Amazing What You Find...

...Especially when you're not LOOKING for it.
I was TRYING to find something worthwhile to watch the other evening, and I surfed into a repeat airing of the June 16th meeting of the City Plan Commission, talking about southeast side redevelopment.
Well, ANYTHING that has to do with the MY part of town deserves at last 30 seconds of my time, so I figure WTF and listen for a while.
The slide presentation was what I figured...basically all about Renaissance Pointe (what IS it about the silent *E* on the end of all these news projects?) in the Pontiac & Creighton area. It's a nice design, shows some thought, and even the possibility for more growth. But one of the most important aspects to not only getting it that way and keeping it that way is dealing with the crime problem (and that doesn't mean chase all that $hit down to ME, you city buttwipes)! The CPC wants to also turn South Anthony Blvd into (what we in Philly like to call) a "Golden Mile", replete with stores and better housing. But in ALL the ideas, notions, and plans revealed for redevelopment, not ONE iota was mentioned about anywhere close to MY area (except Hanna St. & Rt. 27 intersection, about a mile from me).

So, if I read all this correctly, mostly all of any monies gleaned from whatever sources the city has going for it, will be poured into only TWO locations. And whatever is "left over" will be doled out in a (very) few other places....that's IT.

That's IT?

C'mon now people, we have entire neighborhoods falling apart...houses in such disrepair, neglect, and whatever other words you choose to ascribe to these hovels of heinous activities. We've got block after block of houses with NO occupancy. We've got scads of "condemned" properties sitting idle, Sheriff sale properties adding up DAILY, and hundreds of places that should have been razed YEARS ago. Hmm...nothing mentioned about ANY of that stuff....just the two aforementioned areas. Sorry but a "shining jewel" (as Renaissance Pointe is being touted) sitting in a pile of dung doesn't make that dung pile any nicer looking OR sweeter smelling, does it?

Still, the fact remains that the older neighborhoods will continue their downward slide (unless some concerned people OTHER than JUST myself step up, ante in, and decide that enough IS truly enough). But as long as crime is allowed to breed and fester like some gangrenous open wound, that crap just won't float.
As long as renters (and even potential home buyers as well as all those deadbeat or absentee landlords looking for the quick buck) are held presonally responsible AND are made to be a LOT more accountable, you will see further deterioration in our city. As for any economic growth...don't expect to be doing cartwheels over this any time soon. Let's face it, if YOU owned a business, would you locate into the south side of Fort Wayne?
Would you want to deal with dubious people coming into your store, looking only for what they could steal? Would you want your business to be broken into regularly? Would you stand for the possibility of being robbed yourself when you make a bank deposit?

I think the response would be a resounding NO.

Now I could go on about how NOT having a simple thing like a stinking BOOKSTORE down here causes me to shop ONLINE (negating the sales tax to the city in the process), denying money to Fort Wayne...but I won't. Those of who who are acquainted with this part of town know the score already.

Until the crime is dealt with, and the decent people that are still left rally around taking back their neighborhoods, businesses just won't be flocking here. Until people start treating others with a lot more respect and dignity, stores we sorely NEED won't be opening any time soon.

There is absolutely NO reason that blighted areas cannot be ALL reclaimed , have decent working people placed into them, and shore up the marvelously eroding tax base this city currently enjoys. THAT (alone) would go a LONG way to stem the rising tide of property taxes, among other things. More livable homes mean more money, and more money means more can get done, instead of being ignored.

Not to mention, what will these two revitalized areas look like ten years after completion? We can but hope they don't devolve back into the cesspools of human flotsam they are trying to swim out of...or is that rescued from. And who "guards the lifeguard" in that respect?

Money spent for these downtown projects could do SO MUCH MORE to reclaim a MUCH larger portion of this city, with a much larger return FOR that investment. We may never fully realize that though.

But at LEAST we WILL have a damn fine looking DOWNTOWN...won't we?