Here's something you might be interested in.
So this isn't exactly my neighborhood. I don't actually live in National City although given the fact that I have worked here for 3 years, this is my second home...sigh. Everything about this place screams ghetto and I have to admit, when I first started working here I was deathly afraid to take walks around my workplace. I usually hopped in my car and drove the whole 2 blocks to the corner deli. You see, right smack in between...well....let's call it Block 1 and Block 2, there is an alley that used to be the hang-out for the local hookers. Old men would drive by, pretend to "chat" with them, and well, you know the rest. The worst part is that on the corner of Block 3 is the police headquarters. Nevertheless, the NCPD does an awesome job, and they seem to have solved this type of loittering. Now, the crazy, homeless woman who used to walk around the street where I work on...where do I even start? Her shorts were practically underwear and she would wear them with the highest, high-heeled pumps ever. All of this while pushing her shopping cart around. My paranoia was so extreme that I would research every single restaurant in this area to see the grades that they had, just to see if it was safe to eat around here (I once drove by a restaurant that was closed due to a D rating). Within a few days of that, there was a shooting in the neighborhood park. Not to mention there are ALWAYS funeral processions right outside my window complete with low-riders and 500 family members. There must be a funeral home close by yet I have never seen it. That was then, things started to look up soon after. There are more police cars driving around, the streets look clean, you can have absolutely anything you are craving for lunch within a 2 mile radius, including an In-n-Out. All in all, I believe this part of town is definitely improving. Or maybe it is just starting to grow on me. Months passed and just as I am starting to feel safer, I drive to the closest AM/PM to buy some gasoline. I get out of my car and there is a guy standing next to the pump asking me if I will be using a credit card or cash. I tell him that I will be using cash. He gets out a credit card (stolen I assume) and he tells me that if I give him $30 in cash he will pump $50 of gas using his card because he needs the cash. I know it's wrong, but we shake hands and I agree to the deal and wait for the guilt to set in. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on the day, guilt never sets in. I think, "This is not such a bad neighborhood after all..."
So this isn't exactly my neighborhood. I don't actually live in National City although given the fact that I have worked here for 3 years, this is my second home...sigh. Everything about this place screams ghetto and I have to admit, when I first started working here I was deathly afraid to take walks around my workplace. I usually hopped in my car and drove the whole 2 blocks to the corner deli. You see, right smack in between...well....let's call it Block 1 and Block 2, there is an alley that used to be the hang-out for the local hookers. Old men would drive by, pretend to "chat" with them, and well, you know the rest. The worst part is that on the corner of Block 3 is the police headquarters. Nevertheless, the NCPD does an awesome job, and they seem to have solved this type of loittering. Now, the crazy, homeless woman who used to walk around the street where I work on...where do I even start? Her shorts were practically underwear and she would wear them with the highest, high-heeled pumps ever. All of this while pushing her shopping cart around. My paranoia was so extreme that I would research every single restaurant in this area to see the grades that they had, just to see if it was safe to eat around here (I once drove by a restaurant that was closed due to a D rating). Within a few days of that, there was a shooting in the neighborhood park. Not to mention there are ALWAYS funeral processions right outside my window complete with low-riders and 500 family members. There must be a funeral home close by yet I have never seen it. That was then, things started to look up soon after. There are more police cars driving around, the streets look clean, you can have absolutely anything you are craving for lunch within a 2 mile radius, including an In-n-Out. All in all, I believe this part of town is definitely improving. Or maybe it is just starting to grow on me. Months passed and just as I am starting to feel safer, I drive to the closest AM/PM to buy some gasoline. I get out of my car and there is a guy standing next to the pump asking me if I will be using a credit card or cash. I tell him that I will be using cash. He gets out a credit card (stolen I assume) and he tells me that if I give him $30 in cash he will pump $50 of gas using his card because he needs the cash. I know it's wrong, but we shake hands and I agree to the deal and wait for the guilt to set in. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on the day, guilt never sets in. I think, "This is not such a bad neighborhood after all..."