what and who is around me and my dogs are fairly big and look intimidating, so I’ve always felt safe. Not any longer.
I agree that the Blue Wheeler does not help our area. Most everything else around this area is good but that corner is sketchy and it is because of the Blue Wheeler. If I see people loitering in front of the BW, I call over there and ask the owners to move them on. The owners almost always do as I ask. I would encourage anyone else who lives in this area to do the same.
The Blue Wheeler is definitely an eye sore inside and out.
@ecochick…the Blue Wheeler is a cancer on that neighborhood. The existence of this business will dramatically decrease the chances that OWNER-OCCUPIED, home ownership will take place. I don’t think that anyone can refute the fact that when the owner occupies a home, the neighborhood is better off. They take more pride in the community and the properties are generally better maintained than having renters. Very few with means and the ability to have choices would want to live with the Blue Wheeler in the immediate hood. It’s a shame since the area has some great housing stock and real potential. I would like to see neighbors who care call the police and increase the scrutiny on the Wheeler at every turn. When the pressure becomes unbearable for them, they’ll either clean up the act or leave. Don’t just call the Wheeler to report loitering, call the police. They should also be held accountable for cleaning up the lot across from their business. That’s a mess created by their trashy customers! These guys are only being nice to you because they know it’s the smart thing to do…fly under the radar. Nothing will change unless they feel on-going, constant pressure from the neighborhood. They could care less about your neighborhood…they just want the dollars to roll in.
laura, your statement only holds true part of the time. I am a renter, and I know I take better care of the home than my landlord did. I have already repaired many problem areas in the house, and greatly cleaned up the outside areas. Sometimes the owners only let the property degrade.
Wow, laura. Relax. There are plenty of homeowners around the Blue Wheeler. And renters and landlords are occasionally productive, caring members of society. The Blue Wheeler is a legitimate business serving a legitimate need in the neighborhood – I shop there myself and I am a homeowner living just around the corner. I agree that the BW could use some interior decorating and some facade improvements. But rather than bitching about the BW’s operators (who I agree with the other posters are nice enough guys just trying to run their business) maybe some energy could be dedicated to helping them find some grant or other funding to help improve the interior and exterior of the BW. They could definitely use some help implementing some CPTED concepts in the interior and exterior design of their stores (also the Clay St. Market and Mosby Market). Shutting down the BW will not help eliminate littering and loitering. Alert residents (owners and renters) who share the streets and patronize local businesses, occasionally pick up a few pieces of trash, dialogue with business/property owners when there is a problem and give the cops a call when they see suspicious activity will help more than trying to run off or boycott legally operating neighborhood businesses that are providing a useful services.
For what it’s worth, I too am a renter and take better care of (and seemingly take more pride in) my home than many of the homeowners on my block.
James and P Mayo,
I would like to echo your comments as well. My roommate I have rented the same house on the hill for almost 7 years now and have made many improvements to both the house and yard. We take great pride in our home here…much more so than many I know of that actually own.
#12 Laura, What property do you own? You’re full of shit!Blue Wheeler was here long before you and the rest of the carpetbaggers and opportunists that think that they can move to Church Hill and change everything. The Blue Wheeler will be here when you are long gone. Many who tried to make a quick buck are upside down on their homes. I am going up to Blue Wheeler to get some Red Stripe, a Jamaican Beef Patty,and some Souse. Go back to wherever you , your bias, and your closet elitism came from.
@ laura-
i am a homeowner, and thank you for asking before assuming that i’m some low-rent tenant that can’t afford to live anywhere better… i chose to buy this house- and i love it here
i also take extreme pride in my home.
The suspects in these robberies may have been arrested after a robbery on West Grace Street yesterday.
hey laura you really need to get laid.buddycorbett
Savages.
@20 Hey Corbett, go sit on one…beast!