A comprehensive approach to crime in the inner city..

I believe that a lot of time crime and violence in the inner city are looked at as an independent phenomenon. There is this unspoken belief that people who live in inner cities are inherently violent because of their skin color or socioeconomic status. I believe that one has to view crime as a byproduct or a result of some other failure in the community. Inner cities are often deprived of humanity—resources, opportunities, safety, etc. Once you strip away the humanity of a community, survival becomes the soul motive. This is made evident in the video posted to blackboard. In the absence of jobs and quality education, people result to the only forms of survival available. These forms are considered criminal in the eyes of the law. Further, crime begets crime. People sell drugs to people in their communities. People addicted to a substances don’t think rationally and are therefore likely to commit crimes to obtain money to buy drugs. People who then get robbed then retaliate, also seen in the video, and violence becomes cyclical.

We discussed a variety of options in class that directly involved approaches to dealing with crime. Although I agree with many of the theories, including the broken window theory, I believe that a city’s first line of defense in the inner city involves infusing communities with resources. Areas with healthy economies have lower crimes rates and it is no coincidence. If inner city neighborhoods had jobs, quality housing, and adequate education, I believe that violent crime alone would drop off. Couple that approach, with an increased police presence and I believe you have the remedy for a safer city. Curbing crime is important, but something needs to fill the void. Physical improvements to a community like parks and restaurants are essential crime preventers and community builders as well, urban planner Jane Jacobs might argue. 

Putting On for Portland

Welcome back faithful readers (if there are any) and graders : ] For the purposes of this assignment, I went with Portland, Oregon. The prospect of an up-and-coming city in its incubation phase was quite enticing.  What attracted me most was the overarching idea that Portland was striving to be on the cutting edge of all of its economic endeavors. From an economic development perspective, though marginally more challenging than a fully developed city, Portland offers a number strengths and untapped economic resources. As described by the video, Portland is on the cutting edge of sustainable living and production. Further, Portland seeks to be a city designed for future (forward) living. It is the greenest city in the country at this point, and with that they have developed a lifestyle suitable for sustainable growth with investments in transit systems and energy efficiency. In keeping with the green mentality, there is a concentration of firms in the clean technology and green building sectors that stand to benefit from the shift away from carbon technologies. Further, the presence of a sustainable business creates the opportunity to make “green” an economic niche. Portland’s aim is to be the most sustainable economy in the world and they are positioning themselves to do so. It is also important to note that a sustainable economy is not one that simply promotes green lifestyles, but one that is able to sustain itself from within. This involves housing, food production, industry, etc.

As far a proposal, I would take my queue from the man in the video who suggested creating incentives for college students to actually stay and work in Portland. I think a nice enticement would be some sort of land guarantee via community land grants or rent control. In keeping with the theme of sustainability, I would include a sustainable work force initiative—one that encourages Portland business to recruit Oregon college students, who in turn return receive land subsidies for deciding to remain in Portland to work. Though the Hope VI grant is somewhat controversial, I do believe that homeownership promotes a positive economy. If Portland’s aim is to thrive affordable housing has to be at the forefront of priorities. After researching for last week policy exam, I found that there is a direct correlation between a cities homeownership rate and academic and economic success.  With that I think that Hope VI would be another even greater incentive to lure people to the city.