Somethings will never change?

As the days and weeks pass by, I am all of a sudden finding my self caught in the middle of what is a town problem. Heck! it's not even my own neighborhood that I personally reside in yet I find myself brainstorming profusely as if I am solving a rigorous algebraic equation.

What to do? What can be done? And what is there to be done so that youth and gang violence can be put into a halt? Maybe I underestimated the job of a reporter, and undermined that the role is in fact challenging.
The closer my deadline approaches, the more I am beginning to get the impression that those people in office are just 'too busy' to care. They don't care about these social issues that we all have. But then, that's a wrong assumption to make because they wouldn't have ran for office if they didn't care right? Their whole job is to care and to be the difference maker, but where is the love? Where is the difference?

A friend of mine read my latest blog about evolving and being involved and he made a very good point. A point that hit close to home. He said, "Somethings will never change." He explained to me how some things are just that. "It is what it is." He pointed out that if they do in fact spend some revenue for after school youth activities, safe places, etc for the young at risk people of BV/HP, are they going to really go? Sure some of them might go, but what about the other half? - A very valid point. Who's to say that kids will go and participate at the programs that I have been screaming my head off about? Maybe with some parental involvement? But what if they are a child of a single parent who holds two jobs? They're obviously too busy and too tired to notice or supervise what their children are getting themselves into.

So now were back to square one. I have to go back and re-think and re-evaluate. What can we do as a community to help stop the rise in youth violence? What is making these children crazy?
I really wish that some lawmakers will get back to me, maybe we can brainstorm together. Afterall two heads are better than one right?
Maybe the change has to come from within. Perhaps we should print a big mural of Mahatma Ghandi's quote, "Be the change you want to see in the world." But if we don't want to change then, well, maybe that is just the way it is. Somethings are destined not to change. After all us Americans thrive on drama, violence and suspense. Things will never be the same.

Evolving in involvement.

There had been many talks about how some people and residents feel about the current renovations that the district has been going through. New housing projects are being built (right along Third Street) to compliment the new T-train line that Muni has built on the busy Third Street intersection hoping to attract many more people to break the mythical fear about the Bayview/ Hunters Point District's bad rep.

"Cultural/Retail destination" is the goal that many city lawmakers hope to get as a result of all the money being spent to 'clean up' the neighborhood, but the reality of it is that regardless of how high-tech savvy the place may look, the busier it gets, and regardless of how much money they generate from the projects, the often forgotten youth of the neighborhood are still lost, bored and left with nothing to do.

With all the new small businesses going up and housing developments being celebrated about, they are giving the youth all the more reason to vandalize and tag the walls of these freshly painted buildings. After all that, the small business owners would still have to come off the pocket to repaint the damage and so on and so forth.. I wonder why city law makers do not spend enough money towards youth interest.
Or, at least do something that will show these 'bad ass' kids that someone and or that the city does care about them and they're well being, instead thousands and thousands of money are going towards their incarceration. But is it really because city law makers don't care?? Maybe because these bad ass kids or gang members are not they're children, maybe that's just the way it is, or perhaps they just don't know any better. Why should they care? They aren't the ones being victimized, and after all they don't have to live next door to these so called 'hoodlums'.

So what can we do as a community to save these troubled youth? Aside from the fact that these children are the future, the whole thing is a ball of rubber bands waiting to unravel. Everyone is connected to each other and one youth's action is reflected towards the whole community.
Like the saying goes, "It takes a whole village to raise a child," I think its appropriate to think that the same apply to our neighborhoods. Solutions we can think of to better improve the lack of guidance in the home, and have more community programs after school are all lacking thanks to the recession monster. But somehow, someway new buildings are being built... well someones done some hard work to fund that project. So why can't we do the same for the youth.
We need more youth outreach programs, more parent involvement in school and parents need to get involved in their children's lives. Anyone can just be a parent, but not just anyone can be a mother or a father. Let's get involved and evolve.

Bayview's Bad rep

Located in the extreme southeastern part of San Francisco, Ca. Bayview/ Hunterspoint clearly holds a reputation of having bored youth, bad crimes, bad neighborhood, just plain bad everything.
The 5.516 square miles radius over the main route of Third Street houses many families of color, and other minorities. But, don't let the city's color fool you. Bayview Hunterspoint in the recent years is also home to some White people, which ultimately can be surprising.

When I first chose the BV/HP district to cover, I remember people saying, "Oh my gosh. aren't you scared? That is a bad neighborhood!" I think that I heard so many negative comments of how bad the place is, I started to get scared and re-consider my options. Luckily the reporter in me kicked in right away! I loved a good challenge, and I thought to my self, what better neighborhood to cover than BV/HP? It was clear that people hold a negative assumption of the district, so I thought why not see for myself what the commotions and bad talks are all about.

Ah.. but that wasn't the only factor that discouraged me at first- there was the popular comment that, "People aren't going to want to speak with you. Plus most of them are ghetto, black people are rude!" Surprisingly, and thank goodness, I haven't approached such a person who does not want to talk to me or was 'ghetto' looking or acted 'ghetto'. Besides, what is ghetto anyway? What makes a person ghetto?

The people (that's right, the residents of BV/HP are PEOPLE. not violent, ghetto juveniles) there are quite friendly, and easy to approach. They love to talk (sometimes too much than what I need) about their life, experiences etc. Sure, some of them are scary to look at, at first but after you get to know the people within the neighborhood and set your pride and stereotypes aside- it is without a doubt that Bayview is just as similar as the other districts in the city of San Francisco. Sure, they have problems, and issues. Kids and youth get into trouble, crimes happen but what neighborhood is perfect anyway?

I think that the assumption and the rep of Bayview being bad ultimately comes from the people having fear of the people of color. I must admit, that I myself thought (at first, especially after driving down Third Street and Shafter Ave.) that it was a black neighborhood- but it's not. The place is diverse, full of culture and thriving. In fact, people here are beautiful, bold, and not just black but also White, Mexican and Asian. So the next time you drive down this neighborhood, you may want to add some color in your presumption. Not all black is bad, and not all of Bayview/ Hunterspoint is bad.