Community upset over Marisol

[lileva]

I wonder if all this talk is just going to make her more popular?When I was picking my DD up from school a local radio station was talking about an article about this in our city paper.More people may hear about this and go and get Marisol even though they may not at first were thinking of doing that.You know how that is,something gets hipped on the media and before you know it,that thing becomes very popular.

[lileva]

I am just reading this article now it says that although there is an element of gangs the whole idea that it is to dangerous is ridiculous.Does that make sense?If there are gangs in the neighborhood that sounds dangerous to me or in better words unsafe.

[Peachysweetdream]

You know, right when I was reading Marisol's book I thought about this very issue... to use a real, specific community name like that seemed like a risk, especially in a sure to be popular childrens book.

I'm from Chicago and have four friends who actually live in Pilsen; from what I've seen, it really isn't that rough a neighborhood, especially if you compare it to some parts of Cicero or Austin.

I also don't think Marisol's book was too harsh or out of line... it just made a probably true point that suburban living tends to be safer than urban living, especially in Chicago, where the murder rate is higher than NYC. But I could totally see where residents would not appreciate any additional tough image being spread about their home turf.

[kitschywoman]

And you have to remember that conditions can vary drastically from street to street within an area. Cincinnati's east side is seen as being much more white-collar and upper class than the west side of town. Imagine my surprise when DH told me of several crack houses that were located on a run-down street in this supposedly "good" east-side neighborhood where he worked. [img]rolleyes.gif[/img]

[christhedolllady]

On Channel 2 (WBBM) News at 5 & 6, Marisol was featured. I didn't get to see but my husband did. The news story is on their website: http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/lo...32093656.html.

It's pretty silly. It all revolves around the one line in the book. When I read Marisol's book, I took it as an all around parental excuse to move. If you look on the list of other news stories for today, you can see there is a lot more to worry/talk about than one line in a children's book.

[lynet44]

You guys, I can top all of you! I grew up in Mexico City. You want to talk about crime then let me tell you I have tons of stories. That is why we are living in the US now. But some people try really hard to stay loyal to the place where they were born and turn a blind eye to reality. I have some relatives that still live in Mexico City and they say that it's really not that bad and that they will live and die there. Well, they will die there for sure.

When I went to visit Mexico City some years ago, the first thing that happened when we got out of the airport was a typical Mexican cop waiting for a bribe or else. My dad had to give him some cash because according to the cop, he was illegally parked which was a complete lie and everybody knew it but nobody said anything. You do not disagree or mess around with cops in Mexico City.

You have no idea how many of my relatives have been assaulted, mugged, stabbed, robbed, etc in Mexico City. The new job position there is kidnapping. I am sure that you guys have heard of that in the news. It's quite popular now to the point that upper middle class people hire guys with machine guns to stand outside their house to protect them. My old neighborhood is completely fenced in due to crime. When I went to the mall, there was a guy with a machine gun outside every big department store. How would you like to see that at our malls? I saw 4 guys with machine guns at a popular bakery. I was really shocked and let me tell you, my gringo husband almost fainted. Also, a very common thing is to be beat by a bunch of cops, they steal your car and then take you to an ATM machine to get your savings. Yes, that is pretty common. But yet, my relatives still insist that Mexico City is not that bad. Yeah, right.

Lynet

[kitschywoman]

We used to have problems with drug activity in the park behind our house. But everyone started calling the police every time suspicious activity was observed. We became such a PITA to the police that they really cracked down on that area.

It also helped that we got rid of the pay phone at the end of our street. People would congregate around it at all hours of the day/night. Finally one of our neighbors started sneaking out at night and cutting the cord on the receiver. Every time a repair was made, he'd sneak out to cut the cord again. Eventually, the phone was removed. [img]graemlins/angel.gif[/img]

Now, our only problem is rap music. When they blast it in the park, I just crank up our system in the garage and put on some Elton John. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Hey, I survived a summer internship in NYC. Cincinnati is nothing.

Anne (ready to rumble)

[judiaci]

And I always thought of Ohio as a very tame state!

[Shawniec]

Lynet: Wow! I knew Mexico City was huge, but I had no idea crime was as bad as what you describe. That is incredibly sad [img]graemlins/cry.gif[/img] .

[Molly-Felicity]

Lynet, I'm glad your parents had the foresight to come to the US.

Dianasmama - I was in NYC last spring and felt exactly as you did. I felt quite safe walking around streets (all Manhattan in within walking distance of AGP.) And believe me, I'm not clueless. My children think I'm extremely paranoid. Whenever we're in a parking garage, I rush them to the car, practically shove them in and immediatley lock the doors.