Althouse: "For a time in recent decades, it looked like the reform examples of New York under Messrs. Giuliani and Bloomberg and the growth of cities like Houston might lead to a broader urban revitalization."

April 30, 2015

"For a time in recent decades, it looked like the reform examples of New York under Messrs. Giuliani and Bloomberg and the growth of cities like Houston might lead to a broader urban revitalization."

"In some places it did. But of late the progressives have been making a comeback, led by Bill de Blasio in New York and the challenge to sometime reform Mayor Rahm Emanuel in Chicago. This week’s nightmare in Baltimore shows where this leads. It’s time for a new urban renewal, this time built on the ideas of private economic development, personal responsibility, 'broken windows' policing, and education choice."

A Wall Street Journal editorial titled "The Blue-City Model/Baltimore shows how progressivism has failed urban America." (Pay-wall protected, but if you Google some text, you can go in.)

55 comments:

Jaq said...: I think you are going to have to add a Martin O'Malley tag for these Baltimore riots.

The drug war began it, certainly, but the stake through the heart of police procedure in Baltimore was MARTIN O’MALLEY3. He destroyed police work in some real respects. Whatever was left of it when he took over the police department, if there were two bricks together that were the suggestion of an edifice that you could have called meaningful police work, he found a way to pull them apart. Everyone thinks I’ve got a hard-on for Marty because we battled over “The Wire,” whether it was bad for the city, whether we’d be filming it in Baltimore. But it’s been years, and I mean, that’s over. I shook hands with him on the train last year and we buried it. And, hey, if he's the Democratic nominee, I’m going to end up voting for him. It’s not personal and I admire some of his other stances on the death penalty and gay rights.

- David Simon on Baltimore's Anguish

David Simon was the creator of The Wire.; 4/30/15, 7:25 AM
Michael said...: The current mayor of Baltimore solved the crime problem by cutting it in half.

By cutting arrests in half.

Progs know their maths.; 4/30/15, 7:27 AM
Mick said...: Baltimore Orioles Executive Vice Pres. John Angelos, the owner's son, summed it up nicely:

“Brett, speaking only for myself, I agree with your point that the principle of peaceful, non-violent protest and the observance of the rule of law is of utmost importance in any society. MLK, Gandhi, Mandela, and all great opposition leaders throughout history have always preached this precept. Further, it is critical that in any democracy investigation must be completed and due process must be honored before any government or police members are judged responsible.

That said, my greater source of personal concern, outrage and sympathy beyond this particular case is focused neither upon one night’s property damage nor upon the acts, but is focused rather upon the past four-decade period during which an American political elite have shipped middle class and working class jobs away from Baltimore and cities and towns around the U.S. to third-world dictatorships like China and others, plunged tens of millions of good hard-working Americans into economic devastation, and then followed that action around the nation by diminishing every American’s civil rights protections in order to control an unfairly impoverished population living under an ever-declining standard of living and suffering at the butt end of an ever-more militarized and aggressive surveillance state.

The innocent working families of all backgrounds whose lives and dreams have been cut short by excessive violence, surveillance, and other abuses of the Bill of Rights by government pay the true price, an ultimate price, and one that far exceeds the importance of any kids’ game played tonight, or ever, at Camden Yards. We need to keep in mind people are suffering and dying around the U.S., and while we are thankful no one was injured at Camden Yards, there is a far bigger picture for poor Americans in Baltimore and everywhere who don’t have jobs and are losing economic civil and legal rights, and this makes inconvenience at a ball game irrelevant in light of the needless suffering government is inflicting upon ordinary Americans.”

The Article should be "How the political class destroyed America while we slept."; 4/30/15, 7:29 AM
Michael K said...: "I’m going to end up voting for him. It’s not personal and I admire some of his other stances on the death penalty and gay rights. "

Just hilarious example of why Democrat voters are unserious about any serious issues. They voted for Obama twice because he is half black. Gay rights is the issue next year. Islamophobia is probably second. Right up until somebody gets their head cut off in Times Square.; 4/30/15, 7:30 AM
Jaq said...: What we white people wish the Baltimore riots looked like

Hairspray was set in Baltimore and was plotted around race relations in that city in the '60s.

I am getting more sympathy for the rioters every day. I know they are criminals, and I know that wearing masks and looting is not what classic Civil Disobedience according to Thoreau looks like, but they have some legitimate gripes that traditional politics is not addressing and that makes it seem worthwhile to destroy their own neighborhoods.; 4/30/15, 7:32 AM
rhhardin said...: It's black leaders, not any particular progressive policy.

Somebody's appointing them, I think the MSM for ratings with their idiot audience.

Get rid of the MSM narrative and the progressive policies will disappear too.; 4/30/15, 7:33 AM
Jaq said...: Right up until somebody gets their head cut off in Times Square

Robert Cook already assured us that unless it is an "existential threat" to the United States of America, even that is no cause for war.; 4/30/15, 7:37 AM
tim maguire said...: Republicans do a better job of making the trains run on time, but for the struggles of inner city poor who provide a ready audience for the demagogues, there is a lot of blame to go around.

First the Great Society shattered black families, then the drug war picked up all the little pieces and put them in jail. Now there are no fathers and the men are unemployable. Why not riot?; 4/30/15, 7:39 AM
rhhardin said...: Peaceful protest is nice, but it's pointless if it just proves that blacks are morons.

Let's get another narrative out there.

Derbyshire:

"The inability of blacks to do anything much for themselves without whites is illustrated all over again by the subsequent fate of Selma — the town, not the movie...For all the bellyaching about "white supremacy," the evidence is that when there aren't whites around to supervise things, blacks sink into poverty and helplessness."

That's the data. I'd take it as a challenge to blacks to show otherwise, which they could easily do with another narrative.

Come down on the MSM's version of life and the you-are-owed-free-stuff black leaders for a change.

Time for that peaceful protest.; 4/30/15, 7:42 AM
Jim in St Louis said...: Tim in Vermont said (in part): ....they have some legitimate gripes that traditional politics is not addressing....

Horseshit.
We are an orderly society that controls the government and the laws we live under. The non-consent of the governed should not be expressed by riots and looting. If the people of Baltimore don't like their local police force they can elect a new mayor new city council, new governor.

I wonder what particular gripes you have in mind that the solution is to burn down CVS.; 4/30/15, 7:44 AM
MayBee said...: There is nothing that says, "You should hire us" like burning CVS and stealing the controlled drug vault.; 4/30/15, 7:50 AM
gerry said...: I wonder what particular gripes you have in mind that the solution is to burn down CVS.

THEY CHARGE FOR WHAT YOU WANT TO CARRY OUT OF THE STORE, RIGHT????? Sheesh.

Of course, we'll be a drug store desert next week. Can't have it all, I suppose.; 4/30/15, 7:53 AM
Brando said...: Detroit is a good example of what happens when these trends run unchecked--depopulation by about half, the police force transformed to a 9-5 service, and large swathes of the city literally abandoned to become farmland or forest.

Only when the residents reject that path as they did in some cities (NYC being perhaps too unique and large to make a good example; DC perhaps being a poor example because it also seats the federal government) can this be reversed. But when the loudest and most persuasive voices cry out for more "government investment" and suggest nothing to get rid of the labor rackets and regulatory bloat that keeps business from thriving, and those with means vote with their feet, I don't see it changing soon. Maybe some of the locals will prove that you can't fool 'em all, all of the time--it would be nice to see a sign of that.; 4/30/15, 7:56 AM
Todd said...: Michael K said...

Right up until somebody gets their head cut off in Times Square.

4/30/15, 7:30 AM

Sorry but no. That would not do it. The general consensus will be that they deserved it, that we ALL deserved it due to macro-aggression, failure to appreciate the cultural differences, its "just their way", etc., etc., etc.; 4/30/15, 7:57 AM
Meade said...: from Wikipedia:

Johnson wanted a catchy slogan for the 1964 campaign to describe his proposed domestic agenda for 1965. Eric Goldman, who joined the White House in December of that year, thought Johnson's domestic program was best captured in the title of Walter Lippman's book, The Good Society. Richard Goodwin tweaked it – to "The Great Society" and incorporated this in detail as part of a speech for Johnson in May 1964 at the University of Michigan. It encompassed movements of urban renewal, modern transportation, clean environment, anti-poverty, healthcare reform, crime control, and educational reform.

Good society - Great Society. Seems we may have skipped a step.; 4/30/15, 7:58 AM
Brando said...: "There is nothing that says, "You should hire us" like burning CVS and stealing the controlled drug vault."

We have to differentiate the looters from the lawful residents who are victims of these looters. Just like an abusive cop (protected of course by his union) should not represent the good professional police.

The twin problems of unaccountable police and free-running looters demonstrate the problem with single-party regimes that run our inner cities. Any law abiding productive person with means will leave, and any law abiding productive person with limited means will remain subject to it.; 4/30/15, 7:59 AM
Robert Cook said...: "Robert Cook already assured us that unless it is an 'existential threat' to the United States of America, even that is no cause for war."

Tim, your comment here seems a senseless non-sequitur, not to mention a complete misreading (or misrepresentation) of remarks I've made. It is only when there is an existential threat to our nation by a military force that waging war is justified, not "even that is no cause for war."

As an aside, there is a war going on in America, a war by the rich and powerful on the rest of us, and the rich and powerful are winning.; 4/30/15, 8:02 AM
MayBee said...: We have to differentiate the looters from the lawful residents who are victims of these looters.

Oh, I completely agree. I'm just pushing back a little on the people (out there) who are saying rioting is communication.

I have often said the worst thing about being poor in America is being stuck living by the other poor people, the criminals and gangsters and non-school focused populace.; 4/30/15, 8:03 AM
Fernandinande said...: "But escape from the inner city [Baltimore] is a highly selective enterprise. It is an option open mostly to the right half of the bell curve. Consequently, urban flight creates a cognitive discontinuity where the city meets the suburbs. Left behind in the city is a human residue wanting in human capital. Unemployment, welfare dependency, drug addiction, coarseness and incivility are its hallmarks, low IQ its nub. Below we characterize the discontinuity, closely estimating mean IQs of inner-city and suburban dwellers, black and white.
...
With a mean IQ of 76, inner-city blacks fall about 0.6 SD below the African American average nationally. More than a third have death-penalty immunity on grounds of mental retardation. The inner-city white mean of 86 is nearly a full standard deviation below the national white average."; 4/30/15, 8:04 AM
Jaq said...: Good society - Great Society. Seems we may have skipped a step

Great Leap Forward, always a good idea.

O'Malley destroyed law enforcement in Baltimore to satisfy his political ambitions of becoming Governor and then his try for the WH. He wanted crime to go down so he embarked on a regime of prior restraint, keeping people in jail all the time, while at the same time suppressing reporting of all manner of crimes from armed robbery to sexual assault.

He is almost like a villain from a Batman movie.; 4/30/15, 8:09 AM
Brando said...: "I'm just pushing back a little on the people (out there) who are saying rioting is communication."

Gotcha--the armchair radicals who safe behind their computers will try and legitimize the violence.

"I have often said the worst thing about being poor in America is being stuck living by the other poor people, the criminals and gangsters and non-school focused populace."

Those are the people I feel the worst for--prey to the predators, and feeling no one will protect them, least of all a corrupt police force (or even decent police officers who understandably have their own skepticism and hopelessness about fighting crime in such neighborhoods).; 4/30/15, 8:17 AM
Unknown said...: Regardless of who (local residents, local thugs, or imported criminals) burned down the CVS, it's burned down. It's burned down not because of the neighborhood, not because of any activity on the part of the store itself but rather on something objectionable that happened in the city. I don't know if CVS is abandoning that location or not, but rebuilding there will always carry the risk that cannot be managed. The residents might have been able to manage the risk, but they are too upset about something that happened somewhere else to someone else to ensure that their lives are not made more difficult by driving a pharmacy out of town.; 4/30/15, 8:18 AM
Brando said...: I did see an idiotic comment the other day about "people more outraged about the looting of a CVS when a guy died in police custody". My response was that thoughtful people are capable of both being outraged by likely police abuse and outraged by looters and rioters at the same time. But I'd also add that the armchair riot-excusers probably have cars to get to the grocery store, or delivery services, or nice stores right in their neighborhoods--while the law abiding residents in West Baltimore probably counted on that CVS for food and medicine and now are going to have much more difficult lives as a result of its loss.; 4/30/15, 8:20 AM
Larry J said...: Brando said...

We have to differentiate the looters from the lawful residents who are victims of these looters. Just like an abusive cop (protected of course by his union) should not represent the good professional police.

For decades, I've heard of the "Blue Wall of Silence" that shields the corrupt and abusive cops. Sorry, but no cops are any better than the worst cops they allow to remain on their force. If you look the other way at abuse or corruption, then you're also to blame for what happened.

There are a lot of good cops out there. The bad ones are the minority percentage of almost any police force. Get rid of them.; 4/30/15, 8:24 AM
Todd said...: The CVS is now gone. There is at least a 50/50 chance it will not be rebuilt. 6 months from now, there will be stories on how hard it is for the folks that live in that area to get access to drugs, fresh food, etc. and how it is the fault of "those evil businesses" that refuse to serve the poorer areas and those that do will be vilified for the crime of charging more for their goods and services in order to cover the risk of doing business there.

Left out of all of these stories will be any sort of basic understanding of cause and effect, ROI, risk/reward, time value of money, etc.

Cognitive dissidence! It is the liberal way!; 4/30/15, 8:26 AM
Bob Boyd said...: Fernandinande said...
"But escape from the inner city [Baltimore] is a highly selective enterprise. "

Fascinating. Thanks for the link.; 4/30/15, 8:32 AM
Peter said...: Well, there's a lot of ruin in a city the size of New York. Although I suppose at one time one could have said the same about Detroit.

Whereas Baltimore (and Philadelphia) have been near-ruins with abysmally poor government for so long that few can remember that they were ever any better.; 4/30/15, 8:35 AM
Big Mike said...: As an aside, there is a war going on in America, a war by the rich and powerful on the rest of us, and the rich and powerful are winning.

Well yes, trouble is it's being waged from your side of the political spectrum on the rest of us.; 4/30/15, 8:37 AM
Douglas B. Levene said...: It's pretty rich of the Angelos clan to complain about the loss of industrial jobs since their fortune (asbestos litigation) has been based on destroying companies and the jobs and careers of the employees working there.; 4/30/15, 8:52 AM
Scott M said...: As an aside, there is a war going on in America, a war by the rich and powerful on the rest of us, and the rich and powerful are winning.

So, what you're saying is that you would kill a rich person, right? It would be justifiable self-defense, right?; 4/30/15, 8:52 AM
PB said...: Yep. It's been a 50 year slide for the black family and low income people. You pretty much have to conclude the liberal/progressive agenda has failed.

Socialism always fails, even when it's voluntary.; 4/30/15, 8:59 AM
Brando said...: "It's pretty rich of the Angelos clan to complain about the loss of industrial jobs since their fortune (asbestos litigation) has been based on destroying companies and the jobs and careers of the employees working there."

Serious question--did or do the Orioles enjoy any special tax breaks or stadium funding by the city? Because if so, shouldn't Angelos and his rich friends be willing to forego that so the city can spend some of its more limited economic development funding to keep the industries in the city that he criticizes for leaving (sort of like baseball teams threaten to leave cities if they dont' get payoffs)?; 4/30/15, 9:05 AM
Fritz said...: As an aside, there is a war going on in America, a war by the rich and powerful on the rest of us, and the rich and powerful are winning.

I assume you're referring to the Clintons?; 4/30/15, 9:10 AM
mccullough said...: Angelos the Younger is the reason for the estate tax.; 4/30/15, 9:32 AM
Brando said...: "As an aside, there is a war going on in America, a war by the rich and powerful on the rest of us, and the rich and powerful are winning."

Seeing it as a "war" is the first problem with that sort of thinking. The rich and powerful are if anything indifferent to the poor, but it makes no difference. The powerful by defnition will always be better off.

Who is the "powerful" in Baltimore? An urban leftist political machine, that throws sops to the poor black underclass in the form of empty promises and more dependence, all the while kowtowing to more useful constituencies such as rich connected developers (see, the recent casino) who get tax breaks and unions that get all sorts of preferential treatment (which not coincidentally leads to unaccountable government employees and cops when those are public sector unions). Who ISN'T powerful are less powerful businesses and middle class residents, who are hit with high property taxes and fees and a regulatory environment that crushes them. Who ISN'T powerful are also the law abiding locals near the poverty line who lack skills and can't find unskilled labor anywhere near where they live, and have to be in constant fear of criminals and have no trust in a police force that they see more as an alien force than local public servants.

What is also clear is that the bigger and more intrusive the regulatory state, the more power you give to the entrenched rich and connected--they enjoy such power as it keeps competition away and further strenghtens their hold. Sure, they can blame "Republicans" when they have this argument on the national level, but it gets pretty ridiculous when the only thing you can blame Baltimore Republicans for is not existing.; 4/30/15, 9:32 AM
Anonymous said...: Mick said...but is focused rather upon the past four-decade period during which an American political elite have shipped middle class and working class jobs away from Baltimore and cities and towns around the U.S. to third-world dictatorships like China and others, plunged tens of millions of good hard-working Americans into economic devastation,

That's only half the story. Add the American Dem Political Elite that imports the third world to Baltimore and took those blue collar jobs away from the people it says it wants to help.

Try getting a construction job in Baltimore. "Si habla Espanol, cierto?"; 4/30/15, 9:33 AM
Brando said...: "Angelos the Younger is the reason for the estate tax."

I'm sure he supports it, provided his dad's estate planners know how to work around it.; 4/30/15, 9:33 AM
Michael K said...: "I have often said the worst thing about being poor in America is being stuck living by the other poor people, the criminals and gangsters and non-school focused populace."

Yes, but effort to deal with this by dispersing the poor to suburbs has created more problems in suburbs affected than solved inner city problems.

It's a bit like subsidizing house buying for those who can't afford them in an attempt to make them behave like middle class.

The left purports to not understand this but watch how they behave.

Those violent cities are surrounded by middle class suburbs with many black middle class families. There are two on my block in "all white" Orange County; 4/30/15, 9:35 AM
Anonymous said...: WRT the CVS, I have seen a lot of talking heads say, "don't worry, them white folks is insured"

Sure, but after paying that claim, the insurer reevaluates the local risk profile and sets higher rates to recoup his losses and get ready for the next burning.

And every business within 10 blocks has just taken a hit on its balance sheet. Forcing some to close.; 4/30/15, 9:36 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: ""For a time in recent decades, it looked like the reform examples of New York under Messrs. Giuliani and Bloomberg and the growth of cities like Houston might lead to a broader urban revitalization.""

My initial thoughts were to ask why anyone would want to live inside the big cities. Esp. the traditional ones - Phoenix, Denver, etc. and probably LA sprawl enough. But while I might move back into the city of Phoenix, I likely wouldn't ever move back into Denver proper. No way would I ever consider the traditional big cities like NYC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago, etc. And, esp. if I were raising a family. I understand why young unmarried might enjoy them for a short while. But, once you have kids, they are toxic.

But, posters above pointed out that the Blacks, and even underclass Whites, there are trapped to some extent, thanks to their lack of education and IQ. And, as the educated smart people (of any race) flee, as they realistically should, those who cannot flee remain. And, that is the tragedy.; 4/30/15, 9:38 AM
Brando said...: The difference between what NYC and Baltimore have gone through illustrates the danger of black votes being automatically given to the Democrats. In NYC, the decline from the early '70s through the early '90s was enough to get even the left-leaning voters of NYC to take a shot on the Republican Guiliani (and the Democrats wouldn't win any mayor elections between 1989 and 2013).

Can anyone imagine Baltimore's 65% black population ever voting for a Republican (to say nothing of an Italian one)? The machine knows this, and knows if they make a few gestures towards reforming the police they can quiet this current crisis, but then it'll be right back to the same policies that drove out business and middle class residents.; 4/30/15, 9:44 AM
Brando said...: "My initial thoughts were to ask why anyone would want to live inside the big cities."

It's more than just those who have no choice--many younger, wealthier white and black people are moving back into the cities (DC is a good example--now "gentrification" is the bigger controversy; a problem Detroit wishes it could have). They like the aesthetics of some neighborhoods, and being close to what young people like--namely, other young people, but also restaurants, museums, shops, and are willing to pay more for it. (Plus in DC and NYC at least, you can live there without a car, which saves some of the extra money it costs to live there).

It's a matter of taste though--if you work outside the city, or have kids and need more space, or prefer driving, the suburbs are preferable.; 4/30/15, 9:48 AM
Sebastian said...: "those who cannot flee remain"

Which means there is likely to be a lower limit of dysfunction that cannot be reformed away.

However, the Giuliani et al. record suggests that we don't know exactly what that limit is.

The bigger structural issue is that a segment of the population is socially isolated and economically superfluous, a true Lumpenproletariat. For that syndrome O'care is a thin bandage.; 4/30/15, 9:52 AM
MayBee said...: No way would I ever consider the traditional big cities like NYC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago, etc.

I live in the City of Chicago, and it is seriously glorious.; 4/30/15, 9:56 AM
YoungHegelian said...: Turning on the TV, radio, or picking up a newspaper in the DC area, one will always be bombarded by some activist demanding statehood/home rule for DC.

When I look at what's happening in other Blue cities, I thank our lucky stars that DC doesn't have home rule. Congress lives here, and they do take some care that things remain at a level where they won't get robbed coming into work each day.; 4/30/15, 10:04 AM
SteveR said...: Martin O'Malley: it was nice while it lasted. Put your shirt on, pack up your guitar and go say hi to Gary Hartpence in Fantasyland.; 4/30/15, 10:32 AM
Browndog said...: The experiment has run it's course. All of the lies the liberal. socialists have peddled over the decades now stand exposed.

Eventually "they" will one day look around, and see that there are no republicans/whites to blame. Eventually, the liberals will need a new voting constituency...even if they have to import them.

Once considered an outlier of black attitudes, this is a classic example of what democrats knew would one day come.

(language); 4/30/15, 10:40 AM
William said...: If this young man had been killed by a rival drug dealer, do you think anyone in the neighborhood would have been outraged? Do you think his grieving mother would have appeared on television with politicians, pastors and newscasters competing to express sympathy and extoll the nobility of her suffering?.......The blue wall of silence is a leaking sieve compared to black solidarity. There was the black woman who had been raped by Bill Cosby who kept silent about it because she didn't want to damage the brand of black men. If Suge Knight beats his murder rap and walks, will any black person in America express any more distress than they did at the minimal difficulty Ray Lewis faced? Will the widow or mother of the man Suge Knight ran over appear on television and hear Anderson Cooper praise her courage and forbearance?; 4/30/15, 11:19 AM
Brando said...: "If this young man had been killed by a rival drug dealer, do you think anyone in the neighborhood would have been outraged?"

In fairness, I routinely see local news coverage of grieving parents and outraged members of the community when people get killed in random violence. The reason this case (and similar ones, where the cops did the killing) get so much press is because we have such higher expectations for the police. It's unfortunate that in violent communities a murder gets passing mention, but the media (and their viewers') attitude is "what do you expect? These happen a lot" when it comes to random killing. We--rightly--expect that the cops are held to a higher standard than gang members.; 4/30/15, 11:29 AM
FullMoon said...: Regarding the destroyed CVS. There had to be hundred of physical prescptions lost, as well as the computerized lists.

All those 'scripts gonna need to be recovered, maybe by Dr visits or other inconveniences. Some old lady might be dying as you read this because she cannot get her scheduled refill; 4/30/15, 11:40 AM
Anonymous said...: All those 'scripts gonna need to be recovered, maybe by Dr visits or other inconveniences. Some old lady might be dying as you read this because she cannot get her scheduled refill

Those scrips are digitized. I suspect in a structured database with an image of the paper script as proof. I use a local competitor (Giant), but all the pharmacies use systems to key reminders for refills and when you call to refill, a robocall decision tree does checks and refills and catches if you have run out of refills. It's all in electrons...; 4/30/15, 11:46 AM
David said...: Detroit was the city where my grandfather entered the United States, so I have always watched Detroit with interest. Though malfeasant liberal policies were not the only factor in Detroit's collapse, they were a top contributor. Detroit is all the evidence you need. Baltimore is just piling on.

I do see a hopeful sign in Baltimore. The black leadership and the mass of black citizens took a look into the abyss and did not like the sight. These groups, and especially average citizens, have been a big factor in quieting things down.

That's the easier part, of course. The rest requires a huge reordering of expectations, and a recognition that the real power for change is in their own neighborhoods and families, not in more government money and programs.; 4/30/15, 1:38 PM
David said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/30/15, 1:43 PM
Rusty said...: As an aside, there is a war going on in America, a war by the rich and powerful on the rest of us, and the rich and powerful are winning.

Boo!; 4/30/15, 1:45 PM
David said...: Maybee,
If you live in a good neighborhood and don't have to send your kids to public schools Chicago can seem "glorious.". Chicago considers itself a "great city." How can any city be "great" when its educational system is a failure?

You are part of the problem, Maybee, as was I when I lived in Chicago. We can enjoy the glories of the city and think or do very little about the educational failure that affects so many there. The whole society does that, top to bottom, black and white, with not enough exceptions to allow it to be fixed.; 4/30/15, 1:47 PM