New Haven Independent

Posted by: Hood Rebel | June 14, 2009 12:31 AM

This is unreal! Everyone is at risk as long as these illegal guns remain on the streets.

Posted by: cedarhillresident | June 14, 2009 12:20 PM

My god they are getting younger and younger. This needs to stop!!!! Time to storm troop and drop the good cop and stop bruting things up!!

Posted by: V | June 14, 2009 12:53 PM

An 11 month-old gets shot in a car at or around 3am?

What is the deal with babies being out at all hours here?

Posted by: Concerned Parent | June 14, 2009 2:43 PM

These parents get younger and younger. A seventeen year old doesnt realize she should be at home with her baby after midnight and instead is driving around town with "friends" who carry guns. I hope department of social services investigates. Poor child.

Posted by: anon | June 14, 2009 3:54 PM

Stray bullets are unacceptable. Everyone knows that you can't eliminate crime until you improve the education system (including mandatory education until age 19) and create more entry-level jobs, etc., but how about a few temporary fixes? We need to give our neighborhoods some relief from violence. Other places have tried measures such as "no loitering" zones, neighborhood walking beats, quality of life arrests, stricter sentencing for gun crimes, state trooper patrols, gun buybacks, gun control/penalties for dealers, city-wide summits on youth violence, summer centers for youth activities, expanding the idea of a "street outreach worker" program to women and the mothers of people involved (like Washington DC), Cedar Hill's "storm trooper" approach, and a citywide surveillance camera system.

Several people were shot and killed in botched robberies near the corner of Euclid Avenue and 17th in Adams Morgan, in Washington DC over the past few years. The city installed a surveillance camera system, and annual violent crimes within a 1,000 foot radius of that corner dropped from 79 to 50 between 2007 and 2008.

Newark, NJ, one of the fastest growing big cities in the country this past decade, is another example. Cory Booker, the next President of the United States, installed 109 security cameras. Over 5,000 "events" have been captured on video, leading to dozens of arrests. Citywide murders plummeted to 67 in 2008, well below the average of previous years.

Posted by: Edward_H | June 14, 2009 7:02 PM

V
"An 11 month-old gets shot in a car at or around 3am?

What is the deal with babies being out at all hours here?"

Summertime on the weekends. Sometimes people visit relatives who may live a considerable distance. Not everyone who has a child out late at night is a bad parent

Posted by: Concerned Parent | June 15, 2009 11:21 AM

Get real this is Fair Haven we are talking about. A 17 year old is most likely not coming back from far away relatives. She is hanging out with her friends and decided to take her baby along because lets face it she is a teenager she still has that little kid mentality and hasn't matured enough to realize she should be home and the baby should be in bed. If she really cared about her baby why did it take her almost an hour and half to bring the baby to the hospital

Posted by: Morris Cove | June 15, 2009 12:10 PM

Cedarhill

It's funny you would make a comment like that, becuase like your past post, you would be the first in line to vilify the cops for doing just that.

Stay true to yourself and remain on the fence, and easy to sway in what ever direction is popular at the time.

Posted by: jim blunt | June 15, 2009 1:45 PM

Hmmm... Which political powers should be held accountable for the state our our city?

Posted by: anon | June 15, 2009 4:43 PM

"Which political powers should be held accountable for the state our our city?"

Conservatives of both political parties who, in order to suit their short term greed, ignore the fact that investments in prevention methods -- public health, education, daycare, incentives to work (EITC, etc), 12-month maternity leaves, real pollution reduction, health care, open space preservation, opportunities to access recreational space -- result in massive long-term savings to everyone.

Other countries get it. But in this country, we are stuck trying to fix intractable, expensive social problems that have ballooned out of control and never should have existed in the first place.

Unfortunately, our conservative policies have made the elite (industry, unions, developers, politicians, property owners) so wealthy relative to everyone else, that it's easier just to blame the victims for problems that they had nothing to do with.

Here's an example of how it worked here: After blaming the victim, Governors Rell and Rowland and their buddies in industry, oil distribution, labor unions and homebuilding proceeded to sell off parcel after parcel of farmland to build subdivisions with publicly-subsidized infrastructure leading to them. Using public money and resources (not necessarily with short term costs, but definitely with long term ones) to help develop exurban land parcels at 10 times the population growth rate is a great way to make certain people even wealthier. Now, since there's no endowment for repairing that road, let's just cut the PILOT and education sharing revenue to our cities instead. Repeat cycle.

Short term benefits for the elite, enormous 50-year costs for everyone else. Luckily, the country is finally starting to hold people publicly accountable.

Posted by: jim blunt | June 15, 2009 6:21 PM

Conservatives... Hmm.

Why didn't I think of that. Those damn conservatives must be the reason that New Haven is busting at the seams with kids carrying and shooting guns.

Interesting. Is Destephano a conservative?

Is it possible that Mayor Destephano and his administration should be held responsible for the city that they govern? Hmm... quite an out and left field point of view I know, but let's at least consider the idea before we throw all of the blame onto those evil conservatives.

Posted by: anon | June 15, 2009 7:34 PM

Is he? Whether or not DeStefano is a conservative, it is clear that these forces are mostly out of his direct control. DeStefano only can martial so many resources.

In terms of kids carrying guns, you have to look at root causes. No political party comes along and says that kids can or can not carry them, and it has very little to do with "policing" too - cops respond, not prevent. Gun violence is more a direct product of community health: economics, environment, education, availability of weapons, socioeconomic discrimination, segregation, and other factors that are largely well beyond the control of City Hall.

Posted by: jim blunt | June 15, 2009 11:13 PM

Anon...
Wow, I didn't know that our city's gov't is not responsible for the wellbeing of our city.

If city gov't is not responsible to the city's

"policing... community health: economics, environment, education, availability of weapons, socioeconomic discrimination, segregation..."

what exactly is their job?

If your opinion is commonplace in New Haven it's no wonder that Destefano keeps getting elected.

Posted by: V | June 16, 2009 8:51 AM

Edward_H.
At 3:04 a.m. cops received a call from Yale-New Haven's emergency room. The boy's mother brought the baby in for care for his injury. At first, according to police, the mother was uncooperative, but she eventually told them they'd be passengers in the car involved in the shoot-out.

Yeah, some people might be cruising around at 0130 with their 11 month old up to nothing but good.

Somehow, though, my intuition was correct and this mothers was cruising around getting in a car-to-car shootout.

Because you shouldn't be driving around with your 11 month old at 0130 in the morning.

Posted by: Edward_H | June 16, 2009 10:05 AM

V

Actually I made an updated post very similar to the one you made at June 16, 2009 8:51 AM but the powers at the NHI choose not to publish it.

Posted by: anon | June 16, 2009 10:50 AM

I didn't say those things weren't the city's job, Jim. It is a matter of degree.

Posted by: jim blunt | June 16, 2009 11:56 AM

Anon...
You should apply for a job with Destefano's administration. Your attitude seems to be quite in line with City Hall's. I am sure JD has a good place on his team for you... possibly running his campaign.

good luck!

Posted by: JackNH | June 16, 2009 2:22 PM

What's going on? I want to feel sorry for a mother whose 11-month old kid nearly gets killed, then I scroll down and find out she had her baby out in THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!!!!! (Or without a car seat, as we recently learned.) Between the parents and the guns, what chance do these babies have to make it??

Posted by: anon | June 16, 2009 3:35 PM

Jim, if you feel differently, how do you propose that City Hall "solve" the issues of deeply-ingrained poverty and discrimination on its own? Curious to hear your thoughts since I agree with your point to some extent. More private investment? A public job corps? Close down half of the school system so you can lower taxes by a few points? Gentrification?

Posted by: Consti2amend | June 16, 2009 7:21 PM

I have stated this before, but here goes again... I am not and NEVER will I be "Politically Correct". If this message has even the slightest ring of truth, it MUST be accepted. It is MY opinion, as stated!

This is unreal! Everyone is at risk as long as these illegal guns remain on the streets.
{Hood Rebel}...
NO! What is REALLY needed is MORE legal guns on the street! With more legal guns, the criminals will be less apt to attack someone! Why? because they will NOT know who has a "concealed carry permit", and therefore, their "job" will be a LOT harder for them!

To ANON;
1. gun buybacks, gun control/penalties for dealers, stricter sentencing for gun crimes,

2. The city installed a surveillance camera system,

3. installed 109 security cameras,

4. In terms of kids carrying guns, you have to look at root causes.

5. No political party comes along and says that kids can or can not carry them,

6. Gun violence is more a direct product of community health: economics, environment, education, availability of weapons, socioeconomic discrimination, segregation, and other factors that are largely well beyond the control of City Hall,
{ANON}
1. A. Gun buybacks do NOT work!! All you will get is OLD, broken, useless guns! NOT the ones a criminal would use! Why waste our tax dollars?
B. There are over 20,000 laws on the books in the U.S. now! How many more do you think it will take to stop the "bad boys, bad boys" from doing the crimes?
C. Penalties for "gun dealers"? The firearms industry is THE most regulated in the country! Do you really think a "gun dealer" will risk jail time for a few hundred dollars on a gun sale?
D. Strickter sentencing? See response 1.B. above!

2. OK! Now where do you suppose we should get the money? What, New Haven has the "worst" problem, so THE OBAMASSIAH will send us some of OUR OWN tax money back here for our own version of A. New Haven's Stupidest criminals, or B. New Haven's funniest city videos?

3. See #2 above!

4. The "root cause"? Lack of their parent's A. finishing High School, B. Lack of EVEN an UNstable, two parent family, C. "controlling" their own child{ren}, D. teaching their child{ren} respect for anyone/anything, E. TAKING responsibility for anyone/anything, F. NOT showing their child{ren}, that hard work CAN equal success, G. NOT being able to help their child{ren} with school work, H. I'll stop here!

5. SEE 1.A. & 1.C. above!

6. REREAD # 4 ABOVE, slowly this time! You can probably add some of your own to this list!

If WE don't do something with/for OUR children, then WHO will?

HATE "the message", LOVE "the messenger" {please}

Posted by: anon | June 17, 2009 12:57 PM

"OK! Now where do you suppose we should get the money?"

So you agree with me!

We can bail out rich executives and subsidize the banking system with trillions of dollars so that AIG, Citibank and NewAlliance Bank employees can take their private jets to golf vacations in California... but we can't spare a couple million to keep poor inner city youth from getting shot?