July 4th Riot

[EastSideResider]

I will admit beforehand that this statement might make people mad, but o well .

I was listening to someone refer to Independence HS as a place where nobody should send their kid. Then on the other hand you take a school like Myers Park (or Providence, S. Meck, N. Meck, Butler, Hopewell) and everyone just [practically] praises them.

My point is how fast some people can stereotype a school by race. My daughter has a friend at butler and I have heard all of the crimes there. When she walks down the hallways, she occasionally smells smoke, there are always small brawls between students, and occasionally large ones. There has been one girl tasered there already and NONE of this is in the media. Then you go to say... Berry (or W. Meck, W. Charlotte, Independence, etc.) and the littlest thing happens and it is made a huge deal. Why? Because these schools have high black populations.

There have been more crimes at Butler than Independence, but everyone still has the same views because of the demography of the school. But in reality, anything can happen at any school, and some of the stereotyped schools aren't bad at all [while these "good" schools aren't as good as everyone thinks]

[dubone]

Are the 7/4/05 issues keeping anyone from going to the square to watch New Year's fireworks? The last few years I have gone, and it has been a lot of fun. (But it is most fun to not get shot).

[monsoon]

They would not stop me, but I don't stay up that late anymore.

[Neo]

Are the 7/4/05 issues keeping anyone from going to the square to watch New Year's fireworks? The last few years I have gone, and it has been a lot of fun. (But it is most fun to not get shot).

Absolutely. After seeing a thug light a firecracker and throw it into a dense crowd of people (including families with baby strollers) I absolutely refuse to attend any July 4th event in Charlotte until security is tightened greatly. The sad thing is that I went downtown this past weekend and there was a marathon of sorts going on. There were police every few feet for the marathon yet we can't get that type of involvement by the CMPD for events like July 4th downtown. No thanks.

[dubone]

Absolutely. After seeing a thug light a firecracker and throw it into a dense crowd of people (including families with baby strollers) I absolutely refuse to attend any July 4th event in Charlotte until security is tightened greatly. The sad thing is that I went downtown this past weekend and there was a marathon of sorts going on. There were police every few feet for the marathon yet we can't get that type of involvement by the CMPD for events like July 4th downtown. No thanks.

I think the army of police is now in effect because of the 7/4/05 issues. They created a new center city police division, and I think they now proactively put large numbers of police out for events, including Bobcats game, marathons, etc. They will certainly be out in full force for New Years and next summer's July 4th fireworks.

I don't blame you for staying away, though, I'm sure that was very traumatic to see.

We wouldn't have much crime at all if we all had metro's bedtime .

For some reason when I was growing up New Years was always "Yay, Happy New Year... now go to bed kids." . So you can bet I stay up as late as I can for New Years now .

[krazeeboi]

If I'm in the area for New Year's, I do plan to be in Uptown for a spell.

[DigitalSky]

Are the 7/4/05 issues keeping anyone from going to the square to watch New Year's fireworks? The last few years I have gone, and it has been a lot of fun. (But it is most fun to not get shot).

What a lot of people are doing I hear is going to SouthPark's parking deck to watch the fireworks from there since there's an unobstructed view of uptown.

[krazeeboi]

I can't believe some of the same old nonsense that happened last year happened this year as well. Well, I guess I'll get to see various news stations replay the clips over and over for about 2 weeks--and compare them with what happened last year, so they'll throw those clips in as well. Some people have absolutely no respect for themselves and for others.

[monsoon]

I am surprised it has happened again. Riots, melee's, violence, etc on Tryon street.

It's starting to appear that downtown Charlotte is not the place that decent people would want to go on July 4th as like last year, and despite promises from Police, we have had a repeat of last year's violence. It's on the front page of the paper this morning and of course WSOC ('shows only crime) is making a big deal out of it on their 5 minute capsule news that comes on Good Morning America. I wonder if all 3 stations will run this as their lead 6pm story?

Were any of you guys there?

[peaceloveunderstanding]

It looks like 4 people were shot uptown last night (or very early this morning).

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/9468561/detail.html

1 during the melee and 3 later.

I don't blame most people for wanting to stay in the suburbs, away from the violent riffraff. They haven't released any info on the makeup of the crowd, but it looks like from pictures that it's the same crowd from last year.

[Charlotte_native]

We wached the show from Jackson Avenue -- a little dead end street that terminates at 277 about 3 blocks or so from Memorial Stadium -- from that vantage point it was a great show -- great mix of poeple there from the neighborhood, from the Belmont neighborhood, and from Elizabeth. Great crowd, glad we weren't downtown though. They gotta get that under control...

[guy4charlotte]

ummmm....ok who was supposed to be in charge of arranging the transport for the rowdy post-fireworks gangstas and hooligans to Ft Mill? Looks like somebody REALLY dropped the ball on this one!

[RestedTraveler]

I'll take the fireworks at Lake Wylie any day over getting in the middle of a riot or being shot.

[voyager12]

It does not sound like there were any major problems in Uptown to me. In any relatively large city you are going to have some idiots that will cause problems. There was no major violence. I think the media is making a mountain out of a molehill.

[Southernyank]

It looks like 4 people were shot uptown last night (or very early this morning).

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/9468561/detail.html

1 during the melee and 3 later.

I don't blame most people for wanting to stay in the suburbs, away from the violent riffraff. They haven't released any info on the makeup of the crowd, but it looks like from pictures that it's the same crowd from last year.

wait, im confused. how many people were actually shot. the article headline states, "Triple Shooting," then the article goes on to only describe two people that were shot. when was the first shooting you're referring to?

[monsoon]

Does it really matter? One shooting in an uptown crowd is going to be enough for most people.

[nmcheese]

It's a bit of a stretch to link this to the Fireworks display, as it happened a good 5 hours after the show ended.

Even though I picked a sub optimal vantage point, I thought it was a good 4th of July celebration uptown - lots of people lining the streets and surface lots in 1st/2nd wards - most of whom were probably at home and asleep well before this incident occurred - not that the news won't scare some of those people anyway - that seems to be their job these days.

[monsoon]

It's a bit of a stretch to link this to the Fireworks display, as it happened a good 5 hours after the show ended.

Actually the first arrests for violence started at 10:30 pm right after the show ended.

[voyager12]

I am confused. The Observer site is not reporting multiple shootings.

[ElricSeven]

It does not sound like there were any major problems in Uptown to me. In any relatively large city you are going to have some idiots that will cause problems. There was no major violence. I think the media is making a mountain out of a molehill.

I would hesitate to describe two or three shootings as a "molehill."

[SmellyCat]

Once more: "It appears as if the problems began well after most people left the uptown area."

The show ended well before 10pm and from my rooftop perch, it appeared most of the crowd had emptied from uptown by 10:30. These were probably just a bunch of troublemaking stragglers who were on a mission to cause havoc.

Of course the uptown-naysaying, pro-cul-de-sac folks will go to town on this one and make it into the '65 Watts riots.

[monsoon]

Once more: "It appears as if the problems began well after most people left the uptown area."

The show ended well before 10pm and from my rooftop perch, it appeared most of the crowd had emptied from uptown by 10:30. These were probably just a bunch of troublemaking stragglers who were on a mission to cause havoc.

Of course the uptown-naysaying, pro-cul-de-sac folks will go to town on this one and make it into the '65 Watts riots.

The entire justification for spending literally billion's (mostly in tax money) to create a downtown entertainment district is so that people will stay after events and enjoy the nightlife boosters want to create. If this violence, including gunfire, is irrelevant because people simply abandon downtown after a major event is correct, then it would seem that downtown boosters promises have not come true.

In anycase I don't think the pro-cul-de-sac folks really care. It's the ones buying $1/2million condos that should be sweating this out.

[jednc]

I hate to say this...and it will undoubtedly get a lot of negative feedback, but I'm never afraid to call a spade a spade. It looks to me like Charlotte came up with the exact oposite plan that they should have to try and keep uptown safe this year. Instead of having more busses on hand to clear out the people from uptown, they should have stopped bus service into uptown hours (if not all day) before the event. Instead of getting them out of town quickly afterwards, the focus should have been on keeping them out of town to begin with.

Clearly this wouldn't have prevented all the trouble makers from getting there...but I'd be willing to use that as a starting place.

[cinco]

we watched the show from independence park. i thought the fireworks display was one of the best in recent memory. we we're surrounded by people having a great time and the police presence was everywhere. of course, we did notice a couple of idiots in cars shooting fireworks @ one another in traffic, but in a crowd that large there is always a few of those.

it is unfortunate that someone felt they had to take their gun to a fireworks display... i just hope that whoever was hurt was not an innocent bystander.

[eastsider]

From the WSOC website:

In the story Triple Shooting In Uptown Overnight, they report that three people were shot around 3am at Fontana and Whisnant Sts (which they fail to mention is not in uptown). The victims then drove to Graham & 10th where police were called.

This has nothing to with the fireworks uptown and was quite irresponsible of those who decided to make it sound as such. That leaves one shooting with a minor injury that happened after midnight, hours after the show was over.