Making Cities Livable Again

A while back a feminist scholar proposed a paper comparing the migration of the gray squirrel with feminism; sounded like a squirrelly proposition to me. But the more I think about it; maybe nature does hold a clue to how to deal with human problems. 

Go outside you home see any pigeons? Chances are if you are outside the “downtown” there is nary a pigeon in sight; doves up the wazoo, no pigeons. Go downtown, see any deer? Nope, any neighborhood outside Loop 410 probably has more deer than you can shake a stick at. Now look at these photos and read the article about LA and the homeless. Business-owners-struggle-with-homeless-crime-along-orange-line-in-Van-Nuys

What’s going on? What do pigeons, deer and homeless have in common? None of them are rocket scientists. They are all scavengers. They hang out where food is plentiful, and the living is easy. Finally, according to the LA Times, they all crap indiscriminately messing up car finishes, lawns, and neighborhoods.

I’m looking for a bold City Manager/County Judge combination to try an experiment. I suspect the experiment would result in substantial cost savings, lowered taxes, decreased crime and increased the quality of life. San Francisco and Aspen have been doing it for years, in regards to the housing pool.

It starts by going back to programs that were the traditional concern of municipal governments, police, fire, water, sewer, roads, libraries, tax assessment collection, parks and recreation, and zoning. What does that leave out? No meals on wheels, no school lunch, no midnight basketball, no housing assistance, no welfare, no free clinics, no art programs, no adult literacy, in fact, anything the idiots in Washington want to fund. No federal money.

People don’t realize that money from Washington comes at a cost. It could be matching funds. It could be if you adopt that program you have to adopt this program too. Or you can build that street but only if you mandate that everybody wear crash helmets while driving.

Like the deer and the pigeons, once the easy living dries up the homeless will move on. The closest I would allow for welfare would be bus tickets for the whole damn family and relocation money to California or New York. We can afford to see 1% of the population heading for the city limits; after all, that 1% is no good to them or anybody else.

People don’t realize, but liberal bastions like San Francisco and Aspen have been doing this for years. Rent, groceries, everyday expenses are so high in those cities that the people who are employed to man the stores, fix the potholes, patrol the streets cannot afford to live in the City where they work.

California and New York have been experiencing a decline in population, here is a chance for Texas to help them out.