CBS 21 Community

I moved into downtown York in July 2007.  For reasons I can't understand, vandals have struck my car repeatedly, starting two weeks after I got here.  So far, that's meant three trips to the body shop for major damage, and several minor incidents I didn't even bother to report.  It stopped for several months, until this past Saturday night.  Eggs, and such serious gouges in the paint and glass, that the whole car will have to be repainted. (I'm not even going to bother until I get out of here; the locals will just trash it again.)  Interestingly, my car has always been singled out.  I never see any damage to other vehicles.  I don't understand the motive.  I've done nothing to any of my neighbors.  My only possible "offense" is that I'm over 30, and not in the drug trade.  There are all sorts of thugs to be found wandering the streets, and by the railroad tracks, on almost any given night, yet I almost never see police patroling the area, despite being mere blocks from the police station.  (One officer simply told me my problems were just because I was in "the wrong neighborhood". )  Mayor Brenner says York is safe, and there's much talk about revitalization in the area.  I've learned the hard way that it's not true.  I'm looking to find a new home outside city limits, and I never intend to come back.

Please contact Samica Knight, our York reporter. She's interested in talking to you about your story.

samicaknight@cbs21.com

Thanks!

 

Thanks to all at CBS21 who made it possible for me to tell my story on air.  I'd like to address the comment from Downtown, Inc's Caroline Morris, suggesting my troubles might be personally motivated.  I'd hardly even had a chance to meet, let alone offend, my neighbors when the destruction started.  With a "welcome" like that, it's hard to know who to trust.  So, I've simply tried to live by a "Don't bother me, I won't bother you" philosphy.  Obviously, that doesn't work here.  I'm open to whatever suggestions Mayor Brenner can offer.

I'm back again.  I just wanted to mention some recent observations.  I've noticed neighborhood buildings and utility poles being tagged with "YC" or "YC outlaws" recently.  There have been "YC"s around here before, but these are new.  As a matter of fact, one of the incidents with my car involved "YC" being carved into the paint.  That happened about a year ago, and it was reported to the police.  So, recent events seem to indicate that the same gang of idiots are still running rampant, suffering no consequences for their actions.  Mayor Brenner phoned me a few days after my segment aired.  He said he'd look into increasing police patrols in the area.  Whether or not that has happened, I can't say.  As a working man, I tend to be asleep when the thugs are out amusing themselves by attacking defenseless (but valuable) objects.  As I mentioned in my original post, I live mere blocks from the police station, so it seems that it wouldn't be too much of an inconvenience for officers to make a few passes through the neighborhood on the way to, or from, the station.  It makes me wonder what more distant areas of the city must be like.  I also wonder sometimes if there are certain areas on which the police have more or less given up.

Just wanted to check into let everyone know I've solved my problem - by getting out of York City.  Amazing how getting just a few miles away can be such a drastic difference.  Now I'm in a quiet, civilized area, and no longer do I feel that my life, limb, or property are in constant peril.

I'd like to point out that my intention here was never "York-bashing".  I was born in York Hospital, spent the first few years of my life in the city, and I've lived in other parts of York County my whole life.  Returning to the city in 2007 caused me not only anger and material damage, but a great deal of sadness as well.  This is my hometown - What has happened to it???   For the sake of the decent folks who call York City their home, I hope the crime issues start getting the attention they deserve.   Law-abiding citizens should not have to feel threatened by thugs roaming the streets, or even by their own neighbors.  Perhaps having the Guardian Angels in town will have a positive impact.  I wish them well in their mission. 

Sure, we Yorkers appreciate having our own baseball team.  However, merely building a stadium does not make an area revitalized.  Yes, there are plenty of quality establishments within the city worth visiting, and I'd encourage people to do so.  As for finding a new place to reside, though, if you have the means and ability to live somewhere - anywhere - besides York City, you'd be best off doing so.

I just read about a body being found in a downtown York apartment.  It happened not far from where I used to live.  It's sad, but not surprising - not to those of us that have lived there recently, anyway.  It's just another example of how rampant violence and destruction are in "safe" downtown York.

OK, I admit to jumping to conclusions.  Today's paper says that foul play has been ruled out in the case I mentioned above.  In my defense, it's hard not to assume the worst, having lived in that area.  Also, from today's paper, I learned that vandals had broken windows at the Agricultural and Industrial Museum.  Same gang of thugs that used to trash my car, and put their "YC" tag throughout the neighborhood, I'll bet.  I sympathize with the museum.  All I can tell them is what one police officer once told me, "You're just in the wrong neighborhood."