Saturday morning The Dallas Morning News ran a frontpage story about violent crimes committed in Downtown Dallas ("Violence fuels worries about downtown," A1, July 22, 2006).
Reporter David Levinthal chronicles recent events involving shootings, stabbings and death on the streets of our downtown area. His report went on to discuss how developers fear the recent events could cool the resurgence of what has become a bustling area.
Community responses and various solutions to the growing problem are being discussed by city officials, including city police and Angela Hunt, the highly effective Dallas City Council Member representing most of the downtown area.
The article can be read in its entirety at:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/
latestnews/stories/072206dnmetdowntown.1817636.html.
My purpose here is very simple.
For the record, these terrible crimes were not committed by homeless persons.
It appears that gang activity was involved in one of the recent events. Intoxication, and personal altercations that began in bars and night clubs and spilled onto the streets stand behind some of the other crimes.
No one involved was homeless.
That is something to remember the next time you encounter a panhandler on the street or wonder about the feasibility of providing permanent housing for the poorest of our fellow citizens.
6 comments:
And yet, frequently, the homeless have been victims of such violence.
Larry, this is off topic, but do not have an email address for you. This blog was recommended to me via an Emergent email and I loved the perspective of the African American writer. Hope you enjoy this.
http://usefulperhaps.blogspot.com/2006/07/plenty-good-roomjoining-in.html
I'm impressed that Ms. Hunt stepped in to do as much as she can to positively effect that situation.
Unfortunately I think that the violence will continue downtown until the downtown groups like Don Raines' organization realize that they can't quell it just by getting more police to come. I'm sure his intentions are good, but they may be better off by getting input from the groups that actually attend these functions. Contrary to public belief, we like to party in peace and also don’t want thugs spoiling our events.
On the news front:
It's real easy and convenient for people to say "it's hip-hop," or "it was THIS song" or whatever. Fox 4 in particular has been particularly grating in its coverage (kind of like their national coverage). The only person that tried to put a different spin on it and look at different viewpoints was Shaun Rabb with his "Insights" show this past Sunday. The rest of the people that have covered the crime on Fox 4 are awful.
What happens after the NEXT incident? What's going to be done then?
To say a violence problem is the result of homeless people is ignorant.
It's a male without father figure problem. What can we do about this problem? The statistics are clear - but I have yet to see a real world solution.
Michael, I believe you are on exactly the correct path. Always people closest to any issue are the ones who will know what solutions are most workable. I agree with your critique of FOX news--not surprising though, is it? My point in my post was to simply say, hey, the problem here is not with the poorest of the poor, our homeless brothers and sisters who get trashed so often as the big problem downtown.
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