$710.96... The price of freedom.
Posted on 06/25/2004 8:37:57 AM PDT by twas
Rochester could soon get big bucks from the federal government to fight gang violence. Senator Chuck Schumer was in town Monday talking about the Criminal Street Gang Abatement Act. The bill is in Congress and if lawmakers pass it, it would put millions of dollars in the hands of local community leaders to fight the rise in gang violence. It would also stiffen the penalties for gang-related crimes.
When James Madison School of Excellence Principal Dr. Andrew Ray noticed an increase in student violence before and after school he became concerned. He also noticed kids were wearing certain clothing and certain colors. That's when he got busy.
“Our students don't wear the colors...they don't wear scarves. When they hit the door here the caps come off, the doo rags come off. No one walks about the school with those kinds of things on.”
That wasn't all. Ray brought community leaders together to solve the problem. Within weeks things began to change. But he says the problem is bigger than that.
Senator Schumer says the bill does a number of things. “Our bill which I believe will become law by Labor Day has a real chance of helping. So it helps the DA's do their job, it helps prevent young people from going into gangs and it helps reduce overall violence in a community.”
If passed by Congress the gang abatement act would: bring tens of thousands of dollars to hire more federal prosecutors, create prevention programs and provide witness protection, and toughen the penalties for convicted gang members. T
Pat Jackson, executive director of the Southwest Area Neighborhood Association, says the violence in her neighborhood was real. “People were getting slashed by knives. I'm going to be honest with you, I was a little naive until Dr. Ray had this assembly and there were gang members on one side and another gang member on the other side and there was physical fights...and a lot of girls involved even.”
Tougher penalties would include: making gang recruitment a crime, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, prosecuting 16 year olds as adults using the death penalty in gang related murder cases.
And why can't this be handled with state resources? Why must every state problem be taken on by the Federal Government? Schumer needs to take another paid plane ride. This time a one-way vacation to the European nation of his choice.
As a more general discussion point, does anyone have a reasonable solution to the gang violence issue that doesn't involve massive government intrusion? It seems like we've been trying more laws, more bars, and longer sentences for a while, but it continues to get worse. Obviously, illegal immigration is a major issue here, and we're going to continue having all sorts of problems that go beyond gang violence unless and until we get serious about fixing our border security problem. Aside from that, though, what can we do to fix the common situation of kids with uncaring parents who are constantly left unsupervised, and who end up becoming career criminals?
$710.96... The price of freedom.
But first, the mayor of Rochester had to get all levels of gov't to spend around $100,000,000 on the Rochester-Toronto ferry.
Hey now, the Fast Ferry is a great idea. I live within about 5 minutes walking distance from the Ferry and I really think that a lot of the beachfront businesses will benefit from the traffic. Since the Ferry is there, I've actually gone ahead and started to book travel plans for shows in Toronto with my girlfriend... might not sound like much, but these are trips that we wouldn't be taking without the Ferry.
As for the gang thing, I look in certain quarters of the city (ie Avenue D, etc) and I think that perhaps this is a good idea.
I'm not questioning whether the Fast Ferry (for those ouside our area: local term for the Rochester-Toronto ferry) is a great idea at first glance (I'll be on it too just for fun). I'm questioning the wisdom of local political leaders who sought to spend a hundred million dollars on a luxury gimmick before spending anything serious on suppressing local violent crime. The mayor of Rochester chewed out a Toronto reporter for visiting certain areas of the city as just plain unsafe; he'd rather spend the money on a high-profile way to visit Rochester than spend the money on making Rochester someplace worth visiting.
As for how big a boondoggle it is:
The Fast Ferry needs over 600,000 passengers annually just to break even - that's the entire population of Rochester forking out $60 three times a year every year. Ride it now while you still can!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.