Mayor Street catering to the rich liberals...

[Al B. Sure!]

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/local/5906988.htm

excerpts:

After a year of deploying police to patrol neighborhood drug corners under Operation Safe Streets, city officials now plan to send officers to fight the bane of Center City sidewalks: panhandlers.

Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson confirmed yesterday that a crackdown on aggressive street beggars would begin in "the very near future."

...The move comes as Mayor Street is seeking reelection and will again need votes from the typically white, typically liberal residents of Center City. Street will face (Republican) Sam Katz in November.

Center city is one of those gentrified areas of philly that is now the home of all these rich liberal cracker snobs. apparently, the 'suffering' liberals can't stand to have impoverished people near them...

and what's next? I heard there was also a push to get rid of, not simple beggers, but even street vendors! legitimate business men many of whom are either immigrants or have been working in the vending business their whole lives and have parents who were also at it...

also...

Johnson said the plan was not yet complete but promised that the crackdown would not divert police resources from emergency calls or other areas of the city.

"It might entail some overtime, but we will not be taking officers from other districts and divisions," he said.

yeah that's what they said about Operation Safe Streets and that diverted all the cops to North philly leaving everywhere else crime-ridden... great! let's stick all the police in bourgeious crackerville so they can clear the streets of the poor!


once again... the ****ing liberals showing their compassion...


thanks

[Dinner]

I think this is actually a good idea. In most cities vagrancy and panhandling are crimes and as we've learned time and time again if we ignore the graffitti, broken windows, pan handling, and what not then we WILL get more crime and more serious crime. It is a slippery slope.

Did anyone read about who Rudy cleaned up NY and slashed the crime rate? He went after all the little crimes thus making the city more livable and the criminals off of the streets. Now, NY is actually a nice place to live again. Compare that to 15 or 20 years ago.

[Al B. Sure!]

it's a crime to ask people for money? that's crazy

and the other thing to note is that the police are going to be in rich center city... there's beggers all over the city but for some odd reason, the beggers in the gutters of the city is going to be ignored but as soon as beggers are in the rich white area... oh no! bring the police!

[monolith94]

I'm a white liberal, but I'm not rich, and I certainly don't support police action of this nature. Just remember tha we're not all alike, Albert...

[Asher]

rich liberals

[Al B. Sure!]

can someone please explain to me why there is no effort to get the beggers off the streets in actually bad neighbourhoods... isnt that what Guiliani did? he stopped the petty crime in the gutter, right?

why are the philly pd now going to mess with beggers only in the rich areas of the city?

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Albert Speer
it's a crime to ask people for money? that's crazy

It's called vagrency and it is most certainly enforced in many cities.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Albert Speer
why are the philly pd now going to mess with beggers only in the rich areas of the city?

Hmm, probably because he doesn't care about the poor parts of the city or he doesn't have the money to have officers every where so he's going to help out the people that butter his bread for him.

If you really want to clean up a city you follow Rudy's "broken window" plan and make sure every part of the city is clean, neat, and orderly. then you enforce all the laws and you throw the book at people who break them. If this could turn NY from the cess pit it was into the nice place it is then I'm a believer.

[JohnT]

Originally posted by Asher

rich liberals

Actually, the proper phrase is "limosine liberals."

[Imran Siddiqui]

John, Iain gave me an amusing name for them in the UK: Champaigne Socialists .

[gsmoove23]

Originally posted by Oerdin


Hmm, probably because he doesn't care about the poor parts of the city or he doesn't have the money to have officers every where so he's going to help out the people that butter his bread for him.

If you really want to clean up a city you follow Rudy's "broken window" plan and make sure every part of the city is clean, neat, and orderly. then you enforce all the laws and you throw the book at people who break them. If this could turn NY from the cess pit it was into the nice place it is then I'm a believer.

Actually Guiliani only cleaned up commercial and upper-class areas. Poor areas of the city didn't see much change.

[Dinner]

The drop in the crime rate says other wise.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Albert Speer
it's a crime to ask people for money? that's crazy

As far as I can see, not in itself. However, there are unfortunate side effects to having a lot of people begging on the streets, so the long term effect is the neighbourhood becomes run down, and other criminals start to move in.

[Bosh]

Well from what I know of the reputation of the Philly police department, I'd just be happy that they're busy with dealing with someone besides me...

[Urban Ranger]

Of course, the prevalence of beggars on the streets points to the fundamental flaws in the system itself. Begging is just a symptom, not a cause.