"I'm going to battle on this," the mayor says. "We're going to start doing it the gentlemanly way. And then we're going to do the civil disobedience way. Because this is absurd ... I'm talking about marches. I'm talking about sit-ins at the state capital. I'm talking about whatever it takes."
There's also a series of articles in the New York Times on Booker's first year as mayor. The most recent part of the series details dissent in Newark, some from supporters of former mayor Sharpe James, and some from people who feel Booker has broken campaign promises.
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There was also an article (last week?) in the NY Times about a whisper campaign that he's facing both from former Sharpe James supporters and others.
Personally I see Booker for all his failing as Newark's best chance to start moving forward after the past corruption of the James administration.
I've heard good things about Booker, but he has to face a problem:
His population is not just unfortunate; they have engaged in conduct which the majority mainstream population of New
Jersey finds reprehensible. Should people in Montclair have to abide drugdealers because he has a population hotspot?
He's basically proposing that his (disaster) jurisdiction be exempt from New Jersey statute.
I might be able to buy into it:
Set up special administrative zones around Newark, Camden, Baltimore, Detroit, Compton, and maybe a few other candidates.
Impose a set of federal behavioral rules which supercede everything but the Constitution.
Modify drug laws downward and revoke all minimum wage, OSHA, and EPA laws. Provide customs advantages for the manufacture of products which are not feasible elsewhere in this nation but which are feasible without wage, OSHA, EPA, and customs regs.
Establish sweatshop manufacturing zones tied to successful treatment/reentry programs and staff them out of the prisons.
Because of the number of druggies in the zone, it will not be a 'good' place to live and successful reentrants will tend to vacate it.
Impose really quite draconian penaltes for violent crime within the zone and quite harsh drug enforcement just outside the zone so it doesn't contaminate the periphery.
The long-term population will be very problematic, but the ones capable of changing will do so and leave. Care should be taken to ensure that those passing through the zone do not then reconcentrate in another locality, overwhelming it as the current population has overwhelmed Newark. Perhaps that is done by imposing violation of probation for being found in any of several high-density criminal areas.
You probaly shouldn't allow children to be raised within the zone; they instantly become wards of the state, which places them into the real world.
According to wjz, Dixon says having no damn cops is not a major problem. No, not so long as you're good at getting bloodstains off the sidewalk, I suppose.
People, a state of emergency should be declared here. Enough goddamn business as usual.
Oh, and wmar finds the City's used needle drop boxes in Barclay are broken open, with dirty needles up for grabs. Peter Beilenson is full of excuses.
The story on Dixon being ok with police manpower shortages is here.
Is she even a primate? She makes the GEICO cavemen look sharp by comparison.
Can someone point me to any statements that Dixon has made in support of drug policy reform. I track anti-drug war politicians pretty closely and I haven't heard a peep out of Dixon.
I'm talking about actual statements....
This is sort of a quickie quote, but it does give you the correct speech to research from. Her rep says she doesn't support legalization, but she clearly intends to reallocate police resources away from this area.
There are no two ways about this: it's either a crime issue for the (public) police and a medical issue for the private medical community or it's a noncrime issue for the police due to legislative action. There is no option of the form: drugs are unlawful, technically a crime, but we'd like the medical community to address this crime, rather than the police.
Police enforce against criminal misconduct. It's what they're for. Decriminalization without repeal of the legislative prohibition is simply a dereliction of duty by an incapable executive branch.
The real issue is that most of the people in Maryland do NOT want drugs legalized or decriminalized, because they don't want the problems that go along with those actions. The proposition that the misconduct be allowed here only because we hae the highest concentraton of problem people kinda leaves me cold.
If Baltimore City doesn't want to be subject to the laws of Maryland, then it should pursue secession or exemption as a federally-administrated disaster area.
If Baltimore City is going to be permitted to ignore state law, then go on record to that effect quite generally and let everyone who has no confidence in that proposal to flee the jurisdiction, alon with their families, skills, and property, leaving it the leper colony it so desires to be.
thanks galt
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