July 26, 2020

"In the Trumpian worldview — one certainly shared by other real estate developers — cities are not configured of neighborhoods and ecosystems..."

"... and a broad constellation of creative aspirations and complexities; they are sales shelves from which to market luxury apartments, ultimately occupied by people who don’t deeply embed in them so much as pass through. It is a notion largely out of step with how the world has evolved. The country has become increasingly urban. Between 2010 and 2013, according to the census, eight new cities were created in the South, three of them in Texas alone. Cities are home to nearly two-thirds of the population in this country. Do the people living in them want men in camouflage or better schools?"

So ends the NYT column "Why the Big City President Made Cities the Enemy/Donald Trump — a lifelong New Yorker — declares war on urban America" by Gina Bellafante.

What is this war? It's his criticism of the Democrats who run the big American cities without controlling the violence. He's "portraying metropolitan life as an unsafe, ugly dystopia, when the real hazard was a lacquered prosperity that continues to put it out of reach to so many working people."

I'm seeing a political dispute in which both sides claim to be the true champion the little people.

98 comments:

Michael K said...

Trump knows New York very well an knows the crooks that run it as well.

robother said...

Of course, no mention of the effect urban renewal, housing projects and court-ordered busing had on Big City ethnic neighborhoods.

Paul Zrimsek said...

Do the people living in them want men in camouflage or better schools?

This is a question worth asking. Obviously both the police unions and the teachers' unions should be broken, but which should take priority?

Gk1 said...

It just looks like another article to try to explain away how democrats have shit the bed in every single city they have controlled for the last 70 years. Their record is crystal clear by now. Sorry, "Orangeman Bad" doesn't even come close to explaining it.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

I’ve heard declarations of war. The declarations came from pissant mayors and governors who love chaos and hate Trump. They are very open in their war on the police and the Feds. I wish Trump recognizes their insurrection and acted on it. The bad actors keep squeezing about Police violence while all the actual casualties seem to be LEO not rioters. How many attempts to burn Fed property do you need?

Bilwick said...

Forget about it, Jake. It's NYT-town.

Koot Katmandu said...

Did not read the article NYT but the comment "declared war on Urban America" really reveal the total dishonesty of the paper. Looks like they are purposely getting who declared war backwards.

I am really confused by the rioting going on in the cities and the the Ds unwillingness to stop it and actually seem to be encouraging it. I believe they could stop in a week if they untied the police and NG hands. Do they see the unrest in the cites as a winning issues for them? If so how could that be? Are they simply trying to bait PDT into Kent state type incident? How immoral if that is the motive. Is something else going on? Is there a stealth effort to force the small business and middle class folk out of some city areas so they can move others in? So much not making sense. Perhaps I really do not understand who lives in america at all.

Mark said...

Developers today are invariably hyper-density urbanists who have been given the green light by the progressive regimes around the country to pack people into small areas living in high rises and meanwhile push all those favored people of color out of their homes so that hip white progressives can move in with their white progressive lifestyles. Of course, the privileged progressives also make sure to protect their own areas of low density single family housing in quiet areas without crowds or buses or "affordable housing" projects.

Lucien said...

I guess the idea that real estate developers are using specialized software that runs multiple regression analysis on where the best values are was not an option for the reporter(s).

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Democrats are forever off the hook for their f-ups.

read it here in the NYT!

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Metropolitan life IS an unsafe, ugly dystopia.

Trump pointing it out is just revealing that 'the Emperor has no clothes'. Tearing away the curtain revealing what everyone knows.

Cities....big metroplexes are crumbling away. They always do. They are unsustainable once they reach a certain level and density. Poor management and corruption, by Democrats in the biggest cities, only has exacerbated the decay and decline.

The bad thing is that all those who want to flee their self made destruction will bring it to other areas and infect them with the 'disease' that they bring with them.

Never learning that the reason that their lives suck is due to their own choices.


Balfegor said...

The precondition for every positive urban development is public safety. New York re-emerged as a pleasantly liveable city under Giuliani and Bloomberg not because of neighbourhoods or ecosystems or whatever -- those were there all along. But hardline police tactics and authoritarian governance opened up the space for those neighbourhoods and ecosystems to thrive.

You want good schools? Crush street crime first so young children don't get shot on the way to school, and don't get seduced into a life of petty crime, vandalism, and violence.

Freder Frederson said...

The bad actors keep squeezing about Police violence while all the actual casualties seem to be LEO not rioters.

Are you deluded or just lying?

Ken B said...

In that dispute, does the side opposing violence have a better claim to actually be representing the needs of working people?

Big Mike said...

I'm seeing a political dispute in which both sides claim to be the true champion the little people.

Only Trump is right.

Sam L. said...

The NYT: I despise, detest, and distrust the NYT (and its little dog WaPoo, too!)

Unknown said...

Oh I get it
NYC is Trump's Fault

He made people "pass through" his luxury apartments.

mccullough said...

In the US, a “city” connotes about 200,000 people. Fewer than that, and it’s not really “urban.” Then you can have suburbs of that “city.” (Although some cities like Glendale and Yonkers are really just a suburb)

Madison is a “city” (little more than 250,000) but Charlottesville is not.

There are 10 cities in the US with more than 1 million people.

There are another 110 cities with population of 200,000 to 1 million.









Temujin said...

The obtuseness of the New York Times writers.

There has indeed been a war on the suburbs and the very concept of the sub and exurbs for years now. And despite the regularity of articles about how we would all benefit from moving back into the bosom of the cities, people voted with their wallets, cars, and feet and continued to move out and away from the cities BEFORE the Wuhan virus even hit.

The articles appeared talking about how we needed to build up, not out. How more densely packed cities were more conducive to helping the environment (not sure how they can look at any of our cities and think, "Hey, nice environment!"). How we would save on space, energy, and how it would force us to live in more diverse communities. Like say...Chicago. Seems nice enough these days.

The fact is that the cities are where things happen. Good things and bad things. It's more expensive to live there. You have less room, smaller properties, if you can afford any property at all. You are living on top of each other, which as we've seen from Wuhan, is not a positive. It is a breeding ground for disease, crime, and noise.

But even with all of the articles, people voted with their feet, continuing to move out to the suburbs and exurbs, preferring open spaces, their own homes with yards, freedom to walk, drive, shop without fear, and better schools (generally, not always). This did not start with Trump, New York Times writers. I know for you year 1 is 2016, but in reality there is quite a bit that happened to humanity before that year.

Obama's plan was to make it harder to develop areas outside of the cities. Trump is removing that penalty on those wanting their own choice. It's so funny that the Party of Choice is really only the Party of Choice for 1 subject- killing babies. On everything else, they want complete homogeneity on thought and speech.

buwaya said...

The proper human life is rural. Man was not made for cities, thats why they have always been population sinks. And I say that as a born and bred city boy. I am trapped in that by a lifetimes programming, but I know whats wrong with it.

Suburbs of the American sort are an attempt to achieve at least a semi-rural environment.

A wise man of wealth should, instead of looking for a gold-plated condo, aquire a rural estate, and raise his children there as the local gentry.

Dude1394 said...

Cities in Texas are suburbs with business centers. NOTHING like the urban centers dreamed of by Obama, Biden and the rest of the totalitarians.

buwaya said...

Also, what everyone knows but no one wants to admit -
Schools are made by their students, that it.
There is no way to make a school better, other than marginally, if its got poor students. A tragic situation, but its so. And no-one knows how to fix this.

Birkel said...

It is individuals making decisions.
Planning leads to deprivation.

The NYT would rather rule the rubble.

William said...

The first and greatest real estate developer with elaborate hair was King Louis XIV. It is instructive to note that the cost of Versailles was equal to about two months of a military campaign of that era. Does anyone remember any of Louis XIV's military campaigns. There are worse and more ephemeral things to spend money on than luxury housing.....Napoleon constructed ten thousand flat boats in preparation for his planned invasion of England. I don't know what the total cost was, but it must have been considerably less than Marie Antoinette spend on her jewels. Jewels, as it turns out, were a better investment than flatboats.....I guess the downside of too much overt luxury is that it inspires revolution. Well, there are compromises. Perhaps if the paint Black Lives Matter in front of Tiffany's some of this bad feeling can be dissipated and rap stars can shop for bling with a good conscience.

Original Mike said...

"Do the people living in them want men in camouflage or better schools?"

I betcha they want no riots and open schools.

William said...

One notes that Cabrini Green was dynamited and that people still pay a premium to live in the various Trump Towers.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

I love the “out of step” trope. Damn, if he isn’t careful he’s probably going to end up “on the wrong side of history”.

The cadence the NYT hears is laughably at odds with most of America.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

there is a video mash-up of the media's phrase "Trump's War On _______"

they fill the blank with anything, hoping to get traction

bbkingfish said...

When was the last time a politician proudly marketed himself a the champion of the 1%?

Even trump knew that would be a loser.

gilbar said...

The country has become increasingly urban.
REALLY? how was New York Doing? how IS New York doing?

Between 2010 and 2013, according to the census, eight new cities were created in the South, three of them in Texas alone.


and, of these; how many are in Blue states?

Scott said...

The NYT article is a pastiche of clichés. And it's incoherent. In paragraph four the author notes that "crime has risen during the pandemic" and that there has been a spike in "gun violence" (which is, to the liberal mind, a special kind.) Then he notes in paragraph 9 that "Crime in major American cities was, and remains, at historic lows." So should we be scared of urban violence or disgusted at Trump's "overreaction" to it?

The New York Times has always been a vast picnic of tasty reportage, dotted with pigeon droppings of viewpoint bias. I'd rather not waste my time picking through it, lest I develop a tolerance for bird shit.



Sebastian said...

"portraying metropolitan life as an unsafe, ugly dystopia"

Wait, so progs are saying cities are oppressive hellholes, stalked by brutal police, and progs are saying density is dangerous, cuz WuFlu, but Trump is "portraying" cities wrong?

gilbar said...

Serious Question
of these "NEW CITIES" how "Urban" are they? Are they huge suburbs?
Does ANYONE ON EARTH, Want to live in Urban Sprawl? Did ANYONE ON EARTH, Want to?

Ray - SoCal said...

Real Estate Developers are about money. They build, rehab, invest in what makes money.

Cities make the rules.

If cities make it too hard to build, the end result is only Class A, Super Luxury Stuff gets built. That is the only stuff that pencils out / makes economic sense.

There has been an alliance between Real Estate Developers and Politicians on redevelopment. The usual tax of building for homeless is done, which enables the developer to get approved their high end units. And the politicians get contributions. And usually unionized labor is used to build the units, which also contribute to the Democratic Politicians. And then there is the environmental lawsuit threat, that is used by organizations to make sure they get their dane geld (really bad in California).

Rent Control along with zoning restrictions act as a damper on increasing units built.

In California, it just does not make sense economically to build anything but high end units. Nothing is being built for multi family in Class B and C, only Class A stuff.

cubanbob said...

Freder Frederson said...
The bad actors keep squeezing about Police violence while all the actual casualties seem to be LEO not rioters.

Are you deluded or just lying?"

Freder the dog in the mirror you are barking at is you.

Since the Blue Cities are just fine with the "mostly" non violent protesting, the cops should walk off the job for two weeks in those cities. After two weeks the people in those cities will be begging for police violence.

Jim said...

Look on the bright side. Soon we will have movies as good as Dirty Harry, Death Wish, Taxi Driver, and Escape From New York.

Michael K said...

Freder Frederson said...
The bad actors keep squeezing about Police violence while all the actual casualties seem to be LEO not rioters.

Are you deluded or just lying?


Field Marshall Freder again making no sense. I guess you could count the blacks whose neighborhoods and businesses are being destroyed by your white anarchist allies. The physical casualties, though, are almost all LEOs and innocent blacks who show any sign of opposing the mayhem. Freder opines from his head quarters in NO, far from the strife.

Achilles said...

When things get hard for leaders in a country and the people start getting restless it is common for leaders to seek an external enemy to be the focus of ire for their peasants.

Democrats have fucked up the cities.

They are trying to blame Trump.

It is just failed leadership 101.

One of the most common historical patterns that exists.

bagoh20 said...

The NYT is trying to corner the market on fiction. "Smart" people read it and it makes them dumb. I don't see the attraction to wanting to know things that are not true and designed to make a fool of you, but there is a market for that, I guess.

How do you make up for all the NYT lies you let in your head? How do you fix that imbalance.

narciso said...




good question

https://meaninginhistory.blogspot.com/2020/07/how-many-votes-to-make-revolution.html#comment-form

Original Mike said...

Blogger Koot Katmandu said..."Did not read the article NYT but the comment "declared war on Urban America" really reveal the total dishonesty of the paper. Looks like they are purposely getting who declared war backwards."

Yeah. They do that a lot.

I had a big long response to your questions but Blogger ate it. But in a nutshell, of course the Dems are allowing this to happen because they think they benefit. And 'immoral' is a bland descriptor.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

buwaya said The proper human life is rural. Man was not made for cities

Rural and small towns. YES. Humans are essentially tribal. From the family unit, to extended families, add your friends and then the people in your tribe, your neighborhood and the small community. Once you get bigger than that we see the failures of big city/urban living.

Humans also need to live with and be surrounded by nature. Concrete jungles are a cruse on the human spirit and physically are harmful. When people are disconnected from nature, things tend to go very wrong. We become unmoored.

I've lived in big cities San Francisco for one. I live now in a rural environment. (our little unincorporated town ...is too small to be called a town 😄 About 350 people live there. Everyone else is scattered around and widely spaced. I LOVE it.)

I will never ever go back to a big city. Even visiting family or going for an unavoidable purpose only reinforces to me how terrible city life is and how very lucky I am to be where I am now.

People can make their own choices. My choices aren't for everyone. Fine. I refuse to let people in the cities force their choices and nasty world views onto me.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

McCullough In the US, a “city” connotes about 200,000 people.

There aren't even this many people in the entire County where I live!

cubanbob said...

Blogger bbkingfish said...
When was the last time a politician proudly marketed himself a the champion of the 1%?

Even trump knew that would be a loser."

Trump is smarter than any Democrat in office or running for office. You don't see Trump or any Republican in office or running for office championing rioting, looting, arson, vandalism or killing the economy. Worse is better is now the marketing of the Democrat-Communist Vanguard Of The Proletariat.

My name goes here. said...

Jim said...
Look on the bright side. Soon we will have movies as good as Dirty Harry, Death Wish, Taxi Driver, and Escape From New York.

If the Chinese Overlords allow it.

Yancey Ward said...

There was this little article from The Oregonian that was posted on RealClearPolitics this morning. You should read it- the cognitive dissonance is pretty typical for the current moment as the article's writer and the various business owners he/she interviewed tried to come to terms with what is happening in downtown Portland this Spring and Summer.

Here is another, video essay, of the same issue. Compare and contrast.

Yancey Ward said...

Push will come to shove as these blue cities and states face the grim reaper of tax receipts in the next 3 months.

RigelDog said...

What do people who live in cities really want? Every single one of them want to live in safe neighborhoods that are not on fire. Every single one. Even the dedicated criminals don't want their own house burned down or their own car stolen.

PubliusFlavius said...

"Schools are made by their students"

Students are made by families.

I travel to peoples homes in the wealthy parts of south orange county ca, teaching primarily guitar.

The single most important factor that I see in children being raised well, are knowledgeably disciplined, firmly consistent, LOVING parents.

Race does NOT matter, DYSFUNCTION does.

The interesting part about being welcomed in people's homes for often years at a time is how quickly the familial culture manifests.

Student's are being robbed of private peer interaction sans electronic SIR VEIL LANCE, yet another crime the LEFTIST MORONS perpetrate against our nations pupils.

Original Mike said...

Blogger RigelDog said..."What do people who live in cities really want? Every single one of them want to live in safe neighborhoods that are not on fire. Every single one."

You would think, but then why in the hell do they keep voting in democrats?

Ray - SoCal said...

Thanks Yancy for the links.

What a contrast with Andy NGO’s Twitter.

ga6 said...

Author confuses buildings (neutral) with inhabitants (good or benign or destroying entities who are rumored to actually eat bricks, (according to Wally D of SIU).

Francisco D said...

Cities are home to nearly two-thirds of the population in this country.

Is the conflation between Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) and cities deliberate or born out of ignorance?

I live in the northern suburbs of Tucson. It is nothing like the city except for climate and geography.

Come to think of it, we are a few degrees cooler due to higher elevation and less concrete. We also have better views of the mountains and the Sonoran landscapes. The two worlds are completely different.

The biggest effect of COVID is that people have learned how urban crowding and public transportation kill people during a pandemic. The exodus from the crowded urban areas will increase greatly over the next decade.

DavidUW said...

Who cares about the "claims"

Let's review actions and results.

In 50+ years of Democrats running every major city in America except one....well we know the results.
Curiously, the most successful big city had a solid 20 years of Republican/RINO mayoralty, that being New York City.

Until the shamdemic, Trumpian policies got minority unemployment to the lowest levels recorded, "the little guy" was finally getting above inflation wage increases (far more raises than the upper crust on a percent basis, and no doubt thanks to limiting the supply of unskilled labor from elsewhere), etc.

They can claim whatever they want. Experiences from NYC to Trump policies demonstrate the "friend of the working man" is Republican.

Yancey Ward said...

On MSAs- I like reading Wiki pages for cities. One thing you will always note, though, for US cities is that 60%+ of a "city's" population is outside the actual city's political borders, and often approaching 80%.

For example, Milwaukee- population 590K, metropolitan area is 2 million.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Everything bad is "Trumpian!" - even in democrat controlled cities.

Amazing.

Caligula said...

I think it would be fair to say that real estate developers respond to market incentives, BUT they don't create them.

And when city governments require developers to provide "affordable" housing at no cost to government, and when old, small buildings can't be replaced with large, new ones (because the rent-control tenants can renew their leases indefinately and can't be made to move), and when trades unions and local building codes insure plenty of featherbedding, well, then, what developers offer as "market rate" will be very, very expensive indeed. What did you think would happen?

But if you think it's bad now, just imagine how costly housing would become if you offer vetoes on new construction to renters in (or near) the neighborhood, or assorted grievance/grifter organizations. All of which (of course) can be bought off. But not for cheap, and not when you've got to get every last one on board, and when everyone knows that the last holdout will get the best deal.

As for Pres Trump, this seems the usual complaint: he's uncouth, he not only has no class but appeals to others who have no class!

Why, he's not like us at all. Oh horrors, that such a man could not only be successful, but could be elected President of the USA!

buwaya said...

Louis XIV, through his wars, gained Alsace and Lorraine for France. Add also a good slice of whats now north-east France, including, for the sake of the future, pretty much all the coal France ever had. Give the old boy credit for starting the French bit of the Industrial Revolution a couple of decades earlier.

Plus a few other bits and pieces.

Add to that the Spanish royal house to this day is his own Bourbons, and so he, probably, thereby gave the Spanish empire another century.

Skeptical Voter said...

Well there are cities--and then there are cities. It's certainly true that in the Second and Third Worlds rural people are moving to the city. If Ms. Gina wants to move to Lagos or Rio de Janeiro or Jakarta or Mexico City--all megalopolises--well be my guest. Been there, done that and wouldn't want to live in any of them on a full time basis.

And it's also true that people have moved out of rural America to urban and suburban areas and have been doing so since the 1930's. But she assumes that urban areas are paradise on Earth and in that she's flat wrong.

She touts eight new cities that were created in the South between 2010 and 2013 and three in Texas alone. She might ask herself why those "cities" were created in the South and not say in New York or Pennsylvania? Could it be that the cities in the Northeast are in the process of becoming unliveable? Maybe people are voting with their feet?

I'm not certain what her definition of a "city" is. For argument's sake let's say it's an area with a population of 100,000 or more. Those things don't grow overnight--but some can come close. You can look at some of the exurbs of Phoenix which seem to have sprung from practically zero population in 2000 to 50,000 plus in 2020. Something must be attracting people to such places.

And finally on "men in camouflage" i.e. Feds versus good public schools. You really shouldn't see the Feds having to come into town to clean up a Democrat administration's failure to protect property. But as a bonus, you also won't see a good public school system. California's K-12 public schools were once among the best in the nation; now they are routinely ranked in the lowest 5 among the states. Heck if Obama was right about 57 states, Califonia schools would be ranked 53rd or 54th in the nation.

madAsHell said...

ummmmmm....is Ginia diminutive for Vagina?.....and how do you pronounce it?

Asking for a friend.

Michael K said...

Give the old boy credit for starting the French bit of the Industrial Revolution a couple of decades earlier.

Revoking the Edict of Nantes moved it to England for the next 150 years.

Rabel said...

"Nearly two-thirds of Americans live in incorporated places, commonly referred to as cities."

"Incorporated places are local governmental entities with powers to collect taxes and provide services within legally defined geographic boundaries"

"While cities, towns, boroughs, villages, and other types of municipalities are included in these estimates, for readability, the term “city” is used interchangeably with “incorporated place” throughout this report as a generic term to refer to incorporated places of all types."

- That's from the census report that is the source of the article.

This statement in the Times, "Cities are home to nearly two-thirds of the population in this country." is a lie that uses the incorrect and overbroad definition of "city" to make a political point.

My hometown with 4,000 people is a city by this definition. The little pit stop a few miles down the road with 500 people is a city.

Liars lie. Gina Bellafante is a liar and she's lying in this article in the Times.

rcocean said...

Say Trump believes something - without evidence - then say how c-r-a-z-y and wrong it is. NYT/WaPo/Democrats have been doing this for 4 years. It'd be nice to have an open, honest, debate on the subject, but then it takes TWO parties (not just the center-right) willing to do it.

The Democrats and liberal Fake Republicans (like Bloomberg) have been running all these major cities in trouble for 30, 40, 50 years. And from 2009-2016 Biden/Obama/Pelosi/Reid were running the Federal Government. If these cities are fucked up, don't blame Trump or the Republicans. Trump is trying to put out the fire, a job that the liberal mayors/Governors refused to do.

n.n said...

Diversity dogma (e.g. affirmative discrimination) is evidence that affirmative action has failed, miserably. Some, Select Black Lives Matter is evidence that Pro-Choice is a progressive religion. Democratic forms of government are widespread civil rights violations. No rape... rape-rape culture, civil reform with false leads, political congruence, and allegations of diversity and exclusion are projections. The climate... weather cools, warms, changes. Oh, and Planned Parent... #HateLovesAbortion

Birkel said...

RE: Urban living

The Dunbar Number (look it up) says humans can only have about 120-150 close relationships.
Of course small towns are more conducive to humans.

Primates with smaller brains live in smaller troops.

It's science.

Leland said...

When the Democrat politicians closed businesses to working Americans and said they could work from home if work at all; they set in motion the avalanche that will destroy the big cities. People will no longer have to be near a city center to work.

When the same Democrat politicians said to the working Americans they cannot protest staying at home, but they can protest for Black Live Matters or for defunding police; they set fire to the big cities such that people will no longer want to live in them.

This isn't hard.

Narayanan said...

"He that lieth down with dogs shall rise up with fleas" has been attributed to Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanack.
---------===========
uncle Ben also said : Republic if you can keep it.

Q : how do you keep Republic If you have to lie down with D's with fleas?
Q : where do you get a flea collar to protect ?
Q : what is brand of Trumps flea collar ?

Narayanan said...

would not NYC fare better for its population if each of the Boroughs became independent with separate mayors etc.

n.n said...

Heck if Obama was right about 57 states

57 states, 1 left to go, Alaska and Hawaii he wasn't allowed to visit.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

ok we found it

"Trump's War On _______" is just a template for lazy, disingenuous media

Need a news segment to keep up the 24/7 TDS barrage?
Easy! Just plug in anything!

"Trump's War On Anything/Everything" Video

enjoy!

Jim at said...

"Are you deluded or just lying?" - Freder

Over 40 people were arrested and 21 officers were hurt Saturday when protesters in Seattle clashed with the city's police officers as unrest flared anew in Capitol Hill.

You were saying?

Asshole.

Original Mike said...

"Why the Big City President Made Cities the Enemy"

You are your own worst enemy. New York politicians want to resurrect the tax on stock transactions. Several pieces of data in the article that the rich are leaving NYC. They really don't seem to understand that they need the rich Hate them all you want, but drive them away and You. Are. Screwed.

Josephbleau said...

“Also, what everyone knows but no one wants to admit -
Schools are made by their students, that it.
There is no way to make a school better, other than marginally, if its got poor students. A tragic situation, but its so. And no-one knows how to fix this.“

This idea led to bussing, the theory that Black kids needed “w”hite kids around or they would not do well, This did not work out because the “w”hite kids left town, and even in Junior high/hs the diverse kids were not taking an advanced curriculum creating re-segregation in integrated schools.

In Chicago demographics were causing local grade schools to be closed. This was heavily opposed as these small schools were the only source of legal economic activity in the neighborhood. So segregated schools were really valued in these places because teachers and janitors were hired locally, along with toilet paper supply contracts and the like. I understand why the teachers union wants illegal immigration.

Original Mike said...

From the comments of the article on NYC's dire straits I just linked to above:

"Jeff Bezos is probably thanking his lucky star for AOC. Funny how things work out, ain't it?"

Original Mike said...

Very interesting article on why the media's abandoning journalism:

The media has redefined journalism as advocating for left-wing policies and the advantage of this is that in the age of the internet, political activism has a better business model than journalism.

doctrev said...

Jim at said...

Over 40 people were arrested and 21 officers were hurt Saturday when protesters in Seattle clashed with the city's police officers as unrest flared anew in Capitol Hill.

You were saying?

Asshole.


7/26/20, 2:03 PM

If we push Ilhan Omar hard enough, I bet we can get the Democrats into outright Holocaust denial by the end of the year. Freder's the type who would shrug and say "what concentration camp?" even as he was caught in a guard tower.

donald said...

The people losing their shit about the suburbs are shutting down the country because all their crammed together fellow travelers in those same damned hellholes got a virus from being crammed together.

Original Mike said...

At least Freder's fighting the good fight. Where's Inga?

Unknown said...

All the places I would like to live other people would also like to live for the same reasons. Supply and demand therefore drive up the price of living where I would like to live. The cost of living (mostly housing and real estate taxes) makes it untenable for the poor and they have to leave.

While this is occurring, increased demand and pressure on the attributes that I would like to enjoy make the attributes more expensive and less attractive.

And so it goes.

gilbar said...

DBQ shows, all things are relative, when she says....
(our little unincorporated town ...is too small to be called a town 😄 About 350 people live there


Of the 99 incorporated municipalities in Wyoming, THIRTY ONE are SMALLER than 350
(Number 32, Thayne, has 366 people)

Elk Mountain, which had a Stage stop, and HAS two hotels, including the Elk Mountain Hotel and two restaurants (one, at the hotel , which is first rate); has 191 people
HELL! Ten Sleep has 260 people*, and a famous rodeo!!
In Wyoming, a Small town would be more the size of Spotted Horse, or Lost Springs

260 people* or, 206, depending who you ask

wbfjrr2 said...

Why do you try to link us to such obvious drivel by another stupid NYT person, Althouse? Critical thinking is not one of the skills hired for at that rag. Yet you love it.

Michael K said...

There is no way to make a school better, other than marginally, if its got poor students. A tragic situation, but its so. And no-one knows how to fix this.“

My former high school in Chicago is now 100% black. It is a Catholic school and the parents around it are mostly blue collar but they come up with the tuition and 96% of the graduates go to college. Vouchers would save those Catholic schools but the Democrats, in bondage to the teachers' unions, fight vouchers.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Radio host mocked Trump by claiming Seattle is peaceful, then rioters torched his apartment building

https://thepostmillennial.com/radio-host-dunks-on-trump-by-claiming-seattle-riots-are-peaceful-then-rioters-torched-his-apartment-building

ccscientist said...

The big grievance of the current rioters is that the police won't let them burn and destroy at will. They are rioting for the right to riot and tear down statues and burn buildings. There is no oppression that they are "resisting". It is all fake. The fact that police show up when they start destroying stuff is "proof" of oppression. It is a weird mirror image of reality.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Leland - Exactly.

You can't work or go to school - but you CAN riot and protest.

We here in the media-- we will call all your rioting and destruction "peaceful"

Then if Bad man Trump sends in Feds with clearly marked tags and identification - (to attempt to end the violence perpetrated by white boy antifa fascist thugs) the media will dutifully LIE and say the federal agents are "unidentified."

Ben Lange said...

The real danger is prosperity. Paraphrased to be sure, but I can’t think of a better peek into the Dem worldview.

Drago said...

Original Mike: "At least Freder's fighting the good fight. Where's Inga?"

Trying to figure out why her "Steve Bannon and Boogalooers are causing all the riots!" lies were exposed so quickly.

(Note: Don't tell her its because her lies are becoming increasingly moronic and transparently false despite the fact that her earlier lies (russia collusion/dossier hoax, Kavanaugh/gang rape, Carter Page--Russian spy, Ukraine phone call hoax) had already established a hilarious low bar for non-"truthiness")

0_0 said...

We want better schools and no need for federal police.
That shouldn't be so hard.

Robert Cook said...

"Metropolitan life IS an unsafe, ugly dystopia."

Hah! You say Hell, I say Heaven!

Robert Cook said...

"ummmmmm....is Ginia diminutive for Vagina?.....and how do you pronounce it?"

Questions that could only be asked by an illiterate troll. It's almost certainly a diminutive for Virginia, and would be pronounced as Virginia without the "Vir."

But you know that, so you're (probably) not illiterate.

Original Mike said...

Who's going to pay for it Robert, after you drive all the rich people away? (just curious)

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Robert Cook said...
"Metropolitan life IS an unsafe, ugly dystopia."

Hah! You say Hell, I say Heaven!

7/26/20, 5:21 PM

Yeah, NYC sure looks heavenly these days.

I grew up in the city and I lived in cities my entire life until 10 years ago. I used to love going to NYC, Chicago, Boston, Seattle etc. Now I don't even want to visit. Of course, I'm not a Marxist. They have always had a high tolerance for ugliness and filth.

gpm said...

>>MK: My former high school in Chicago is now 100% black.

IIRC, that's Leo, which is a little over a mile from where I grew up, maybe 15 years or so later than you. And a couple blocks away from this week's funeral shooting, which was less than a mile away "as the crow flies."

I totally respect/admire what the Christian Brothers are doing there (and the support they get from their (mostly white) alumni, in addition to the parents' support in what may, in may cases, be a difficult struggle). The situation is a far cry from what it was in your day, but it's a beacon in what is there now in Englewood, West Englewood (my old neighborhood), and Auburn-Gresham (Leo's neighborhood), as well as the areas further east that you came from.

As I've probably said here before, I went to St. Ignatius, run by the Jesuits on the near West Side, which has long had a very high reputation and has fared much better than (most of?) the rest of the inner city Catholic high schools (I am aware of a few others whose situation is more similar to Leo's, such as Providence-St. Mel's a bit further west from Ignatius; there was a coed switch that resulted from a merger between a boys' school and a girls' school in the late 60's, about ten years before Ignatius went coed, which is part of the reason for Ignatius's survival when it was on the verge of closing). Ignatius has long attracted and still attracts students from all over the city and suburbs (and, in some cases, even as far away as Michigan) who are more than willing to commute to the near West Side and whose parents are willing to pay a fairly, um, hefty tuition.

Ignatius was probably about 20 percent black in my day (I think the largest group after the Irish and mostly non-Catholic but, no matter, their parents wanted them to attend) and probably about the same today. The neighborhood was sketchy back then but has vastly improved, probably largely due to the expansion of the Chicago campus of the U of I. The school benefits from being readily accessible to downtown, the museum campus, etc. (well, a benefit until at least recently) and some ready access to (gasp) public transit. It has been the main recipient of my charitable contributions for decades (mitigating the hefty tuition for some). Without getting into details, I am where I am today because of a providential event when I was in 7th grade that resulted in my going to Ignatius.

Given your background, I hope you're not as jaundiced/ignorant about and hostile to what it means to live in a city as a lot of what passes in the comments here. I am, have been, and always will be a city boy (though I have long had a second home in New Hampshire). I refer to my years in Cambridge as the "rural" period of my life. I have never owned a car and don't want to own one. As someone living in a city (if it's not clear, Boston), I can easily get a car when I need/want one, without needing to deal with the hassles of ownership. While the recent mishegas has complicated things, I like being able to walk to a nice liquor/wine store on the next block, go to the local neighborhood Irish bar on the same block (which, regrettably, won't be reopening after being forced to close for you know why), shop at the grocery store on the same block (even though it's an outrageously expensive Whole Foods (literally, the smallest one in the country) and, actually, I hate shopping at the grocery store and am instead getting into on-line shopping), etc.

I am largely in agreement with the political views of most of the commenters here. I also understand and respect the choices that those who want to live in suburbs make. I also understand and respect Cookie's choices, even though his urban living experience is not the same as mine. What I don't like is the scorn, if not hate, of my choices by people who don't know or understand what it actually means to live in a city.

--gpm

DEEBEE said...

Hiding Biden’sWuhan declared war on cities.

DeepRunner said...

Meh. Another NYT harpy whines about Trump. Dem mayors of metropolitan areas have made cities a hothouse for crime growth and destabilizing destruction. Chicago is swimming in homicide blood. Portland and Seattle are battling it out for a place in anarchistic lore. LA is, well, LA. And NYC's own socialist Warren Wilhelm Jr. would like to see police dehumanized, defunded, and disbanded.

Dude1394 said...

Someone said
"I am largely in agreement with the political views of most of the commenters here. I also understand and respect the choices that those who want to live in suburbs make. I also understand and respect Cookie's choices, even though his urban living experience is not the same as mine. What I don't like is the scorn, if not hate, of my choices by people who don't know or understand what it actually means to live in a city.

--gpm"

Amazing, rural america has been called rednecks, crackers, incesters, ignorant, god-loving ( that one democrats must think is especially pithy ) and patriotic. But don't dare criticise someone who lives in the city. I call civility bullshit on that.

Martin said...

I must have missed where Trump was critical of urban life and ubanites, per se, rather than criticizing the crime, poor schools, and political corruption and dysfunction that seems endemic to some of them, which he certainly has.

SAGOLDIE said...

"Also, what everyone knows but no one wants to admit -"

Sorry to report . . . I didn't KNOW it.

"Schools are made by their students, that it."

Obvious, now that you've pointed it out. Profound! Thanks!!

And just to add . . . I don't think that's "it" as if to say there's nothing to be done absent bringing in a new tranche of students.

It points out the need to rethink where the focus needs to be to achieve education improvements. In the context of what happens in the school, the focus needs to be, I think, in specific teacher skills which is not the same as improved teacher salaries.

But I am worried that this notion of improving school-based education is about to be dropped on its head, so to speak . . . .

Week or so ago, according to a Hoover Institution item, "Seattle Schools Propose To Teach That Math Education Is Racist" as in "who are you to say that 2 + 2 = 4? And yesterday, Rutgers University's English department reportedly declared English "grammar" to be racist.

Dare I predict that it's only a matter of time 'till the "village" declares that the schools are doing just fine -- that declines in math and English proficiency tests show that, thankfully, we are finally walking away from racist, colonial mores? And what the real solution is to do away with such unfair, irrelevant testing.