2008 Woodie Awards
Student leaves city due to area crime
Bill Dvorak
Issue date: 11/17/05 Section: News
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After the sun sets, the Theatre District, once known as the "Combat Zone," plays host to a number of drug dealers, prostitutes and occasional outbreaks of violence, all of which have prompted one Emerson student to make the decision to move out of the city.
"I was sure I was going to be mugged," junior broadcast journalism major Jacqueline Couture said of an evening she was followed home from her job at the Bennigan's restaurant on Stuart Street. "This guy started chasing me, but luckily I was able to run into my building in time."
Couture, who transferred to Emerson from the University of Connecticut this last January, said events like this have left her feeling uncomfortable and unsafe, despite living only a minute's walk away from classroom buildings. Her Warrenton Street apartment overlooks the parking lot outside Venu Nightclub, where two men were fatally shot in October.
Couture said the area wasn't visibly unsafe when she moved there in January, but she said she has noticed an increase in vagrancy and violence this semester.
"One night after I was leaving work, I was almost knocked down by someone rushing past me to fight someone else," Couture said. "As a resident here, I shouldn't have to feel unsafe walking home, but I do."
Incidents like this eventually led Couture to call Mayor Thomas M. Menino's office to complain, but she said she got no response.
Couture, who is from suburban Pelham, N.H., is moving back home on Dec. 15. While she plans to continue classes at Emerson, she intends to take them only twice a week so she can commute from her home into the city. Until then, Couture said she is doing what she can to stay safe.
"I have my manager from Bennigan's walk me home at night, and most of the girls that work there carry pepper spray," Couture said.
The Beacon reported increased drug use in the area this September. It also reported the Warrenton Street shooting, sexual assaults committed by a man posing as a cab driver at Faneuil Hall and the sexual assault on an Emerson student all in October,
"I was sure I was going to be mugged," junior broadcast journalism major Jacqueline Couture said of an evening she was followed home from her job at the Bennigan's restaurant on Stuart Street. "This guy started chasing me, but luckily I was able to run into my building in time."
Couture, who transferred to Emerson from the University of Connecticut this last January, said events like this have left her feeling uncomfortable and unsafe, despite living only a minute's walk away from classroom buildings. Her Warrenton Street apartment overlooks the parking lot outside Venu Nightclub, where two men were fatally shot in October.
Couture said the area wasn't visibly unsafe when she moved there in January, but she said she has noticed an increase in vagrancy and violence this semester.
"One night after I was leaving work, I was almost knocked down by someone rushing past me to fight someone else," Couture said. "As a resident here, I shouldn't have to feel unsafe walking home, but I do."
Incidents like this eventually led Couture to call Mayor Thomas M. Menino's office to complain, but she said she got no response.
Couture, who is from suburban Pelham, N.H., is moving back home on Dec. 15. While she plans to continue classes at Emerson, she intends to take them only twice a week so she can commute from her home into the city. Until then, Couture said she is doing what she can to stay safe.
"I have my manager from Bennigan's walk me home at night, and most of the girls that work there carry pepper spray," Couture said.
The Beacon reported increased drug use in the area this September. It also reported the Warrenton Street shooting, sexual assaults committed by a man posing as a cab driver at Faneuil Hall and the sexual assault on an Emerson student all in October,
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