Comments on: How Entrepreneurship Can Help Rethink College Park http://rethinkcollegepark.net/blog/2009/1053/ Helping imagine a great college town for a great university Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:30:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: jeuill http://rethinkcollegepark.net/blog/2009/1053/comment-page-1/#comment-171742 jeuill Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:02:22 +0000 http://rethinkcollegepark.net/blog/?p=1053#comment-171742 What is all this talk about crime? Is it that bad in College Park? I never knew. Do we have practical expectations of the amount of crime an urban suburb of a major city? There is crime in and around all densely populated urban areas. Look at NYC, L.A., Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Miami. I think a company would be foolish to only locate itself where the crime rate was sufficiently low (rural areas). Who's going to commute to those far away places? It doesn't work. If that was the norm, there would be no city center. Just sprawled out office parks wasting land. I think Clay is right. The cost to run the business is more important than the cost to protect employees from violent crimes. Furthermore, the presence of businesses deter crime as there are more people around and more security measures to make their employees safe. As in cameras on the street and in parking areas, lighting, etc. What is all this talk about crime? Is it that bad in College Park? I never knew. Do we have practical expectations of the amount of crime an urban suburb of a major city? There is crime in and around all densely populated urban areas. Look at NYC, L.A., Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Miami. I think a company would be foolish to only locate itself where the crime rate was sufficiently low (rural areas). Who’s going to commute to those far away places? It doesn’t work. If that was the norm, there would be no city center. Just sprawled out office parks wasting land. I think Clay is right. The cost to run the business is more important than the cost to protect employees from violent crimes. Furthermore, the presence of businesses deter crime as there are more people around and more security measures to make their employees safe. As in cameras on the street and in parking areas, lighting, etc.

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]]> By: Albert Wavering http://rethinkcollegepark.net/blog/2009/1053/comment-page-1/#comment-171437 Albert Wavering Wed, 17 Jun 2009 21:29:43 +0000 http://rethinkcollegepark.net/blog/?p=1053#comment-171437 It's not so much that small companies don't mind violence - sometimes they just have to deal with these circumstances because they cannot afford to move to a nicer area until they have established revenues. In other cases, the company may exist solely on the (safer) College Park campus without having to venture into College Park. However, as the companies grow and look to find a larger offices, which they may build or move into, they will not remain in College Park. The startup companies, and the capital investments they make will not be in College Park because of the threat (be it real or perceived) that investment in College Park is riskier due to the high crime rate. Perhaps "specter of violence" is too strong a term - although I believe there is a common perception that College Park is a dangerous town. Check the front page of the Diamondback - an alumnus was robbed last Saterday at knifepoint. From the Prince George's County crime logs, you can see that there are a smattering of muggings, robberies, and break-ins along the Route 1 corridor and along the perimeter of the UMD campus. Clay, it is good to see that you do not feel that College Park is overly threatened by violence. I myself have never felt threatened on the UMD campus or in College Park. Even though the risk of actually being a victim in such a crime is low, the perception of a city as "dangerous" can still be enough to deter capital investment in office space and retail. From a Police Foundation research brief: "While crime is a major problem in many cities, citizen fear of crime often exceeds the actual risk of being victimized. This fear produces a fortress mentality among residents. It makes citizens suspicious of one another and erodes the sense of community upon which neighborhood life depends. Ultimately, it can result in urban decay and flight from our cities." By reducing crime, the City can encourage growth because developers will be more inclined to build office space on College Park. The increase in supply of office space supply would decrease costs, making offices more affordable for University startups. It is a chicken and egg problem with three variables - crime rate, businesses growth, and development rate, which perhaps explains why the pieces have not come together yet. I am totally unqualified to talk about crime-reduction strategies. From what I have read, increasing police/citizen interaction, as well as increasing the visibility of the police force can decrease crime rates and increase citizen confidence. That seems fairly straightforward. Of course, if it were that simple, no city would have to worry about crime. I doubt that a solution to the problem of crime can be reduced to a blog post. Crimes occur for a variety of reasons, are perpetrated by a variety of offenders, and have different victims. Perhaps we need someone like Shadow Hare (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Da1ADqPplQ4). Here are some recent reports on UMD and business creation: http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/uniini/release.cfm?ArticleID=1911 http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/uniini/release.cfm?ArticleID=1913 It’s not so much that small companies don’t mind violence – sometimes they just have to deal with these circumstances because they cannot afford to move to a nicer area until they have established revenues. In other cases, the company may exist solely on the (safer) College Park campus without having to venture into College Park. However, as the companies grow and look to find a larger offices, which they may build or move into, they will not remain in College Park. The startup companies, and the capital investments they make will not be in College Park because of the threat (be it real or perceived) that investment in College Park is riskier due to the high crime rate.

Perhaps “specter of violence” is too strong a term – although I believe there is a common perception that College Park is a dangerous town. Check the front page of the Diamondback – an alumnus was robbed last Saterday at knifepoint. From the Prince George’s County crime logs, you can see that there are a smattering of muggings, robberies, and break-ins along the Route 1 corridor and along the perimeter of the UMD campus.

Clay, it is good to see that you do not feel that College Park is overly threatened by violence. I myself have never felt threatened on the UMD campus or in College Park. Even though the risk of actually being a victim in such a crime is low, the perception of a city as “dangerous” can still be enough to deter capital investment in office space and retail. From a Police Foundation research brief:

“While crime is a major problem in many cities, citizen fear of crime often exceeds the actual risk of being victimized. This fear produces a fortress mentality among residents. It makes citizens suspicious of one another and erodes the sense of community upon which neighborhood life depends. Ultimately, it can result in urban decay and flight from our cities.”

By reducing crime, the City can encourage growth because developers will be more inclined to build office space on College Park. The increase in supply of office space supply would decrease costs, making offices more affordable for University startups. It is a chicken and egg problem with three variables – crime rate, businesses growth, and development rate, which perhaps explains why the pieces have not come together yet.

I am totally unqualified to talk about crime-reduction strategies. From what I have read, increasing police/citizen interaction, as well as increasing the visibility of the police force can decrease crime rates and increase citizen confidence. That seems fairly straightforward. Of course, if it were that simple, no city would have to worry about crime. I doubt that a solution to the problem of crime can be reduced to a blog post. Crimes occur for a variety of reasons, are perpetrated by a variety of offenders, and have different victims. Perhaps we need someone like Shadow Hare (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Da1ADqPplQ4).

Here are some recent reports on UMD and business creation:

http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/uniini/release.cfm?ArticleID=1911

http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/uniini/release.cfm?ArticleID=1913

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]]> By: Clay Gump http://rethinkcollegepark.net/blog/2009/1053/comment-page-1/#comment-171415 Clay Gump Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:08:58 +0000 http://rethinkcollegepark.net/blog/?p=1053#comment-171415 I personally do not feel that a specter of violence hangs over College Park. I think a larger obstacle would be a lack of affordable office space. I personally do not feel that a specter of violence hangs over College Park. I think a larger obstacle would be a lack of affordable office space.

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]]> By: FormerTerp http://rethinkcollegepark.net/blog/2009/1053/comment-page-1/#comment-171352 FormerTerp Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:57:15 +0000 http://rethinkcollegepark.net/blog/?p=1053#comment-171352 Please explain why companies do not mind the specter of violence when they are small, but become concerned about it when they grow larger. Please also share what you would do to reduce crime. Please explain why companies do not mind the specter of violence when they are small, but become concerned about it when they grow larger.

Please also share what you would do to reduce crime.

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