Budget Cutbacks and Increased Police Presence
Reading this article, in which the new budget for the city of Cincinnati is discussed, I couldn't help but think of one of 'Mos Def's most poignant tracks.
From "Mathematics":
Joe Wessels and the Cincinnati Post spell out the loss for us: We're cutting the arts, swimming pools, community centers, and trash clean-up in Cincinnati's grimiest neighborhoods. No fear though, there's money enough to add more 5-0. And of course they'll find another 6 million dollars lying around the city treasury to build a bubble jail for all those damn pot smokers who were kicked out of their closing community centers and forced on to their un-cleaned neighborhood streets.
This council is clueless. To save a city you need to attract people. The best way to make that happen is by making downtown a place worth seeing. No one wants to spend their weekend in streets littered with tossed out fast-food bags where there's nothing but closed art galleries and remnants of bars long moved on to greener pastures. Even if there is a horse-cop on every corner.
As usual, short-sighted thinking by a council (and mayor/manager) that continually lacks vision to try anything that might stop Cincinnati's bleeding.
And John Cranley, who has been a strong supporter of toughening up on crime with a pricey police upgrade, wonders why he couldn't take down conservative Steve Chabot.
From "Mathematics":
so frontliners got they gun in your back
bubblin crack, jewel theft and robbery
to combat poverty
and end up in the global jail economy
stiffer stipulations attached to each sentence
budget cutbacks but increased police presence
and even if you get out of prison still livin
join the other five million under state supervision
this is business, no faces, just lines and statistics
from your phone, your zip code, to S-S-I digits
Joe Wessels and the Cincinnati Post spell out the loss for us: We're cutting the arts, swimming pools, community centers, and trash clean-up in Cincinnati's grimiest neighborhoods. No fear though, there's money enough to add more 5-0. And of course they'll find another 6 million dollars lying around the city treasury to build a bubble jail for all those damn pot smokers who were kicked out of their closing community centers and forced on to their un-cleaned neighborhood streets.
This council is clueless. To save a city you need to attract people. The best way to make that happen is by making downtown a place worth seeing. No one wants to spend their weekend in streets littered with tossed out fast-food bags where there's nothing but closed art galleries and remnants of bars long moved on to greener pastures. Even if there is a horse-cop on every corner.
As usual, short-sighted thinking by a council (and mayor/manager) that continually lacks vision to try anything that might stop Cincinnati's bleeding.
And John Cranley, who has been a strong supporter of toughening up on crime with a pricey police upgrade, wonders why he couldn't take down conservative Steve Chabot.
That's right Andrew, more criminal factories and opressive laws to maximize profits, all while pretending to be tough on crime.
They'll cut all the things that we want to keep, but their just representing those that put them in power. That would be the political donor class, the ruling elite.
Posted by Anonymous | 12:45 PM