16-year old Dominick McKnight attends City Honors in Buffalo's Fruit Belt. I asked him what comes to mind when people think of the Fruit Belt.

"Primarily like negativity.  However, that's not my main point of view because I go to City Honors over here and I feel primarily comfortable and I don't really have a problem. But most people talk about the Fruit Belt in a negative connotation," said Dominick McKnight.

It's a negative perception that was made worse this summer following the shootings in early July that claimed the life of 54-year old Yvette Johnson and her 17-month-old grandson Tyrie.

Following the shootings police sent out a note to news stations cautioning reporters against coming here to Grape Street, saying it was simply too dangerous.

"News media and others were told not to go on Grape Street for a specific period of time as there was an investigation. It's a lot different than if the city police sent out a memo not to go in the Fruit Belt at all," said Darius Pridgen.

Buffalo Common Council president Darius Pridgen represents the Fruit Belt in the Ellicott District. He thinks the characterization is unfair.

"Anytime there is a shooting especially as horrific as the one on Grape Street there's going to be attention to a neighborhood. However, I believe that we have in the Fruit Belt a good neighborhood that was just infiltrated by some bad people," said Pridgen.

"We're still recovering from I guess it was back in the late 60's, early 70's  when we had the gang wars and the Fruit Belt got a notorious reputation for the gand violence," said Ben Cashaw.

Ben Cashaw heads the Fruit Belt Coalition. He also believes the shootings on Grape Street were isolated incidents that don't define the neighborhood.

"The Fruit Belt is a completely different neighborhood, we're gentrifying because of the Buffalo Billion and it's not like that. We're probably one of the safest communities in the city," said Cashaw.

Meantime, 25-year Kenyatta Austin was indicted on murder charges connected to that July shooting. He's being held without bond and is awaiting his next court date.