is this why the ghetto stays a ghetto?

Bad neighborhoods are not bad because of crack, crime, gangs or prostitution. They are bad because of homeowners.

Tonight was my second night in a month where I have been disappointed by the lack of tolerance on the poor proliferated by homeowners in poor neighborhoods.

So the early part of the week was listening to the candidate speeches for MidCity Neighborhood Council (a council that will decide the fate of about a dozen neighborhoods). The money they have and spend can go to many things, but it sounds like it mainly goes to calling the city and complaining about liquor stores and rehab facilities.

Last night, I went to see Herb Wesson get signed in as our new District 10 Councilmember. And I bumped into quite a few neighborhood council candidates, our neighborhood homeowner association president, and some neighborhood rabble rousers.

What I'm getting to understand is that homeowners are the most involved in this level of politics. They have an investment in the neighborhood that doesn't allow them to easily just get up and leave when the going gets tough. Everyone else gets involved and then burns out and goes when the lease is over.

I'm in a very unique place. I am not an owner, but I am emotionally invested in a home that is in the neighborhood. This is why when someone gets shot, I wonder how to keep someone else from getting shot (including myself). When I see Tony, Sugar's very own loiterer who is fine on good days and pretty difficult when the meds are gone and the drugs are present, I wonder where the city can put him so the meds can stay in him and the drugs can stay out of him.

If you own a home, apparently, you don't care where he goes or who gets shot, as long as it's not on your block.

A small example is gates. We all want gated communities. I guess. Keep the bad out and the good in. What is really annoying is that we just became a gated community and Sugar is on the entrance of this community. We have no gate. Traffic is now completely disgusting on our intersection (with no stop light) and the crime feels a little worse now for us. It's possible that the crime got out of the circle and on our front door. And, really, if it wasn't us, it'd be pushed down the block. There was no attempt to deal with the problem of crime. But there was 10 years of lobbying and thousands of dollars raised and hours of city employee time used to build gates.

Here's is the irony about the political hootenanies like the one I went to last night: The real guns - councilmembers and commissioners, etc.- are strangely less evil. The two kinds of people there are city officials who have to go to support the guy being sworn in and the swarming busy bodies who go for ass-kissing and food.

It's the same mentality as Hollywood actor wannabes. You see people who have some level of success be fairly normal. There is a comfort with the insanity of the business and an intelligence that comes with the success. If they are asses, it's because they are asses. Aspiring actors a dumb asses. They are so caught up with being discovered, they just can't be them. They think the best route to fame is kissing the right asses. They go to parties to be discovered. They pay to perform in front of the "right people" but don't pay to learn how to act.

In city politics, there are those with some success. They work hard at finding out the issues and finding solutions to fix them. They, too, can be asses. They may think curing the homeless problem is to shoot each transient in the head, but they at least admit that they are doing it because it's cheaper and more efficient than a bed and food. They acknowledge that the best idea is to shelter, rehabilitate, and educate. They just know that since it's not being done that way, they need a solution until it can be done that way. Still bad. Hell, still evil. But not stupid.

Neighborhood politicos are not smart enough to be evil. They are dumb. Thus minions. Dumb ass minions. Trying to kiss the right ass and sending off complaints to the city like headshots to Steven Spielberg.

The difference between the two: if you're a small minded actor, you hurt only yourself (and a few casting directors). If you're a small minded city busy body, you are endangering the lives and livelihood of anyone who spends time in your town.