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Project Unsafe Neighborhoods -- Discussion

by ePluribus Media rcs1
Tue Oct 02, 2007 at 06:50:01 PM EST

The Fat Lady Sings brings us an update on the fall-out from Project Safe Neighborhoods. As with many of the Bush initiatives this program wrought results that were diametrically opposed to the label.

"The same DOJ officials who engineered the US Attorney scandal (Mercer, Elston, et al) hypothesized that violence could be eradicated by requiring US Attorneys to randomly prosecute gun crimes, including misdemeanors, as federal offenses. They imposed harsh sentencing guidelines on first offenders and serial felons alike."

This piece shows that the federal prosecution guidelines for gun crimes has only produced a more sophisticated breed of criminals -- with jail sentences providing the "higher education" in crime.

Project Unsafe Neighborhoods: DOJ Gun Policy Spawns Rash of Gangland Mortgage Fraud Cases on the ePluribus Media Journal is a well researched look at the wave of gangland crime that is hitting the streets in America's cities. Read the article and then come back here for discussion ...

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commentary :: :: :: buzz-it!
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Project Unsafe Neighborhoods -- Discussion | 3 comments (3 topical, 0 hidden)
History Repeats Itself (4.00 / 4) (#1)
The same kind of tactics were going on in New York City in the 1960s when I lived there. Slum lords would hire criminal gangs to harass and sometimes terrorize tenants. The point was that each time a rent controlled apartment was vacated the rent could be raised by a scheduled amount.

There was also a market in selling and reselling the same properties among a small group of owners. By jacking up the price they could also ask for adjustments in the rents to guarantee them a "fair" rate of profit.

Later on they convert slum properties into condos and they had to remove the tenants in order to gentrify the buildings. Robert Caro writes about this in his book about Robert Moses.

In those days activists would encourage the tenants to conduct rent strikes to force landlords to repair buildings.

by carol white on Tue Oct 02, 2007 at 08:01:14 PM EST

A twist to the story (none / 0) (#2)
There a few slight twists here that make the current iteration even more sinister than the last.  One is that street gangs are buying up the buildings to further their other criminal enterprises. Rental is no longer the main source of income.

The second twist is that the purchases are themselves fraudulent.  So unlike the slumlords of the 60s, they are not just failing to maintain the integrity of the buildings, or selling them off for gentrification.  They are running ever more sophisticated enterprises out of the buildings, and are fraudulently selling and reselling the same property to themselves.

by TheFatLadySings on Wed Oct 03, 2007 at 11:52:08 AM EST
[ Parent ]

"West Side Story" (none / 0) (#3)
We gotta get the idea out of our heads that gangs are just a bunch of thugs running amuck.........

If anyone gets a chance.....read about MS-13.  We are being over-run!

by avahome on Thu Oct 04, 2007 at 10:32:28 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Project Unsafe Neighborhoods -- Discussion | 3 comments (3 topical, 0 hidden)

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