I am in the process of moving to Philly and although I have fallen in love with this city, there are a few things about it that still bother me. There was a buddy of ours that moved to Philadelphia to start his career last year, his name was Beau Zabel, he ended up murdered in Philadelphia about 2 months ago over a freaking IPOD, I can't even describe how much that angered me, the guy who did this is obviously an animal and I can't get over it. Last week, I was in Philadelphia, right there at 30th Street Amtrak, crossing the street to catch the Market-Frankford train and some guy goes "Hey, man, let me ask you a question", obviously I did not respond, shook my head and kept walking, all I hear after is "F** you, motherf**, bitch a**", I did not say anything but I just wanted to kick his dumb ass, of course, I would not stoop to his level but who knows, people like that might carry guns and stuff, but I was so angry! I love the city and I don't know how people learn to cope with this type of ignorance on a daily basis, but I can understand why racial relations in this city are not the greatest, any thoughts?

It's probably too soon for you to move here. Sorry about your loss.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xCiKCxfYqE

"If we can't learn from our mistakes, what's the point of making them!" ...my friend Richard.

"You are protected by the enormity of your stupidity." Mother to son Victor, in "Notorious"

2 months have passed and I have not got over this, I am so angry!!


Was Beau Zabel killed for his iPod Classic?

By Barbara Boyer and Andrew Maykuth
Inquirer Staff Writers

Beau Zabel, the 23-year-old who recently left Minnesota to become a math teacher here, may have lost his life over an iPod, said Philadelphia homicide Capt. James Clark. When the young man ended his late-night shift at Starbucks at Fourth and South Streets in South Philadelphia and headed home, he likely was listening to comedy through earphones that plugged into the iPod classic he kept in his front pocket, authorities said.That, Clark said, may be why Zabel was targeted. Zabel was fatally shot about 1:30 a.m. yesterday when he was ambushed as he walked to his apartment from the coffee shop. He was shot once in the neck in the 800 block of Ellsworth Street and fell to the sidewalk, police said.He was pronounced dead at the scene.

http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news...his_iPod_.html

You should not get over it. Those of us who live in the area where this happened have not, and will not until whomever perpetrated this senseless deed is behind bars.

I too often feel your anger when dealing with folks who are looking for a handout and feel because you choose not to listen to their spiel you are somehow the bad person. When it occurs it angers me when I get home to my family and all of the wonderful things being in this city allows us to take advantage of the anger diminishes.

Your anger over the death of your friend should never diminish. There is no excuse and no amount of Jesus or Allah or Vishnu or Buddha searching on the part of the criminal will ever wash their hands of this crime.

I am for second chances and rehabilitation and hand ups, but at some point responsible people much like responsible parents have to say that no more will be tolerated.

You are welcome and needed in this city, but as HG stated you may not be ready to come here to help us yet. We'll wait and keep the light on for you though.

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"All of this will not be finished in the first one hundred days, nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days, nor in the life of this administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin."

~John F. Kennedy

I'm assuming that the guy was black. over at 12tha dn chestnut you get the same treatment from white guys. what they have in common is an inability to cope with life. they are either completely addicted to something, frequently alcohol (interestingly, 18 years olds can't drink yet these guys can drink in public all day while fouling themselves and using the city as their bathroom). some of them are crazy. None of them should be on the street. Generally speaking, these are not the kind of people who killed Beau Zabel but having to deal with it on a regular basis really does lower the QoL.

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"You down wit OPM?"
Fumo: "Yeah, you know me!"

The person that killed Zabel is a scumbag. When I am mayor we will have public flauggings, public executions and we will ban the mummers.

I am too it's called 3 strikes, I wish they would enforce it. I am too sorry for your loss, my cousin Andrew was number 122 shot and killed last year, he was 19 years old shot point blank in the head over an agrument at a "Chinese Restraurant in Kensington".

They have not found the killer.

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Camille

Soon enough you'll love this city even more, develop your street smarts and loose your bitterness. This city didn't kill your friend, some ******* did. Don't be ignorant yourself. Would it have killed you to tell the guy at 30th st "no thank you"? The person that shot your friend was able to pull the trigger because he dehumanized him. Is it any surprise you got called a mother****er by a homeless guy at the train station because you treated him like he wasn't a fellow human being by shrugging off his existance?

You probably need a wardrobe change. Your chances of getting the con artists bothering you, or worse... mugged... go way up if you dressed like a tourist and you're not standing around the Liberty Bell.

I'm really sorry about Mr. Zabel. It was, for many in his neighborhood, a freak occurrence and seemingly random. There are bad people in this world, and they also live in the city and walk its streets.

You just have to develop city smarts. Don't look panhandlers in the eye. That's their queue "hey I can bother this one!" and they start their schpeal. KNOW who is around you, especially near dusk and into evening hours. Ask neighbors what routes they walk and walk them during the daytime so you are familiar with the territory. KNOW where the problem spots are. Almost all neighborhoods have problem areas.

Don't let your guard down even if you are a block away from home.

Also, in the summertime, a lot of con artists are walking around Center City. They ALL have some sob story... like "I need $1.16 so I can get the train to Ardmore" and thousands of other phoney-baloney stores. While most of these folks are harmless and just want your cash, some others are more willing to simply take it from you.




In ref to your encounter at 30th Street: there are only two things these street creatures want: money, and cigarettes.


Every story street people give you usually ends with money being exchanged at the end. I've seen folks part with a stack of $20s before. And when you fork over the cash after believing that story, the first thing you feel is "oh God, all that was a lie... I bet he's off to buy some liquor now."


Center City itself is mostly safe all year round. South Philly a little bit less so, but not by that much. There's bad folks all over creation (referring to outside and within Philadelphia), and you just need to have that little "subconscious social calculator" tuned in when you are out on the street.

Like, for example, walking around dark South Philly streets at night, alone, with an iPod on and tuning out the sounds around you. That's not a wise idea, nor is doing this same thing and walking past a bunch of project housing [When you hear PHA, that's the Philadelphia Housing Authority--you'll eventually start to figure out where PHA properties are]. Unless you look like a bodybuilder, chances are there will be someone sizing you up as a target eventually at some point.


This past public school session we had a horrible problem with huge groups of teens from the public high schools attacking SEPTA passengers on the trains. Eventually one person died (at 13th Street Station, steps from City Hall), and THAT was finally the trigger to ramp up policing underground. A way to avoid that scenario is to stagger your train ride so that it's not around the same time when schools let out [2:40-4:00].


As many people will say on Phillyblog, we are a city, and you do need to keep up on what is going on around you. If you have blinders on, like suburbanites, every sensationalist story that crosses your eyeballs will just strike more fear in your brain until the point where you are paranoid all the time.


I'm glad to hear that your move to Pennsylvania is still on track and let me be the first to say: Welcome to Philadelphia.

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Buh-bye.

MayfairMeat, even though I can't stand you and your posts are generally obnoxious, that was beautiful.