August 30, 2006
Care About the Poor Or Else
Philly Confidential rather eat paint than plug the competition, but today’s Inky story on poverty hit the nail on the head.
According to the piece, Philly is “among the nation's 10 largest cities, Philadelphia ranks first in the percentage of people living in poverty”
It is no secret that Philly’s crime rate (per population) is one of the highest in the country.
In December, a USA Todayer wrote, “Philadelphia's 2004 murder rate of 22.4 per 100,000 residents is the highest of the nation's 10 largest cities and ranks third among the 25 largest cities, behind Baltimore and Detroit.
Just as the reasons for the national decline in murders are not fully known — although an improved economy, a decline in use of crack cocaine and a drop in the number of teenagers appear to be factors — the reasons for Philadelphia's sustained death rate remain unclear.”
PC doesn’t think it is "unclear", Poverty = Crime.
When people live in dirty dilapidated neighborhoods, violence is always in the mix.
Ever heard of the broken windows theory, explained by a Washington Poster as
“ignoring the little problems -- graffiti, litter, shattered glass -- creates a sense of irreversible decline that leads people to abandon the community or to stay away.”Former 90’s NYPD boss, William Bratton, guided his troops with it as the public praised Mayor Giuliani for shining up the Big Apple.
Wake up Philly?
Stop blaming the cops for the large amount of blood on the streets.
We need to start paying more attention to the poor. Because sooner or later they will stop killing each other over drug beefs and start looking for their next slay in your cozy middle/upper class ‘hood.
Scary huh!
Posted by simone at August 30, 2006 01:57 PMFirst and foremost I agree with the last four lines word for word. As a Philly native I feel saddened by the current crimes committed. Philly officials need to man up and start hitting the streets hard. They need to find a way to create jobs out there.
I'm a Marine deployed in Iraq right now. So it worries me that innocent people are getting raped, robbed or killed for no good reasons. It sucks that whenever I log on to Philly.com the first title I see involves murder or robbery. I'm getting tired of these series of events. Sometimes I think "damn I'm better off in Iraq than back home". Only if those criminals sat back and realized that the atrociuos scenarios they just committed, could be turned around on them and done to their loved ones. Only if they thought before they acted. Sorry for writing so much but I just wanted to let it all out.
Thanks for writing, Jorge! Where are stationed at in Iraq? How's it going over there right now?
As for Philly being worse than Iraq -- well, you're not too far off. I wrote a story a month or so ago about the 12th Police District, which has so far seen a 200 percent increase in homicides over last year. Scary indeed.
Stay safe over there, man! We're all pulling for you guys.
Posted by: david at September 2, 2006 06:18 PMDemocrats + Liberalism + welfare + dependence - incentive to achieve = poverty + rape + murder
The poorest cities in the country are all run by Democrats.
Is this really a friggin surprise to you people?
Posted by: morgan at September 6, 2006 03:56 PMHey Partisan Punk,
What about Denver, Atlanta, and San Fran?
Those cities do have their problems but they are thriving.
Quit being such a Republican.
Hey Partisan Punk,
What about Denver, Atlanta, and San Fran?
Those cities do have their problems but they are thriving under democratic mayors.
Check out: http://www.ncdm.org/membersCity.html
Thinking only right is always wrong.
Posted by: simone at September 7, 2006 12:54 AMHey Partisan Punk,
What about Denver, Atlanta, and San Fran?
Those cities do have their problems but they are thriving under democratic mayors.
Check out: http://www.ncdm.org/membersCity.html
Thinking only right is always wrong.
Posted by: simone at September 7, 2006 12:54 AMI noticed "morgan" has the e-mail address willbunch@aol.com. I trust that is not your colleague posting under a fake name, right?
Posted by: Bob Moran at September 11, 2006 02:11 AM