Tales From the South Side...
Yes friends, time once again for another installment of those things that usually get folks scratching their heads in bewilderment. So, without any further delay, let's get cracking...
*** Fort Wayne has chalked up it's FIFTEENTH homicide this year (slackers).
But, it took a while to come about.
If you're curious as to WHY, here's the link to the story:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20110920/LOCAL07/309209956
The stabbing happened back on 7 September, but the victim (Eric Robinson) died yesterday, ergo...a homicide.
What startled the hell outta me, is that the coroner has YET to determine the CAUSE of DEATH...!?!
(("WTF?"))
Uh, he was STABBED 5 times...complications resulted from the stabbings...are the pieces of this 1st grade puzzle fitting ANY better now?
Melvin L. Sanders was preliminarily charged with aggravated battery, criminal recklessness ('ya think?) and battery, but was RELEASED on 13 September when the prosecutor's office allowed the charges to EXPIRE.
Amazing how a "silly" argument, tempered with booze (and possible *99* - drugs) can lead to a HOMICIDE, isn't it?
The only thing prior showing for Sanders was an extradition hearing back in 2010...which was dismissed.
Now, are we (the city) going to PURSUE THIS case with Sanders, or find some way to screw THIS one up like so many others?
Time will tell....as it always does.
*** This next story is an amendment to one I posted yesterday about the new "housing" along the Pontiac St. area.
Here's the link to the source article:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20110920/LOCAL/309209960/1002/LOCAL Now THIS other "project" is in addition to yesterday's $11.8 MILLION dollar "lease-to-own" venue.
The next $18 MILLION dollar project is drawing some heat from neighbors (gee, I wonder WHY???) and with good reason.
City officials "say" this will "help fight blight"...
(bullsh*t!)
Neighbors aren't so sure.
Hell, THEY know the score...it's not about anything OTHER THAN THE DAMN CRIME.
(Uh, haven't I said that a few hundred times?)
The project is eligible for GOVERNMENT MONEY because the housing is INCOME-BASED...!
Now wait one frigging minute, here...
Isn't ALL housing INCOME BASED ???
(yeah, Bob's thinking again)
Seems to me it MATTERS (financially) when you decide to get a house that you CAN afford as opposed to one you can't possibly EVER afford...according to what your earnings are...to ME, that says INCOME-BASED.
And every ONE of us has wrestled with that whenever we did decide to look for, or take possession of a house (or not, as the case may be).
You just don't up and move into a damn place without ever wondering IF you can afford the frigging thing, right?
And with such ownership DOES come responsibilities...for yourself (and your bank account).
I have never met a house yet that has the innate ability to MAINTAIN ITSELF...to ANY degree. Stuff still costs money.
So, don't hand me some BS about "income-based" property when they ALL are, and these idiots know it.
(smoke and mirrors, people...gotta watch for this)
When you have people that don't WANT to work, why in God's name should (new) housing be affordable to THEM?
Nevertheless, it IS, and I see the results of such bad decision-making on the part of the city "officials" every damn day.
Let's think on this, also...
If these houses will cost between $125K-$140K, won't that RAISE the value of the area, thereby INCREASING property tax assessments?
Well, it SHOULD...but it most likely won't.
We've seen ours tumble into the 5th level of Dante's Inferno over the last few years, and it was because of LOW-INCOME HOUSING, and the LOW-INTELLIGENT people that were moved into the houses...period.
Funny thing is, YOU (along with every other tax-paying schlep that busts their butt for a living) have PAID for it, while these ghetto-fleas just kick back, smoke a blunt out front, blast their music from the cars with $2000 rims and laugh their asses the hell off.
That is where YOUR money is going....and going...and going...
This particular neighborhood (Formerly called Hanna-Creighton) of Fort Wayne has ALREADY received about $4 MILLION in infrastructure improvements...with absolutely NO change in the facade or demeanor of the neighborhood (still a slum, in other words).
So, why bother to toss (more) good money after bad...it's the SOCIALIST way...let's level that playing field...take from those who have (by working) and give to those too lazy to care...yeah, that's the ticket.
Meanwhile, over FOUR-HUNDRED VACANT homes down here remain unoccupied....gotta love progress, right?
The ONLY way to change the face of any blighted area is to REMOVE THE BLIGHT.
And the last time I checked, blight does not create itself...it needs a "nudge".
That would be from human vermin who CAUSE such blight.
All the bottles, cans, bags tossed from primate hands contribute to blight, as do broken windows, unhinged doors, peeling paint, overgrown foliage, and the like. And this kind of crap doesn't happen all by itself...it needs help.
That's where this new age of low-income rental inhabitants come from...those that take from any and all governmental agency they can...and take some more without EVER giving a damn thing back.
And we're all happy to pay the freight on such "people" (and I use that term loosely), otherwise, we'd hold them accountable...for something. Lord knows they're not doing it for themselves.
Now, I wonder how often we'll hear about a "house fire" caused by some (government-sponsored) person leaving grease burning on some (new, government-sponsored) stove in one of these (new, government-sponsored) houses, hmm?
There goes the neighborhood (again)...and another $125,000 home up in flames...proving once again that blight does not "just happen".
And it never happens...remember that...no more than flies cause garbage, or guns or cars cause deaths.
PEOPLE are the cause, and as with any human situation, only PEOPLE can cure it, but they have to WANT it to go away.
Problems won't up and leave on their own...that's wishful thinking (of the worst kind).
Hold everyone accountable to the EXACT same standards...
No one should be "more equal" than another in that regard.
We ALL work together for a better neighborhood, and we start by ridding ourselves of ANY and all element that detracts from civility and that quality-of-life the mayor is SO keen on expressing.
He's no better than I am...we all are built the same damn way...we crap, bleed and piss the same colors.
His neighborhood should be no better than mine, societally-speaking, and I would challenge him to walk through areas like ours and then ask himself if he wants such areas to continue to devolve at the tax-payers' expense.
I'd wager that challenge will go unaccepted...by ANY politico, and they know why.
They have (in some manner) contributed to this, and would much rather concentrate on easier tasks to make other parts of the city better.
A city is only as good as it's WORST neighborhood.
Ride through down here, and tell me how "good" Fort Wayne is these days....I dare you.
Okay, I'm off the soapbox for today...lol.
(that was a good cup of strong coffee, I must say)
Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay safe out there, America.