June 10, 2007
Crime Doesn't Pay, But Neither Does the Alternative
Former Editor-in-Chief Ryan Avent writes a weekly column about neighborhood and development issues.
I'll admit, it isn’t easy for me to talk about crime in the District with many of my friends, particularly those who live in the suburbs or outside the metro area entirely. In the minds of those who don’t often visit, Washington is still the murder capital of the United States, still caught in crack wars, still a place into which one ventures at his or her own risk. Hearing such beliefs frustrates me a great deal; Washington, really, is nothing like the perpetual crime scene it once was. Homicides have fallen 65 percent from the dark days of the early nineties. Even with the recent revelation that violent crime went up 9 percent last year, the city is on pace for fewer homicides than experienced in 2005, and several categories of crime appear to have fallen since last year (at least to the extent that we can have confidence in those statistics). Washington is a different place than it used to be.
And yet, I can’t argue that all is well in the District. At some point, one has to stop using the worst days of the city as the appropriate context for comparison and acknowledge that crime remains a serious problem. Forget how far we’ve come; we should not be pleased with the status of public safety in Washington. Increasingly, I find myself having to own up to this fact, to myself and to those inquiring about life in our nation's capital.
Like many aspects of District governance, the lack of change is maddening. When I moved here in 2001, 14th Street from north of Thomas Circle to Park Road and beyond was a long stretch of empty lots, vacant and decaying properties, and rampant crime. Everyone—papers, police, and residents—knew where the hot spots were. There was 14th and Girard, for instance, and there was 13th and Fairmont. Years later, that area has been almost entirely rebuilt, property values have increased three and fourfold, and yet the stories remain the same. Everyone knows that the crime is there, at 14th and Girard and at 13th and Fairmont, and nothing, apparently, can be done about it. How can this be?
Certainly, at some level, this is a failure of policing. Setting aside all other aspects of the problem, the persistent presence of crime in plain site at known locations speaks to deep dysfunction in the way police resources are used. This needs to change, and one hopes that Chief Lanier’s summer crime initiative is a step in the right direction.
And yet, the failures go beyond the distribution and utilization of police manpower. Amid all the changes that this city has experienced in the last decade, certain crime patterns persist. What explains these circumstances, and what can the city possibly do about it?
Picture taken by e.teel.
There is a compelling storyline circulating among economists and criminologists concerning the role of economic inequality in crime. In particular, crime specialists point to the incidence of crime in “transition zones,” noting that locations containing sharp income disparities are prime locations for criminal activity. To a certain extent, Washington’s crime statistics bear this out. Using the crime map feature at dc.gov for any particular month, one is likely to see a thick line standing out among the scattered crimes. This line moves south through Ward 1 to U Street, cuts diagonally from there through Shaw and down Florida Avenue to Trinidad, and then moves south through the Hill East area to Near Southeast. It’s not exactly concurrent with what you might call the gentrification frontier, but it’s not far off either. Many of the older, middle class residents have left those neighborhoods, leaving a hard core of poverty behind to butt up against new inflows of money. It’s certainly probable that this dynamic has contributed to crime in the city.
And yet, that storyline leaves far too much unexplained. On the one hand, much of the violence being done in transition areas takes place among the poor. In many cases, particularly where gangs or drug rings are involved, newer and richer residents are bystanders to ongoing turf wars. Interestingly, development in these neighborhoods has not priced out the old crime, which proceeds apace even as the Starbucks and Target go in.
It’s also important to note that those crime maps show another thick line, far from the main course of gentrification, running diagonally through Wards 7 and 8. Roughly half of the homicides this year have taken place east of the Anacostia River. While some of the city’s Wards have displayed generally positive trends on many categories of crime, Ward 8 has universally backtracked. Homicides are up, violent crime is up, and property crime is up, despite no new massive inmigration of people or dollars.
The factor that connects crime in gentrifying and non-gentrifying areas is the presence of young people, particularly males, with almost no hope for success through participation in the licit economy. Crime across the city is fueled by the attraction of young people to gangs and crews, to involvement in drug sales, and to casual petty crimes, because such individuals have so little to lose. For many juveniles the call is made easier by a general lack of punitive costs for those who are caught, but for all of those involved, the lack of an economic incentive to play it straight is real and serious.
Government has failed these young people across the board. The poor condition of our schools and of many neighborhoods has made it impossible for young people to see what a way out might look like. At the same time, neglect of lower income individuals at a national level has reduced the return to even modest economic success. The city continues to rely on transplanted economic activity to save poor areas when attempts to assist an organic local economy could be far more effective. How, one wonders, is the new Metro headquarters in Anacostia going to bring hope to local residents? It isn’t enough to bring business into downtrodden areas; we have to make sure that residents can participate in that business, and we have to make sure that participation is worth their while.
I support the city’s efforts to improve policing. The city owes it to law abiding citizens to make streets safe, and part of deterring crime is ensuring that there are costs to choosing to break the law. But the city is going to continue fighting a losing battle if it doesn’t devote significantly more resources to changing the equation that faces the young people of Washington. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to make such change the city’s top priority.
We need to start from the beginning. Mayor Fenty should move forward on his goal of universal public preschool. Beyond that, fixing the public school system is an absolute must. Part of that effort must include a fight against truancy, which is epidemic in Washington schools. The city should also work to develop programs to keep kids busy when they’re not in school. If the Boys and Girls Clubs of Washington aren’t able to serve District children, then the city should step up. Washington can’t do enough to provide activities to its youth—sports leagues, public projects, and involvement with local business.
The efforts of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to get more Washington kids in college are highly laudable, and the city can do more. The District should partner with local community colleges to get young adults into programs to give them usable skills. The city also needs to adjust its thinking on business development in poorer neighborhoods. Bringing in large office projects is great for the city’s tax base but provides minimal opportunity for local residents who aren’t already a part of the office economy. The city should be focusing on encouraging local business where it can, through tax breaks and training, and by easing access to business credit. We have to find ways to get everyone involved in the local economy; if we cannot create a legal pathway to economic success for all District residents, then crime will not disappear.
It won’t be cheap or easy, but the alternative—large scale police crackdowns while we wait for development to push out crime—is also costly and morally unsatisfying, and it may not prove effective. I wish Mayor Fenty and Chief Lanier the best of luck in their efforts to make the city safer this summer, but I hope our leadership sees that there is much more to be done. In large part, the responsibility for that falls on us. When crime surges, residents demand police action. While similar outcries are heard regarding public schools, there simply isn't great public pressure to make the economy work for poor Washingtonians. It's up to the residents of D.C. to demand accountability on public problems beyond police enforcement and school improvement. We need to make clear that we won't accept widespread economic failure among the city's poor. Hopefully, the city's residents believe that's a goal worth having.
|
GET INVOLVED! There is currently no neighborhood watch program on Girard Street. We need to get involved in our neighborhoods!!! The D.C. area is not Virginia, where residents have the luxury of expecting safety. D.C.is what it is and residents need to actually step out of their condos just as much as police need to step out of their cars.
"In the minds of those who don’t often visit, Washington is still the murder capital of the United States, still caught in crack wars, still a place into which one ventures at his or her own risk. Hearing such beliefs frustrates me a great deal"
It worries me a great deal also. In fact, there is a rumour propagating that DC is 4 times as dangerous as Baghdad. A 19 year old guy actually told me that in a casual conversation. How can people actually believe that? I spent the next 20 minutes correcting him from that. He was from Seattle, Washington. D.C. is hardly in the top 20 most dangerous cities in the USA anymore, but it is still hard for me to discuss this with people.
And, generally people are very disinterested about DC as a city, especially internationally. D.C. is only where the President lives. I also get the impression from some Americans that are far removed from our region that DC is only the nation's capital and it is to be a place for all Americans and the concerns and interests of the people who actually live in DC are somehow less relevant. After all, Congress is here, so we must be well taken care of. We live better than them because we live at the centre of our federal government. Isn't that right?
"In the minds of those who don’t often visit, Washington is still the murder capital of the United States, still caught in crack wars, still a place into which one ventures at his or her own risk. Hearing such beliefs frustrates me a great deal"
It worries me a great deal also. In fact, there is a rumour propagating that DC is 4 times as dangerous as Baghdad. A 19 year old guy actually told me that in a casual conversation. How can people actually believe that? I spent the next 20 minutes correcting him from that. He was from Seattle, Washington. D.C. is hardly in the top 20 most dangerous cities in the USA anymore, but it is still hard for me to discuss this with people.
And, generally people are very disinterested about DC as a city, especially internationally. D.C. is only where the President lives. I also get the impression from some Americans that are far removed from our region that DC is only the nation's capital and it is to be a place for all Americans and the concerns and interests of the people who actually live in DC are somehow less relevant. After all, Congress is here, so we must be well taken care of. We live better than them because we live at the centre of our federal government. Isn't that right?
To add to my previous post, Washingtonians, old and new, need to take ownership of their city and its affairs. This includes more community involvement in respect to crime. The confidence level amongst DC residents also needs to go up and improve some. Some people may need to grow a pair and stop being so passive about what happens here.
This is not only the "nation's capital" like so many refer to it as, but we are the ones that live and reside here and are affected by what goes on here. The other people in our "nation" don't live here and could care less.
This still seems to dance around the issue. Is there a crime problem, or is there a crime perception problem? I know the right answer is a little bit of both, but I think we need to stop these "DC is safer, BUT" conversations. I agree with the notion of looking past history and take the status quo of what we have today. We should always be looking to provide a safer community regardless of the distracting debates on gentrification, race, and poverty.
I am worried that DC has not done enough for HS graduates or others who want some college education. UDC just doesn't seem to offer the range of alternatives that people in the "states" can access. It is not accreditated in some key areas. Though in general I don't like the idea that Dc should become part of MD, I think the higher ed. system is one place where "small" is really a problem.
Since #6 sorta brought it up, I've always thought that DC, aside from fixing their massive public school problem, REALLY needs a community college system. I am not a DC resident (VA), and I have a BA, but I've been attending Northern VA CC 1-class at a time for several years. People make fun of CC's, but I'm a big believer in the community college mission. My CC experience has been far more useful and enriching than my 4 year degree experience was, and the profs and instructors are a lot more helpful and knowledgeable about the world than the tenured douchebags that academia shelters.
"Washington. D.C. is hardly in the top 20 most dangerous cities in the USA anymore, but it is still hard for me to discuss this with people."
I don't know what counts towards being in the top 20 most dangerous cities, but DC's murder-rate (measured as murders per 100,000) was still 13th overall as recent as 2005. We're right between Trenton and Newark and that's not great company.
Hey Reid,
DC slid 6 more spots down the list of most dangerous cities between 2005 and 2006 to number 19. It is no longer number 13. The murder rate did drop also between 2005 and 2006.
Washington, DC now sits between Cincinatti and North Charleston, SC.
I presume we will slide further down the list in the coming years. The list includes rankings of violent crimes, not just limited to murders.
"I am worried that DC has not done enough for HS graduates or others who want some college education. UDC just doesn't seem to offer the range of alternatives that people in the "states" can access. It is not accreditated in some key areas. Though in general I don't like the idea that Dc should become part of MD, I think the higher ed. system is one place where "small" is really a problem."
DC will pay the difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition at any public education institution in the U.S., up to $10,000 per year for up to five years, giving DC residents access to a lot more higher ed options than just UDC.
Crime will be taken care of when gentrification kicks out the criminal poor element of the Columbia Heights part of town. No one likes to acknowledge it, but it's true.
And I don't know if I agree that "government has failed these young people." In most cases, there is nothing that the government (read: other people's tax dollars) could have done to make up for the fact that many of these kids are raised in utterly dysfunctional households and have no family to functionally support them. No amount of taxpayer-funded programs will fix that underlying problem in a large segment of the city's population of the perpetually poor.
DC NEEDS JOBS!
No, not those low paying service jobs or jobs shucking hot dogs in the new baseball stadium. DC NEEDS a manufacturing base, and more vocational training for those people who cannot go to college but still want to make a decent living. As it stands right now, if you haven't gone to college and you live in the District, you're pretty much subject to the lowest rung of the ladder.
I guess I'm Cranky, too, because the fact of the matter is 14th & Girard is a housing project and unfortunately the "kids having kids" reality will never be fixed. The unfortunate offspring of these kids are largely being raised by the streets, no amount of school reform is going to take the place of a parent, especially a parent that gives a rat's ass and doesn't physically and mentally berate their progeny as they pull them down the street.
We can't own this issue, it's way too touchy. But wouldn't it be nice if every child was a wanted and loved one?
Cranky wrote: "Crime will be taken care of when gentrification kicks out the criminal poor element of the Columbia Heights part of town."
Uh, yeah. Because naturally these folks will just leave the face of the earth. That is an absurdly simplistic statement. Where do you think they will go? Hmmm, just another part of the city? Here's another thought: Take a long-term approach and fix the effin' schools! Maybe some of the kids who get sucked into crime might see better alternatives.
If you want to obsess over the number of reported crimes (by block), search our city's own crime database.
crimemap.dc.gov/presentation/query.asp
KR- to answer your question, PG County
Stone- "DC needs a manufacturing base"? DC never had much of one, and newsflash, China is the new center of manufacturing, so anyone aspriring to a manufacturing job is going to be fighting a losing battle.
JonboyDC- from what I understand, the program you describe is only applicable to first-time full-time students just out of HS. In today's global economy, lifelong learning is the buzzword, and people are/will be getting multiple degrees or just brushing up with a few classes throughout their life. DC residents are still at a disadvantage, and I stand by my earlier post that DC would be well served by a community college system.
It's not popular to say so, but as a once future HS teacher, schools are usually bad because of the students, who are usually bad because of their parents. The DC public school system is a textbook case that shows that throwing a ton of money at the problem doesn't make it go away. DC crime will improve once the majority of the criminals leave. DC schools will improve when the parents of the students attenting them place value on education.
Well, if I am a Columbia Heights resident, would I really care where the criminal poor element goes so long as they get the hell away from me and my neighborhood?
Seriously, we have been addressing the "root causes" of poverty for several decades (remember the War on Poverty?). And yet poverty still exists. It will always exist. The question eventually becomes when do people decide to stop spending massive amounts of public funds on various anti-poverty programs? Now, no doubt the crappy schools don't help the perpetual poor. But at the same time, you could have top-notch schools, but so long as dynsfunctional households are trying to raise kids, those top-notch schools won't make a heck of a lot of difference.
Quite frankly, I don't know what the solution is. But at the same time, if I'm a resident of these neighborhoods, I don't really care what the long-term solution for the criminal poor is, so long as I don't have to deal with living in fear of being attacked, robbed, burglarized, etc. It's harshly self-centered, but it's true.
All I know is that the bleeding heart knee-jerk reaction of "we need more money" is simply not going to cut it anymore. How about an audit of where all the money is going and has been going for the past several decades? How about investigations into how much has been siphoned off by politically connected "community activists" and how much has been wasted on ineffectual programs? Simply saying that "we" - the government, the community, the city, the human race - have failed the criminal poor element is just not gonna cut it anymore.
And, generally people are very disinterested about DC as a city, especially internationally. D.C. is only where the President lives.
I've noticed this also. The most frustrating thing for me is to read articles in the Post on local planning/development issues, and find that some non-DC reader has hijacked thed comments section to use it as a place to blame Bush and company for the worlds ills. Its like, "yes we know. Yes, we hate this administration too. But this is a real city with real local issues so can you take your federal politics bitch session elsewhere?"
The city should be focusing on encouraging local business where it can, through tax breaks and training, and by easing access to business credit.
Sorry, but that ain't gonna happen when your city government triples the taxes on small businesses. And if you didn't triple your business, that sucks for you. Not a problem for Ben's Chili Bowl, which is apparently getting some sorta exemption, but everybody else is getting nailed to the floor. It's going to be an interesting couple of years. Which way will crime go? At what point will small businesses just say the hell with it and leave town? Maybe your neighborhood overpriced tapas and charcuterie place can make enough cash to remain, but how much boutique coffee and luxury items does it take to saturate a neighborhood?
As for the training, downtown construction companies tried that already. Councilman Barry held a big meeting to find out how job training programs were going. Almost all the people brought in for on-the-job construction training left after the first few hours. Either they didn't have the skill sets to accomplish the most menial labor, or they just didn't show up. One character refused to work with a wheelbarrow because he "didn't want to get dirty."
You got people who can't speak a word of English, but are busting ass as construction workers and maids and janitors all over town. Yet our own homegrown local indigents can't even be bothered to show up.
Monkeyerotica brings up an issue I've heard from a bunch of businesstypes interested in hiring locals for blue collar and entry-level jobs. Either the applicants simply aren't qualified, or they have no common sense business skills (basic stuff like how to interview for a job), or they are hired and then in short order either quit, are fired, or just stop showing up for work. We have many thousands of entry-level and blue collar jobs in DC that are filled by MD and VA residents because businesses simply can't find qualified and capable DC residents to fill them. It is truly fascinating that in some industries, you have immigrants that just arrived here a few days ago busting their tushies, while you have "real" Washingtonians who keep it real by not taking those sorts of "demeaning" jobs that require regular workhours.
But I'm sure this is because the government has failed these people, and not that they are just lazy.
"'DC needs a manufacturing base'? DC never had much of one, and newsflash, China is the new center of manufacturing, so anyone aspriring to a manufacturing job is going to be fighting a losing battle."
exactly. we forget that DC was also an artificially created city. the government moved and people followed, but god knows why. there aren't jobs here for people without an education, there never have been. this city doesn't belong here and we're paying for the poor decisions of our country's former leaders.
Cranky, tell us, who exactly is lazy? Be specific, let's not let the bigotry just lurk beneath the surface. Own up to it.
Knowing how and why to pursue a career are learned skills, and people growing up in neighborhoods where many of the adults have not had sustained and successful careers are probably not going to have much of an idea where to begin. It's important that we have programs available to instruct young people how to get ahead and why they should want to. These are difficult issues for many college graduates--setting career goals and understanding how to achieve them--I don't know why we'd expect such things to come naturally to those living in chronic poverty.
The career programs have been available, literally for DECADES. Hundreds of millions have been spent to create a public school systems whose sole purposes is to enrich a DCPS admin bureaucracy and teach kids that they are unique and precious snowflakes. These kids are not stupid. Idiots don't run profitable narcotics and stolen goods trafficking rings. They understand that in a choice between flipping burgers and selling reefer to whitey, the latter always wins.
An entire generation benefitted from Barry's summer jobs programs of the 70s and 80s. What happened to them? They got the hell out of DC as soon as they could afford it and went on to make PG County the richest majority African-American suburb in America. DC gets stuck with the poorest of the poor. So much for uplifting the race.
On 12th Place between W and Florida, there's a nice little rowhouse whose owners have been selling narcotics since the 1950s. I got the story from a neighbor on 13th who'd been in the neighborhood since then. When granddad went to jail in the 1970s, the wife and kids took over the business. Now, their kids run the drugs and occasionally slash the tires and brick the windows of those nasty newcomers who are taking over their neighborhood.
When it comes to career training programs, you can lead the horse to knowledge but you can't make them think.
And remember kids, snitches get stitches!
Monkey, you hit on something important right there: the choice can't be between crime and minimum wage jobs. We have to make it possible for individuals to build careers that go somewhere. If they then choose to leave for Prince George's County, then I can't say that bothers me; plenty of those with the ability to choose where they live are opting to move into the District.
Now, if you're saying that the District deserves suburban assistance with its anti-poverty programs, well, I can't argue with you there, either. Please tell me how to make that happen.
But if you're saying that we've done everything we can for the poor that remain in the city, and the only option left to us is to lock them all up, well, I don't agree.
"UDC just doesn't seem to offer the range of alternatives that people in the "states" can access..."
Just a reminder that students who are residents of DC now can receive IN-state tuition anywhere in the US. That law started a few years ago & DC students should take advantage of it whenever & wherever they can, since that rule does not apply to any other US state or territory.
Getting "aid" from the suburbs ain't gonna float, any more than it did when PG County tried to get DC to pay for all the indigents that moved to Seat Pleasant, Landover, and Upper Marlboro.
What I am saying is that everything DC has tried in the public education sector is a complete failure, just look at the numbers and expenditures. Most everything they've tried in the law enforcement sector has been pretty weak as well; the decline in crime over the past 20 years has more to do with factors outside law enforcement than any magic "crime initiatives" they've taken. And the recidivism rate speaks for itself. I can't think of a better criminal training ground than the current revolving door "justice" system. Or, to quote Public Enemy, "Answer to this quizzin/To the brothers in the street/Schools AND the prisons." Or more to the point, "Small chance a smart brother's/Gonna be a victim of his own circumstance."
The fact is everybody involved is in it for themselves; from the kid who fetishizes the thug lifestyle to the DCPS bureautard pulling in 6 figures for 3 days of work a week to gentrifyer who just doesn't want rocks thrown at his head while he's sipping his grande latte. Talking "community involvement" is a lot like "public transportation": everybody wishes EVERYBODY ELSE would take it.
Getting "aid" from the suburbs ain't gonna float, any more than it did when PG County tried to get DC to pay for all the indigents that moved to Seat Pleasant, Landover, and Upper Marlboro.
What I am saying is that everything DC has tried in the public education sector is a complete failure, just look at the numbers and expenditures. Most everything they've tried in the law enforcement sector has been pretty weak as well; the decline in crime over the past 20 years has more to do with factors outside law enforcement than any magic "crime initiatives" they've taken. And the recidivism rate speaks for itself. I can't think of a better criminal training ground than the current revolving door "justice" system. Or, to quote Public Enemy, "Answer to this quizzin/To the brothers in the street/Schools AND the prisons." Or more to the point, "Small chance a smart brother's/Gonna be a victim of his own circumstance."
The fact is everybody involved is in it for themselves; from the kid who fetishizes the thug lifestyle to the DCPS bureautard pulling in 6 figures for 3 days of work a week to gentrifyer who just doesn't want rocks thrown at his head while he's sipping his grande latte. Talking "community involvement" is a lot like "public transportation": everybody wishes EVERYBODY ELSE would take it.
Right. And Metrobus and Metrorail carry 1.2 million riders per weekday. So the lesson should be that public services related to education and crime don't have to be perfect to make a big impact; they just have to be better. That, I think, is manageable.
DCist Ryan:
I'll take the bait.
Some DC residents in the lower rungs of the socioeconomic ladder are lazy. And on top of that laziness they idolize the Thug Life, with it's disrespect of work and it's glorification of violence and taking the easy way out.
The considerable majority of the lowest socieconomic class in DC is black.
Ergo, many of those that simply won't work for a living in DC are black.
Are we all happy now? Somebody stated the obvious. Sorry it had to be me, as I'm not always the most popular guy in these forums. But Good Lord, somebody had to do it. I mean, somebody besides Bill Cosby.
The liberal in me doesn't like it any more than the liberal in you does, but it's a fact.
Pretending it isn't is just stupid.
Does that make us racists? No.
I'm not saying it's because they are black and I'm certainly not saying that it applies to all blacks and to only blacks. I'm saying that in certain segments of the very poor black community in DC working for a living is not being encouraged by parents or peers, and some of the people are in fact lazy. The result is what we see every day.
Anyone that spends much time in DC can't help but notice that it's recent immigrant Latinos that are out there busting their butts while a good many similarly economically situated DC-born blacks are on the corner passed out. (Actually, many of the Latinos are actually from much more dire personal circumstance.)
Denying the problem does a disservice to us all, especially poor blacks.
Is this to say that it's always this way? Of course not. An awful lot of very poor blacks in DC work their butts off. But a sizeable percentage do not.
It's worth noting that the same pathologies exist in other subcultures. For instance, the very poor whites in certain Appalachian cultures.... some of them do virtually no work at all, living nearly hand to mouth.
You could theoretically argue that at least in rural areas there's a bit of an excuse - it's hard to find jobs, even dead end ones.
In DC, that excuse doesn't work.
And in DC, the alternative to being a productive working member of society is quite often to be a thug, preying on society to an extent that's far easier to do than it is in rural areas.
Why do I bring up white Appalachia? Because I'm a product of that society. My family was very poor white Appalachian. My father, a man with advanced degrees, literally picked up trash by the side of the road, to feed his family when he lost his job. I saw poverty and pathology all around me.
Yes, it does have an impact. There's no denying that. But at some point you have to buck up and take some responsibility for yourself and your family.
Nobody said the world was fair, or easy.
I worked some really crappy jobs, just to keep myself afloat. So it really chaps my ass when I see those in DC that have about a thousand times more opportunity than I had piss it away, preferring instead to steal from those that do actually work for a living.
And since we don't actually take crime in DC seriously, in part because we're afraid of being labelled racist, the Thug Life, with it's inherent but not always obvious dangers, is going to win pretty frequently.
As for your suggestion that we just need to be patient with those that won't work, that it's because "knowing how to pursue a career is a learned skill"........ honestly, how much skill does it take to show up on time and at least show an interest in working? The manual labor trades in DC are in such high demand that that's really all it takes to get your foot in the door these days. Many, many employers are more than willing to train you on the job, especially for construction jobs, which are in very high demand. And you can make a reasonable living in even entry level construction work in DC. And those entry level jobs can very easily lead to actual careers, as plumbers, electricians, drywall hangers, etc.
Last point in my tirade..... if you can't find work in DC, MOVE. My parents moved several times to find work. Myself and my partner have moved for employment. Why is it that no one is willing to do that anymore? Many small cities and rapidly developing areas in the Midwest are literally begging for workers, even for unskilled ones.
And, generally people are very disinterested about DC as a city, especially internationally. D.C. is only where the President lives.
"I've noticed this also. The most frustrating thing for me is to read articles in the Post on local planning/development issues, and find that some non-DC reader has hijacked thed comments section to use it as a place to blame Bush and company for the worlds ills. Its like, "yes we know. Yes, we hate this administration too. But this is a real city with real local issues so can you take your federal politics bitch session elsewhere?"
Hey Chris,
here is a perfect example of that. Washington Post commenter martiniano wrote this comment under the Washington Post article "Worn Down by Waves of Change" on June 11, 2007
martiniano wrote:
"I think it would be very nice if WaPo would bury this local stuff or move it into a different part of the site. What percentage of WaPo.com readers are actually in DC? Leave the local who-cares to the paper. Pretty please?"
Hilarious! Well, this is the WASHINGTON POST!
ChappleANC [dot] com/public/index.php/sitesnsounds/2007/06/03/ron_moten_s_peaceoholics_fight_gang_acti
Commissioner Kevin Chapple has spoken to officials with organiations that try to counter gang acitivity and notes that today, drug dealling really does not pay what it did back in its heyday in the 80's and 90's. Standing behind a counter at MacDonald's is apparently more lucrative than standing on a street corner selling dope.
ChappleANC [dot] com/public/index.php/2007/06/07/jobs_jobs_jobs
Ryan:
I'm sorry I missed the bait, but I see that monkey and hillman expounded eloquently on the point that I was making.
I think it's utterly assinine to raise the red flag of racism for someone to point out that we have lazy people among our perpetually poor segment of the population.
Do you have any idea how many TENS OF MILLIONS of dollars Barry has gotten for "jobs training" programs for residents of Wards 7 and 8? Do you have any idea how each time the DC budget rolls around, Barry and others continue to send millions of dollars to these same programs? Do you recall ever hearing about the effectiveness of these programs? Or wonder who runs these programs that receives millions of taxpayer funds each year, yet never seems to make much of a difference in raising the employment rates of residents of those two wards?
Did you read the "Being a Black Man" series in the Post? Did you read the story about the guy who, after many people's assistance, finally got a job at Jiffy Lube, only to then stop showing up for work a week later, hanging out in his mom's basement, and saying "Man, it's tough" as his explanation for being lazy? Have you talked with the various construction companies working in DC about their apprenticeship programs that focus on young black men to get them into construction jobs that are good-paying and steady? Have you talked with the DC Chamber of Commerce about similar jobs training programs they have been involved with over the decades?
If you had done any of this, then you would have discovered something pretty basic and fundamental: among the poor segment of our population, there are those who just don't want to work for a living. And there are lots of folks out there who have been receiving tons of taxpayer money over several decades to do "jobs training", yet that money has not resulted in any significant positive changes.
Now, maybe you want to explain it all away by saying that poverty is the reason why some people don't know that if they want to keep a job, they actually have to show up for work each day. And that we need to have lots of government programs that teach the poor these sorts of "job skills." But if a person doesn't have the basic common sense to know that he needs to show up to his job if he wants to keep it and get a paycheck, then I'm afraid no amount of taxpayer money and taxpayer-financed programs will ever give him that basic understanding of life.
There are lazy people among our poor population. That occurs in DC, in NY, in rural Appalachia, in rural Iowa, and in Timbuktu. It's pathetic that when someone points out an obvious common sense observation, the reaction of the non-judgmental, I'm-ok-you're-ok-we're-ok crowd, is to yell Bigotry! and Racism! and try to drown out any useful discussion.
Cranky, why are these "lazy" individuals concentrated geographically and similar demographically? That's the question, isn't it? Because sure, there are lazy people throughout the world, but when you have a pocket of people falling into negative activities with much greater frequency than the population at large, there has to be an explanation, right? And the explanation could be: 1)Sometimes randomly distributed laziness concentrates itself, and there are no other factors involved, 2)there's something about these specific people that makes them statistically more likely to be lazy, or 3)these people are as likely to be lazy as anyone else, but there's something about their circumstances that makes the laziness outcome more likely to obtain.
It's the concentration of persistent crime and poverty that makes the laziness argument a non-starter. Fine, they're not showing up to work and keeping their jobs. Why?
I don't think anybody is saying poverty is the result of laziness, any more that you are saying "if only we found the right magic government program, we'd eliminate poverty." The fact is that laziness is a contributing factor to overall