Something has been on my mind and I want to go ahead and share it with you. Last Sunday afternoon I was driving around District 2 with a member of my campaign team (who also lives in the District) and showing her a few areas she might not be familiar with or not visited in a while.
We were driving on Randolph (I think) and approaching the Citgo station on MLK. While approaching the stop sign (road ends at MLK) I was paying attention to traffic and telling her that some shady stuff goes down in the gas station parking lot and that loitering is a constant problem. Upon stopping at the stop sign our attention was drawn to the Citgo and noticed a group of 10 – 12 kids (probably in their teens) standing around. No sooner than I mentioned the word “loitering” one of the kids in the group was being slung around, punched and kicked before finally breaking away. It all happened really quickly, but I was shocked at what I saw.
This type of behavior should NOT be tolerated by the store owner. If it continues to be tolerated I think the City and the GPD should be doing everything possible to “persuade” the owner to start enforcing the no loitering policy and calling the police when they see drug activity taking place in the parking lot.
Now, if that sounds harsh, let me explain my thought process. There’s another store, a Texaco, two blocks up the road and its like night and day when compared to the Citgo. When talking with the GPD about why one store appears to be worse off than the other they’ve told me the difference is in the store owners. Apparently the Texaco owner has proactively tried to work with the GPD and the neighborhood to clean things up.
MLK is a major corridor in and out of the city and what I saw last Sunday is the last thing I’d want someone visiting Greensboro to see. Actually, it isn’t something I’d want any resident of Greensboro to see either.
Simply put, we have some work to do.
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A group of kids hanging around roughhousing on the southeast side of town and you think they are drug dealers? Would you think the same thing about a bunch of kids horsing around outside Target or at the video game store at the westridge shopping center? I’ve seen it at both and never thought to assign drug dealing to them.
Sounds like there’s some presumptions on your part that I’ll let others connect the dots….
Hugh,
Thanks for your comment, but I need to address a couple items. They were not roughhousing as you say, they were attempting to hurt the kid in question. If I saw the same thing happen outside Target or off Westridge I’d have drawn the same conclusion.
Also, you are putting two of the items I mentioned together, when that isn’t what I said at all. In regards to drugs I said, “when they see drug activity taking place in the parking lot.” No where did I say the kids beating up the other kid were dealing drugs.
If folks need to connect imaginary dots, that is up to them. There are no dots to connect and that is that. I have a large number of friends that live in the Ole Asheboro neighborhood and they are very passionate about cleaning up what happens at the Citgo and areas around it.
At the very least I am highlighting and attempting to figure out ways to do exactly what those in the community in which I live want. I hope that you can step back and see that I am simply trying to help.
Ryan
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