How They Do Things in Newark
For years, Newark has been a synonym for hopelessness and despair. When reformer Cory Booker was elected, it brought some hope, and he has done some good things. Here, however, is a textbook example of how our party machines in the big cities approach problems:
NEWARK — The Newark City Council today approved legislation that calls for late-night eateries to post armed guards after 9 p.m. until they close....
According to [Councilman Ras] Baraka, the chicken shacks and pizza joints that stay open late do little to serve the community and encourage crime.
"Most of these stores provide security for themselves but not for the customers they bring in," Baraka said Wednesday, referring to the bulletproof glass and cameras common in the eateries.
So it's no service to stay open late hours so you are available to someone pulling a night shift. So it's not enough that you have a small business up and running -- now it's your responsibility to do the job that the city of Newark and its police department should be doing, but aren't (notwithstanding that you are taxed to pay for these services). And then the city council wonders: Why don't people want to live or invest here?
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Nov '10
Re: How They Do Things in Newark
"As of now, the ordinance would affect only those places that serve fewer than 20 people. Larger, sit-down restaurants would not be affected."
Gee, I wonder how that odd bit slipped into the ordinance.
Jun '10
Re: How They Do Things in Newark
If it's that dangerous to eat at small eateries late at night in Newark, buy a can of soup and stay home.
May '10
Re: How They Do Things in Newark
I would encourage any of you that participates in Twitter, to send a link to Bill's post asking @CoryBooker to respond. He reads and writes his own posts and with enough volume I bet we could get him to respond. And I for one would like to hear what he has to say about this.
Jun '10
Re: How They Do Things in Newark
I'm willing to bet that if we dusted for prints the police union would be incriminated. Who makes up the bulk of armed security services in New Jersey? Cops working second jobs, that's who.
Re: How They Do Things in Newark
One of the unintended consequences of too much government is that as socialized things become more and more inefficient, de facto life becomes privatized. I used to see this in Asia all the time.
For example, in the Philippines, where residential neighborhoods were not safe most of the communities started to be gated with their own armed guards. And when the government botched up the energy supply -- shutting down a nuclear plant before it had produced a single kilowatt of electricity, without providing for something in its place -- every shop in Manila had its own gas-powered generator. I think you see a lot of this in Latin America too: The government nominally in charge, but people forced to turn to private solutions to make up for government failure.
Jun '10
Re: How They Do Things in Newark
Bill McGurn: One of the unintended consequences of too much government is that as socialized things become more and more inefficient, de facto life becomes privatized. I used to see this in Asia all the time.
For example, in the Philippines, where residential neighborhoods were not safe most of the communities started to be gated with their own armed guards. And when the government botched up the energy supply -- shutting down a nuclear plant before it had produced a single kilowatt of electricity, without providing for something in its place -- every shop in Manila had its own gas-powered generator. I think you see a lot of this in Latin America too: The government nominally in charge, but people forced to turn to private solutions to make up for government failure. · Jul 8 at 10:01am
That's because you can depend on yourself. The government, not so much--it's too busy taking care of the "general will."
Edited on Jul 8, 2011 at 10:05amJan '11
Re: How They Do Things in Newark
Elect no Democrat anywhere, ever.
"But what about Cory Booker in Newark, who is a new kind of Democrat?"
Elect no Democrat anywhere, ever.
Cities like Newark, Camden, South Plainfield and so many other NJ and northeastern urban areas, where black Americans have been and are still being brutalized by the policies, programs and politicians of the Democrat Party, are the reasons for my tepid reaction to...
Herman Cain and Allen West.
We do not need black conservatives who appeal to white middle-class voters.
We need black conservatives who know how to speak to, address the concerns of, and attract into the GOP tent the masses of struggling, middle class and poor black Americans.
The detritus of the demented dreams of the Democrats surround millions of blacks in the cities of America. We need black men who will speak truth to that corrupt power where it lives - in Newark, East St. Louis and Milwaukee, not in suburban Florida or North Carolina.
Without such men, all you will find are the new breed of smiling con artists - Cory Booker.
Aug '10
Re: How They Do Things in Newark
I've seen it only in the "telephone system" in Buenos Aires: an amazing just-barely-overhead web of privately-strung wires, some spanning 8 lanes of roadway. If there were n buildings in Buenos Aires, there might have been n(n-1)/2 wires; and if not, well, it had to be close!
Speaking at least for Brazil, I can say that that land's postal service is excellent and nobody's depending on household generators for electricity. Brazilians, however, are not great do-it-yourselfers, and when a good thing goes bad, they tend simply to do without.
Jun '10
Re: How They Do Things in Newark
The problem with this has been written about by Theodore Dalrymple. The very type of inner city resident who would be out and about eating at a late nite rib joint does not know how to open a can of soup to prepare a simple meal. He has been raised on an exclusive diet of fast food. In addition, he may not have a stove on which to cook it because he removed the stove from his govenmment supplied public housing apartment and sold it, along with the other appliances.
Jun '10
Re: How They Do Things in Newark
Freesmith: We do not need black conservatives who appeal to white middle-class voters.
We need black conservatives who know how to speak to, address the concerns of, and attract into the GOP tent the masses of struggling, middle class and poor black Americans.
The detritus of the demented dreams of the Democrats surround millions of blacks in the cities of America. We need black men who will speak truth to that corrupt power where it lives - in Newark, East St. Louis and Milwaukee, not in suburban Florida or North Carolina.
I think Allen West is such a man.