Odd that Wikipedia states that Koreatown is one of the safest neighborhoods in Los Angeles. The most stressful thing about living in Koreatown (much more than the prevalent cigarette smoke) is the high crime rate.
Even though the Koreatown rapist has finally been caught, several other rapes have been reported in the past few months. If you look at the Megan’s Law website, sexual offenders who’ve committed unspeakable acts are living in this area more densely than anywhere else in the county. A young woman can’t walk down the street without being harassed by hoodlums who seem to hang out at intersections 24/7 for the sole purpose of saying crude things to passersby.
And the murders… Just when I was assuring myself that homicides were limited to middle-aged Koreans engaged in love triangles and drunk Korean men outside karaoke bars, we had the tragedy of Lily Burk, killed by Charles Samuel on July 24 and covered extensively by the mainstream media. (More Angelenos have heard of her name than of the fact that two dozen Asian and Latino women have been raped in Koreatown over a short period of time.)
As recently as August 28, there was another murder of a Korean-Chinese man, Ching Tseng, by a still unidentified Latino.
Everyday, we have at least two reported cases of robbery or theft or aggravated assault. Not all at night either. Even if you adjust for the fact that we’re the most densely populated district in Los Angeles, crimes are occurring at a frequency that’s awfully scary.
Take into account that the residents are very reticent of making any contact with law-enforcement agencies. For every woman who reported being raped, how many remained silent because of the shame that their culture associates with such a travesty?
Lo juro, as soon as I win the Mega Millions lottery, I am going to move out if only so that before I die I can get one good night of sleep that’s uninterrupted by police helicopters and sirens. I want to be able to walk out the door and not have to worry about being broken in or having a gun held to my head.
I went near the front to find more clues about the change… but a car violently swerved to park right in front of me. Scared the bejesus out of me. Sensed it was the owner not liking the fact that I was taking pictures, so I turned around quickly and hightailed it out of there.