The city of Fort Wayne is coming into some money...no, make that a LOT of money...about $40 MILLION within the next 2 years (at maturity) thanks to a trust fund for the city that was set up back in 1974. The mayoral candidates have already said that they won't seek to use any of this money as a "quick fix" or a one-time "deal" (such as property tax rollbacks). And I suppose I'm OK with that...for now. I mean it's not as though any ONE of those THIRTY-PLUS business entities that can levy property tax increases can (or even would) change their stripes overnight either, is it?
Since this money could best be served with a sincere desire to REINVEST in the city (and that does make the most sense), why not form a (non-paid volunteer citizen-based) committee (I'm tired of "task forces" anyway) to look into places that could benefit from this revenue?
Now granted that the downtown here NEEDS some sort of revitalizarion (if that's what people think is really needed in the first place). And what causes a city's core to be "vibrant" in the first place? I would have to say JOBS...lots of them. With throngs of the working masses meandering about (for at least 8 hours anyway), every other chip will fall into place (that being retail, eateries, entertainment, etc). So that is basically a no-brainer. WIth the city services already in place there, again....easy to figure out, yes?
But when was the last time we heard about some REAL crime downtown? Sure, there's the occassional parking garage crapper (gratuitous plug for AWB's blog), and maybe some police chase that winds UP there, but overall, not much to report. Same cannot be said for other areas of the city that feel crime nipping at their heels daily, much like that neighbor's dog that won't stop bothering you.
I will say this again only for emphasis:
"ANY city is ONLY AS GOOD as it's WORST AREA".
Feel free to pass that quote around, as it's more apropos here than you realize.
We fret about finding some venue to entertain the minority of the populace ("CostaPlenty" Square), when majorities in other neighborhoods live within kill zones. We worry about a new sports stadium downtown, when in other parts of the city, the thriving drug trade makes residents fearful to venture outside their homes (when they're not being burglarized). We concern ourselves with keeping up with what other cities are doing, when we ignore parts of town that have had led the city in crime for DECADES.
And in all truthfulness, we DO mirror other cities in that regard. They ALSO have the same problems that go unaddressed year after crime-filled year.
Now I said all that to say this...
Will tossing $40 million at the "badlands" in our city cure all the ills? Not hardly. Even DOUBLE that amount will not begin to make the dent needed to get crime under control. As long as we have people willing to commit crime, it will be with us ad perpetuum.
What CAN be done is to have the city tear down the hovels...hire a few more officers to patrol the streets in those areas, seek grant money for special units designed to deter crime in areas such as this, and so on. The city ordinance book could be revamped with more stringent penalties for non-compliance...but hasn't been (to date). And the cost for that would be minimal. Another thing the city could do is make it impossible (or at least highly difficult) to allow these "landlords" to buy ior sell dilapidated houses to stick some druggies into, devaluing neighborhoods. Most all of these things can be had for a LOT less than 40 million bucks. Which makes one wonder WHY the city hasn't moved on this with any sort of verve? Well, with this "windfall", the city certainly has NO excuse now, kapesh?
I will wager this much...when you turn bad parts of the ctiy around, people (that know what a JOB is) will come back to those areas, and you won't have to ANNEX further out of town, OR artificially inflate (any) taxes to play the CYA game (finanically-speaking) in a vain attempt to recoup the constantly eroding tax base. And when companies see that parts of a city that were once all but abandoned are now thriving centers of residential interest, they will return, for they know they have people that will be willing to be hired on...people that give a damn.
I could toss a monkey wrench into all of this and say it's not about housing, infrastructure, business, taxes or even crime....it's all about the PEOPLE.
It's like the old Biblical passage:
"GIVE a man a fish & you feed him for a DAY....TEACH him to fish & you feed him for LIFE".
But I won't go there...you're intelligent enough to figure all that out by yourself, right?
1 comment:
I agree, especially since it is nearly the exact thing as Mississippi and that HUGE tobacco fund that it has that can't be touched because of certain laws, laws which politicians REFUSE to change for some damn reason...
Use the money to buy out the landlords, hire a company to put up better housing with city codes adhered to 110% and set down rules that must be followed or you get kicked out. Use some of the money to help with landscaping the area, cleaning up the garbage, re-pave roads. That should go a LONG way in helper your town to catch the eyes of people looking for new homes in a safe area. Hopefully those people are into the neighborhood watch idea, helping to keep an officer or two making rounds during the day and even more at night.
As to crazy drivers, put those cameras that take pictures of a driver's license plate if they happen to run a red-light or drive too fast.
Note: I don't really like those cameras, but if it helps to knock some sense into people who refuse to follow the laws and make the streets safer, I'm all for it! The people who follow the laws shouldn't worry, right?
Of course, many peole will use the race card, like you've said before. Oh, poor black people. Everyone else is racist against them, even though they are the biggest racists of them all!
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