Posted on 04/08/2008 7:58:15 PM PDT by a_chronic_whiner
With 380 homicides recorded already this year, a spate of recent cop shootings, and one particularly gruesome cop killing that led to a nationwide manhunt, Philadelphia is among Americas most dangerous big cities. The crime issue dominated this years mayoral race, which Michael Nutter, a blunt and sometimes histrionic former councilman, eventually won. But while crime gets the most attention, Nutters success as mayor will ultimately rest on improving the citys dysfunctional economy. Notwithstanding the glitzy renaissance taking place in its center, Philadelphia is an economic basket case.
The last mayor to tackle economic issues in Philadelphia was Ed Rendell, now starting his second term as Pennsylvanias governor, who memorably referred to the city as a cancer patient with a gunshot wound. The gunshot in Rendells metaphor was the threat of bankruptcy that the city faced when he took office in 1992. The cancer was the slow drain of jobs and people from the city. Early on, Rendell believed that the citys image was its biggest liability. As journalist Buzz Bissinger recounts in his book A Prayer for the City, the mayor focused on splashy projects like a convention center and downtown condos and hotels. When it came to jobs, Rendell thought of Philly as a jigsaw puzzle of employers, each representing a bloc of workers. Rendells responsibility, as he saw it, was to keep the biggest pieces from falling off the table. When Breyers Ice Cream, for example, threatened to pull up stakes and fire several hundred factory workers, Rendell rushed in with an incentive package to get it to reconsider (Breyers left anyway). The most conspicuous example of Rendells approach involved preventing the planned closure of a 200-year-old navy shipyard that employed 8,000 workers.
(Excerpt) Read more at city-journal.org ...
Here’s a better idea - issue free guns to all law-abiding citizens along with a get-out-of-jail-free-if-you-shoot-a-criminal cards. Problem will be solved in six weeks after a brief spike in the homicide rate (the “justifiable homicide” category, though).
Big cities are becoming more and more like “Escape from New York” the rest of the country financially supports the low lifes, rats and roaches that live there.
Throw in some bug bombs and stand back.
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