"You need to carry a baseball bat." William, 83 and ¾

My grandfather came into the city this week and took me out to lunch.*

A well-known drug distribution hangout-place (Really, I watch the Wire and don’t know what these spots are called?) is kitty-corner from my office. On the way back from lunch, dropping me off at work, Granp mentioned the baseball bat. He says people won’t mess around with a woman carrying a baseball bat.

I don’t think I’ll be testing his theory. I figure if someone really wants to mug me, they can have what I’ve got. Since I’m not entering into any sort of business arrangements with the guys on the corner, I probably don’t need to worry too much about the necessity of a baseball bat, which realistically wouldn’t protect me much from a knife or a gun anyways.

I say hi to the guys selling illegal stuff as I walk by every day. The other day one told me my hair was a pretty color. I said thanks and he hit the crosswalk button for me. It was a pleasant enough exchange I suppose.

It’s fascinating, how what one person calls a bad neighborhood is another person’s lovely home. I’ve heard countless times in my office, “don’t be alone here at night, don’t walk to your car late by yourself,” etc., etc., etc….But my friend Bethany lives 3 blocks away, and our friend Claire lives up the street from her, and Shai lives 6 blocks over and loves it.

So I thought I’d look at the crime stats, the murder ones. Just for comparison of the two cities I love most, Baltimore has had 2 murders so far this year, and last year had a total of 282. (One more reason to love Baltimore: Anna Ditkoff’s Murder Ink .)

Seattle has also had 2 this year that I could find. One in the lower Rainier Valley: A 14 year old boy was killed yesterday on Rose Street. And on Jan. 3rd, a 17 year old boy was killed in Lower Queen Anne.

It took me a while to find this info, let me tell you…does the Times even have a crime section? If you look at the online headings, it’s not an option. What does this fall under, exactly? Local news? I mean, we’ve got a Seahawks blog but no crime blog? What is this about?

The SPD has this lovely page tracking crime stats. But its most recent stats are from October 2007.

Then I found Seattle Crime Blog, but its murder section actually seems to have more info on crimes involving Seattleites in other places – Amanda Knox in Italy for example.

I think Laura Onstot needs to do a Murder Ink-like column for Seattle Weekly. She’s done a couple good pieces on crime issues recently.

*N.B.: the hi spot is fantastic. Granp says the sausage alone is worth waking up before noon. He’s normally a 2 p.m. riser.