Bleeding money
by David Benzion · 01/23/2007 6:38 amCorporatist, mainstream-media conventional wisdom rarely comes as undiluted as this; courtesy the editors of the Houston Chronicle, emphasis in bold added by LST:
Mayor Bill White uses the occasion of his annual State of the City address to draw attention to Houston’s most pressing challenges. Previous speeches have focused on air pollution, insufficient affordable housing, highway congestion, the uninsured and the intolerably high school dropout rate.
The city has reduced or checked the growth of these problems, yet the problems persist and could be the subjects of any broad speech on the city’s status. To these problems must be added a rash of murders during the first half of last year that, as White noted in his address to a Greater Houston Partnership luncheon Monday, is costing taxpayers an additional $116 million a year in police spending to suppress.
Uh yeah. And it is killing a lot of people too.
You can just see all the downtown “bid’ness” guys at the GHP (who I’m sure are fine folks on a personal level) nodding at each other, saying “Yes, this murder surge thing is creating quite an expenditure of city resources, thus jeopardizing potential funds for that Tax Increment Finance Zone I’m pushing for. We must manage this problem more effectively.”
Hey–we’re getting killed here. And fear being killed.
Is a little kick-butt outrage too much to ask for from our city’s leaders?
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It was an exceedingly stupid thing to say and totally innapropriate to the victims.
i am so happy for mr white, mr perry, mr craddick, mr bush and my 2 texas senators for always telling the truth in there campaigns and doing something else. i thank these folks for following the republican party platform for where it stands.
i thank the republican party of texas for soliciting money with there emails to me.
aaint it just great to be here in good ole texas paying these property taxes while the govt gives your money away using many excuses?
ops forgot mr drewhurst - geez!
Well, David, it appears that if this problem were not so expensive the task would only be about what to do with all these irritating corpses lying around. Perhaps we could call it “an intolerably high drop-dead rate”.
I’m ignorant about govt. handouts.
Any way to tax the continuing FEMA windfall wasted on the Katrina lowrents to help fund the Tax Increment Finance Zones?
Heavy Katrina discounts in a Law Enforcement Reduction Zone would offset any burden created by this unfair tax.
Mississippi quietly rebuilds and NOLA crackheads get all the sympathy. Lest we forget, after Katrina, Rita hit Texas and there was damage done here too…. But it’s not nearly as exciting as some deadbeat being plucked off the roof of a housing project by the Coast Guard. Bussed to the Astrodome (complaining about the food). Put up in an apartment for a year and a half here in H-Town (no job required). Only to go on murderous rampages on our streets being funded and housed by squishy headed do-gooders with our $$$.
Katrina showed us how bad things were in New Orleans. Their problems were ignored by the rest of us until Katrina spread their problems all over the country and especially here in Houston. As long as the “race” card is available and played the problems will never be solved. The mayor and business leaders will solve the problem if it creates a problem with the tourist business or the flow of tax dollars to Houston. Or, its an election year.
Glad to hear that in spite of the increased numbers of violent crimes going on that the mayor can find a comparative month in which today’s crime figures are down. How interesting.
The “race” card is always available. Who’s playing it?
Facts are facts and the “refugees” happen to be predominantly one particular “race”. No particular group of people have the “lowrent” label all to themselves. NOLA mayor is making it a “racial” thing. As long as the “problems” are looked at in “racial” terms instead of human terms, or law enforcement terms, and not in factual terms, they won’t be solved.
Tax dollars are flowing to Houston, in the form of FEMA handouts, much of which is spent on “gentlemen’s” clubs, booze, crack, guns,…
We can watch the pols dance all around the problem and none will call it what it is: NOLA had a huge group of welfare cheats and lowrents. Houston had enough already. Better to have all the FEMA money here in better homes than they would ever have in the town they re-elected their mayor in.
Houstonians opened their hearts and wallets. Many were sincerely thankful for the compassion and didn’t take advantage, much less complain. The “problems” are the lowrents.
“Is a little kick-butt outrage too much to ask for from our city’s leaders?”
Yes, yes it is. They are Democrats after all, even if they pretend it is not so. The only time they get “outraged” is when someone questions their pet projects or suggests that our taxes are too high.
I know of 2 families who are white from N.O. and they are taking advantage of FEMA handouts, so let’s not play the race card even though the majority of the refugees are black.
vlou,
Is there a lowrent race? A welfare cheat race?
Did someone say whites can’t be lowrent welfare cheats?
Mayor White and, I believe, all the pols listed in #’s 2 and 3 are white. I’d group them all as political panderers. Is that a race, too?
Don’t say not to play it while you’re playing it.
faster,
Tell us how you really feel!
We are all tired of the scum bags. Wheather they are brown, black or purple with tellow stipes. They gotta go. They only way to rid our streets of the scum is to have them scared of us
Conceal and carry - make sure they know - mess with TEXAS we will shoot to kill!