Ted Balaker of the Reason Foundation riffs on some sadly familiar themes of misplaced municipal priorities:
According to the Morgan Quitno analysis, Camden, New Jersey is our nation’s most dangerous city. Bad news indeed, but on the other hand, locals do have a shiny new billion-dollar light rail line—which they can presumably use to to flee the city at an even faster rate than they’re doing now.
Many city leaders neglect the unglamorous duties of local government and get seduced by the latest must-have ornamentation: a rail line, a stadium, a convention center. (Los Angeles recently committed $270 million for a convention center hotel.) Inspired by Richard Florida’s book, The Rise of the Creative Class, more city leaders have even placed certain kinds of people on their must-have list. Attract the cool kids, the theory goes, and your city will thrive.
Urban scholar Joel Kotkin doesn’t buy it. He points to cities like Detroit, Baltimore, and Cleveland and notes that “faced with population decline of 30 to 40 per cent over the past half century, these cities have all created programs designed to lure gays, bohemians and young ‘creatives’ to their towns.” If those hipsters do show up, let’s hope they can fight crime. After all, those “creative” programs didn’t stop Cleveland, Baltimore, and Detroit from placing, respectively, twelfth, sixth, and second on the most dangerous cities list.
Wow, Charlotte really is following the footsteps of other world class cities. Light rail? Check. Subsidized “cultural attractions?” Check. Scary crime rate? Check. Higher taxes? Check. More spending? Check.
Utter denial? Oh, yeah. Big check.
