• The KillerFrogs

TCU Student shot, killed in West 7th (apparently a former FB player)

Wally the Frog

Wally the Frog

Active Member
As a resident who lives no more than 9 blocks from this incident, FW PD need to lock this area down. The stockyards don’t have this number of incidents. West 7th should not as well.
 
frogs9497

frogs9497

Full Member
What Up Toad said:
The shooter told police that he shot Smith in the head after he was already on the ground to make sure he was dead.

Hope he gets the death penalty.
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And couldn't say why he did it. So many scheissed up people in this world. Time for another minus mark to be wiped from this earth.
 
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Deep Purple

Deep Purple

Full Member
TCUdirtbag said:
TCU was pretty pushy in “encouraging” University/Berry area landlords to move occupancy away from nightlife/bars, IIRC.

I think 10-20 years ago there were concerns about what activities those establishments drew onto/adjacent to campus. But perhaps the changing demographics of the city should lead us to ask whether providing students with/at least not actively opposing options closer to campus and enhancing university efforts and resources to promote safety would actually better serve our students than shipping them across town? Of course there’s a cost for everything (looking at you, tuition), but something to think about. And as student population grows, the ability to sustain more bars etc. around campus is going to continue to improve.
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Understand your reasoning, which it has some sound points, but it also has some blind spots. When I began at TCU in 1994, there was a greater concentration of bars and clubs along Berry Street than today. Though it wasn't particularly violence-prone, it was also not a very safe place to seek entertainment. The proximity of TCU made it an even juicier target for criminals because, from that day to this, college campuses are crime magnets. Criminals consider students as easy targets because they are never armed, generally heedless of potential dangers (youth invincibility), and have many negotiable resources (cash, cars, watches, jewelry, mobile phones, etc.).

On campus, there was no actual gun violence, but gunpoint or knife-point robberies, burglaries, muggings, car thefts, car break-ins, etc. -- especially around the perimeter and most remote areas of campus -- were a somewhat regular occurrence at that time. In the mid- and late 1990s, several brazen burglaries occurred in TCU academic and administrative spaces during hours when very few people were in the buildings. The thieves simply walked in and snatched computers, printers, fax machines, purses (with IDs and credit cards), mobile phones. anything that could be easily fenced or otherwise negotiated into cash. Ensuing campus security measures -- magnetic ID locks, security cameras, beefed-up campus police, extensive direct-connect emergency call stations, etc. -- make this kind of burglary almost impossible today, but back then it was a big concern.

The Berry Street Initiative, created and led by TCU from 1996 to present, is a cooperative private-public partnership for coordinated action among TCU, area business owners, nearby neighborhood associations, and the city, to revitalize a seedy 2½-mile stretch of W Berry (roughly, University Dr to Evens Ave). The city's major role was in restricting or incentivizing various types of businesses. The neighborhood associations leaned on their city council representatives to advocate and provide vote support for the administration's measures. TCU's role, apart from strategic vision and leadership, was investing massive dollars and effort (along with the city) in that area, from reconstructing and landscaping/bricking the street medians to building the TCU Store, the Grandmarc student apartments (with first-floor streetfront businesses), and more recently, the Hyatt Place TCU hotel.

The Berry Street crime rate has since dropped significantly and the campus crime rate dramatically. East of S University and south of Berry, the residential neighborhood is still fairly run-down and shady, but TCU is making its first inroads into that area as well. Within the last few years, TCU purchased the abandoned facility (originally built in 1975) of University Presbyterian Church (since merged with nearby St. Stephen's Presbyterian Church, aka "Fort God") and renovated it to completely house Human Resources and some offices of Technology Resources.

There are still plenty of full bars along Berry and University, but almost all are more upscale and incorporated into restaurants, which typically don't draw the the rowdy party crowds (including students). The main concern I have for the effort on W 7th is that there is no powerful and moneyed private partner like TCU in that area to boost the city's efforts.
 
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