Big cities are dying. This should shock you.

[dmccarty]

But the law enforcement officers have to be able to enforce the law. In the Seattle documentary the cops quit because they were NOT allowed to enforce laws that are on the books.

It cannot be legal for someone to crap in a hospital doorway or drain their oil in a parking lot, but cops are told not to enforce laws by elected officials who obstruct the law... how did it get this way?

Because people elected people who would not enforce the law. How many sanctuary cities are there? There are several in my area and even my itty, bitty town/county decided to not enforce immigration laws. We just had an actor make serious allegations and comment multiple felonies yet the DA buries it. This has happened locally where the criminals where doing something that is PC and the charges were dropped. The excuse was that there was not enough evidence even though they were on video. Similar law breaking was allowed by the powers that be a local university because it was PC.

This one just cracks me up with the irony. During the last election cycle, the long serving REP sheriff was voted out of office. The old sheriff had correctly demoted a ranking officer who had made homophobic statements. A DEM was elected. One of his first actions was to fire to deputies who had reported the previously mentioned ranking officer, and then promoted the bigoted officer back to his old rank. There was some outcry about this but it went away pretty quickly. If the old sheriff had done what the new one did, there would be calls for impeachment. The other irony, is that the current sheriff has blatantly shown his bigotry, made it known to the deputies that this bigotry is acceptable in the department, and the people who elected this guy, as well as the power's that be, are ok with this mess.

Another local city has a pan handler issue. The city created an ordinance prohibiting pan handling, or at least that is what you would think, if you read the title of the regulation. The ordinance was changed a couple of times, and while the title implies that pan handling is illegal, the actual wording means pan handling is legal. There is no way for law enforcement to stop pan handling on public streets. As Gomer would say, Surprise, Surprise, Surprise. There are beggars on most major street corners. So far they are not robbing people like used to happen in Miami...

Later,
Dan

 

[goeduck]

It was not very long ago that my wife was issued a jaywalking ticket in Seattle, not even at a crowded intersection in rush hour where she would be preventing cars from moving. It was a side street and the cop was just enforcing the law. Now look at the mess we have when laws are not enforced, people can camp and crap on public property, shoot up drugs and elected officials say to look the other way. All the garbage, feces and needles the druggies leave behind ought to be hauled to the elected officials home doorstep.

 

[MacLawn]

I hate cities. But I have heard the opposite. They are coming back. The children of people who fled the cities don't remember why their parents left. Plus millenials don't like to drive or commute.

I didn't watch the video, but don't believe cities are dying.

That's the same observation I have. Millenials love cities. For me, give me the city or boondocks. What I cannae endure is the suburbs.

 

[JD15302155870]

Don’t worry about the cities. They are moving to us.

 

[hawkeye08]

We made a decision not to leave in big city back in 1980s, but as said above, they are moving to us.. we have neighbors now way too close. We are not in a position to move again, but certainly have considered it. Many of the city ideas came with them, things that caused them to move from the city. I have no problem (some, but that is my issue) with people moving to a different area, but please stop trying to make it like the area you left that caused you to leave.

 

[atsah]

please stop trying to make it like the area you left that caused you to leave.

Exactly..

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Successful rural living requires both knowledge and initiative. I remember developing and building my first rural home. It was like climbing out of a black hole, and I had the use of my dad's farm equipment and shop just 5 miles away, plus I was working construction. My first house was 1/4 built out of old concrete forms. I had so much to learn, and I was just an ignorant kid. The company I was working for remodeled a service station into an office. The canopy had 8' fluorescent fixtures that I salvaged and set up vertically around my house site. I worked until 10:00 every night, climbed into bed in a travel trailer, and got up at 6 AM the next morning to do it all again. I made so many mistakes roughing in the plumbing that I could have hired a plumber cheaper, but I ended up knowing how to do it.

Cities do all that for you. They take care of your water and sewer, you don't have to drill a well, trench in a septic drain field, or electrical service, or build your own road to your house. People move to cities because they can live better with less effort in a communal environment. Farms need fewer workers and farmers need more land, so rural communities are shrinking. The best way to have a job in the country is to have the skills to make your own, and the initiative to put in 16 hours a day making it go.

That said, I have always counted my blessings that people prefer to huddle together in cities. If they didn't, they would be out here messing up my environment like they mess up the cities. People who live in cities have to be willing to put up with the stink and the filth, the drippy motor oil that eats the tar right out of the asphalt in parking lots, and all the people driven crazy by the lack of peace and solitude.

 

[Industrial Toys]

As far as the jaywalking goes. You still don't get it. It's not about public safety. Your wife looked like she had the extra tax dollars to give them. The NERVE of her to BREAK the LAW! The guy crapping on the sidewalk has not got a nickle, so no interest in what he is doing.

 

[goeduck]

As far as the jaywalking goes. You still don't get it. It's not about public safety. Your wife looked like she had the extra tax dollars to give them. The NERVE of her to BREAK the LAW! The guy crapping on the sidewalk has not got a nickle, so no interest in what he is doing.

There is a lot of truth to what you just wrote. Honest people still get charged with breaking the law, but these drug addicts living in public spaces do not. I do not have a problem with the former, the law is the law. I have huge problems with the later since it perpetuates and expands the problem. We give them an inch, they take a mile. City leaders need to enforce the law. No drug shootup areas, no living in public spaces, no deficating in the street.

Heck, I would probably get a ticket if my dog crapped in front of an encampment and I did not clean it up. But the dirt bags can even crap in front of little kids. Disgusting.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I hope, that once in a while I say something that is at least interpreted as truthful,

I think the solution is Alcatraz. A new found purpose. Just drop these people off there, and drop off some basic food and water once a week. Let things work out as they might. It would be a most interesting experiment, if nothing else.

 

[goeduck]

, but please stop trying to make it like the area you left that caused you to leave.

Not only the area in the US they came from but the country they came from. Too many people want to turn this place into where they came from, yet they left there for a better life.

 

[Industrial Toys]

It's not them and they are not to blame. It's the people in charge that want to take the American out of America.
It's ONLY about one thing, Political POWER! And they don't care what they do to obtain and keep it.

 

[ovrszd]

That said, I have always counted my blessings that people prefer to huddle together in cities. If they didn't, they would be out here messing up my environment like they mess up the cities. People who live in cities have to be willing to put up with the stink and the filth, the drippy motor oil that eats the tar right out of the asphalt in parking lots, and all the people driven crazy by the lack of peace and solitude.

True words right there. I feel very Blessed that the vast majority of the population, maybe 99%, can't live in sparsely populated areas.

 

[ovrszd]

I hope, that once in a while I say something that is at least interpreted as truthful,

I think the solution is Alcatraz. A new found purpose. Just drop these people off there, and drop off some basic food and water once a week. Let things work out as they might. It would be a most interesting experiment, if nothing else.

Lord Of The Flies.

 

[lilranch2001]

I am sure the fly population of Alcatraz would go up exponentially if the homeless would be moved there......

 

[Industrial Toys]

It would be wrong, but think of the money one could make on some kind of REAL, REALITY show. Plus the tour boats circling the island (just not Duck boats) And drones, don't forget the drones. To me, the whole point would be out of sight, out of mind. Get back to ones morning Latte while reading your texts without worrying about stepping in someones crap.

 

[drec]

My wife and I grew up in the SEATTLE area and just became disgusted with how the homeless have just taken over areas all over the city. My wife used to take our daughters to downtown Seattle at Christmas time to shop and have dinner, as tradition each year. The homeless have taken over the sidewalks and most of the stores will not even let customers use rest rooms inside the stores.

We decided several months ago to move; which we did several months ago to eastern Washington, to avoid the higher taxes in the SEATTLE area.

 

[tjkubota93]

You can live quite well today with cast-offs...

There is recent story about this in San Francisco...

In San Francisco, Making a Living From Your Billionaire Neighbor’s Trash - The New York Times | Global News Archive

As a property manager for decades I see what people toss out and leave behind... low income to high income... I have been given cars that needed nothing more than air in the tires and a jump... all those shiny new Christmas Presents fill the dumpsters by Easter...

I'm always finding kids bikes at the dumpsters... when I ask the response is generally indifference... like it is broken or my child doesn't want it anymore... a broken bike could mean the tires need air!

Never before have there been such an abundance of material possessions… so much so that value suffers... toys, furniture, electronics, clothes, etc...

What I am about to say my surprise some...

A big problem here and for the city is electrical tampering... businesses, to city street lights having the Junction Boxes opened leaving live wires dangling...

The reason is the Homeless have smart phones but no way to charge them unless they get creative... so they use jumpers on live circuits to charge their electronic devices...

Only in America... homeless and living on the street with a smart phone and internet/entertainment but having to steal electricity to keep the batteries charged.

There is a lowes in a older/ kinda bad part of town here. They have an exterior electrical outlet on each side of the building. There's always a heroine head squatting next to the outlets with their phone plugged in.

 

[Diggin It]

I hope, that once in a while I say something that is at least interpreted as truthful,

I think the solution is Alcatraz. A new found purpose. Just drop these people off there, and drop off some basic food and water once a week. Let things work out as they might. It would be a most interesting experiment, if nothing else.

Lord Of The Flies.

 

[ultrarunner]

I was thinking of this movie... sometimes Hollywood predictions actually become reality...

Just released... San Francisco now has the highest building cost in the world... the stark contrast between those with money and those that live on the street could not be more evident.

The big city problems continue to grow... the rapid transit BART system averages 22,000 fare evaders each and every work day... just shows what a free for all it has become... max penalty is a citation and most are ignored.

High level officials such as Transit Directors, Chiefs of Police, City Managers seem too often to be a continual revolving door... get in just long enough to secure the pension boost/perks and get the heck out... the lack of continuity and institutional knowledge extracts a high price...

Few of the elite stay in the area in retirement...

I could go on as the city having the worst or most smash and grabs in the country... increasing homeless/street people etc...

I guess more and more will continue to seek out their "Mayberry" to enjoy their golden years...

One thing I find hardest to understand is big cities as magnets for the young... those that grew up without want in the low crime, clean, sterile suburbia seek the gritty, urban city culture like never before and is has nothing to do with looking for employment... they are drawn to cities their Grandparents fled...

The news is abuzz regarding all the new multimillionaires from the latest IPO offerings... saying it will flood the region with more dollars and just how bad this is.

Also concerns that the California wildfires could double the already high electricity rates which would devastate tech/industry... gas is already $4 a gallon!

On a separate note... lots of coverage on reducing crowded border detention centers by relocating detainees to Sanctuary Cities and SF being one of the oldest is a prime candidate...

May you live in interesting times... I've got weeds to chop in prep for fire season and with this year's rains it is sure to be a Doozy..