I would be remiss after all of my glowing praise progress represented by the opening of the new movie theater in North Philadelphia, if I didn't post the story about last night's shooting and offer people a chance to comment.
To me, the most disturbing quote in the story came from an activist from a group that is supposedly working to reduce these kinds of incidents:
Rich Ford, of Men United for a Better Philadelphia, watched hordes of adolescents yell and shove one another outside the complex, and then questioned the wisdom of putting a theater in North Philly.
"This is not Center City or Manayunk," he said. "It's the heart of North Philadelphia. This place is going to draw a multitude of young kids from all over, and these kinds of events will probably be ongoing at this location."
It's disturbing on a number of levels. One, if you assume that the speaker is someone who has a lot of experience dealing with youth in these neighborhoods and therefore has some level of expertise about the mindsets and behavior of young people from neighborhoods that have long been underserved by amenities such as movie theaters, then it's disheartening that he may be right.
On the other hand, if the guy is full of crap, then it's discouraging that someone who is affiliated with a group like Men United has this kind of attitude and pessism about the chances to make such a neighborhood more vibrant and livable with such amenities. He's then feeding into the attitudes of a lot of people in the city who believe that poor people don't deserve nice things just because a few a-holes mess it up for them. I happen to think that if you work to make lower income neighborhoods more attractive to different mixes of income levels, races, and ethnicities by building movie theaters and supermarkets and parks and good schools, then the critical mass of non-a-holes will build up to such a degree that behavior such as this won't be tolerated.
I really do feel for all of the families from that neighborhood who brought their little kids to the movies last night in an attempt to escape, for just a couple of hours, the very situation that erupted and ruined their night.
Sigrid Leeks of North Philadelphia, who was inside watching "Monster House" when the shots were fired, said she didn't hear them, but her cell phone started going off because friends and family had heard about the incident.
"Where else are we going to go?" she said angrily, echoing complaints of other moviegoers.
"It frustrates me that my children and I can't go to a decent movie anywhere within two miles of my home, because people don't show respect," said 35-year-old Genea McCrea of Kensington, who had arrived hoping to see a movie with her two sons, ages 9 and 15.
Exactly. I'm outraged and I don't even live there. I can only imagine how everyone who lives there feels. I imagine that they're wishing the same fate on whoever started this bullsh*t that befell the shooting victim (read the story to find out what I mean).
You know what I want the next mayor to do? Go to movies at this theater... regularly. And for good measure, take the subway to get there.