Will the Shannon Collins Murder Bring a New Era of Crime Prevention or Spark Intolerance and Loss of Freedom?

Santa Cruz was once known as the "Murder Capital of the World," after several serial killers stalked people here in the '70s and '80s.

Shannon Collins's murder last Monday has people wondering if lawlessness and fear have returned to the city known for tolerance.

Here are two takes on the problem by popular writers in the area.

Columnist Wallace Baine is reason enough for keeping a subscription to the Sentinel. Have to make sure the corporatists who own that chain which has a monopoly on the surburban Bay Area's daily newspapers pay the guy.

In this blog post, Recent Tragedy Renews Painful Questions for Santa Cruz, he remembers when Santa Cruz was called the "murder capital of the world" and wonders if this killing will turn the majority on the disenfranchised and end the permissiveness that has characterized this city known worldwide for its nonconformity.

He recalls Page Stegner's 1981 Esquire magazine article, which painfully pointed to a city run amok by tolerance.

"... the Esquire story was unsparing in its indictment of Santa Cruz as a haven for transients where “deadbeat and drifters” – to use the language of the time – threatened to overwhelm the city’s public places. It was a city, said Stegner, on the edge of barbarism."

Baine points out that others claimed Stegner's piece was a great exaggeration in response to the times, when the Charles Manson murders were daily news.

With no answer at hand, Baine asks: "Where do you draw the line between fostering freedom of lifestyle and indulging sociopathic behaviors that a peaceful society cannot abide?"

Helbard Alkhassadeh, who lives in Lower Ocean and knew Shannon Collins, has a proactive answer.

He has been so concerned with violence in Santa Cruz that he started a website called Stab Santa Cruz, which keeps track of the city's stabbings, something that doesn't always get the kind of coverage of shootings.

In this column, Trying to Heal, he talks about how this latest killing happened in his neighborhood, 200 yards from his front door.

"The police and city leaders have said this was an isolated incident and the area is safe, but we don’t gauge safety by what happens on our street," he writes. "Our neighborhood is only safe when we feel safe.  When my friends across the street let their daughter jog again, that’s when our street will be safe."

Even better than words is his neighborhood's plan to put up surveillance cameras in the lower Ocean area and make the tapes accessible to police. They will also force the 7-Eleven, a prime spot for drug sellers and prostitutes, to hire a security guard.

As 1984-ish as this sounds, it may be the best way to help clean up a neighborhood that has been blighted and dangerous for years. Even though it has improved some in the past few years – before you could watch drug sales on the streets while stuck in Boardwalk-bound traffic – this killing is the bottom of the iceberg.

There is an undeniable problem in this area of dotted with some grungy motels and cheap housing, and if police can't be there 24/7, cameras can.

Where would you draw the line?