Crime in Delaware (Wilmington, New Castle, Lewes: to live in, dangerous, shops)

[doctorjef]

I think of "gentrification" as the middle classes moving into an area in a deterioration and essentially taking over. This improves the area but simply pushes the former inhabitants out. What you really need are strong initiatives to bring in businesses that actually employ the local population, initiatives that make home improvement loans on very cheap and favourable terms, institution of effective community policing, and public-private sector initiatives to improve the quality of life in these places generally (e.g., farmers markets, community gardens and good quality food stores to end "food deserts" in these inner city locations). Let's end poverty and its effects by bringing the unemployed poor into the solid working/middle class, rather than engaging in the cosmetic illusion of having the existing middle classes displace the poor. Gentrification needs to proceed internally, from the inside out, rather than from the outside in. Once you accomplish this, you will also have a community into which people will naturally want to move, in turn breaking down the blight of de facto ethnic segregation.

[rdlr]

I understand that crime is on the rise in downtown Wilmington, i.e. easier to steal than to work. On the other side of the coin: "You Can Lead a Horse to Water, But You Can't Make Him Drink" ~Proverbs~
(echoed so many times in the media today)
People have to want to contribute to society.

In my opinion, throwing a bunch of money in downtown Wilmington won't work. (Some) people don't want to go to work every day after living on government assistance, sometimes their entire lives. I actually know people not wanting to give up those checks.

Again, in my opinion, the result would be failed businesses in those ghettos, resulting in bankruptcy, and more government assistance needed. Besides, what entity would want to set up business in a ghetto?

[doctorjef]

rdlr, I've encountered multiple individuals as a result of my professional practice both in this country and in England who did not want off benefits in favour of gainful employment, and some who wanted to qualify for benefits that they did not need and merely saw as expedient. However, I don't buy an argument that says that the majority of people living in poverty are in that situation through their own fault and would not take advantage of clear, proximate, practical and tangible means to better themselves, their families and situations if they could actually perceive any such options.

No, I wouldn't advocate a concentration on placing retail businesses in a ghetto -- apart from food resources that the people actually living there could take advantage of. Rather, I'd advocate placing small scale manufacturing operations and other non-retail business vetures in impoverished areas. These would essentially be economic development colonies, given massive tax breaks and other means of assistance to establish operations in impoverished areas and to hire people falling within these catchment areas and targeted socio-economic demographics.

Law enforcement and criminal justice have a role to play, but demonstrably are not the answer to the problem of urban poverty.

There is much housing in Wilmington's poverty areas that is terribly neglected and in need of massive rehabilitation, but which also has "good bones", the charm and authenticity of an earlier time (and this can attract buyers and investors as circumstances improve), and which is intrinsic to organic neighborhoods in which people would actually feel a personal stake and ownership. In dealing with the existing housing stock, restoration and historic preservation should be watchwords.

[rdlr]

Originally Posted by doctorjef

Law enforcement and criminal justice have a role to play, but demonstrably are not the answer to the problem of urban poverty.

"Education" is one big answer, but without strong family support to stay in school, history repeats itself, and the cycle continues. Consequently, this becomes everybody's problem to try and fix. Law enforcement has become the 'bad guy' in poverty stricken areas, unfortunately.

[doctorjef]

Education with local schools and a cadre of home visitors/visiting teachers/home-school coordinators (the terms vary from place to place) is indeed terribly important for impoverished youth, but adult education, vocational training and available employment opportunities are likewise crucial. And don't forget the necessity of low or no cost child are esp as provided by employers or by local co-ops.

[Legendof302]

Originally Posted by doctorjef

No, I wouldn't advocate a concentration on placing retail businesses in a ghetto -- apart from food resources that the people actually living there could take advantage of. Rather, I'd advocate placing small scale manufacturing operations and other non-retail business vetures in impoverished areas. These would essentially be economic development colonies, given massive tax breaks and other means of assistance to establish operations in impoverished areas and to hire people falling within these catchment areas and targeted socio-economic demographics.

Law enforcement and criminal justice have a role to play, but demonstrably are not the answer to the problem of urban poverty.

There is much housing in Wilmington's poverty areas that is terribly neglected and in need of massive rehabilitation, but which also has "good bones", the charm and authenticity of an earlier time (and this can attract buyers and investors as circumstances improve), and which is intrinsic to organic neighborhoods in which people would actually feel a personal stake and ownership. In dealing with the existing housing stock, restoration and historic preservation should be watchwords.

Doctorjef this sounds good, it really does.

But, how can this be accomplished when schools are literally next to boarded up homes and liquor stores?

What type of small scale manufacturing operations are you talking about?

Please be more specific...

[doctorjef]

Legend, what would potentially work within the urbanised setting of a city like Wilmington would be small manufacturing operations that are clean industry and don't require a huge amount of space-consumming equipment. A good example that was cited on NPR/WHYY this morning in the case of Mexico (which has maintained steady economic growth, the drug war notwithstanding) would be a small factory that produces floor mats for cars (which in the case of the Mexican factory cited are exported for sale in the USA).

[shedontlookback]

We moved from NJ to DE about 8 years ago. Like everyone else, our realtor recommended DE because of the low real estate taxes and no sales tax. We are now trying to sell our home and move back to NJ. We live in Southern Delaware and for the most part, if you are looking for small ranchers, these are being built outside the city limits. You will have to deal with the inconvenience of wells, septic, propane and most likely a dish for cable. If you want to be in the city limits, and don't want an expensive and large home, you will most likely be looking at condos. There are hundreds of condos. If you have two dogs that need to run, that might be a another inconvenience you would have to deal with. One thing we never thought about when moving to DE was the crime rate...it's very high. We are in a large home just within the city limits and our sub-division has robberies and home invasions. DE has a huge drug problem. We don't run up to the store at night. Another thing we never researched before coming here was the lack of jobs. Everyone comes for the low property tax but if you can't get a job...

If you want to be within the city limits in Southern Delaware (Lewes, Rehoboth) you might have to go for a larger home and hire someone to do your yard work unless you want to live in a condo. Have an alarm put in and be certain to ask about the HOA fees because they can be high and never cover mowing the lawn unless you go condo.

[doctorjef]

I'm sorry, but if you don't research the area you are moving into, you really are asking for it and have no room for complaint. Of course you need to research the job market or secure a job before moving unless you are retired. The houses in the city limits of Lewes generally don't have prohibitively large lawns for any reasonably fit and ambulatory person to be able to mow. I don't live in Lewes but I mow my own lawn (unlike most of my neighbors, even if they have rather small yards) and I'd be embarrassed to hire someone to do it for me as long as I'm physically capable of doing it myself. We have a security system that is monitored, even though we don't live in a neighborhood with high crime; ditto when we lived in Austin, TX -- also in low crime areas. IMO, it's just prudent to have a security system and pay for the monitoring if you can afford to do so. As to available housing stock, that's just a compromise anywhere you go. Delaware is a small state and you can move to a variety of suburban areas that don't involve having to deal with a septic system, satellite dishes, etc, nor city taxes, and which offer small single family dwellings with small yards. If you insist on being in or around Lewes or Rehoboth, you've simply chosen to limit yourself to certain facts of the current state of development and available housing. You can move instead to Dover and certainly not be in a big city but have a lot more choices, or you can move to New Castle County and have many more options and still be paying low taxes. If you think it's a better compromise to live in NJ with its high taxes, by all means do so.

[Legendof302]

Originally Posted by doctorjef

Legend, what would potentially work within the urbanised setting of a city like Wilmington would be small manufacturing operations that are clean industry and don't require a huge amount of space-consumming equipment. A good example that was cited on NPR/WHYY this morning in the case of Mexico (which has maintained steady economic growth, the drug war notwithstanding) would be a small factory that produces floor mats for cars (which in the case of the Mexican factory cited are exported for sale in the USA).

Yes that would be good for some of the adults in the city.

For the most part I would just like to see the teens and young adults in the ghetto put down the gun's & drugs and pick up paintbrushes and learn carpentry.

I would also be all for any type of social program that promotes urban renewal by the same people who actually live on the most rundown streets of Wilmington.