Robbery on St. Patrick's Day

The email was sent at 3:12 p.m. to one of the neighborhood email lists:

San Fran Coffee at N.Hihgland and Amsterdam just robbed at gunpoint.

According to the news accounts Thursday evening, the robber waited in line as if he were a customer just trying to get a cup of coffee, but when he got the the front of the line, pulled out a gun and told the cashier to empty the cash register.  Then he was gone.  Fortunately, no one was hurt.

San Francisco Coffee is an easy walk from our house, and for many years has been one of the (many) reasons I love our neighborhood.  There's good coffee, and a nice ambiance, art work  (much if not all of it from neighborhood artists), and lots of small tables that can seat two or three people.  At least at the times I go there, there are nearly always students with laptops and textbooks there, scattered one per table, catching up on work and friends.  It's a place people could meet an old friend or a blind date or take the kids for hot chocolate.  We go there sometimes for a leisurely Sunday afternoon cup of coffee, or an after-dinner walk and coffee.  When Earthlink decided to cut off our DSL, we spent a lot of time there, using the wifi.  We've had Girl Scout leader meetings there, and Caroline now goes there sometimes, with her laptop and textbooks, to do homework.

It's not just that Tom or I or my children could have been there when this happened - it's that this is one of the places, in walking distance from our house, that felt like it was ours.  So it wasn't just an armed robbery - it was a home invasion.

So . . . we do the things we can.  Keep the doors locked, the outside lights on at night.  Pay attention, talk to the neighbors.  Maybe follow up with the Atlanta police about setting up that neighborhood watch. 

Because when "home" extends beyond your house, you can't secure it by yourself.