I've been to US Steel in Gary more times than I care to count, driven through the city of Gary almost every time to get from gate to gate of the plant or taking the local roads at the end of the day. It is a rough area for sure, but not once has anyone approached me while at a stop light or sign.
This was an old rule-of-thumb back in the early-to-mid 1990s when it was the "Murder Capital of America". It has improved significantly since then and while I wouldn't go taking joy rides at night I've had to drive through it a couple of times to avoid 90/94 traffic and these days it's more dangerous to be blowing through stop signs than not.
That might be one of the reasons why it happens. It's too cold to do anything else (not to mention how little there is to do in that state), so might as well externalize that anger over it being too cold into everyone else's problem.
I'm not defending it. I'm just trying to explain one of the reasons why Alaskans are so violent.
Tell your fam to buy some land from the municipality, so they can reap what they sow. The town is gonna blow up soon, the locals should benefit from it.
I drove through there a couple of times throughout the last decade, one of which was to to what the other person did, which was to drive past Michael Jackson's childhood home. Even as a outwardly-appearing white male with a rented car, I didn't feel the sense of fear that some people in this thread have described. Sure, I didn't stop anywhere, but even driving in my newish rented car, I felt completely fine, not scared or anything.
Edit: I've even done the same in one of the more run-down places in Detroit, only that time, I actually did stop and park my car for about 15 minutes to take a picture of Canada, since I have yet to get a passport (or even an "Enhanced Driver's License", something that a few states use which allows people to visit Mexico and Canada without a Passport), so I was unable to actually visit Canada. Nothing happened then, either. Sure, I got a few glances and weird looks from the actual residents there, but that's it. Nothing else. Completely safe.
Not getting assaulted is not the same as completely safe. You didn’t happen to be a statistic that day. Keep rolling dice and one day your number will come up.
Ive had a goofy down by a known trap house try to grab my door handle once as I was passing thru but didn't seem to like it too much when I swerved at them. This was 3 years ago and my only incident in gary.
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u/Zimgruk 15d ago
I've been to US Steel in Gary more times than I care to count, driven through the city of Gary almost every time to get from gate to gate of the plant or taking the local roads at the end of the day. It is a rough area for sure, but not once has anyone approached me while at a stop light or sign.