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The Politicization Crusade
May 8, 2013 | 56 comments
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Deceiver in Chief
March 20, 2013 | 204 comments
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President Obama’s Minimum Wage Delusion
February 14, 2013 | 203 comments
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The Democrats’ Rough Re-entry Into Reality
October 19, 2012 | 148 comments
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The Plot Thickens
September 12, 2012 | 41 comments
The Public Policy
Chronicle of Liberal Disasters
A model liberal paper captures liberalism’s bankruptcy.
Although they’re never labeled as such, the San Francisco Chronicle typically has two to three articles each week demonstrating the inherent dysfunctions of liberalism. One recent example was a front page story “No Quick Fix for Life in Projects.” The article chronicles the disheartening experiences of the thousands of residents in the city’s 6,476 units in its 45 public housing projects. “Residents who live in public housing told the Chronicle they constantly deal with violence, units infested with roaches and mice, heating that doesn’t work and major mold and mildew problems.” Residents told the paper that they often have to go “for weeks or months without basic repairs to their units being completed.”
Why is it so hard to repair simple problems? One reason is that the politicians care a lot more about their labor union supporters than the residents of public housing. “Union rules about which laborers can perform which tasks also can slow the process. There are 10 unions that contract with the Housing Authority, but there is no such position as a handyman who can unclog a toilet and change a light bulb. Instead that takes visits from a plumber and an electrician.”
San Francisco is one of the wealthiest cities in the world. Its residents consider themselves to be highly sophisticated, competent, compassionate, and, of course, liberal. The city’s annual budget is $7.5 billion. Nevertheless, its public housing projects are the same as virtually all public housing projects across the country — dismal, dangerous, and dysfunctional. If they can’t make it there, they can’t make it anywhere.
What do the bureaucrats in San Francisco say is needed to resolve the terrible conditions in the housing projects? The Housing Authority recently appointed City Administrator (whatever that is) Naomi Kelly “to lead a team to devise a plan to remake the agency with recommendations due by July 1.”
Administrator Kelly said, “It’s already clear that federal funding just isn’t enough. There’s always room for improvement, but it’s about the money.” She’s absolutely wrong, of course. Government housing projects have been utter disasters wherever they have been tried regardless of how much money was spent. It’s about the concept, not the money. The chances for Ms. Kelly ever recognizing that are not high.
Part of the money currently expended goes down a rat hole, almost literally. “The agency pays the San Francisco Police Department an extra $2.3 million a year to provide additional police presence in the most dangerous developments.” Even though there might be additional police, it would be extremely unwise for anyone to voluntarily venture into one of the projects.
Some of the comments of the housing project residents would be almost funny if they weren’t so telling. Terry Bagby lives in Clementina Towers, a project in the South of Market section of San Francisco. “Bagby has frequently taken his complaints to Housing Authority Commission meetings where, he said, his gripes seem to fall on deaf ears. Suresa Tauai, the property manager at Clementina Towers for the past four years, said she received an e-mail from her supervisor a few months ago reading, ‘Tell your tenants to stop going to commission meetings.’” You have to feel for those commissioners. Listening to complaints is so vexing!
Karla Ramos is a case manager at the Homeless Prenatal Program. It took her nine years of advocating to get one of her clients moved from Potrero Hill (the most dangerous of all the San Francisco projects) to a safer project. “They’re very negligent, so unprofessional.” Ramos said of the housing authority staff. “If you go their office, they come up with big attitudes. I always ask where they get these people.”
The answer to Ms. Ramos’ question is, “They create them.” They are the all too predictable creations of a mindless bureaucracy saddled with impossible tasks. Bureaucracies are drones carrying out the programmed instructions of liberalism. Liberalism and its bureaucracies are dehumanizing forces.
In a 1967 Newsweek column Milton Friedman wrote, “Public housing and urban renewal programs have destroyed more dwelling units than they have constructed. Concentration of the poor, many of them broken families, in public housing has reinforced despair and fostered juvenile delinquency. Urban renewal has destroyed viable neighborhoods, driven the poor from their homes to even less satisfactory and more expensive housing and created slums where none existed before. It deserves the insidious label of a ‘Negro removal program.’” (His column was part of a Newsweek cover story, “The Negro in America.”)
There is no reason to think that San Francisco’s housing projects will improve in the future. If anything conditions will continue to deteriorate.
Three other recent Chronicle articles further illustrate the bankruptcy of liberalism. An article “Electric Vehicle — Charging Forward or Out of Gas?” reported that in spite of $10,000 in state and federal tax credits, electric vehicles are proving to be unpopular and are not likely be a viable alternative to gasoline engines. Plug-ins accounted for just 0.6 percent of new U.S. car sales last year. Encouraging the switch to electric vehicles is part of the California’s “Zero Emission Vehicle Action Plan.” That title is not exactly an example of truth-in-labeling. Electric vehicles are not “zero emission” since positive emissions are necessary to produce the electricity used to power them.
In that same issue of the Chronicle is an op-ed piece by Robert Shireman, who served in both the Obama and Clinton administrations. The article titled “The Enemy Within — Bureaucracy” discusses the issue of the massive City College of San Francisco being on the verge of losing its accreditation. “Speaking to an overflow crowd two weeks ago, protest organizers identified the villain — they say the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges is corrupt and out of control.” In other words, blame the messenger. Shireman disagrees and concludes his piece, “Now the protestors have an appropriate target: California’s villainous regulations, imprisoning leaders in a bureaucratic cul-de-sac.”
One final indictment of liberalism was the front page lead story, “Flame Retardant Law May Be Scaled Back.” Regulations requiring flame retardants in polyurethane foam furniture and children’s products were the outcome of “Technical Bulletin 117” passed in 1975. Because California is such a major part of the overall market, flame retardants for such products essentially became nationwide. In retrospect, it might not have been such a great idea. “But critics point to studies that show the chemicals do little to derail fires and lead to harmful health effects that include reduced fertility, developmental problems, lowered IQs and cancer.” Those are not good things. As Rosanne Rosannadanna used to say, “Never mind.” Their hearts were in the right place. Their brains, however, were missing in action.
About the Author
Ron Ross Ph.D. is an economist who lives in Arcata, California. He is the author of The Unbeatable Market. Reach him at rossecon@gmail.com.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (70) | Leave a comment
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The Avenger| 2.25.13 @ 6:48AM
An old saying comes to mind: The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
JD| 2.25.13 @ 12:20PM
"Their hearts were in the right place. Their brains, however, were missing in action."
The definition of Leftism.
RJ| 2.26.13 @ 1:13AM
Don't forget that Obama told his supporters to vote for revenge. The Left's heart usually is not in the right place. They are often consumed by anger and envy and addicted to trying to control others.
alice921| 3.17.13 @ 4:13PM
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Jack in Wi| 2.25.13 @ 7:12AM
I have done work in many housing projects over the years. There is only one word to define most housing authorities and their tennants, disfunctional. The money wasted in building these projects, maintaining them, and rebuilding them is beyond belief. I could write a book on subject.
TLP| 2.25.13 @ 10:45AM
Let Me Guess - "Public Housing and the Dirty Jew Landlords that Ruined Them".
Whatta ya think, Jack?
Pretty close?
Or, right on the money.
markenoff| 2.25.13 @ 10:51AM
You spelled pretty clothes wrong.
TLP| 2.25.13 @ 11:30AM
I'm ignoring you.
TLP| 2.25.13 @ 11:32AM
I'm still ignoring you.
Joellen| 2.25.13 @ 7:12AM
The Avenger the saying "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" needs to be "modernized" to "the road to hell is paved with politicians who have evil intentions".
While the peasants are sufferering in these abysmal conditions;
and lets not put all the onus on the King, Queen and his court jesters, the residents need to assume responsibility on how they behave and take care of their own homes;
the elite are in Hollyweird with their expensive gowns and shoes shoving it down our throats that
while we must get down with the struggle and struggle hard, they get to eat, drink and be merry.
So stop pestering them (the elitist) Mr. Ross with these boorish people and their plight. They have better things to do, i.e. golf, dance on tv, attend egotistical award shows, etc.
Pecos Pete| 2.25.13 @ 7:19AM
The was a Public Housing Project built in a rural area of my county in New Mexico. It took the residents about 1 year to totally trash the housing which then required eviction of all residents. Now, some 20 years later, the houses are blocked off from access (as they have been for about 15 years) as they are allowed to return to the soil. Can't tear them down due to some ludicrous regulation.
Somebody made a lot of money building these homes. Somebody, eventually, will make a lot of money tearing them down.
Al Adab| 2.25.13 @ 8:25AM
Everyone here seems to agree, public housing projects are a perfect example of good intentions gone horribly wrong. Instead of providing safe and decent housing for "the poor" these ghettos manufactured by The Left put people in untenable situations of violence, crime and hopelessness totally at odds with what their proponents desired.
Government polices should be aimed not at fulfilling immediate needs but rather designed to allow maximum opportunity (read: little regulation and central planning) for all to rise and seek through their own efforts the middle class which comprises three fifths of the population.
There of course are those few who, through no fault of their own, are dependent upon others. Provision must be made for them but it needs to be via agency aid and financial considerations (tax allowances?) for the families and caregivers. Placing our citizens in "concentration camps" called public housing was and remains a mistake we must end.
PolishKnight| 2.25.13 @ 12:35PM
I'm reminded of the urban renewal project that Tony Soprano got into. He had a front, PC minority owned company procure the loans from the bank who would buy the properties from a mafia consortium that jacked up the price, the loans would go into foreclosure, and they'd split the loot.
In a way, it was true diversity in action.
Bob K| 2.25.13 @ 8:48AM
The bureaucrats who work for these agencies in San Francisco are different only in place of employment from the bureaucrats who work for the Federal Government in agencies in Washington DC.
San Francisco's problems are the Nation's problems writ small!
markenoff| 2.25.13 @ 10:56AM
Government bureaucrats are the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human beings I've ever known in my life.
Anthony| 2.25.13 @ 9:04AM
Too many rats and vermin in San Fran's public housing you say?
Damn it vtwin, you ruin it for everybody!!
And a $7.5 B annual budget for a city of 800,000.
My goodness, the roads to the bath houses must be paved with gold.
bustunloose| 2.25.13 @ 12:44PM
Can you still eat buck naked in a resturant in San Fran ?
markenoff| 2.25.13 @ 3:26PM
You spelled nekkid wrong.
bustunloose| 2.25.13 @ 6:27PM
meant noood.
Bill8472| 2.25.13 @ 9:15AM
Public housing (based on the Soviet model) was once seen as the wave of the collectivist future, beginning with various towns and cities, all of whom had "the projects" (a term that once was current in many communities) built within them beginning the 1930s or 1940s.
Looks like "oops! We made a mistake." The problem with them making a mistake in building "the projects" is that now they'll build some other collectivist fantasy that will turn out to be a disaster for the people around and everyone who comes into contact with those people.
JD| 2.25.13 @ 12:37PM
We must stop allowing Leftists to use the word "public" to describe their work. This misleading label suggests that the public benefits. Of course that's what they think, but that is because they recognize no distinction between intentions and results.
It's the same as the official name for ObamaCare - the "Affordable Care Act". The name tells us to believe that it's making care more affordable when it's actually doing the opposite.
We conservatives seem smart enough not to use the Left's dishonest name for ObamaCare, but apparently many of us aren't smart enough to avoid repeating their propaganda when it comes to government housing. Do not call it "public." Do not call anything the government does "public". Do not reinforce any of their claims that "government" = "society", "government" = "the people", etc.
When Leftists speak of a "debt to society" that we owe, and taxes as our manner of paying that debt, challenge them on multiple fronts. One is that we have unpaid debts (Leftists like to assign us debts for things we've already paid for). Another is that the recipients of our payments don't have bigger debts to us than we to them. But the third, and probably most overlooked, is the notion that a debt to society is a debt to the federal government. Make them declare their belief that government = society. Make them try to explain how they're not Communists even though they think the federal purse is equivalent to the wealth of "the people".
Bill8472| 2.25.13 @ 5:24PM
I always thought "the projects" worked pretty well. When I was a kid, in the 1950s, in a small city in upstate New York, you gave "the projects" a wide berth. Bad people were to be found there. So public housing was already known to be a failure.
jaytrain| 2.25.13 @ 9:18AM
These public housing projects serve a vital purpose in that they concentrate the degenerates in a small place making the rest of the city more safe for real folks . To wit , why is there all the hoopla about Sandy Hook , when that many gangstas are killed every month in Chicago ?? Each month , every month .
C. Vernon Crisler | 2.25.13 @ 10:17AM
Perhaps because these "projects" are creating the degenerates. And unfortunately, like viruses, they don't confine themselves to one locale, but eventually spread.
Bill8472| 2.25.13 @ 5:25PM
Yeah, just wait until Section Eight housing hits your favorite suburb.
dufasduck| 3.1.13 @ 2:21AM
In the city where I live, the powers that be decided that there should be apartments intermingled in a residential single dwelling neighborhood. Interspersed among the one story homes, 4 story, 40 unit were built. Then some idiot decided that 50 percent of each unit was to be designated as section 8 housing and they began to move welfare and parolees into the units. Crime began almost immediately driving people out of the non-section 8 units and eventually, each apartment building became fully section 8. A place for the city and county to park the less desirable among us. The crime spread out into the whole neighborhood. Within a year, the once peaceful area known for it's quiet, friendly living became known as one of the worst areas around.
Break-ins, burglaries, stolen cars and general crimes sky rocketed.
The units themselves became an eyesore of broken windows and junk scattered all around.
The government kept less care of the properties than the original, disgusted owners....
80 percent of the all the perpetrators of these crimes were traced straight to the section 8 housing. 10 percent were found to be acquaintances of those that live there. Even when the statistics shown what problems section 8 caused, the county and city leaders thought that their subsidized housing in the suburbs was a good idea.
It should be noted that no section 8 housing was installed anywhere close to where the politicians were living...
Kwan| 2.25.13 @ 9:25AM
"We all live under the poverty line here," Bagby said. "We don't have enough money to live better, but that's no excuse to be living like we are here. We're not living in a Third World country."......Don't be to sure about that Bagby. The same sort of leftist mismanagement, corruption, and incompetence that produced Detroit and these housing project disasters is hard at work trying to replicate the same results for the whole country. Let's not forget what our Great Leader HeilObama told us, "We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times ... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK". It's all about producing an ever declining standard of living until what is standard in a third-world nation is the norm in the United States. The fact is leftist economic policies cannot produce a prosperous society therefore the population must be conditioned to expect less and less.
Pecos Pete| 2.25.13 @ 9:37AM
Kwan: You misspelled King O.
On the other hand, I do sort of like Great Leader HeilO.
Kwan| 2.25.13 @ 9:58AM
Kwan: You misspelled King O... Right you are Pecos. Due to the outstanding job that Obama is doing I've promoted him from King to Reich Fuhrer.
markenoff| 2.25.13 @ 10:58AM
Obama/Biden 2016!
Kwan| 2.25.13 @ 11:13AM
But let's not forget if we elect Shrillary in 2016 we get as an added bonus Willie da Slickster. More scandals, failures, incompetence on steroids, and progressing the country backwards, kind of like an expanded version of Benghazi. Yes it's your modern day Democrat Party in action staying ever faithful to The Party oath: From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.
astorian| 2.25.13 @ 9:56AM
That was such a great piece that I almost feel like an ingrate for teling Mr. Ross that Roseanne Rosannadanna wasn't the Gilda Radner character famous for saying "Never mind"- that was Emily Litella, a little old lady who was hard of hearing and kept doing editorials about subjects she didn't really understand ("Endangered Feces," for example). Roseanne was famous for telling disgusting storeies, then adding, "It just goes to show- it's always SOMETHING."
Albert Constantine Jr.| 2.25.13 @ 10:08AM
To quote the great sidekick Ed McMahon, "You are correct, sir".
markenoff| 2.25.13 @ 11:03AM
What’s all this fuss I’ve been hearing about ‘conserving our natural racehorses?’
John Navratil| 2.25.13 @ 10:53AM
astorian,
What's this I hear about flea erections in China?
bustunloose| 2.25.13 @ 12:48PM
Flea erection is the biggest star in Chinese porn. He eats alotta urchins or something.
markenoff| 2.25.13 @ 10:59AM
What's all this talk about endangered feces?
markenoff| 2.25.13 @ 11:02AM
What’s all this talk I’ve been hearing about ‘violins on television?’
bustunloose| 2.25.13 @ 12:50PM
No-it's too much sax.
markenoff| 2.25.13 @ 11:03AM
What is all this talk about the Supreme Court decision on a ‘deaf penalty?’
TLP| 2.25.13 @ 11:34AM
Seriously.
Isn't being deaf, Punishment enough?
(this is all just so stupid)
markenoff| 2.25.13 @ 11:08AM
What's all this fuss I keep hearing about violins on television? Why don't parents want their kids to see violins on television? I thought the Leonardo Bernstein concerts were just lovely, now, if they only show violins on television after ten o'clock at night, the little babies will all be asleep and they won't learn any music appreciation. They'll learn to play guitars, and bongo drums and go to Africa and join these rock'n roll outfits and they won't drink milk! I think there should be more violins on television and less game shows, it's terrible the way...
Goldwater Girl| 2.25.13 @ 12:38PM
And what about those youth in asia?
Albert Constantine Jr.| 2.25.13 @ 10:11AM
Shortly before the turn of the century, I was assigned to a newly formed violent crime task force. One of my partners from another agency and I encountered a wanted subject who began to belligerently resist arrest. I attempted to wrestle the offender onto the hood of the car (to the left), while my partner tried to take him to the ground (to the right rear). While we successfully quelled the resistance, we did spend a few moments wrestling against each other as well as the man with the warrants.
Government bureaucracies often wind up working together in the manner described, i.e. expending a lot of energy competing with one another, rather than solving any problem. This is among the reasons that whenever we ask the government to intervene in any area of life, we need to determine if there is a constitutional role that it can play in addressing it, and will its efforts solve a problem, as opposed to propagate it.
Beyond protecting us from enemies foreign and domestic, or intervening in disputes between individuals or private and government entities, there is not much that the government does more efficiently or effectively than the private sector (and those tasks can certainly be reviewed, as well).
markenoff| 2.25.13 @ 11:00AM
Don't just do something! Sit there!
bustunloose| 2.25.13 @ 12:53PM
They are actually quite efficient at kicking the tax payer in the balls.
dufasduck| 3.1.13 @ 2:31AM
We should remember that before Obama was President:
Obama had already declared some time ago that the Constitution was a flawed document.
He reasoned that the Constitution was wrong in limiting government's powers and giving citizens their rights, it instead should be limiting citizen's rights and depict what the government CAN do. The Constitution, in Obama's mind, is 180 degrees out of phase.
These observations by Obama plus many other anti-American views he holds that was made public before entering into the national political arena was downplayed or overlooked by the national media, the Democrats,and completely ignored or thought of as propaganda by the low-information voters.
Hollywood types, the gods of the great unwashed, that hold Chavez, Castro, even Uncle Joe Stalin in high regard were quick to jump on the Obama bandwagon. If the politically blind hear that their favorite movie idol is supporting Obama.... Obama must be 'da man'.... Besides, the Constitution is supposed to be a living breathing document, isn't it???
And who can pass up all those 'freebies' that someone else is paying for..
Michele San Pietro| 2.25.13 @ 10:32AM
A 100-volume encyclopedia wouldn't be enough to describe all Liberal disasters.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 2.25.13 @ 11:25AM
I believe I have a title: The Federal Register.
George S| 2.25.13 @ 12:57PM
Those are not liberal disasters, they are success stories. Just think how much worse they would have been had Republicans been running the show... be grateful for what you are getting because it can disappear in one election.
That is what keeps them getting reelected. And that is why ObamaCare will be worshipped two generations from now. It's all ya' got, be grateful.
markenoff| 2.25.13 @ 1:28PM
When you look at the Republicans you see the scum off the top of business. When you look at the Democrats you see the scum off the top of politics. Personally, I prefer business. A businessman will steal from you directly instead of getting the IRS to do it for him. And when Republicans ruin the environment, destroy the supply of affordable housing, and wreck the industrial infrastructure, at least they make a buck off it. The Democrats just do these things for fun.
Democrats are also the party of government activism, the party that says government can make you richer, smarter, taller and get the chickweed out of your lawn. Republicans are the party that says government doesn’t work, and then they get elected and prove it. One philosophy is not necessarily an improvement on the other, but if you want the tooth fairy to come, you’ve got to have some teeth under your pillow.
~P.J. O'Rourke, in his book "The Parliament of Whores"
spike59| 2.27.13 @ 6:05AM
Those are not liberal disasters, they are success stories. Just think how much worse they would have been had Republicans been running the show...
------------------------------------------------------
well, for one, if CONSERVATIVES were running the show, the housing projects of 'the Great Society' would have been torn down decades ago, and replaced with housing that the former inhabitants would have purchased using the wages they earned at actual jobs
Real Deal| 2.25.13 @ 1:47PM
What we need is a "Homes for the Homeless" campaign where we get the legions of the left to sign up, especially Hollyweird. Then the homes we provide the homeless (and section 8ers) are theirs, let them live up close and personal with the hoi palloi.
Seek| 2.25.13 @ 1:56PM
Actually, public housing for the elderly -- which accounts for about 30 percent of all dwelling units in the program -- has been reasonably successful. Simple reason: No wild black and Hispanic families with "youths" running around terrorizing, vandalizing and stealing on the premises.
Public housing, remember, was created by the U.S. Housing Act of 1937. It was never meant to be long-term housing for the middle-class. It worked for a while because many whites temporarily waylaid by the Depression lived there (including a certain young Elvis Presley and his parents in Memphis project). But to keep the program going, it had to accommodate blacks. Big mistake. Blacks are far more destructive than whites; they turn almost every large-scale project into a hellhole. And they filled PHA patronage jobs, making the agencies ridden with corruption.
At least small-scale low-rise projects have been fairly successful. They're far from a total disaster, contrary to the usual cliches. But to be successful, there has to be tough management willing to expel unruly, violent black and Hispanic tenants. Legal Services/ACLU lawyers are adept at trying to prevent evictions of such families.
JD| 2.25.13 @ 2:29PM
"It was never meant to be long-term housing for the middle-class." - says you.
Government programs, by their nature, encourage their own expansion and abuse. You cannot call something "successful" by simply disregarding these outcomes when they occur. They are connected to what spawned them.
Seek| 2.25.13 @ 3:26PM
You seem to a have problem interpreting text, JD. By "long-term," I refer to a given individual household. The public housing program itself is long-lasting, having been around more than 75 years. But in the original intent of Congress, a tenant was expected to live in his unit for only a few years and then move on. It was not intended to serve as a family's permanent housing.
Hopefully, I've cleared the air.
JD| 2.25.13 @ 5:33PM
I don't think that changes much. My point was that social welfare always becomes far more than it is originally sold as.
This year, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the income tax, which will never possibly be as high as 10%, as they said when the 16th Amendment was adopted.
TruSkeptik| 2.25.13 @ 2:59PM
I noted with approval the following in your article, "[e]ncouraging the switch to electric vehicles is part of the California’s “Zero Emission Vehicle Action Plan.” That title is not exactly an example of truth-in-labeling. Electric vehicles are not “zero emission” since positive emissions are necessary to produce the electricity used to power them." This is merely the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. The laws of conservation of mass and conservation of energy suggest more or less conclusively that the liberal attempts to remake the universe, control the weather, perfect human nature, and/or to be "fair" are just goofy. You may have to puzzle through this for yourselves, but the brighter among you will figure it out.
markenoff| 2.25.13 @ 3:30PM
The liberals are repealing the law of supply and demand as well as all of Newton's laws. They were just the work of dead white Europeans males anyway.
spike59| 2.25.13 @ 4:07PM
the chant back in the Great Society 60's should have been; "hey, hey', LBJ, how many slums did you build today?"
cicero| 2.25.13 @ 5:06PM
The problem with the "projects", as they have been administered is that the tenants are not given any responsibility for anything. Reading the article, and the complaints of the denizens of the public housing, you have problems like "mold", "roaches". "garbage", etc. All of these conditions come with not cleaning up after yourself. The projects turn into hellholes as a result of the people who make them so. In Detroit, new townhouses were turned over to the "poor", in the "70s. After one year, any unit that went vacant had to be virtually rebuilt. This has nothing to do with poverty. It has everything to do with lack of basic responsibility.
The private housing stock for the poor that existed for decades in Detroit was destroyed by the tenants and abandoned by the owners shortly afer the government got involved with paying the rent for the poor, under the Great Society programs.
You needn't look for a culprit in the destruction of public housing and it will get worse before it gets better, as the Progressives expand the scope and reacch of their grasp.
Sixgun| 2.25.13 @ 5:48PM
well... if you're not paying for it, why would you give a care. Just demand a new one after you destroy the one you're in.
RJ| 2.26.13 @ 1:34AM
Good points, Cicero.
On a related point, I remember feeling sorry for freshman guys in college because one of the dorms was a dump. One year the university converted a women's dorm to a mixed dorm and the guys trashed it in one year. No point of giving them a good place because they didn't appreciate it and destroyed it.
Sixgun| 2.25.13 @ 5:46PM
I work for a local city government in California which receives a substantial amount of Federal Reserve Notes that MUST be spent on housing for the poor. So, in order to comply with HUD rules, we spent thousands of dollars buying abandoned homes that were in ruinous shape, then spent thousands of dollars fixing them up, then sold them for half of what we spent, but still at an inflated rate. This is a summary of how gubermint intervention in the private housing market not only inflates the cost of housing, but wastes thousands of our tax dollars in the process.... and don't even get me started on the paperwork, the set asides, the prevailing wage rates, etc., etc. that distort the whole process!
dufasduck| 3.1.13 @ 2:46AM
My ex-wife's sister worked for CALTRANS. Her job at $85,000.00 per year plus other perks was to rent out the homes that were bought out when the government put in a new freeway or main highway.
In the 20 years that I knew her, she never rented out one house. She said she could never find anyone that fit the state or federal qualifications.
I asked her once if her job was really NOT to find any renters and she basically agreed with me. I don't think she realized what she agreed to...
hrgfue | 2.25.13 @ 7:55PM
Kickoff to you with the online store 2013
RJ| 2.26.13 @ 1:29AM
Anyone for getting rid of the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development? I hope some 2016 GOP candidate for President works with the nation's Governors to promote the return to federalism - The states will have to rely on their own taxing authority rather than dollars from the Federal government, but there will be no more federal mandates. Same applies for the Department of Education. Who knows, maybe we could close Energy, Commerce, Labor, Transportation, and Agriculture. Someone could also make a case that we would be better off without Health and Human Services. Sell Amtrak, Post Office, and most of the federally owned land in the West. Privatize the FAA, like Canada.
homme nike air max BW | 2.26.13 @ 3:00AM
units infested with roaches and mice, heating that doesn’t work and major mold and mildew problems.” Residents told the paper that they often have to go “for weeks or months without basic repairs to their units being completed.”
delahaya| 2.26.13 @ 9:30AM
The problem is that generations of government school education has created a population unfit, as a whole, to discern even obvious truths.
Marc Jeric| 3.1.13 @ 9:51AM
Among the dozen whole departments, 50 adiminstrations, and 250 agencies, panels, commissions, and bureaus that must completely closed out is the Department of Housing and Urban Development.