Come on Bob. I'm from Fresno and still have all my family there. It's not as bad as you make it out to be. We go there quite frequently.In Cal. Central Valley where the latino, black, hmong, and biker gangs run rampant, and bodies are found in the orchards and irrigtion ditches on a weekly basis . Just where does one place the teen/ twenty something dudes that dare you to not step asside when they are coming toward you ? I had quite a few occations where my wife and I crossed the street rather than go by them especially when it starts to get dark.
Too True about Chicago! I grew up in suburban Chicago and they wear their attitude. Maybe it's because they look down upon anybody 100 miles west and south of the city. Champaign-Urbana is like "Little Chicago" since so many ex-Chicagoans have moved here. But the lack of manners doesn't fly here, so they give that up with the locals. Still, all of the other attitudes have crept in. They moved here to get away from Chicago, but they have turned the newer neighborhoods into the same suburbia, with all of the Homeowner Association caveats--can't do this, can't do that, we have to approve of your kid's swingset when you set it up, stuff like that.
You know Mary, Just one example ... Our son and his family lived in an apartment complex just ONE block from Fresno State while going to school. Last year, quite a few gang members started to move into the complex. His car was trashed twice with grafity and keyed all over. His wife and kids were told to move out by gang babes. Their apartment was brocken into twice and furniture,TV , his school computer, toys, and food stolen and other items strewn all over. Police were notified each time and nothing was done. They moved 5 miles away to a gated apartment complex last August. I can go on and on.
