Death on the Front Porch! Oh, For the "Good Old Days" in Rochester, NY!

When dinosaurs still roamed the Earth, I was born in Rochester, New York's "Beer Belt."

It is an older part of the city and not a toney one, inhabited by the working poor.

In my day, most of the residents were either immigrants or refugees from Eastern Europe and English was a foreign language there.

You needed to have a working knowledge of five different languages just to go shopping on Clifford, Clinton and Joseph Avenues.

And the beat cops spoke them as well.

Yes, we had beat cops back then, visible in the neighborhood, and a deterrent to crime and violence.

Most residents there respected the authority of the police and wanted to have no trouble with them, since they or their parents came from countries with repressive regimes and feared to be sent back there for committing crimes her in the US.

Most of the homes there were built before the turn of the twentieth century, so many did not have driveways for automobiles, since they didn't exist at that time.

The streets were incredibly narrow, which is just as well, since there weren't too many people who owned cars in my neighborhood back in the 50s.

Yet, despite the relative poverty of the residents back then, homes were maintained, and gardens were planted.

What the residents of the "Beer Belt" did have were front porches.

AND a low violent crime rate.

When the weather permitted, people sat on their front porches and could chat with passersby, especially the older busybody neighbors who could tell you about everything that went on in the neighborhood.

This was especially true on warm and hot summer nights when everyone sat outside on their porches because their homes were hot.

This was, after all, before the days air conditioning existed or was affordable for most people and could make an older house comfortable during the hot summer months.

People even slept on their back porches during the hot summer months.

That was when 350,000 souls resided in the City of Rochester.

Ah, nostalgia!

Fast forward to the present.

Last night, two men in their fifties were found shot to death on the front porch of 23 Wolff Street, on the northwest side of Rochester.

The two men, as yet unidentified, are the ninth and tenth homicides for 2025.

The Rochester Police Department is investigating how these murders went down, although they shared the fact that 23 Wolff Street has a reputation as a hangout for drug users.

Furthermore, the RPD is not sure who, if anyone, actually lives there.

23 Wolff Street is also within spitting distance of JR Wilson Park, where recreational opportunities abound.

Other than drug peddling, drug use and homicide, one might suppose.

There are no suspects in police custody as of this writing. That might change if some stool pigeons come along.

So, what conclusion can I bring this latest blog to?

Well, times have changed.

Porches are no longer places to socialize and seek respite from the heat. 

They have become places to commit murder.

Life has become cheap in the last few decades, especially in the poorer parts of Rochester, because some of the residents really aren't afraid of the justice system anymore

True, the number of homicides has dropped in the last few years, but one has to wonder if the non-fatal shootings, stabbings and assaults have equally dropped IF they are reported at all.

All it proves is that no place is really safe, especially if a location has a reputation for criminality and/or violence.

Still, it is a pleasant thing to spend a warm summer's evening on one's own front porch...providing you are wearing a Kevlar vest.

But that's Rochester for you.