Runaway Future

I’ve been getting annoyed with Halifax, maybe without reason.

First off, it was a few threads on the Halifax Locals board about what people didn’t like about the city. The usual complaints (and surprising statistics) about the cost of living here, the lack of jobs/opportunity and the fact that any person should make some sort of an attempt to see the world before settling in any one location. However also mentioned was the violence.

This was something also highlighted in the Coast last week. Halifax placed at the top of the Canadian rankings for most incidents of violence per capita among major cities in the country. It talked a lot about the swarmings, random jumpings etc.

On Saturday, Murf and I went out to the Attic. After the show, a guy that Murf knows got jumped at the Commons. Soon enough, Locals had another thread about the Commons and being jumped there.

On Sunday, I was coming back from Dartmouth on the bus, we just pass Scotia Square and this guy beside me gets up to get off the bus. Instead of pulling the little bell cord at the seat, he walks up the alley a bit, while the bus is moving and elbows this elderly guy in the face as he reaches for the cord. Elbows him hard. If I had to bet, it looked intentional. The guy definitely led with his elbow, like Domi on Niedermayer. He reached for the cord at his seat and thought better of it and cheap shot some tourist. On the bus. In broad daylight.
My only hope is that it was just an accident and not some cruel sadist.

I got into an argument with my sister about this because it frustrates me.
Police have their hands tied by idiotic laws (made more ass backwards every day) and there are (what could be valid) complaints that they’re not doing their job even when they could be.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have nothing happen to me yet. But to hear about all this stuff at the same time, it’s alarming.
I’m no hero. On the bus, the guy just jumped off after elbowing the tourist. No one really said anything.

Is the city going down the tubes or am I just starting to open my eyes a bit wider?