When we first moved here you could here the gunshots during the night and it was not uncommon to see search lights. Pittsburg was an area with many problems. As a matter of fact our area was pretty much blacklisted by even Pittsburg businesses. Things have changed substantially. We no longer hear gunshots and have heard for quite a while that both Concord and Antioch have higher crime rates. The thing that these two cities, between Pittsburg, don’t have is the stigma of a bad past. And the saddest thing of all is that too many people don’t get out much and tend to rely too much on what they hear and read (which is almost always wrong due to media bias) instead of experiencing life for themselves.

Back in 1982, when I lived in Concord, it was pretty much a racist town. I remember clearly the hanging at the Bart station of some poor soul that fell asleep on Bart only to wake up stuck in the wrong town, Concord. Also, although a few blacks were allowed to attend Concord high the penalty for dating one was the lifting of your grades by the high school by the so-called vice-principals and/or administrative staff. Hopefully, Concord’s bigotry is but a faint memory to all who still live there. After all, we now have a black president.

I moved to Oakland (a condo by the Rose Garden) sometime in 1986 and although it was an easy commute to SF and I have some good memories of Oakland, I literally almost fell over a dead body on my way to work one morning. Did this mean it was a very dangerous area? I suppose it was, but since I was not a lady of the night or looking for drugs I felt pretty safe even after that incident. However, one night I was driving home late at night, returning home from a wedding, when a man followed me off the freeway. He kept pointing to my front tire as he yelled something, which I could not hear until I lowered my window. He said my tire was falling off. I pulled over to the side of the road, on Grand Ave., to see what was wrong with the tire. He was already out of his car and at my door when I was half out of my car. He tried to force himself into my car. During a struggle he punched me in the face and I quickly started the car, stepped on the gas, and sped away, towards my condo. He followed and was behind me as I pulled up to my condo. Instead of opening the security gate leading to the garage, I kept beeping my horn hoping that someone would respond. An annoyed neighbor started yelling for me to stop, then another started yelling at me. The attention caused him to back-out down the street and I waited for a few minutes before rolling down my window and asking someone to call the police. When I went upstairs I called the police myself. None of my neighbors ever came to my door that night or any other night to see if I was ok. When the police arrived they took my statement, but treated me like a criminal in the process. Eventually, I moved out of Oakland. Not because of this incident, but after that experience with the police, I knew that should I ever need the police I would not be able to count on them. Additionally, my neighbors were not people I wanted to live near. Therefore, when the opportunity presented itself it was easy to give up my decent commute. Yep, the OPD and neighbors struck me a second and third time that night and somehow it hurt much worse.

My worse experience while living in Pittsburg is one day, when I first moved here, I was followed by a police officer. He stayed behind me while I stopped at three different stop signs. Since I had made two turns it felt as though he was following me, but I couldn’t be sure. At the third stop sign he turned on his flashing lights so I pulled over and all at once thought that maybe something was wrong with my break lights. When he asked if I knew why he stopped me and I said, “Not really”. He said I had not stopped at any of the stop signs. I was shocked and told him so. He said he would “take it easy” on me and would only show that I didn’t stop at one sign so that the ticket wouldn’t be too expensive. This made me pretty angry so I told him to write whatever ticket he wanted because it was not true and I would be going to court to dispute it. He lied in court and said he was sitting in his patrol car at a specific location when I went past a stop sign, failing to stop. He then said that when he pulled me over I became very belligerent. I told the judge what actually happened (commenting to the judge that I didn’t understand why the officer was lying, but he was) and the judge said he would make his decision and I would be notified by mail of his decision. When the notice came, it simply stated that the fine had been reduced. I chalked the whole thing up to experience and felt a quota needed to be satisfied and although everyone, but me, was in on it I didn’t really expect the judge to take my side what I wanted was to let the cop know that if he decided to stop me again, for any bogus reason, I would see him in court again. That was almost sixteen years ago. I have not had an unpleasant experience since. Also, I have never been robbed nor have I ever felt scared to walk around the neighborhood in the evening. I think, generally speaking, those who act scared are eventually victimized. Whether it’s done by a common thug or a cop the end result is the same. I know there are many good cops out there and I truly appreciate all that they do, but there are some pretty shady cops out there that are not worthy of the badge they wear or the space they occupy near good cops. My only wish is that those bad guys are weeded out early in their careers.

No matter where you live, you need to keep aware of what is going on around you and don’t be afraid to get involved should someone need your assistance. Don’t expect a cop to save you or to even believe you. Be your own hero and you will never go wrong. Finally, just because you think you live in a better location doesn’t mean that you actually do.

Of the three, Concord, Oakland, or Pittsburg, where would I rather live? Pittsburg is my final answer. As I’ve explained, while it isn’t perfect, its better than the others.

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Pittsburg has a bad reputation and they deserve it. Maybe they are turing around but its only a matter of time that they go back into the can. Just wait, next years numbers are going to be a lot worse with the economy shot.

Pittsburg is filled with trash and crime. I avoid that city like the plague. Concord may have higher rankings but we are a bigger city and explain to me why Pitt has more gang violence. Thats where safety becomes the issue. A lot of the crime in Concord happens by people from outside the city. All the thugs from Pitt and Richmond come here to steal and rob.