Man Killed At Doughnut Shop

If the city didn't let Dunkin Donuts and other strip-mall, poisonous-food chain operators continue to build buildings, windswept, trash-strewn asphalt lots and facades that were so physically unattractive, you might have more people out enjoying their neighborhood.

Having more people out and more community building is the only way to reduce crimes like these.

At the very least, the city should require windows facing the street on buildings like these. The new Walgreens stores, with their blank walls, are a joke and it's likely that crimes will happen near them, too. Crimes also happen disproportionately near abandoned, foreclosed houses.

We often think of the people as the cause of crimes in our neighborhoods, when its really much more about the quality of life and the built environment.

anon makes an interesting point.
It's difficult to believe that if this neighborhood center (the Norton Street-Derby Avenue intersection) were as active and designed as well as the corner of Edwards and State Street, that a homicide would occur at 5 in the afternoon. Unfortunately, these kinds of incidents often lead to disinvestment, which is the exact opposite of what will make this area safer.

Here is the corner of Norton and Derby, where another homicide occurred in April and another in 2009, from 1948:
http://www.magrissoforte.com/Collection/Dwight 2/1-Derby-Norton c1948.gif

Here is a photo from a block away at Norton and Chapel, where a homicide occurred in September, from 1945 (notice the activity on the corner):
http://www.magrissoforte.com/United Advertising/Dwight-Edgewood/9-chapel-norton(c1945)a.gif

Here is the corner of Whalley and Winthrop, where a homicide occured a month ago, from 1945 (notice the retail to the right hand side with its floor to ceiling glass shop front windows with outdoor displays, now replaced by an asphalt parking lot and smaller glass openings):
http://www.magrissoforte.com/United Advertising/Dwight-Edgewood/8-whalley-winthrop(c1945).gif

Here is the corner of Whalley and Hobart, where muggings and shootings have occurred in the last couple years, from 1925 (notice the glass store front window wrapping around the corner that has a complete view of the intersection from the clerks counter and the general beauty of the environment, now replaced by concrete walls, ugly signage and demoralized architecture):
http://www.magrissoforte.com/United Advertising/Dwight-Edgewood/12-whalley-hobart(3-25).gif

Those photo links don't seem to work.. but I agree with your point.

Unfortunately, until our leadership realizes exactly how important these factors are, they are unlikely to get any better.

How our policies changed so dramatically in such a short period of time, from caring about people who live in a neighborhood, into only caring about car traffic and out-of-town developers' wallets, is a mystery, but the results are clear.

Because there is a space (" ") in the link, it doesn't work if you click on it. To view the pictures just copy the entire link, not just the blue part, and paste it in the web browser, it should work then.