The streets of Broad Ripple Proper, up around the strip, teem every weekend night with tipsy, fat-walleted prey, and where there is prey, there are predators.
My favorite part of the article was the idea to "enforce the curfew", like juvenile Sumdood was going to go out and stick his gat in some undergrad's face in the alley behind Chumley's and relieve him of his wallet and iPhone, but would then realize that it was after curfew hours and who would risk piling a minor ordinance violation on top of a B Felony?
Part of the city's idea to reduce this kind of crime (and, oddly enough for a tax-squandering scheme, it shockingly might actually help a bit in spite of itself,) is to build a gigando parking garage on the corner of Broad Ripple Avenue and College Avenue.
As it is, the nature of parking in Broad Ripple has cars parked for blocks along dark, quiet, tree-lined residential streets radiating out around the central brightly-lit entertainment strip. This means a fairly steady menu of inebriated targets staggering back to their cars those same three or four darkened blocks at 0300. By encouraging more people to park in a central, easily-patrolled, brightly lit area, they will no doubt cut down on the absolute number of muggings, but it's a sad symptom of the times that this is seen as an acceptable solution. Dark streets unsafe? Surrender them to the goblins...