Chester (PA) Mayor Puts City Under State of Emergency

[93henfan]

Damn place is a friggin' shooting gallery.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/break ... gency.html

Chester City's mayor put the small, struggling city of 37,000 under a state of emergency that started at 9 p.m. Saturday.

There have been four murders in eight days including that of a toddler killed by a bullet to his head. And, Saturday morning was the last straw - no heavier than the rest - just the last straw. Police found a young man dead, with an unknown number of bullet wounds...

...The starkly worded mayoral proclamation says "No person without a legitimate reason is allowed on any public street or in any other public place" between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.

No more than three people can gather without obtaining a city permit. No one on the 96-member police department can take a vacation day. All will be working 12-hour shifts, many of the city's beleaguered cops will work 16 hours a day....

[YoUDeeMan]

Chester...we should just round up everyone in that place and dump them in Arizona next to the Mexican border.

They would be closer to their drug supply and they could gun down any Mexicans trying to sneak across the border into their turf.

[bluehenbillk]

As someone who grew up right next to Chester (Media, PA), I can tell you this is of absolute zero surprise. Its actually only half in the news because the new soccer team in Philly is opening up next week I think with their 1st home game. Only a matter of time when you build a casino & a stadium in Chester that visitors are caught in the crossfire, then I guarantee you it'll be front-page if not national news.

[93henfan]

As someone who grew up right next to Chester (Media, PA), I can tell you this is of absolute zero surprise. Its actually only half in the news because the new soccer team in Philly is opening up next week I think with their 1st home game. Only a matter of time when you build a casino & a stadium in Chester that visitors are caught in the crossfire, then I guarantee you it'll be front-page if not national news.

I didn't grow up there, but I did work as a plant manager for a company in Aston for a year and a half in between my two stints with Uncle Sam. Most of my workforce was from Chester. This was back when unemployment was very low and it was tough to find people to work for $8/hr. I had some real gems working for me. We'd constantly get people playing welfare roulette who would get a job because they were forced to make an attempt and then they'd try to get terminated to collect unemployment. I kept pretty meticulous paperwork and was able to win several unemployment hearings.

The area was interesting too, to say the least. One night on the way home, someone threw what I think was a brick or large rock at my car on Bethel Rd, the one little section of Chester I had to drive through to get back to I-95. It hit the driver side of my car on the C pillar, so I'm confident they were trying to nail me in the head and just went wide right. I did not stop, for reasons obvious to anyone familiar with that neighborhood. Another night on the graveyard shift, I grabbed a coffee and decided to step outside to get some fresh air. All of a sudden I notice the floodlights on the company sign out by the entrance flickering. I took a closer look and there are two guys stealing the floodlights.

I do not miss that hellhole.

[GannonFan]

Of course, the odd thing being that Chester isn't that much worse than Philadelphia is.

I worked at a place in what's considered Kensington - we had bullet holes in the windows of the front lobby, and we often had trespassers on the rooftops trying to get into the building. We did have one guy who showed up on a Sunday on Father's Day, park his car near a tanker loading area, and was walking through the plant looking for anything he could use for an at-home meth lab. He was actually in his car when a valve malfunctioned and he got doused with sulfuric acid from one of the lines (went right through his open sunroof). He tried to drive away and had to stop a few blocks away due to the extreme pain he was in from the burns. Claims he was onsite for a job interview (we typically did those on holidays and on Sundays - ). Strange thing was, he tried suing us. Gotta make sure the plant is safe for trespassers.

Like 93, needless to say, glad I don't work in that hellhole anymore.

[93henfan]

Of course, the odd thing being that Chester isn't that much worse than Philadelphia is.

I dunno, GF. Philly had a really bad year a couple of years ago where they had 300 murders, IIRC. The city is roughly 1.5 million people, so that's a murder for every 5,000 people.

Chester has 37,000 people and 11 murders so far. That puts it on pace for 22 murders, or a murder for every ~1,700 people, three times as high as Philly's worst year in recent memory.

[93henfan]

Of course, the odd thing being that Chester isn't that much worse than Philadelphia is.

I worked at a place in what's considered Kensington - we had bullet holes in the windows of the front lobby, and we often had trespassers on the rooftops trying to get into the building. We did have one guy who showed up on a Sunday on Father's Day, park his car near a tanker loading area, and was walking through the plant looking for anything he could use for an at-home meth lab. He was actually in his car when a valve malfunctioned and he got doused with sulfuric acid from one of the lines (went right through his open sunroof). He tried to drive away and had to stop a few blocks away due to the extreme pain he was in from the burns. Claims he was onsite for a job interview (we typically did those on holidays and on Sundays - ). Strange thing was, he tried suing us. Gotta make sure the plant is safe for trespassers.

Like 93, needless to say, glad I don't work in that hellhole anymore.

Cool! We both worked in da hood. I tip my hat to you though. I'd take Chester over Kensington. I went on an interview with Coca-Cola up there and said thanks, but no thanks.

[bluehenbillk]

Both Chester & Philly are bad, but pound for pound Chester is the worst in the state of PA. I know 2 guys that I played sports with in HS with that were both killed in Chester. Great hoops team, but nothin else about it is great, other than leaving.

[GannonFan]

Of course, the odd thing being that Chester isn't that much worse than Philadelphia is.

I dunno, GF. Philly had a really bad year a couple of years ago where they had 300 murders, IIRC. The city is roughly 1.5 million people, so that's a murder for every 5,000 people.

Chester has 37,000 people and 11 murders so far. That puts it on pace for 22 murders, or a murder for every ~1,700 people, three times as high as Philly's worst year in recent memory.

I agree the murder rate is a little higher in Chester, but Philly had a high of over 400 murders in a year back in 2006. They've gotten better, which is good of course. But the other rates for other crimes are pretty even between the two.

[GannonFan]

Of course, the odd thing being that Chester isn't that much worse than Philadelphia is.

I worked at a place in what's considered Kensington - we had bullet holes in the windows of the front lobby, and we often had trespassers on the rooftops trying to get into the building. We did have one guy who showed up on a Sunday on Father's Day, park his car near a tanker loading area, and was walking through the plant looking for anything he could use for an at-home meth lab. He was actually in his car when a valve malfunctioned and he got doused with sulfuric acid from one of the lines (went right through his open sunroof). He tried to drive away and had to stop a few blocks away due to the extreme pain he was in from the burns. Claims he was onsite for a job interview (we typically did those on holidays and on Sundays - ). Strange thing was, he tried suing us. Gotta make sure the plant is safe for trespassers.

Like 93, needless to say, glad I don't work in that hellhole anymore.

Cool! We both worked in da hood. I tip my hat to you though. I'd take Chester over Kensington. I went on an interview with Coca-Cola up there and said thanks, but no thanks.

The plant I worked for was a block down from the Coca Cola plant - G and Erie. Yup, the place was a hole (and oddly, the two offers I was choosing between at the time was that plant and a smaller operation on the Chester waterfront right near where the old Ford display building was - I was in a no win scenario in terms of working in the hood).

[mainejeff]

Is Chester mostly white?

[GannonFan]

Is Chester mostly white?

Wiki reports that 78% of residents of Chester are African American, and 16% are White, as of 5 years ago.

[bluehenbillk]

I'd take the under & give you the 16%.......

[93henfan]

Is Chester mostly white?

It was until the 60s. It was a WWII boom town. My grandparents relocated from DE to Chester during WWII to work for Chrysler churning out tanks. My dad was born in Chester in 1945. They left shortly thereafter, returning to DE.

If you talk to any of the old timers around Chester, they remember it fondly as a very nice place before big industry left and white flight occurred. Like many of the northeast US ghettos, you can look at the architecture and parks and see where it would be beautiful if anyone had taken any pride and cared to keep it up.

[GannonFan]

Is Chester mostly white?

It was until the 60s. It was a WWII boom town. My grandparents relocated from DE to Chester during WWII to work for Chrysler churning out tanks. My dad was born in Chester in 1945. They left shortly thereafter, returning to DE.

If you talk to any of the old timers around Chester, they remember it fondly as a very nice place before big industry left and white flight occurred. Like many of the northeast US ghettos, you can look at the architecture and parks and see where it would be beautiful if anyone had taken any pride and cared to keep it up.

My calculus teacher from high school grew up in Chester back in the day - she often told stories about it. But yes, like any other US urban center, they've changed quite a bit in the past 30-40 years.

[YoUDeeMan]

Of course, the odd thing being that Chester isn't that much worse than Philadelphia is.

I worked at a place in what's considered Kensington - we had bullet holes in the windows of the front lobby, and we often had trespassers on the rooftops trying to get into the building. We did have one guy who showed up on a Sunday on Father's Day, park his car near a tanker loading area, and was walking through the plant looking for anything he could use for an at-home meth lab. He was actually in his car when a valve malfunctioned and he got doused with sulfuric acid from one of the lines (went right through his open sunroof). He tried to drive away and had to stop a few blocks away due to the extreme pain he was in from the burns. Claims he was onsite for a job interview (we typically did those on holidays and on Sundays - ). Strange thing was, he tried suing us. Gotta make sure the plant is safe for trespassers.

Like 93, needless to say, glad I don't work in that hellhole anymore.

Kensington...a long while back we had a ski trip bus stop there on the way up to New York. We had taken a wrong turn, it was dark, and a group of extremely nice guys actually tried to force the the bus to pull over and were banging on the side of the bus trying to get the cargo doors open. The bus driver said, "Hold on" blasted his horn and kept moving...he actually bumped a few of those whack jobs to get them out of the way. Seriously, who the hell tries to pull over and rob a moving bus?!?

[UNI88]

What's wrong with Kensington? I spent a summer living with some friends there while I was at UNI, it wasn't that rough of a neighborhood. Of course, I'm from Iowa so maybe I'm just tougher than you wimps.

[andy7171]

Only 4 murders? F'ing amateurs!

[Franks Tanks]

Damn place is a friggin' shooting gallery.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/break ... gency.html

Chester City's mayor put the small, struggling city of 37,000 under a state of emergency that started at 9 p.m. Saturday.

There have been four murders in eight days including that of a toddler killed by a bullet to his head. And, Saturday morning was the last straw - no heavier than the rest - just the last straw. Police found a young man dead, with an unknown number of bullet wounds...

...The starkly worded mayoral proclamation says "No person without a legitimate reason is allowed on any public street or in any other public place" between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.

No more than three people can gather without obtaining a city permit. No one on the 96-member police department can take a vacation day. All will be working 12-hour shifts, many of the city's beleaguered cops will work 16 hours a day....

In Chester this is known as Tuesday.


I love it when the news shows the people in the hood complaining that its so violent etc. Well hello its your kids, brother, cousins etc. that is causing the violence. Go bitch at them!

[andy7171]

Seriously, Baltimore had 22 shootings last weekend alone, and the police chief keeps talking about murders being down by 15% on the year, completely ignoring the fact we were buried in 36" of snow 3 weeks of the winter.

The Chester mayor needs to resign. Things could get a lot worse.

[93henfan]

Seriously, Baltimore had 22 shootings last weekend alone, and the police chief keeps talking about murders being down by 15% on the year, completely ignoring the fact we were buried in 36" of snow 3 weeks of the winter.

The Chester mayor needs to resign. Things could get a lot worse.

Before you compare head to head, you have to realize that Chester's population is 37,00 while Baltimore's is 637,000. So Chester's rate of 11 murders per 37,000 people so far this year would project to 189 murders so far this year in Baltimore. According to the Sun, the actual number so far this year for Baltimore is 92, so Chester is roughly twice the murder rate of Baltimore.

That being said, I'm not volunteering to walk alone at night in either place.

[93henfan]

Bump

Two for one special; one cop wounded for two criminals dead:
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/break ... _City.html

A police officer was shot in Chester during a violent encounter that has left at least one man dead Tuesday afternoon, police said.
Late Tuesday night, police sources said a second shooting victim had died.

Fifth homicide of the month: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20100 ... month.html

In a Chester neighborhood once known as the "Circle of Death" and on a street with the same name as a notorious drug gang, a 36-year-old man was found dead just hours after the last cars left Sunday's celebratory home opener for the Philadelphia Union.
The body of Keith Edmonds of Chester was discovered just after 11 p.m. in the Highland Park neighborhood, about a mile north of the riverfront stadium, on the city's west end.

[BDKJMU]

How far is the new Union stadium from UD? 30 min? Just think. When UD is getting their stadium upgraded, maybe they could move their games there. You could have tailgating in the hood