What's Happening in Atlanta?

The neighborhood I live in now, and have been in for the past three years is called East Atlanta.  Though gentrification (read: white people moving in) started in earnest in the mid nineties, there’s still a reputation of crime in the area.  Most notable are the muggings and break-ins.  There are people I know who will not move to East Atlanta, citing crime and personal safety as reasons.

Don’t fool yourself.  Nowhere in Atlanta is completely safe.

Prior to living in EAV, I was in an area known as Poncey-Highlands.  I’m not sure if it is an official neighborhood designation or if it is just the name given to the south side of the slightly more posh Virginia-Highlands neighborhood.

Po-Hi has its own reputation, but besides having my car broken into I didn’t see much of it.  (You’re not a true Atlantan until you’ve had your car’s window smashed and a stereo stolen.  I’m an Atlantan three or four times over now.  I’ve lost count.  In fact, EAV is the only place my car hasn’t been violated.)  Certainly, I’ve seen some low rent hookers walking the streets, homeless folks hustling for change, and other assorted characters on Ponce, but there was never anything I found threatening.  The low-end Kroger in the neighborhood was named “Murder Kroger” because one person will killed in the parking lot there a decade ago.  I would go there at any time of day or night and never had an issue.  Maybe I don’t look like a target.

EAV has a more notorious reputation than the Va-Hi/Po-Hi area.  Due to recent events, that reputation may be changing.  I think I moved from the Highlands just in time to avoid being shot.

A few days ago a man was murdered at the Ford Factory Lofts.  Does that one count against Murder Kroger too because they are adjacent?  It’s been added to the Murder Kroger Wikipedia page.  Regardless, it was a crime in the Highlands.  The crime was caught on video and the police are still waiting for someone to identify the perp.  Speculation is that this is drug related, that the kid was at the lofts dropping off some weed.  From the video clip available on the internet, the perp approached the victim from behind and grabbed a bag the victim was holding while pointing a gun at his back.  It looked like the perp knew exactly what he was going for and grabbed it first.  Of course, this is all based on unverified posts I’ve read on the internet and as we all know, you can’t put something on the internet if it isn’t true.

While reporting on this incident, many news sources also mentioned another recent shooting in the neighborhood.  On a Friday afternoon in early October, a man was gunned down in his car at the intersection of Ponce and Moreland.  I’m not sure what the motive behind this one was.

These two incidents peaked my curiosity about violent crime in that area so I did a search online for more stories.  That’s where I found one that struck close to home.  Well, not my current home, but adjacent to the apartment building where I had lived for many years.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=ponce+and+barnett&hl=en&ll=33.774198,-84.358724&spn=0.006305,0.012596&sll=33.773818,-84.358735&layer=c&cbp=13,265.44,,0,1.06&cbll=33.774448,-84.358723&hnear=Ponce+De+Leon+Ave+NE+%26+Barnett+St+NE,+Atlanta,+Fulton,+Georgia+30306&t=h&z=17&panoid=4Km6ryevVM9hL-rB0PZjJQ

On the first block of Barnett Street, just north of Ponce de Leon Avenue, there was a tiny, block-long strip mall.  There were only three tenants in this spot.  One was Dozier Hair Studio, whose clientele would fill our parking lot on Friday evenings, leaving me scrambling to find parking behind my own apartment building.  Another was a spot called Gevitos Pizza, which is now called Di Capri’s Pizza.  That place had the worst pizza and wings you could imagine.  In the last spot was a mom and pop convenience store called ATL Food Mart.

On August 17^th of this year, Mushtaq “Mike” Moloo, owner of the ATL Food Mart, was shot and killed by an armed robber.  He apparently tried to use a bat to fend off the robber, but you’re at long odds bringing a bat to a gunfight.

When I lived over there I regularly went to his store for sodas, snacks, or a pack of smokes.  If they sold Highlife there I might not have moved.  I always spoke with him, or his wife, whomever was working at the time.  It was great to have their little spot there.  They were friendly people and always asked customers what brands of things they should stock in order to tailor their wares to the neighborhood’s needs.  It was our neighborhood store.

It’s become fairly easy to detach yourself from the revulsion you should feel over violent crimes when it’s some anonymous person killed someplace you’ve never been.  Perception changes when it is someone you know killed somewhere you frequent.  It adds an intimacy to the event, a reality that you don’t feel when it’s yet another lead of story on the evening news.

It’s not that I’m now afraid of my own neighborhood, or any of the prior neighborhoods in which I’ve lived.  I don’t feel the need to get my concealed carry permit and go everywhere strapped.  It’s that I’m aware of just how close to crime I am living in a city.  If you believe that anywhere in Atlanta is completely safe, you’re fooling yourself.  There’s no need to avoid EAV or any other neighborhood.  Just keep your eyes open and be careful.