Tag: Urban Renewal

More Rats! And Racism?

 

RatsThe left has settled on the election strategy of screaming “racist, racist, racist” at President Trump and any who dare show any support for him. It need not be true if it works, as Senator Harry Reid shamelessly admitted after smearing Mitt Romney into defeat. Yelling “that’s racist!” is also a defensive move by Democrats, fearful of President Trump showing they no longer have a monopoly on peoples’ votes based on skin color. President Trump can win bigly in the 2020 election, and put his tormentors on the back foot now, if he simply goes on offense, keeping his promises made in on Trump’s New Deal for Black America. In so doing, he can make a substantial positive difference in the lives of forgotten and exploited Americans, cleaning up the rats, and the dirty rotten rats in local and state governments.

Rats and Dirty Rotten Rats

My mother served as a nurse in the Philadelphia Department of Public Health in the late 1950s. This was before the national, and then transnational, drug gangs cranked up the level of violence from knives, chains, and zip guns, to effective late 19th century, early 20th century firearms (double-action revolvers, eventually superseded by semi-auto pistols). The old men sat on their tenement stoops keeping watch. Young nurses, women, often white, walked alone because they were under community protection.

Rats!

 

RatsRats and violence in Baltimore, as in other cities, are indicators of basic civil society and local government breakdown. President Trump, as a developer between New York and New Jersey, has a long memory of stories that fed his tweets about Congressman Elijah Cummings’ hometown. This is not dinner-time viewing, but it is a fair sampling of local Baltimore stories since 2013. If you find the following a bit much, I note that cats chase rats, and you can chase the images here with a wonderful cat tale: “The Mother.”

The Atlantic had this 2014 story of an independent photojournalist documenting neglect of entire blocks of empty buildings:

Juneteenth: Emancipation Day

 

On June 19, 1865, Union Army Major General Gordon Granger read General Orders, Number 3, to the people of Galveston, Texas. It was two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation, but at last the words of freedom came to African-American slaves in Texas. This day became known as Juneteenth, and eventually became first an unofficial holiday and then a holiday recognized by some states.

General Granger wrote, in part:

The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.

All Aboard for Urban Renovation?

 

As President Trump crafts his strategy to continue his “promises made, promises kept” grand political strategy, he likely will advance an urban renewal initiative, aimed at key communities the Democratic Party relies upon for electoral success. In addition to assessing such an initiative on its political and moral worth, we should also be very careful about its bias toward bureaucrats or citizens. In Drug Dealing: Not a Victimless Crime, a story of a murder and a car driven into a Subway restaurant, I raised the issue of unintended consequences of urban planning. The would-be masters of the metropolis tell us that light rail makes, encourages development, makes people movement better, and improves communities. Yet, they do not talk about the government induced destruction of businesses, movement of vagrants and drug addicts, and associated harm to communities. I have seen both sides in the Valley of the Sun, prompting cautionary contemplation.

Preliminaries: Money and Style

Mick Cornett joins Aaron Renn to discuss Cornett’s time as mayor of Oklahoma City (2004-2018) and his new book The Next American City: The Big Promise of Our Midsize Metros.

America is full of midsize cities that have prospered through smart governance, including Charleston, Des Moines, Indianapolis, Sacramento—and Oklahoma City. Over the last decade-plus, elected officials and community leaders have made real progress on improving these urban centers, boosting civic vitality, and creating economic opportunity for residents.

Member Post

 

Alabama special election turnout points to a serious problem in the midterms and 2020 if President Trump does not lead his administration in focused action and messaging towards African Americans. He must peel off enough traditionally Democratic votes to help keep and expand his legislative majorities. Fortunately, President Donald Trump has had his heart and […]

Join Ricochet!

This is a members-only post on Ricochet's Member Feed. Want to read it? Join Ricochet’s community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Join Ricochet for Free.

The Detroit Wince

 

shutterstock_154949270I have a conference to attend in Detroit, so I flew out a few days early to visit my extended family, which is spread across Michigan.

My first stop was Sault Ste. Marie on the Canadian border. When I grabbed a meal at a local eatery the waitress asked where I drove in from. “Detroit,” I said, to which she made a funny face and said, “sorry.”

I visited my 100-year-old grandma who spent most of her life in the state. The sweet, kindly, 4’8” centenarian who taught me to cuss in Finnish asked where the conference was. “Detroit,” I yelled to make sure she heard me. “Why would they meet there?” followed by a disapproving face.