It’s a sad fact that crime happens in every part of every city. There really aren’t perfectly safe neighborhoods where gun crimes, robberies, and assaults don’t occasionally occur. That’s partly why real estate agents should never answer a direct question, like, “is this neighborhood safe?” By what standard do you measure that, and is it by the same standard that I measure it? If you move into a home that has never before been the subject of a crime, and then 3 days later your home is broken into and you are assaulted at gun point, if I told you it was a safe neighborhood, you might have cause to differ with that opinion. And I wouldn’t blame you if you did. (That last sentence might bear a small resemblance to a line from a Johnny Cash song…comment if you know which.)
From a purely personal perspective, I’ve long considered my neighborhood to be safe. Sure, my car was once broken into and some things were stolen. And sure, I know of other people that have had break-ins. I know of kids that have shot guns at other kids, though I don’t know of any injuries from their misguided mischief. And so it really startled me to hear that someone threw a pipe bomb through the window of Dickie’s Dogs on Sunday evening.
Amazingly, this is the second time someone has bombed Dick Malone’s restaurant, the first time was in July, 2004. This time, however, Dick was in the store when it happened. He was doing paperwork in the back room, when he heard the sound of glass breaking. He arrived in his dining area just in time for the bomb to explode, resulting in some injuries, lots of damage to his store, and even some damage to the neighboring businesses.
Melone says he is rebuilding once again. For his sake, and for my hot dog enjoyment sake, I sure hope so. I’m heading to a softball tournament, and a good Chicago style hot dog sounds good right now, unfortunately I’ll have to wait a few months before I can satisfy that hunger.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
A Boy Named Sue. Thanks for all the updates you do, you have one of the best sites for the Phoenix market that I’ve run across.
Kelly, that’s the correct Johnny Cash song. And thanks for the kudos regarding my site. However, we are continually trying to improve.