by Charles Andrews

What if this sudden, steep rise in crime and bumper car traffic survival is partly a shiny object? To make people forget you rammed through a Downtown Community Plan that turns a large parcel of taxpayer-funded City land, large enough for a face-changing, legacy-building, community-serving historic city center square, into instead a 12-story behemoth hotel complex that pleases the developers and unions but few others.

That you’re in the process of ramming through an obscenely expensive City Services Building ($75M, maybe double that by the time you’re through) that could be built for half that and still be a mightily sustainable and useful edifice (but not a pinnacle, award-garnering
achievement perfect for enhancing politicians’ resumes).

That you are still pulling tricks...

Read More: http://smdp.com/crime-is-punishing-us/162618