In the end, politics is heavily centered upon allocating resources to where they are needed, and a sign of failed politics is the inability to put what is needed where it is needed. Odds are, most people in Buffalo believe that more police are required to deal with the uptick in violent crimes committed largely by younger males. Here is but one example: http://buffalowatch.blogspot.com/2008/10/what-hell-is-happening-in-heights.html.

Check out the interactive map: flames = crimespots, blue = slumlord houses/buildings. Unfortunately, this scene is most likely being replicated throughout much of Buffalo.

And if the city is not spending sufficient monies on getting more police, why? Is it worth an essentially meaningless tax cut that will mostly benefit those owning pricey properties? Or a vain and useless attempt at getting out from under the gaze and strings pulled by the Control Board Overlords? Furthermore, if the City cannot sufficiently police itself due to insufficient monies to hire enough police, why not insist that Erie County (is Buffalo a real component of Erie County, or is that just imaginary?) and New York State (though difficult, as there is a financial disaster in the state budget/tax income stream) put resources where they are needed, and not just where rich people reside? And while our neighborhood is not the worst (“Beirut, Buffalo” is a term I heard for the “rough areas” of this city at a recent community meeting), we don’t aspire to be the worst, and we aspire for a general improvement through this region. As the saying goes, rust never sleeps, and unless dealt with, “urban blight” bites on new and more lucrative areas once most things of value have been trashed in the More Blighted Zones (MBZ’s). Maybe MBZ is a term worth remembering…

So, if this wave of crime can’t be dealt with by the mayor and the police, ask for help, and admit that it is way bigger than the Brown administration can deal with. Yes, more jobs for city residents would definitely help, but that is still no excuse for the flame spots on the map, just an explanation.

For my two cents worth, if there is any excess money in the Buffalo government, including what has been stashed away in “rainy day” funds, time to start spending some of it on more police, and fast. In case people have not noticed, there is lots of proverbial precipitation happening now. Citywide.

Dave Bradley
Buffalo

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