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As a neighbor less than a block from Cup Foods, I count on it frequently for all kinds of necessities. The store carries an extensive array of herbs and spices, and their recent addition of a Middle Eastern specilty-foods section is a great bonus. What other corner store can you go to for freshly-butchered meat, veggies, cell phones, shoes and more? Moreover, the store personell are always friendly and totally helpful.

All that being said, what really disturbs me about this article (or, more precisely, its subject matter, as well as the aove comment) is that the city is putting the burden on shop owners to stop neighborhood crime. For one thing, why is Samir paying out-of-pocket for the police to do their job in patrolling a particularly active city street corner?? First, the city doesn't provide the necessary support to keep drug exchange off of certain corners, and then they place the blame on local business owners and revoke their licenses. This is some really warped city policy.

The slogic behind this policy seems to be: since drug dealers hang out on corners in front of stores, let's close the stores and then the drug dealers won't have anything to stand in front of and the drug economy will come to a halt. This is not only some seriously inverted logic, it also presents a totally warped conception of the cause of social problems such as a strong economy in drug exchange. It seems pretty clear that by chasing out local businesses, we decrease the viability of neighborhood economies, increasing the importance of illegal and extra-market exchange in the maintenance of local livelihoods. Neighborhoods are further alienated and the drug market made more prevalent.

I agree that making a neighborhood stronger involves the participation of the community in understanding the kind of activity taking place on the corner. But if there are no stores, of course, there won't be any neighbors on the corner either - they'll be driving in their cars to some other neighborhood to shop. It takes an investment in the neighborhood to create a strong local economy that brings neighbors together in their daily activities, and that presents at least some alternatives for making a living locally. A busy and diverse local economy does a whole lot more to address crime than does disinvestment and the closing of corner stores - not only does it put more neighbors on the street and enable people to get to know one another, it gives people a community that they care about protecting. Besides, maybe if there was more money in the neighborhood the city would city would actually pay cops to do their job and keep an eye on what's going on.