Pretty annoyed that I can travel the world and go through some pretty risky scenarios and still feel like it’s manageable, but yet when I come home to Halifax (I recently moved back after 10 years away), I’m terrified of the unpredictability of Clayton Park.
I’m pissed, I really want to be able to go to the pub at night and walk the 1 block to my house without thinking I’m going to get attacked or harassed by the bastards I see running around at night. What really worries me is the lady at the corner store always telling me to “stay out of trouble” (do I look like a drug addict or something??) or a recent event, two women got followed by some guys in a car that ended with a taxi driver getting stabbed. Wtf!
Maybe someone can clear the air for me, because after 10 years living in Vancouver I think it’s pretty pathetic I’m afraid to walk home at 2am from the pub… —Single White Female, Terrified to Walk Home
This article appears in Sep 8-14, 2011.
Single female?……is it only white chicks who should be terrified to walk home at 2 a.m.?
What about the rest of the female population? Why is your fat-white-ass special?
Cut out the last beer and cab it home or stay at home and invite the Winston Wingnuts to your house for the evening.
Clayton Park is just a part of CrimeView…err Fairview…has been for years
I wish that you weren’t terrified to walk home at night, but I also wish that you would never do it.
take a cab, or get a friend to walk you home,or leave a bit earlier when the streets are more crowded. there are probably other ideas that are reasonable too, try to find one the fits your situation.
Okay, at least you don’t live in Spryfield. Feel any better now?
I’m with Koda, I don’t like your sign-off of ‘single white female afriad….” does the fact that you’re white and female really mean you’re more at risk? Do women of color and men not have to worry about walking alone at night? I know alot more men who’ve been jumped late at night in halifax than I do women. Actually I don’t know ANY women who have. You say you’ve travelled the world…I don’t know if vancouver counts as” the world” but as someone who HAS been to more than 12 countries, I can say that walking alone in halifax sure beats walking alone in many other places. Random crime happens everywhere, you can’t expect it not to happen in halifax, especially if you picked a sketchy area to live in.
Clayton Park used to be a nice place to live. Now with all the subsidized housing it is turning into a “projects” type area. Try moving to a place where a higher percentage of people actually pay to live there.
I feel like people blow shit out of proportion. I understand the fear, but I just think that Halifax has this complex. Always quick to label an area a slum, hood or “ghetto” (god I hate how that word gets tossed around).
If it’s only a block away it should be a 5 dollar cab ride. If you’re that scared than 5 bucks shouldn’t be too much for you to spend on a cab. Problem solved.
Exactly what reason do you have to be afraid? Those “little bastards” you see running around? I used to be in the streets with my friends at night as a teen, we would never have dreamed of attacking a woman, or anybody for that matter, we just had nowhere to go.
I find it hard to believe that walking one block in Clayton Park is any less risky than walking one block downtown Vancouver. Why’d you come back again?
If I can offer you any advice it’s to watch your back, be alert, but don’t sweat it too much or you will look like a target and increase your chances of being fucked with.
I also agree with the rest of you, what does your whiteness have to do with anything? You’re just paranoid, I doubt that would change if you were male or of a different race.
I don’t get the impression that saying she’s a SWF is suggestive of anything more than her identity. I think this is a valid bitch and I also think there is often a whole lotta unkind and unwarranted presumption at times here – often guilty myself.
Bet you sure miss Kitsalano now? Having spent years in East Van, I can say neither here nor there is a place you shouldn’t watch your back or let your gaurd down. Just the flavor is different. Van= pretty car crime, desperate junkie crime. Hfx = group/swarming crime, and creepy/sensless/usually aclohol related stuff.
I’m with Snubiz.
Some of you guys are a little hairpin triggered for shit.
And by jumping all over her for that, you ignored the Bitch.
Meh. Happy Monday.
Hmmm… I lived in Clayton Park the first year I lived here… no problems walking home from the pub… I never even KNEW it was a ‘bad’ area!
To me it reeks of snobbishness, snubiz
To me it reeks of a movie title, used because a name is required for the Bitcher field.
“Single White Female”.
Hairpin trigger.
“Single White Female” – came in at #47 on “Wankers Away – The American Film Institute’s Top 100 Fap Flicks of the 20th Century” Giggity!
My interpretation too, wheelie. That’s the problem with text. Sometimes it’s hard to know whether the person is a douche or not.
TJ, I can see how one could think perhaps OP is somehow bragging about being a world traveler, but being anonymous, what would the point be? The bottom line here is that in some neighbourhoods, a person – any person – can’t go a block after dark without fear and there’s no denying – that sucks!
And she seems to be saying Van sucked too, but was never this afraid.
I still think sometimes people here are either too sensitive, or they are playing their online persona a bit too much.
I love my new hood where there always seems to be packs of people around, even if they are just drunk students, it makes me feel safe. Whether that sense of security is warranted or not I dun care, it’s how I feel and until something happens to change my mind, I’ll continue to feel safe :D. But then again, I don’t make a habit of walking around at night alone.
OP, 10 years in Vancouver and you move back here and walk? WTF. Buy a car.
Clayton Park isn’t a bad area, Rosie. Crime happens ALL over the city and it’s no better or worse in Clayton Park. Actually, I’d say it’s even better here.
I live in Clayton Park West, which, I’ll admit is a far better area than some of the shitholes that line Willett and Harlington, but I’ve never felt unsafe going out at night. I go out all the time ‘one block’ to the store down the street and feel perfectly safe.
This end of the city is literally the most boring neighbourhood ever, in comparison to some of the shit that goes on elsewhere.
PS: I *have* walked home late at night from the pub you’re speaking of by myself. It’s a 15-20 minute walk, and I felt perfectly safe.
Maybe you’re just a wimp, OP?
Here’s the thing. Random crime happens, but I’d say a good 95% of violent crime is not random. So no matter where you are, there’s really no sense worrying yourself about it, because it can happen to anyone at any time.
People in South End Halifax, and in outskirt semi rural communities have been assaulted or swarmed or whatever.
I spent the vast majority of my youth/adolescence in North End Dartmouth, outside, at night. We were definitely easy targets. I was jumped by 3 guys in Crichton Park when I was in grade 9. Crichton Park is one of the “nicer/safer” neighborhoods in Dartmouth, possibly HRM. I still have yet to run into any trouble in the areas that I frequent on a constant basis, which are supposed to be “bad” or “dangerous” areas. Point being random violence is random. You can be a at the wrong place at the wrong time no matter where you live.
Shit does happen. A friend of mine got jumped on Primrose a couple weeks ago (random). My friend Dave was found beaten to death by Harbourview elementary a couple years ago (not random). The label is there for a reason, but fear-mongers have made it seem like we’re living in Detroit or something. It just seems like people want to able to say “this place is bad”
Criminals live in densely populated areas because they’re cheap and because you can make more money as a criminal when you have more potential customers/victims close by. That’s really all there is to it.
What is it about Clayton Park that seems so much more Dangerous than where you living in Vancouver? I can’t imagine it could have been that much better, for the same price. Maybe you just don’t remember so many non-whites 10 years ago and that scares you? Maybe you’re just getting old and paranoid? I can’t imagine being scared to walk one block no matter what, even if I was a woman, come on. Is your place within eyeshot/earshot of the pub? I’m sure someone wouldn’t mind walking you home, or going outside for a smoke while you walk, so that if you scream they can hear you can get to you quickly.
I agree with PK, OP is just a wimp. I’d hate to see you in my neighborhood. I hate people like you.
you know what sweetthang, it’s the scum that live there, and not the place itself.i live on the lower end of evans, and have no trouble here. most fucking punks and assholes know they will die, if they fuck around my area. cops can’t do anything, but hey, i’m not a cop am i.anymore, that is.
and by the way, next time you wanna go home at 2 a.m., call me, i’ll put you up for the night, nyuk,nyuk.
Fuck clayton park!!! Who wants to live in an apartment building with a bunch of welfs anyway?
Clayton Park DOES extend past Willett, you bone brain!