Do You Feel Safe In Watsonville?

I.t is hard to not to notice the headlines about gang violence that grace the pages of the newspaper. I was asked by someone recently if I felt safe in Watsonville. To tell you the truth—I had never really thought about that before, therefore I had to really think about the answer.

I suppose in order for you to understand how I will answer this question I should give you some background.  I grew up in Santa Cruz, in a safe neighborhood with lots of children. I attended private school in Santa Cruz and when it was time to go to high school I made the commute to Notre Dame Salinas. It was then my parents realized that the commute to Salinas was getting long and they decided to move to Watsonville. My parents found a beautiful house in the Brewington Martinelli district we called “home."

I have never gone to school in Watsonville, I rarely shop in Watsonville and I had one summer job at Jim Booth Swim School when I was home from college and that is about it. It is therefore I do not consider Watsonville my hometown.

That being said, I do go to Target every now and then, I will run to Nob Hill to go grocery shopping and when visiting my parents I take their dog out for a quick run. I have never had a problem nor have felt unsafe. I get the random cat-calls at times, but in reality we all know cat-calls are harmless.

At this moment, even in the wake of the recent violent activates, I truly believe I will never be affected by the violence in Watsonville. Why you might ask? First, I am not in a gang, I do not hang out with gang members and I really do not have any friends in Watsonville. Second, I do not go out at night in Watsonville. If by chance I am out at night, I am at dinner at Miyuki's (the best sushi in Santa Cruz County) and then I go straight home.

I live under the rule “trouble finds trouble” and therefore, yes I do feel safe in Watsonville.