Tuesday Links
Clinton Hill HDR. Photo by mototraveler from the Brownstoner Flickr pool. 2 Robbers Killed in Shootout at a Brooklyn Store [NY Times] Fiend Preys on Women Near Starrett City [NY Post] Pols Rip Bid to Reopen Jail House [NY Post] Lawsuit: Prisoner Transfer at HOD Is Plot to Avoid Review [NY Daily News] Breaking News:…
Clinton Hill HDR. Photo by mototraveler from the Brownstoner Flickr pool.
2 Robbers Killed in Shootout at a Brooklyn Store [NY Times]
Fiend Preys on Women Near Starrett City [NY Post]
Pols Rip Bid to Reopen Jail House [NY Post]
Lawsuit: Prisoner Transfer at HOD Is Plot to Avoid Review [NY Daily News]
Breaking News: LICH Divisions Saved! [Brooklyn Paper]
Brooklyn Residents to Protest Broadway Triangle Rezoning [The Real Deal]
“ROTW uses the same language as the unscrupulous “block-buster” real-estate agents who operated so effectively in NYC during the “white flight” days of the 60’s. They peddled fear, and bought homes on the cheap from those who fled. He fails to understand that this is a different era. He may be trying to do the same thing, as there are runmours that he is a real estate agent. Pay no attention to him.”
Thank you, benson. You put into words something I have been thinking for some time.
As usual you find a way to phrase your thoughts that is condescending, hilarious and really gross all at once, What.
And the day I stop imagining things as I would like them to be is the day I stop breathing. And it hasn’t a damn thing to do with latte shops and wine bars.
1842, you are right of course. But as someone who, apparently too long ago, worked in a residential treatment homes, CPS, a children’s psychiatric hospital… it is an unfamiliar and unwelcome set of feelings. And I find it getting harder and more entrenched every year. Crime can’t be getting that much worse, but I’m getting more hardened to it. And much less forgiving.
“Bring back Giuliani. Bloomberg might be a better businessman but Giuliani is the only one with the cajones to address this sort of thing which is necessary on an ongoing basis.”
Guiliani is better at what? Crime has decreased further since he left office. Including this year (despite the above mentioned crime)
I fail to see the need for the comparison.
ROTW uses the same language as the unscrupulous “block-buster” real-estate agents who operated so effectively in NYC during the “white flight” days of the 60’s. They peddled fear, and bought homes on the cheap from those who fled. He fails to understand that this is a different era. He may be trying to do the same thing, as there are runmours that he is a real estate agent. Pay no attention to him.
Nokilissa: I wouldn’t pin your hopes on Obama to do something about crime (full disclosure: I didn’t vote for him). As DIBS pointed out, crime is a local issue, and must be solved at that level. I think that Bloomberg understands that NYC will unravel again if crime gets out of control. If he doesn’t, then I echo the call for the return of Giuliani.
Finally, I also agree with you that any crime is a tragedy. We all started out as bright-eyed babes, as a mother’s son or daughter, and it is sad to see any human potential fall by the wayside.
” And I’m utterly terrified at the sheer numbers of guns we likely have on our streets and in the hands of guys like these. ”
Welcome to New York.
“I’m thinking of the shootings in Ft. Greene and Clinton Hill lately, and the body on Washington Park, and the teen found shot in the head in his car yesterday and so on. It feels like it’s getting worse. Maybe I’m wrong.”
No the reporting is getting worse. You see most of the Asshats was sold a dream. A dream that you can move to the Ghetto and Magically things change overnight. Oh the criminals will stop because we have a Latte shop and Wine Bar over here.
Remove head out of butt and look around and see things for what there are not as you want them to be….
The What
Someday this war is gonna end…
Nokilissa, your feeling of justice being served is normal and I would venture is felt by most who read such stories. The same is true with your sense of sadness and shock at how you can feel hardened to people who cross the line and become violent criminals. It can truly sadden anyone, especially parents, to think that some thug was once an innocent child. It does not absolve them of their behavior though, but is depressing to think about nonetheless. I don’t have any answers, other than the usual – it comes back to parenting and education, and with young boys, fathers or strong father figures to help guide them.
God Benson, I’m sort of with you here. I see your points and it makes me sad and frustrated and pessimistic. WTF? Where do we go, what do we do? How do we even start? And can the joy of Obama’s win and the hope of his office even begin an amelioration of the problem?
Sorry, what, What?
I’m missing your question about Mr. President. Are you asking whether we ascribe his miserable and criminal eight years to a failure of society or squarely onto him?
I’m also aware, in an oddly detached way, that these two men had (hopefully) mothers & families who loved them and were at one time little kids with hopes and possibilities. It just stuns me how badly awry it can go, and how little I care about them once they cross a certain age threshold. And I’m utterly terrified at the sheer numbers of guns we likely have on our streets and in the hands of guys like these. I’m thinking of the shootings in Ft. Greene and Clinton Hill lately, and the body on Washington Park, and the teen found shot in the head in his car yesterday and so on. It feels like it’s getting worse. Maybe I’m wrong.
Getting back to the issue at hand, I would like to take a quick survery of the social services that NYC offers:
-600,000 folks in public housing,8% of the population;
-New York State spends more on medicaid than Florida and Texas (both of which have similiar levels of population) COMBINED.
-roughly 800,000 units of housing under rent-control, roughly 25% of all housing units in the city.
-NYC spends something like $14,000 per student in its public grammar schools, more than any other entity in the nation.
-low or no-cost children’s health insurance for the working poor, as seen in the avertisements plastered all over the subways.
-a heavily-subsidized mass-transit system.
-subsidized child-care for the working poor.
All of this comes at the expense of a heavy tax burden, with marginal tax rates (federal+state+city) of 40% or higher kicking in at MIDDLE-CLASS income levels.
Tell me, Jebby, where is the “failure of society”? How much do we have to spend before we are not considered a “failure”?
If I sound upset, it is because I am. I am tired of being heavily taxed to pay for these services, and then being told by folks like you that we are a “failure” because some thug won’t get off his ass and work, but instead decides to pull out a pistol and rob an immigrant store-owner.