Sun reporter lands in London
My colleague Justin Fenton has arrived in London and is about to head out with a police gun unit. Should be an interesting perspective. Too bad the reporter visiting here from The Independent, Mark Hughes, wasn't offered the same opportunity here.
Just the same, Mark has seen cops in action on a ride with the city police union chief and one two Citizen On Patrol walks in Riverside and Patterson Park. He was impressed by the way citizens get involved and how active the cops were in talking with them and trying to address their problems.
Both are now cross-writing about their experiences -- today's paper has Mark meeting drug addicts and Justin learning about limits placed on reporters covering crime. We grouse here about restrictions in terms of access, but it would drive me crazy to work under the circumstances I'm hearing about in London.
While out with some colleagues last night, Mark noted that some people are defensive about this city, mostly because of the image from The Wire. I told him there are roughly two groups -- people who hate what the fictional HBO drama did and want to never speak of it agan, and those who thought it uncovered a side of the city in way that truth sometimes can't.
I'm in the latter group. The Wire is important and shouldn't be ignored, and we need to confront these troublings aspects of Baltimore. They won't go away simply by ignoring them. At the same time, this is a vibrant city and I and I think others want to show him that it's liveable and people have fun.
After a COP walk in Patterson Park, we stopped by the park to watch a late-night kick ball tournament under the lights. Last night, we headed up to Joe Squared, a restaurant at the edge of the new arts district, on North Avenue. It showed Mark that restaurants and thriving neighborhood joints can make it even in areas others have long given up on. Let's not hide our problems; but lets not hide our success stories either.
At the end of the Tale of Two Cities blog are two comments that found particularly interesting. Now that Justin is in London, people are urging him to hit certain areas off the tourist track, where complaints of violence mirror our own:
if you want to see gang and gun crime,jump on the train from manchester picadilly to liverpool lime street,only an hour,there is a gang war going on between croxteth and norris green,both suburbs of liverpool.bet you will have more to write about,than you will in moss side.hope you have a good time in the uk,becarefull in the nw of england, this is a deprived area of the uk,we dont have the money the south has,therefore the crime is rife. 2weeks ago there was an attack on the police helicopter,followed by high speed car chase.go see liverpool,you"ll get plenty of scoops there.
Posted by: colin jones | November 6, 2009 9:39 AM
CJ, you are right about that. I never realized how bad it was until I took a trip there and saw the ghetto's and trash flying in the wind. In Liverpool, two herione addicts were trying to hustle/rob a group of us tourists after their high wore off. We were at the bar when we first ran into them and the bar tender was yelling at them. Surely as bad as Baltimore in a different light.
Comments
Once my colleagues were in Liverpool and they were attacked suddenly by two youths who were cocaine addicts. They tried to grab hold of the belongings and flee, but as they were high themselves, one of them fell and hit a stone, no people were hurt, but my colleague lost 1 bag containing cash.
Posted by: r4 card | November 9, 2009 1:59 AM
If you want to compare Baltimore with any British city, Liverpool is probably the best pick. They have roughly similar populations, and both are important ports that had to face industrial decline. Both have dealt for decades with crime, deprivation and urban redevelopment. Other points of similarity include their age (both 18th century cities), great architecture, distinctive local accents, and mania for sport.
Posted by: pasal2 | November 10, 2009 8:32 PM