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[quote=Anonymous][quote=jsteele][quote=Anonymous]My guess is the Woodley Park people don"t want gang activity in their neighborhood. Why should they? [/quote]

Can you tell me which neighborhood wants gang activity?

I don't think anybody is suggesting people in Woodley Park should welcome or even accept crime. There is simply disagreement over which steps are appropriate. [b]Ending a tradition that is more than 100 years old because of two gun incidents over 15 years doesn't seem appropriate to many[/b].
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I really disagree with this as a resident of a neighborhood adjacent to Woodley Park whose teen is very likely to be walking on her own past the main Zoo entrance several times a week. All it takes is one violent incident to change any of our lives forever, and a single human life is infinitely more valuable than a tradition. (And I say this as someone in the general cultural heritage preservation business who does a lot for the sake of my own and others' traditions.) If trouble follows this event (and I think it's disingenuous to say that it doesn't-- since it certainly has at least a few times too many), fundamental, proactive changes to the event are needed to deter trouble. It's really not sufficient to have the police merely standing by to respond once trouble begins.

Somehow, I don't see how saying I don't want crime in my neighborhood suggests I (or others) think crime is ok in other neighborhoods. But I do think I have a particular responsibility to speak up when an area in which I permit my child's independent movement has seen a predictable pattern of violence that (I think) responsible decision-makers are obligated to interrupt.

And yes, I'd like to see all the violence stop. But I don't think the Zoo or Woodley Park should be obligated to assume increased risk until youth violence declines elsewhere.
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