Fishtown Young Man, 32, Murdered

**freedom of 76** · 07-08-2012, 08:10 PM

Member of Fishtown community, commited past few years to rehabbing his Fishtown home and contributing to revitalization of the area, was murdered on July 1st. Please spread the word and contact the police if you know, heard or saw anything.

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**thesomersteam** · 07-09-2012, 09:05 AM

Thanks for starting this thread. It is amazing how little reporting has been done on this story. I hope the criminal is apprehended soon and I hope Mayor Nutter and City Council consider adopting a "Safety First" mission:

Does Philadelphia Have “Safety First” or “Safety Last” Policy ? « TheSomersTeamBlog

**Tartan69** · 07-09-2012, 01:10 PM

There is actually another thread about Mike here, but thank you for continuing to bring attention to something that has not yet received the media attention it deserves. He was a great guy and I'm glad to have known him. Damn these animals...

**philaman01** · 07-11-2012, 10:46 AM

It is truly a shame that a young life was senselessly extinguished.

However, people need to understand that Fishtown/NoLibs is *still* a very dangerous area, despite all the build-up.

**BarryG** · 07-11-2012, 10:48 AM

Originally Posted by philaman01

It is truly a shame that a young life was senselessly extinguished.

However, people need to understand that Fishtown/NoLibs is *still* a very dangerous area, despite all the build-up.

The murder was in Society Hill.

**sometimesilie** · 07-11-2012, 11:21 AM

Originally Posted by philaman01

It is truly a shame that a young life was senselessly extinguished.

However, people need to understand that Fishtown/NoLibs is *still* a very dangerous area, despite all the build-up.

LOL @ "very dangerous"

Originally Posted by BarryG

The murder was in Society Hill.

He was fleeing all the danger

**Sharkfood** · 07-11-2012, 12:56 PM

Originally Posted by BarryG

The murder was in Society Hill.

Wasn't it like 4 inches south of Lombard St.? That would technically be Queen Village, not Society Hill.
Do not sully the name of that esteemed neighborhood.

**freedom of 76** · 07-11-2012, 09:22 PM

This happened in Society Hill--on 4th between Pine and Lombard.

**ArcticSplash** · 07-11-2012, 09:30 PM

It's Kensington with Belgian Block.

**thesomersteam** · 07-12-2012, 07:40 AM

My question is when will the Mayor comment on the local homicides in public ? Why the "lack of focus" on crime ? He sure is commenting on everything from a national persepctive such as the soda tax in NYC, Romney speaking in front of the NAACP, stating the Trayvon Martin murder an assasination... Would simply like to see more focus at home in regards to the assasinations that are taking place in Philly, and specifically with Mike Hagan.

**Tartan69** · 07-12-2012, 11:29 AM

Originally Posted by thesomersteam

My question is when will the Mayor comment on the local homicides in public ? Why the "lack of focus" on crime ? He sure is commenting on everything from a national persepctive such as the soda tax in NYC, Romney speaking in front of the NAACP, stating the Trayvon Martin murder an assasination... Would simply like to see more focus at home in regards to the assasinations that are taking place in Philly, and specifically with Mike Hagan.

Agree 100%. I was appalled when he came out and said he was proud of the 4th of July celebration (outside of the shootings of course). He's been a huge disappointment.

**seand** · 07-12-2012, 12:34 PM

Nutter was elected on supporting "stop and frisk" and smarter statistically targeted police deployments. The first has been declared unconstitutional (unfortunately) and the initial striking improvements we saw with the the latter have given way as the economy got worse and we are seeing property crimes spiral into robberies-become-accidental-homicides.

The things is homicides are in the city as a whole are up, but only very slightly. Is your issue with homicides in the city or with "homicides that I actually notice"? Because homicides in the city as a whole are not spiking, only seeing slight bump up.

I'd love to see the emergency zones Nutter originally proposed implemented, but after recent court decisions in NYC and here in Philadelphia (where our current sherriff was one of the plaintiffs), I don't see it happening.

**faceplanter** · 07-12-2012, 01:29 PM

Edit: I said something tangential, and don't want to threadjack this sad story.

**O.H. Lee** · 07-12-2012, 01:52 PM

When does a bump become a spike?

**seand** · 07-12-2012, 02:14 PM

Our homicide rate per population is roughly 6 times that of NYC which is shocking but more an indication of a deep seated, long term problems. Homicides are up 23% from last year but last year was around 60% of the heighths of the early 1990's.

I guess it depends on how you look at the trend. Look on the chart on this page and set it from 2008 till 2011. The overall trend is down clearly even if we are on an mild upswing lately.
Philadelphia Homicides 1988 - 2011 | Philadelphia Inquirer

The point is violence is spilling out of the areas we usually ignore it in these days, not that its had a dramatic increase compared to years in the not too distant past.

**seand** · 07-12-2012, 02:14 PM

PHP glitch. Double post.

**thoth** · 07-12-2012, 02:25 PM

Originally Posted by thesomersteam

My question is when will the Mayor comment on the local homicides in public ? Why the "lack of focus" on crime ? He sure is commenting on everything from a national persepctive such as the soda tax in NYC, Romney speaking in front of the NAACP, stating the Trayvon Martin murder an assasination... Would simply like to see more focus at home in regards to the assasinations that are taking place in Philly, and specifically with Mike Hagan.

I don't get what you're saying here. I don't think Nutter has dealt with crime radically differently than his predecessors, and a consistent part of all their strategies involves making tons empty speeches about getting "tough" on crime. Nutter has been no exception.

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I don't think more "comments" are what's needed here. Maybe actually altering policing strategies, like the seemingly short lived attempt at reintroducing foot patrols, might do something. Short term solutions are few and far between given that the real problem is an endemic lack of education or opportunity beyond the drug trade. If I was a hypothetical dictator of the US, and you asked me to lower the urban murder rate as quickly as possible, I would legalize drugs and introduce financial disincentives to have children for high school dropouts, criminals et al. Freakonomics makes a pretty compelling argument that birth rates amongst parents with high "risk factors" for raising delinquent children is unsurprisingly the greatest determinate in overall crime rates.

**Tartan69** · 07-12-2012, 06:55 PM

Originally Posted by thoth

I don't think Nutter has dealt with crime radically differently than his predecessors, and a consistent part of all their strategies involves making tons empty speeches about getting "tough" on crime. Nutter has been no exception.

While true, it doesn't make it acceptable.

Originally Posted by thoth

Maybe actually altering policing strategies, like the seemingly short lived attempt at reintroducing foot patrols, might do something. Short term solutions are few and far between given that the real problem is an endemic lack of education or opportunity beyond the drug trade. If I was a hypothetical dictator of the US, and you asked me to lower the urban murder rate as quickly as possible, I would legalize drugs and introduce financial disincentives to have children for high school dropouts, criminals et al. Freakonomics makes a pretty compelling argument that birth rates amongst parents with high "risk factors" for raising delinquent children is unsurprisingly the greatest determinate in overall crime rates.

Completely agree with you on all points here. Unfortunately there are a lot of people that would decry this as social engineering that is inarguably bad for certain demographics. Certainly there are also unintended consequences with every type of social engineering program, but some are far less risky than others.

**OffenseTaken** · 07-12-2012, 07:13 PM

Originally Posted by thoth

Freakonomics makes a pretty compelling argument that birth rates amongst parents with high "risk factors" for raising delinquent children is unsurprisingly the greatest determinate in overall crime rates.

Originally Posted by Tartan69

Completely agree with you on all points here. Unfortunately there are a lot of people that would decry this as social engineering that is inarguably bad for certain demographics. Certainly there are also unintended consequences with every type of social engineering program, but some are far less risky than others.

Something I find funny, and TBH a tad unfair: two young, hip writers for the NY Times can say this without much objection, while certain conservatives (Charles Murray, among others) argue the same thing and it ignites a mammoth sh¡tstorm of controversy.

**thoth** · 07-13-2012, 04:47 PM

Yeah since it is possible to connect my handle here with my real life identity, this is the part where I say that I don't actually advocate any of the above, I'm just speaking in hypotheticals.

I don't see why it's so controversial since we offer incentives for people to have children that are income based. I think taking income out of the equation and tying it to criminal records or failure to complete basic schooling (or GED) is actually less controversial, since you're not just targeting anyone that is poor. It also isn't forcing someone to do anything, just offering an incentive to NOT do something.

Originally Posted by OffenseTaken

Something I find funny, and TBH a tad unfair: two young, hip writers for the NY Times can say this without much objection, while certain conservatives (Charles Murray, among others) argue the same thing and it ignites a mammoth sh¡tstorm of controversy.