Crime and Pizza

Last night was a *really* good RadioStar session. We have our two new cast members on hand, and what a difference it makes having six performers instead of four. We knew that three wasn't enough, and five felt nice. But six is the bomb. It helps that our two new recruits are super-groovylicious, too.

I probably should have been editing one of the episodes tonight, but this turned into a lost evening for me. I was going to go into Berkeley for a reading, but everyone I was going to go with bailed out and I really wasn't in the mood for anything but going home and hibernating... so I did.

What's odd, is that around 9 I decided I was hungry (having not eaten dinner yet) so I went online to Extreme Pizza and ordered something yummy. I get a call back from them, saying that they don't deliver to my area anymore after dark. I'm in a "kill zone" for them and they can't make the drivers come to this neighborhood.

What the fuck is that all about?

They *used* to come out here. I mean, it's been a while since I ordered from them, but the neighborhood hasn't gotten any more dangerous since then. I mean, seriously, this isn't International Boulevard here. This isn't the projects. We're on the edge of downtown next to the lake. This is not a high crime area.

But apparently we're too high crime for them. I don't know where in Oakland they do go. Maybe they only go to Piedmont.

Know how many homicides there have been in this zip code since January? Zero. Manslaughter? Zero. Assault and Battery? Seventy one. Ok, that's a bit high. I mean, shit! When I map them out, they've got one incident (or batch of incidents) right next to me, but most of it is north of Broadway.

Burglary, Theft, and Robbery... Two Hundred and Thirty Four incidents. As might be imagined, that's all over the place. That includes vehicle theft and break ins as well as apartment robberies and the like. There's even an "impersonate with intent to rob" in there. That's kind of interesting.

The thing with this system is that you can see where all the crimes are happening... which means if you're looking for dealers, you can just check out and see where people are getting hit for carrying. That's the zone, but watch your back. Looking for a streetwalker? Looks like they work San Pablo and around Telegraph and Broadway. I've never actually seen a streetwalker around here before a few nights ago. Nobody wears that little around here, in this freaking cold and wet weather, unless they're selling something. I felt miserable for her. I'm curious, though, what the difference is between the many eight counts of "disorderly conduct: prostitution" and "loiter:intent:prostitution". I mean, the loiter I understand, but were the others out yelling in the street? I suppose if you're soliciting, you're engaging in disorderly conduct. If you're waiting for a john to make the move, then you're loitering. And apparently, a brothel is now called "a disorderly house". I thought a Frat was a disorderly house....

All this stuff is on Oakland's CrimeWatch page. It's fascinating, if not terribly useful in helping you sleep at night.

So, maybe I can see why they won't bring me pizza, even though the vast majority of robberies take place several blocks from here.

Cowards.