Wednesday, April 04, 2007
There Goes the Neighborhood
My little part of the city prides itself on being:
- reborn
- hip
- safe
- clean
- non-commercial
- liberal
- growing
So everyone here is all up in arms because of some recent gang robberies which targeted about three dozen small businesses around here during the last four months. Politicians are requesting more police be trained. Security guards are being hired. And everyone seems to have one of two attitudes:
1.) We're a strong community, and we're not going to take this! Let's talk tough on message boards and learn gang signs and walk the streets once a month together to show those gangsters!
2.) There goes the neighborhood. Fuck this bullshit -- we're leaving.
While I know the first premise is the right frame of thought, it's also ridiculous. Citizens can't patrol the streets or do the cops' jobs for them. And while I understand the second premise is a bit cowardly, it's also realistic. Nothing is going to stop the robbers except the robbers deciding it's not a good idea. Government and internet message boards don't hold sway.
At some point in time, it becomes unavoidable. You look around and realize you can only travel to half of the city because the other half is ghetto. You pay a tax bill the size of a small fortune. You understand the public schools are battlegrounds. You don't swim in the lake because the smell of it hits you before you can get to the beach. City officials should stop wondering why the population rolls resemble a yearly exodus. If family weren't here for so many people, we would all be fools for not realizing there is some place, many places, better.
- reborn
- hip
- safe
- clean
- non-commercial
- liberal
- growing
So everyone here is all up in arms because of some recent gang robberies which targeted about three dozen small businesses around here during the last four months. Politicians are requesting more police be trained. Security guards are being hired. And everyone seems to have one of two attitudes:
1.) We're a strong community, and we're not going to take this! Let's talk tough on message boards and learn gang signs and walk the streets once a month together to show those gangsters!
2.) There goes the neighborhood. Fuck this bullshit -- we're leaving.
While I know the first premise is the right frame of thought, it's also ridiculous. Citizens can't patrol the streets or do the cops' jobs for them. And while I understand the second premise is a bit cowardly, it's also realistic. Nothing is going to stop the robbers except the robbers deciding it's not a good idea. Government and internet message boards don't hold sway.
At some point in time, it becomes unavoidable. You look around and realize you can only travel to half of the city because the other half is ghetto. You pay a tax bill the size of a small fortune. You understand the public schools are battlegrounds. You don't swim in the lake because the smell of it hits you before you can get to the beach. City officials should stop wondering why the population rolls resemble a yearly exodus. If family weren't here for so many people, we would all be fools for not realizing there is some place, many places, better.
