<p>There was a carjacking at Penn on April 16 that ended with the carjacker shot dead by the police, one pedestrian run over and several wrecked cars. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/pa/main_line_delaware/20070417_Penn_officer_fatally_shoots_campus_carjacking_suspect.html[/url]”>http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/pa/main_line_delaware/20070417_Penn_officer_fatally_shoots_campus_carjacking_suspect.html</a></p>
<p>This was the first time ever a Penn policeman actually had to kill someone, but it makes you realize that the problems of the city are there lurking at the edge of Penn and every once in a while they cross over. </p>
<p>The murder rate is way up (Philly now has as many murders as NYC which has 5 times the population) and Philadelphia has the highest poverty rate of any major US city:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/01/eveningnews/main2635629.shtml[/url]”>http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/01/eveningnews/main2635629.shtml</a></p>
<p>I don’t want to scare anyone but you do have to be aware of your surroundings.</p>
<p>That carjacker was an idiot. Traffic is terrible here, he’d never get away.</p>
<p>Most of the Poverty and Crime in Philly is also pretty far away from Penn, and not encroaching on University City, but instead encroaching on the neighborhood where I grew up :).</p>
<p>Murders don’t matter much either - innocent people rarely get shot.</p>
<p>well, innocent people rarely get shot by the police…</p>
<p>by others, now, that’s a whole different story.</p>
<p>This is what was in the DP yesterday:</p>
<p>"And while Penn seems relatively unaffected by the rise in Philadelphia murders - there were only two within its patrol zone last year - the Division of Public Safety is still worried.</p>
<p>“We are concerned about the level of violence,” Vice President of Public Safety Maureen Rush said.</p>
<p>“What we see is a huge amount of violent crime, a surge of violent crime all around our borders” that could potentially spill over into Penn’s campus if the situation worsens, Rush said."</p>
<p>I think that’s a fair summary - generally what you said was right but say 1 or 2 % of murders involve innocent bystanders - stray bullets, muggings gone wrong, etc. At some point the murder level in the rest of Phila. may be high enough that it will affect the Penn campus once in a while. Murders are just the tip of the iceberg - for every murder there are dozens of robberies, car theft, mugging, etc. I don’t know what you call “far away” - there are some pretty funky parts of Philly (say Mantua) that are like a mile from campus. I realize most criminals are lazy and just mug their neighbors but every once in a while one like the carjacker gets ambitious and decides to take a bus or a walk to campus.</p>
<p>Did Percy get waitlisted or something?</p>
<p>I’d hardly call Penn a scene straight out of a GTA game…</p>
<p>Actually in the DP comments on the pileup (did you see the really cool picture of the three cars on top of each other?) someone said something to the effect of “how fast was that guy going? - I can’t even get cars to do that in GTA”</p>
<p>Not waitlisted. I don’t mean to discourage anyone but this really happened - it’s not like I’m making it up.</p>
<p>Haha, Percy, you’re an incredible tool. I hope you get into Penn so I can make fun of you in person.</p>
<p>maybe well get lucky, and (s)he’ll be an albino</p>
<p>We wouldn’t want to amke it too easy now</p>
<p>You’ll have no problem spotting me immediately - I’ll be wearing a Penn T-shirt, jeans and sneakers. Just yell out “Percy” when you see me.</p>
<p>what if your boyfriend hears us</p>
<p>Oh mengcheng, you are my most favored protege. Well played.</p>
<p>Mengcheng, you’re just making excuses 'cause you’re afraid that your boyfriend will hear you.</p>
<p>I’d say Venkat is worse - it sounds like the name of an odor free kitty litter box - " Try new Venkat, the ventilated cat box!"</p>
<p>at least i don’t have skivins, the worst std of them all</p>