I know I’ve talked about this before, but since I can’t find a link I’ll mention it again. There is a neighborhood in Nashville called East Nashville, or just “East” to some people. East Nashville has been “up and coming” or “in the process of gentrification” for at least the last 15, probably 20 years. Young, white liberals moved into pockets of East Nashville surrounded by MDHA housing projects, section 8 housing, and halfway houses for felons and druggies. These things were already there, haven’t gone anywhere, and by the looks of things aren’t going anywhere any time soon. It’s quite easy to find a condo that last sold for $250,000 nestled between a four unit cinder block apartment and a crack house.
New residents and business owners in East Nashville are shocked, SHOCKED! to discover that these neighbors see them as income sources. New restaurants are frequently robbed. So are residents. Usually no one is hurt, but that’s not always the case.
So, what do these people do to combat crime in their area? Install alarms, surveillance cameras, and “No Guns Allowed” signs. You know, because criminals are deterred by signs. By and large they shrug violent crime off as a cost of living in the “right” zip code.
I try not to go to East Nashville because of the combination of high crime and victim disarmament policies. Pretty much every restaurant in the area is posted, but yet East Nashville still has the highest violent crime rate in the area. Unfortunately, my wife and I have several friends who live there so I can’t entirely avoid it.
I find the best incentive to get people to leave your business alone and not seen as a simple income source is to give a severe case of lead poisoning to anyone who violates your property.
Personally I find this a case of both physical and economical Darwinism. If they want to self disarm for the criminals, that’s their choice.