Is the Sun Setting on our Beloved Berea?
On the 8th of February 2010, I decided to take my handy Canon camera on a jog around Berea's Sector 3. My aim was to take a snap of the old tin house that was set alight and burned to the ground in the early hours of February 6th.
The result was that I didn't do much jogging as I was brought to a near standstill by the sight of the filth and degradation that lay before my eyes. I literally could not run 10 meters without needing to stop and photograph more of the endless potholes, cracks, missing manhole covers, human faeces, filth and litter.
The result was that I didn't do much jogging as I was brought to a near standstill by the sight of the filth and degradation that lay before my eyes. I literally could not run 10 meters without needing to stop and photograph more of the endless potholes, cracks, missing manhole covers, human faeces, filth and litter.
In accepting that it is a known fact that crime flourishes in areas where urban degradation go unchecked, we can conclude that those responsible for the upkeep of the alleys and sidewalks are contributing to our unacceptably high levels of crime. They are partly to blame for all who have suffered loss and injury.
In the last year we have experienced a doulbling of our rates
contributions to the Municipality, however, our streets and sidewalks continue to fall into disgraceful neglect.
Many of the pictures shown here are within a few hundred meters of the old tin house where former concert pianist and veteran Berea resident, Ella Horne (82) was brutally attacked in August last year.
The pedestrian walkway that lines Sydenham Rd is in such a shocking condition that it makes vagrants and criminals feel that nobody cares for it. Weeds grow up, litter accumulates. Vagrants move in, criminals have a source of cover amongst the vagrants. At this point it becomes inevitable that serious crime will flourish or violent attacks on nearby residents will occur.
But many residents will think that crime, especially violent crime, is on the rise, and they will modify their behavior accordingly. They will use the streets less often, and when on the streets will stay apart from their fellows, moving with averted eyes, silent lips, and hurried steps.
Such an area is vulnerable to criminal invasion. Though it is not inevitable, it is more likely that here, rather than in places where people are confident they can regulate public behavior by informal controls, drugs will change hands, and violent muggings will occur.
