<p>Okay, it's good to know that he was not at Appletree after all. Thanks for the update!</p>
<p>
[quote]
the journalism student lived on 141st street
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Let this be a caveat emptor lesson to others. I always tell people who want a cheap place in Manhattan NOT to get a place in the ghetto. How much is saving a couple hundred bucks of rent worth to you?</p>
<p>I thought she lived near Covent Ave. in Hamilton Heights. That area is quite nice, actually, for its location. The guy apparently stalked her often and followed her home. It's not like he couldn't have done the same to anyone, anywhere in the city. </p>
<p>While crime often does correlate to dicrete parts of the city, I don't think this is one of those instances, necessarily. It probably had more to do with security in her building than anything else, though that might have been determined by the cheapness of her building/rent to some extent.</p>
<p>one of the few places in manhattan i would not live in under any circumstances is the neighborhood around 141st st and broadway, for a few blocks in either direction. that's where the wholesale drug deals go down, and shots are fired on a not-infrequent basis.</p>
<p>i live in harlem, but it's a nice part of harlem. some people attach labels to places and underrate areas, which is why i pay so little in rent for such a nice neighborhood, but there are definitely some spots that deserve every bit of bad rep.</p>
<p>I walk around the Columbia neighborhood regularly day or night and I always feel as safe as I do in any city. (I am a petite woman.) Crimes like these happen in cities, suburbs, rural areas, anywhere. It's not the victim's fault for choosing a particular address or for a momentary lapse in security. It is the criminal's fault. My prayers go out to the victim.</p>
<p>They caught the suspect. there's links somewhere.</p>
<p>did she become blind in one eye?</p>
<p>
[quote]
Columbia is an incredibly safe campus, and is in something like the third safest precinct in the city (the first is Central Park, and no one lives there).
[/quote]
I thought Central Park is notorious for crime after the sun goes down.</p>
<p>yeah, before about 1995. since then it's totally different. i can go running in the evenings and i'll literally see a cop car or cop scooter every few minutes. the only cars i see on the road are cops. there are outposts and booths everywhere.</p>
<p>the only rogue elements in the park at night are hobos just trying to find a peaceful place to sleep. they know if they cause trouble, they're likely in deep shiitake.</p>
<p>wow, NYC must have changed a lot since the ~ 12 years ago that I last visited.(I used to live in Kearny, NJ)</p>
<p>Does anyone know how the girl is doing? This is the saddest thing I have read in a while. Last week was a tough week.</p>
<p>this guy will likely spend the rest of his life in prison. Unfortunate for us in a way ... he was homeless and by the looks of it had little to lose. </p>
<p>The victim, on the other hand, has just had her life torn to shreds. I can't imagine the sheer emotional pain she will be going through, what happened to her was absolutely disgusting and a disgrace to humanity. I hope she can fight it out and finish her degree at Columbia. This will forever be a scar on her soul and she may never be the same again. How truly sad and frustrating. </p>
<p>This man doesn't care about what he did. Now he can at least have shelter for the rest of his life. Our prison system may actually be his gain. It's time's like this that I wish we used Hammurabi's (sp?) code for the justice system. </p>
<p>How terrible, just utterly terrible I feel for the victim.</p>
<p>At times like these, I wonder why anyone is still against capital punishment.</p>
<p>I think Bubba up in Sing Sing will do a fair impression of "[brown]eye for an eye".</p>