Anonymous wrote:What I take from this is that there are a lot of white people who are all scared because immigrants are piling into houses in Eastern MoCo and now account for about 50% of the school populations in the DCC. These white people are only scared because the Hispanics don't look like them. Also, the police are "biased" (aka racist) so you can't believe what they say about neighborhood safety. I think I understand now, thanks.

I hear your sarcasm. But I happen to agree with the first two sentences -- it's inadvertently a good summary of the discussion. I don't think the third sentence is necessarily true or relevant. I think if you asked a police officer "should I pull my kids out of school or move out of the area because of isolated gang incidents," they would say no, that's nuts. The police also talk a lot about the opioid crisis, but I don't see people freaking out about its impact in their schools and communities though it is a massively larger issue. It's just mostly an issue for white people, so people are not as threatened by it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I take from this is that there are a lot of white people who are all scared because immigrants are piling into houses in Eastern MoCo and now account for about 50% of the school populations in the DCC. These white people are only scared because the Hispanics don't look like them. Also, the police are "biased" (aka racist) so you can't believe what they say about neighborhood safety. I think I understand now, thanks.

Yep that’s it. Anyone who disagrees with you is a racist bastard. Glad you have it all figured out.

Oh, and please check your own racist assumptions.

I am Latina and have posted in this thread. Believe it or not, many Latino immigrants and children of immigrants are quite concerned about the gang activity in Montgomery County. Gang violence often ends up affecting our community the most. So it’s not just white people who don’t like the idea of gangs in our school system. But glad you are so sure of yourself and your own racist assumptions.

Yah but they are the ones who let their counties get over run with gangs, moved to our country to get away from them and then brought the gangs with them. Some of us see the solution as simply sending them back to deal with their own problems and leave us out of it least of all have us pay to support them while they degrade our quality of life.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I take from this is that there are a lot of white people who are all scared because immigrants are piling into houses in Eastern MoCo and now account for about 50% of the school populations in the DCC. These white people are only scared because the Hispanics don't look like them. Also, the police are "biased" (aka racist) so you can't believe what they say about neighborhood safety. I think I understand now, thanks.

Yep that’s it. Anyone who disagrees with you is a racist bastard. Glad you have it all figured out.

That's actually not what the PP was saying. If you're not a white person who is scared about the immigrants moving into eastern Montgomery County, then the PP was not talking about you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I take from this is that there are a lot of white people who are all scared because immigrants are piling into houses in Eastern MoCo and now account for about 50% of the school populations in the DCC. These white people are only scared because the Hispanics don't look like them. Also, the police are "biased" (aka racist) so you can't believe what they say about neighborhood safety. I think I understand now, thanks.

Yep that’s it. Anyone who disagrees with you is a racist bastard. Glad you have it all figured out.

Oh, and please check your own racist assumptions.

I am Latina and have posted in this thread. Believe it or not, many Latino immigrants and children of immigrants are quite concerned about the gang activity in Montgomery County. Gang violence often ends up affecting our community the most. So it’s not just white people who don’t like the idea of gangs in our school system. But glad you are so sure of yourself and your own racist assumptions.

Anonymous wrote:What I take from this is that there are a lot of white people who are all scared because immigrants are piling into houses in Eastern MoCo and now account for about 50% of the school populations in the DCC. These white people are only scared because the Hispanics don't look like them. Also, the police are "biased" (aka racist) so you can't believe what they say about neighborhood safety. I think I understand now, thanks.

Yep that’s it. Anyone who disagrees with you is a racist bastard. Glad you have it all figured out.

What I take from this is that there are a lot of white people who are all scared because immigrants are piling into houses in Eastern MoCo and now account for about 50% of the school populations in the DCC. These white people are only scared because the Hispanics don't look like them. Also, the police are "biased" (aka racist) so you can't believe what they say about neighborhood safety. I think I understand now, thanks.

Anonymous wrote:I love how one poster keeps going on about how these places were safer 3 years ago, while another poster points to a single crime 3 years ago to claim it was safer 10 years ago.

It's almost as if people are not reliable narrators of relative safety, and have a nostalgia for the past that is unrelated to facts.

The 3 years ago relative safety refers to gang activity. There has been a huge increase in gang related crimes in Mo. Co. in general and in Wheaton Regional specifically. The two men who were beaten near the lake by gang members were abducted at the bathrooms near the playground. They were led down the path to the lake and beaten in the daytime last July. Would you like to come across that scene while at the lake with your kids? I wouldn't.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm assuming the folks who don't believe large chunks of MoCo was safer 20-30 years ago didn't live here at the time. And, it *is* sad to see for people like me who have lived here all my life.

I will say that Downtown Silver Spring is safer than it was 15 years ago. City Place was not at all ok before the revitalization. DTSS still requires a significant police presence at night which is unfortunate.

Agree 1000%. Clearly, many of these posters did not grow up here in Montgomery County. I grew up near White Oak 35 years ago. Always felt safe there. We also went to Wheaton Regional any time of day (of course not in the middle of the night) and again it was a perfectly safe and comfortable place to spend time with family and friends. Sorry, this county has changed and not for the better. Almost everyone I grew up with and still lives in the area has moved to the western side of the county. Even my parents, who were long time hold outs, moved out of the White Oak area ten years ago.

How safe you and your friends feel is a subjective measure highly influenced by whether your neighbors look like you. But clearly not "everybody" moved out of White Oak because it has 1000 kids in its middle school. They're just mostly not white anymore.

Well, mostly it had to do with crime and the fact that a lot of the stores and businesses they used to frequent closed up or moved to other parts of the county. There was a large synagogue right off of Lockwood Drive that moved out to Olney because their congregants moved away from there.

Have you been to the east county lately? It's not a deserted wasteland. There are plenty of people living there. It's just that many don't look like they were born in the US to parents with an ethnic origin in Europe.

Nor is DTSS Fort Apache, the Bronx.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm assuming the folks who don't believe large chunks of MoCo was safer 20-30 years ago didn't live here at the time. And, it *is* sad to see for people like me who have lived here all my life.

I will say that Downtown Silver Spring is safer than it was 15 years ago. City Place was not at all ok before the revitalization. DTSS still requires a significant police presence at night which is unfortunate.

Agree 1000%. Clearly, many of these posters did not grow up here in Montgomery County. I grew up near White Oak 35 years ago. Always felt safe there. We also went to Wheaton Regional any time of day (of course not in the middle of the night) and again it was a perfectly safe and comfortable place to spend time with family and friends. Sorry, this county has changed and not for the better. Almost everyone I grew up with and still lives in the area has moved to the western side of the county. Even my parents, who were long time hold outs, moved out of the White Oak area ten years ago.

How safe you and your friends feel is a subjective measure highly influenced by whether your neighbors look like you. But clearly not "everybody" moved out of White Oak because it has 1000 kids in its middle school. They're just mostly not white anymore.

Can you explain what you mean by this?

It’s certainly not how I feel. What exactly is a person who looks like me?? Short people?

I feel safe when I know my neighbors. I feel safe when there is a sense of community. I feel safe when I don’t read/hear constant news reports about crime in my neighborhood. And I definitely do NOT feel safe when the PD talks about an increase in gang activity in MCPS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm assuming the folks who don't believe large chunks of MoCo was safer 20-30 years ago didn't live here at the time. And, it *is* sad to see for people like me who have lived here all my life.

I will say that Downtown Silver Spring is safer than it was 15 years ago. City Place was not at all ok before the revitalization. DTSS still requires a significant police presence at night which is unfortunate.

Agree 1000%. Clearly, many of these posters did not grow up here in Montgomery County. I grew up near White Oak 35 years ago. Always felt safe there. We also went to Wheaton Regional any time of day (of course not in the middle of the night) and again it was a perfectly safe and comfortable place to spend time with family and friends. Sorry, this county has changed and not for the better. Almost everyone I grew up with and still lives in the area has moved to the western side of the county. Even my parents, who were long time hold outs, moved out of the White Oak area ten years ago.

How safe you and your friends feel is a subjective measure highly influenced by whether your neighbors look like you. But clearly not "everybody" moved out of White Oak because it has 1000 kids in its middle school. They're just mostly not white anymore.

Well, mostly it had to do with crime and the fact that a lot of the stores and businesses they used to frequent closed up or moved to other parts of the county. There was a large synagogue right off of Lockwood Drive that moved out to Olney because their congregants moved away from there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm assuming the folks who don't believe large chunks of MoCo was safer 20-30 years ago didn't live here at the time. And, it *is* sad to see for people like me who have lived here all my life.

I will say that Downtown Silver Spring is safer than it was 15 years ago. City Place was not at all ok before the revitalization. DTSS still requires a significant police presence at night which is unfortunate.

Agree 1000%. Clearly, many of these posters did not grow up here in Montgomery County. I grew up near White Oak 35 years ago. Always felt safe there. We also went to Wheaton Regional any time of day (of course not in the middle of the night) and again it was a perfectly safe and comfortable place to spend time with family and friends. Sorry, this county has changed and not for the better. Almost everyone I grew up with and still lives in the area has moved to the western side of the county. Even my parents, who were long time hold outs, moved out of the White Oak area ten years ago.

How safe you and your friends feel is a subjective measure highly influenced by whether your neighbors look like you. But clearly not "everybody" moved out of White Oak because it has 1000 kids in its middle school. They're just mostly not white anymore.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm assuming the folks who don't believe large chunks of MoCo was safer 20-30 years ago didn't live here at the time. And, it *is* sad to see for people like me who have lived here all my life.

I will say that Downtown Silver Spring is safer than it was 15 years ago. City Place was not at all ok before the revitalization. DTSS still requires a significant police presence at night which is unfortunate.

Agree 1000%. Clearly, many of these posters did not grow up here in Montgomery County. I grew up near White Oak 35 years ago. Always felt safe there. We also went to Wheaton Regional any time of day (of course not in the middle of the night) and again it was a perfectly safe and comfortable place to spend time with family and friends. Sorry, this county has changed and not for the better. Almost everyone I grew up with and still lives in the area has moved to the western side of the county. Even my parents, who were long time hold outs, moved out of the White Oak area ten years ago.

I grew up here as well. 20 years ago you wouldn't go to the Wheaton mall at all even during the day. Now, you can get parking with all the families flocking to Costco, Target, Starbucks, and other shopping. I have no doubt some places have gotten much less safe, but I also know a lot of areas have gotten much more safe (and frankly, more expensive). The high school has also improved a lot (and I don't have kids there, don't just going by ratings and reputation).

In 2016, the homicide rate was 1.44 per 100,000 people: https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/POL/Resources/Files/MCPD%202016%20Annual%20Report(1).pdf

From 1975-1995, the average murder rate was 2.9 per 100,000 people: page 5 of http://www.mcsm.org/crime/crime.ppt

This is in line with national trends. Violent crime has decreased significantly since the '80s.

Anonymous wrote:I'm assuming the folks who don't believe large chunks of MoCo was safer 20-30 years ago didn't live here at the time. And, it *is* sad to see for people like me who have lived here all my life.

I will say that Downtown Silver Spring is safer than it was 15 years ago. City Place was not at all ok before the revitalization. DTSS still requires a significant police presence at night which is unfortunate.

Agree 1000%. Clearly, many of these posters did not grow up here in Montgomery County. I grew up near White Oak 35 years ago. Always felt safe there. We also went to Wheaton Regional any time of day (of course not in the middle of the night) and again it was a perfectly safe and comfortable place to spend time with family and friends. Sorry, this county has changed and not for the better. Almost everyone I grew up with and still lives in the area has moved to the western side of the county. Even my parents, who were long time hold outs, moved out of the White Oak area ten years ago.

Anonymous wrote:I'm assuming the folks who don't believe large chunks of MoCo was safer 20-30 years ago didn't live here at the time. And, it *is* sad to see for people like me who have lived here all my life.

I will say that Downtown Silver Spring is safer than it was 15 years ago. City Place was not at all ok before the revitalization. DTSS still requires a significant police presence at night which is unfortunate.

What was the homicide rate in Montgomery County 20-30 years ago, compared to now?