Monday Musings...
Normally, the way I go about doing my posts here is simple:
Depends on my MOOD. And that's as good a barometer as any when it comes to bringing the TRUTH.
Usually, after the missus is safely off to school (work), I set about typing out whatever it was that caught my attention over the past day or so. Then, within an hour, it's online, ready for your eyes.
Like I said...simple.
Today's post is going to be a bit different. I am actually writing this on SUNDAY (between acoustic assaults from the local crop of boomcar shitheads driving all around, who somehow NEVER get pulled the hell over), as I've found something I want to get down in words before the moment passes, and my muse takes winged flight.
** Saturday's News-Sentinel (Fort Wayne's better paper, in my humble opinion) had an article written by Kevin Leininger regarding city developers and their apparent penchant for convenience stores.
Here's the link to the original article:
http://news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090321/NEWS/903210332
Kevin is one of those guys that isn't afraid to tell the truth, and he's been taken to task (by ill-informed and unenlightened readers) for that from time to time, because what he writes about IS the truth, and not merely a "perception" of a possible truth.
Now I like convenience stores, mainly because they're...well...CONVENIENT.
Nothing better than to be in some god-forsaken area and pull in, fill up the tank, grab a cold soda, a snack, and perhaps a MAP to find your way to your definition. That's pretty much what these stores were DESIGNED for. And THAT works fine for me. I just don't LIVE there, or DEPEND on them for my life's sustenance
But somehow, these "developers" look at such stores as the 21st century equivalent to the renown "mom & pop" grocery stores of the 60s.
WRONG.
We did away with most all of THOSE stores for the "big-box" chains that we are FORCED to go to, right?
Apparently, the S/E side of the city (my part of town) has the HIGHEST NUMBER of "convenience" stores than ANY OTHER quadrant, and damn near as many as the OTHER THREE COMBINED!
As with most all of these stores, we also have gas pumps, and we're ONLY 60 pumps LESS than the OTHER THREE quadrants combined (the rest of the city has 200 pumps total, we have 140 pumps just down here).
We also have PREPAY pumps down here....must be all those "driveoffs" that caused THAT.
Now, I'll be the FIRST one to tell you that too much of ANYTHING is not necessarily a GOOD thing. Ben Franklin always told us: "Everything in moderation - nothing in excess", and I'm on board with that.
So...why ALL the convenience stores down here anyway?
Are they here to "compliment" ALL the FAST FOOD joints? Or ALL the LIQUOR STORES? Or perhaps ALL the DOLLAR STORES?
Sorry friends, but I'm not seeing "retail improvement" in all of this crap.
We HAVE no mall any longer...we HAVE no retail, aside from ONE (as in SINGLE) Wal-Mart (and that's even too much), ONE K-Mart, and ONE Menards...that's IT, people.
We don't even have ANY "real" sit-down restaurants down here (and China Buffet's booths in the Southgate Plaza doesn't count, as it's geared for quick turnaround of it's patrons). The closest place would have to be the Renaissance out by Southtown (God bless THOSE people for sticking it out).
Cripes, even the SENIORS (what's left of them anyway) have NO PLACE to go...Southtown was torn down (no walkabout exercising there), Richards closed, Ponderosa closed...pretty much everything has left the area.
So, why the hell has this happened?
Well, since no one else WANTS to say it, I will. It's because of the CRIME, and the PEOPLE that allow it to GROW like a festering sore on the backside of this city.
Let's face it, you've got most ALL of the major ethnic populations DOWN HERE, and they're mostly of the "low-class" persuasion.
And by "low-class", I don't mean poverty-stricken, because I grew up on THAT street, and you don't drive around in some newer vehicles if you're POOR...it's that simple. You simply DO WITHOUT until you can be sure that you have a ROOF over your damn head, FOOD on your damn table, and a JOB to pay for all that crap. THEN, maybe,...you can get a USED car (and the insurance in case some shit happens).
That's the way WE did it as I was growing up, and we were no damn better than anyone else, but we DID have something people I see here today in MY area (that replay the old "poor me" song and dance daily) have not.
It's called FORTITUDE.
It's what gets your ass out of bed EARLY to head off to some job you don't like JUST SO you can have that food every day, and that roof every night. It provides schooling to advance yourself into a BETTER position. Not one damn person around here can claim that...or ever will.
Because it's GIVEN TO THEM...and they STILL piss it up against the nearest wall...and expect even more (from you, the taxpaying citizen)...and to what end?
So we can have even MORE convenient stores?
That's too ridiculous to even be humorous. That is not solving ANY problems when it comes to business DEVELOPMENT down here.
And maybe that's ALSO why the Renaissance Pointe project has the city taking a "bail" from it (stay tuned for THAT post).
You're NOT going to take a sow's ear and miraculously turn it into a SILK PURSE overnight, and certainly NOT without removing (or at least reducing to a noticeable degree) the CRIME (and stigma) that has followed this part of the city over the last several decades.
Putting up MORE RICH stores or SPEEDWAYS will not aid in bettering neighborhoods that already enjoy the crime associated with such venues.
It took SEVERAL shootings at the BP station/store at Anthony & McKinnie to get the city's ears perked up and motivate them into action.
Right near me there is a RICH gas station/store, and that is busy all damn night, and not by people just buying "eats" (must be that marijuana high giving them the munchies), but suspicious vehicles are there constantly, and the thumping of their "music" can be heard blocks away!
Add to that the robberies and burglaries at the nearby ASPCA, Yeoman's Auto Repair, and even the auto body shop further down Hanna Street.
The surrounding neighborhoods are not immune, either. A growing number of break-ins are occurring. Like a tsunami of criminal activity, it has come farther south into areas like MINE over the last decade.
What used to occur up along Oxford Ave, crept down to McKinnie...and then to Rudisill, and now to Pettit...slowly, inexorably, like a lava flow bent on wiping out all vestige of humanity in it's path.
For the most part, that much IS succeeding.
Few are the number of good, decent, law-abiding residents still living down here. Unfortunately, none of them live near me (save for one).
Kevin asks the question in his article:
"Does it impose a different set of development 'rules' for different parts of town?"
You bet your sweet ass it does.
I've said that all along. We have TWO sets of rules, and it pertains not just TO THE PEOPLE, but to development as well.
I spoke about this "double-standard" the other week, and it would appear that it now goes much deeper than just the people.
It's goes deep into the city government and it's adjunct agencies.
Who'da thunk it?
Do I foresee any change on the immediate horizon? Nope, not one damn bit.
Unless the city would like to "lend" me a demolition crew, a few cases of TNT, and some SWAT sharpshooters for about a month...and NO questions asked.
THEN, you could affect some change...not before.
But then again, I don't go in for all this molly-coddling, false hand-holding, entitlements that reward the lazy asses of the world.
You are responsible for YOURSELF, first and foremost.
And I don't go in for lies through false hopes of biased re-re-gentrification in neighborhoods, either.
I believe what I see, what I hear, and what I learn through investigating that which NEEDS looking into.
In other words, I tend to be a REALIST.
I leave all the "fantasies" to Disneyworld and to the politicians...they're MUCH better at it than I could ever hope to be.
Stay safe out there, America.