Yuliya Dobrydneva, a Wards Corner resident, wrote the following Letter to the Editor, which was printed on October 13, 2008:
On Friday, Oct. 3 , at about 9 p.m., my teenage son was robbed at gunpoint right in front of DePaul Hospital on Granby Street. He was traveling alone in his car and stopped for the red light in the right lane. A young man with a hood and a bandana over his face and gloves on his hands jumped into the car, pulled out a large caliber gun, yanked the keys out of ignition, pressed the gun against my son’s head and demanded money.The robber took the money from the wallet, then lit up the lighter and burned credit cards, and splashed drink on my son before finally throwing the keys back to him. Only by the grace of God was my son not injured or killed.
The most outrageous thing is that this brazen crime happened in full view of people just a couple of yards away at the bus stop.
All this happened literally two minutes away from our house at Wards Corner. Our sense of safety and security is deteriorating. Just in the last two months, our house and our car were vandalized; drug addicts broke into our porch; our license plates were stolen.
We see unmistakable signs of gang and drug activity in our formerly peaceful community. What we do not see, however, is enough police presence on our streets. While the police efforts are primarily focused on the so-called ‘bad’ neighborhoods, criminal activity overflows into our community, which never before required stepped-up police presence.
Things need to be turned around before it is too late to save our beautiful neighborhood.
Yuliya Dobrydneva
Norfolk
This Letter to the Editor can be read on the Virginian-Pilot’s website: Granby Crime Wave
Posted by Wards Corner 
Wards Corner Now - Wards Corner, Norfolk, Virginia 