Villa Del Soul and the Westside crime wave destined to thwart condo sales

First some background . . . There have been a bunch of burglaries on the Westside even if your real estate agent has neglected to tell you about them. A recent bulletin from the Westside CAN Center gives a cold, hard analysis of the numbers:

From 4/25 - 5/1/07 there have been 7 police reports filed for burglaries for the Westside. Although we said the suspects (2-3 African American males) were driving a silver car they may have switched to a red or maroon colored vehicle. Yesterday, Wednesday 5/3 another neighbor reported an attempted break
in. Fortunately his brother was home and scared the guys off. Another
reported that recently someone tried to steal their car.

The e-mail report goes on to reveal that even more thefts and burglaries have gone without reporting . . . Apparently, the whole "stop snitching" phenomena translates into Spanish as well.

Even better . . . The "suspects" are most likely residents of the Villa Del Sol public housing (or whatever euphemism you're comfortable with) project on the West End of the neighborhood OR at least that's the rumor. The more clever Westside residents that I've spoken with have dubbed the place "Villa del Soul" because that's kinda funny in addition to the fact that Latinos usually get the short end of the stick (nullus) when it comes to attaining public housing.

Anyway, for months upon months, neighbors have noted that traffic from these subsidized houses has increased. Finally, the neighborhood has reached a tipping point. It was just a matter of time before the criminal activity began and even less time until things will inevitably get violent.

Still . . . There's the uncomfortable question: Who is to blame? Of course, the criminals are obviously the first on the list of who should be faulted but that's too easy.

I think a certain amount of blame has to be set aside for condo & loft developers who have put this neighborhood in play and spewed nothing but propaganda regarding home values and the character of the community. Truth is . . . This is still a place comprised of a great many po'folk . . . Gentrification hasn't completely taken hold and NOW we're in a dangerous flux where rich and poor are mingling and people are finally beginning to see some drawbacks to "urban" living. For one, JoCo jerks can't walk around this part of town with their head up in the air like they're accustomed to doing back where they came from . . . Situational awareness doesn't just apply to your street but also to the scumbag quickly approaching from the house next door.

Still . . . There are larger forces at work. This Westside crime wave has the potential to put to rest all of the hype on which Kansas City's real estate community thrives. Put simply, when a white couple is killed, you can forget about selling another condo downtown for a long time . . . The course of human history has taught us all that (white) people only care about a tragedy when it concerns people who look like them.

So I think it works in everybody's interest to hope that this so-called crime wave is cut short before somebody gets hurt.

Personally, I don't want to see the reaction that a patron of the Kauffman Performing Arts Center will give when/if somebody puts a gun in their face . . . And if it just happens to be one of the young, Black teenagers that most suburbs are founded to avoid contact with . . . That kind of situation never turns out for the best BUT the truth is that it's a "round world" and suburban folks coming back to the urban core will find that crime doesn't simply move out because rents and mortgages are higher . . . In fact, just like many real estate developers . . . KC's criminal class understands that the influx of the moneyed class in KC really just means more opportunity.