Why Does the Media Have an Obsession with Chicago Violence?

[Atlanta_BD]

Originally Posted by chet everett

The facts clearly show that the level of "pain" that is centered in Chicago neglected areas is off the charts -- there are crummy schools, no employment options, horrible options for housing, nearly unchecked flow of street drugs, an overworked / under-involved police force and an epidemic of illegal weapons.

Let me play devil's advocate for a second. Are the schools crummy only because of CPS or also because of a lack of parental involvement and a lot of the kids being trouble makers? Are the schools in the blighted areas receiving enough money in property taxes or funding so they can run more efficiently?

As far as employment options, how many of us actually work in our own neighborhoods outside of retail and fast food? It's it safe to say that most people have to go outside their own neighborhoods no matter what their condition to get to jobs? Can most of us rely on getting a job down the street from where we live or do we have to work wherever the jobs are or where we can get hired? How many people can realistically say they don't have to commute to get to work?

Would the housing be horrible if people cared about where they lived and not littered or tear up their apartments?

How can drugs flow into a neighborhood if there's no market or demand for them? How can drugs flow into an area if the people there aren't buying them? Are the people there not using them and the dealers are just coming the to set up shop just because? How would people get their hands on illegal weapons if they had to intent to use them in the first place?

[chet everett]

As far as "funding" the paradox of CPS is that by State mandate they have to account for spending per student. Thus whether the kid is in an excellent magnet school inside CPS, or a nicely run charter school, or a good performing neighborhood school, or some scary dump of a school the expenditures are the same. That goes a long way to supporting those who say "it ain't the money". Now having been a teacher in CPS I might argue that if you have kids that enter school underprepared, have a living situation that lacks any responsible adult, and generally results in kids all but fending for themselves it might be wise to sort of "invest" a little more in them. The thing is that a) there really are not all that many kids in such severe situations b) schools are not set up to provide the full range of social services c) even if the dollars were available and there were ways to "deliver services" the level of responibilities that would transfer to the State would clearly be "intrusive" upon the rights of the kids and their parents / guardians...

I know a little about employment and housing. The data pretty consistently shows that folks that live in the suburbs have a signficantly SHORTER avg commute time than city residents. Now I am not going to say EVERYONE in every suburb is fortunate to have a work situation where they can have an office in one town with lots of office buildings and maybe a regional mall and then live in an adjacent town that is nearly 100% leafy residential streets with single family homes BUT that is a COMMON enough factor that MANY folks do in fact shop specifically for a home that gives that short commute. Further the relative ease of this situation working out, or a similar one that relies on a short commuter train ride, is FAR higher for folks who work in an "office setting" than say folks with low paying retail / fast food jobs...

As to your other questions about crime and the upkeep of residential areas these strike me as even more driven by the overall cooperation of residents to collectively work together. It is well reported that too many crimes are clusterd in areas where even those with no direct involvement fail to answer questions of police that would help solve / prevent these crimes. An environment of worsening lawlessness is the result.

A similar type argument with opposite intent and outcomes is seen in communites where there is a "block club" that works to "beautify" the street. Whether is just neighbors that cooperatively clean up an empty lot or those that have an actual "community garden" or even some kind of "garden walk" where there are folks that "compete" for the nicest landscaping the result is a whole block that looks better and ulitmately helps raise property values and keep the bad influences moving on. Thugs and dope dealers genereally prefer barren areas as opposed to vibrant well cared for blocks...