i could probably hit a driver and a 5 iron into downtown.
there are shitty neighborhoods all around here though, just look for the collection of liquor stores, check cashing places, and scrap recycling yards.
that's where i go to save money on beer, cigarettes, and chinese food.
no armed robberies to report as of yet. haven't even had any homeless folks ask to bum a cigarette yet.
very disappointing.
but then it is San Jose, not Richmond Oakland or Vallejo.
take a visit to Country Club Crest or Rancho Vallejo and youll get a whole different view from the bottom.
like all social groups theres the regular folks of all colours and creeds who just want to get by and maybe climb out of the hole, but theres also the gangs and the predators who tend to be the "Majority Minority" (if i may coin a phrase) in an area.
this is why you find shockingly few white street gangs, and the minority gangs are usually as monochromatic in their skin pigmentation as they are in their Gang Colours.
you will of course declare this to be RACIST, but it is a simple fact. any "Hood" will have it's gangs and the gangs will be comprised almost exclusively of whichever "minority" group is in the majority in their turf, even if the majority is very slim. (except white, white street gangs are as rare as hen's teeth west of the Mississippi) for example, there are many Chicanos in Country Club Crest, yet the gangs are almost exclusively Black, while just across highway 37, less than a mile away, Rancho has quite a few Black residents but the gangs are almost exclusively Chicano.
meanwhile, the victims of the street gang crimes are predominantly the same ethnic group which makes up the gang, within their "turf" while outside they prey on whatever target of opportunity happens to present itself.
this territorial behavior results in dense pockets of crime with reducing impact as distance increases (on a scale of blocks, not miles) until of course one of the gangs goes on a Crime Spree.
back in the early 90's one of Vallejo's most prolific and brazen gangs went on a crime spree that took them all around the bay and even down into the central valley, including a hilariously botched bank stickup in bakersfeild.
take a peek. dont be surprised at the mugshots... as i said before Country Club Crest's gangs are almost exclusively black, despite the diversity of their "hood" just as nearby Rancho's gangs are almost exclusively Chicano despite similarly diverse population.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_20469326/feds-bust-suspected-ecstasy-drug-network-centered-around?source=most_viewed
this douche sums it up pretty well:
http://rapmusic.com/threads/feds-bust-ecstasy-drug-ring-centered-around-bay-area-rap-label-founded-by-mac-dre.1322978/page-2me
meanwhile this chucklehead posits a ridiculous conspiracy theory which is worth reading solely for Teh Lulz:
http://www.angelfire.com/extreme3/element80/conspiracies.html
and just to put it all in context, Vallejo cops didnt even respond to calls in Rancho Or The Crest (or any other poor or minority neighborhood, including mine which was actually close to downtown)
this is readily proved by the fact that there was not a single cop shot in the line of duty between 1962 and 2011 in the city of Vallejo despite the crime stats already made clear.
the cop shot in 2011 was shot by a tweaker robbing an upscale home, so it seems this was a freak accident rather than an attempt to bring order to the Demolition Man type Free Crime Zones around the town.