Greg Hunter once told me that my blog posts are always happy. Not today, Greg. Today I’m on a mission. Did you ever see that western movie “Tombstone“? The one with Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer? Great line in that movie: “You tell ‘em I’m comin’- and hell’s comin’ with me!” Yeah. That’s me today.
Thanks to Columbus blogger Maureen McCabe for this link to the Columbus Dispatch article series on the challenges facing Ohio cities. This series will supposedly be an in-depth look at some issues facing Ohio cities. These are very real issues and if you think you can sit in a suburb and pretend it doesn’t affect you, think again. And if you are in any position to become positive force for change, then perhaps it’s time to step up to the plate and help. And if you can’t do either, then shut the hell up and get out of the way, so those of us who are trying to create a better life here in Dayton can be left in peace to do it.
An excerpt from the article:
…experts warn that Ohio is ignoring the urban plight at its own peril. They say that today’s inner-city problems are spreading to the suburbs, as a rotten core eventually makes the whole apple bad.
“If we don’t take care of our cities’ problems, they’re guaranteed to swallow up regions outside city borders,” said Cuyahoga County Treasurer Jim Rokakis.
“Education and job issues don’t stop at city borders. Crime doesn’t stop at the borders of the city. The notion that suburbanites and exurbanites can continue to insulate themselves from the problems of the cities is lunacy. ‘Them’ and ‘us’ isn’t working anymore. Them is us.”
We all live here, we know what the reality is. I don’t want to read about what’s wrong, we know what’s wrong. I’m interested in real solutions. If you can think positively, get involved here or here. But if you don’t have the vision to create change or the spine to implement change then do us all a favor and move along.
The main problem with the Dayton Public Schools, and by extension, Dayton, is bad parents, bad students and low expectations. We an astronomical illegitimacy rate among African-Americans and a high rate among other groups. Corporate greed to me seems at an all time high level at least since the time of the robber barons. We as a society need to figure out how to inculcate morality to the next generation. We need to get the courage to say, “No, that’s wrong.” No, you should not be having children out of wedlock. No, you shouldn’t do that just because you can get away with it. No, you should not inflate your insurance claim. No, you should not be a deadbeat parent. If a person wants to avoid poverty they should:
Refrain from gambling, smoking, drinking, playing the lottery, having children before being married, committing adultery, getting divorced
Do their best in school
When they graduate get a job and be a good employee, working hard to improve themselves
Save money for a rainy day and for retirement
Pay all debts
Always do the right things
If people don’t follow those simple poverty avoidance techniques, all the public programs in the world will not help very much.
Sorry to inspire a not cheery Teri post but I am looking forward to the installment where the Dispatch does Dayton in depth.
Thanks for the mention.
As I posted my ideas for Dayton’s rebirth here: http://esrati.com/?p=421
one of the things that I suggested was that the entire county take on the challenge of funding Dayton Public Schools for 12 years- to try to reverse the damage done when busing created the migration to the ‘burbs 30 years ago.
There are no boundaries too small anymore- the blight will spread until we heal the core. Unfortunately- some people still think it’s a bricks and mortar problem- when it really is a question of social capital.
I think it is a matter of human capital. Let’s face it, the biggest problem that Dayton faces is bad citizens. Citizens who have children out of wedlock, who commit crimes, who dropped out of school, who are not motivated to work. Some of you have seen my anti-poverty program on the DDDN site: Don’t smoke, drink, gamble, have children before marriage, commit adultery, do drugs. Do apply yourself in school and work, try to better yourself, get a good education, save for a rainy day and retirement.
We as a society are afraid to tell people what they are doing is wrong. We need to have the courage to say, No, it is not right to cheat, whether its on an exam or cheating the insurance company, shareholders, customers. We need to say it is wrong to embezzle, abuse your children, fail to pay child support, etc. The greatest poverty in Dayton is moral poverty. If we are to turn this city around we need to become less poor vis-a-vis morality.
Maureen-
I’m looking forward to the Dayton installment as well. I don’t have any answers. That’s so frustrating, and I hope that the article series has real solutions and not simply rehashing the history of what is.
Thanks for the link.
David,
I agree that until we *all* work to improve schools nothing else matters and nothing is going to improve. It’s obvious and a no-brainer and I think this refers back to school funding issues, which have been discussed at length here. I don’t understand how it can be that difficult to get this done.
Rick-
I have to disagree with you. The problem is not the citizens of Dayton, this problem is not confined to Dayton, as the article I cited clearly explains. It’s a problem in most Ohio cities as well as cities across the country. Many, if not all of the problems you list can be helped enormously through education.
[...] about it. Gawd I hate these news stories that are not news. They talk to Nan Whaley and Rhine McLin and paint their doom and gloom picture and ohbloodyhell! [...]
Teri,
Thanks for reporting on the Columbus Dispatch article, “Can Ohio’s Big Cities Be Saved?”
About the problems facing Dayton, I agree with your assertion that we should all be interested in “real solutions.” I find myself disagreeing, however, when you say, “We know what is wrong.“
“Real solutions” for Dayton — as opposed to “window dressing” and public relations solutions — are controversial and are certain to generate opposition. “What is wrong,” what is not working, in my judgment, is our system of democracy. If our democracy was working, I feel, the “real solutions” you seek would already have emerged. Dayton’s democracy, it appears, is simply not strong enough to allow real solutions to happen.
Rick Phillips’ view of what is wrong is probably shared by a lot of voters. He says, “the biggest problem that Dayton faces is bad citizens.” Interesting thought. But, we need to ask: what is causing the “moral poverty,” that Rick sees in Dayton? What are the root causes? Sometimes, as with our own bodies, on a short term basis, we need to address symptoms. But we know that it is essential, for the sake of our overall long-term health, that we understand and address root causes.
Moral poverty, I feel, to some degree is another symptom of the deeper problem that our democracy is broken and is failing to bring forth the best ideas and the best candidates that could help form and direct effective policies.
I am influenced by the ideas from Total Quality Management (TQM), and the thinking of W. Edwards Deming. I attended a Deming four day seminar in 1991, when Deming was over 90 years old. Deming felt that 85% of quality came from the system itself, how the system is organized. I used this Deming insight to develop a couple of articles that I posted on DaytonOS.
In Strickland Should Use Charter Schools To Help Fulfill His Promise: “Reform and Renew the System of Education Itself,” I make the argument that traditionally organized public schools, like Dayton Public Schools (DPS), are doomed to failure because of their organizational structure.
I wrote, “The power of overall organizational structure to influence quality is illustrated by the poor quality produced by communist factories. While communist East Germany, prior to 1989, was producing the lemon car called the Trabant, capitalist West Germany was producing quality autos like the Volkswagen and the Mercedes. The Trabant factory was organized inefficiently and was kept going by government subsidies. Tinkering with the Trabant production — through imposing ever more government inspections or through new rewards and punishments for its workers or through new management rules — failed to change the Trabant into a quality product. Only a vast change in organizational structure could have had the quality impact that was needed and the political will to make such massive change never materialized.”
My article, “Joe Lacey, And the New Dayton School Board, Must Find A Way To Transform Failed DPS Organizational Structure” also deals with the importance of organizational change.
In my view, DPS and all public schools are like the Trabant factory and, therefore, must be reformed and changed in fundamental ways. I realize that many citizens, who feel allegiance to the present public school system, would strongly disagree with my view as to what is the root problem with public schools. We are all mightily influenced. My view of what ails schools hardly agrees with the view projected by the Ohio Education Association, local teacher associations and local Boards of Education — in on-going “public relations” efforts. I know my view — comparing public schools to the Trabant factory — would probably not be appreciated by the educational establishment.
What is wrong, in my view, is the system — not just the educational system, but our system of democracy itself. Our system is failing. Our public school system is badly in need of fundamental change, but only a strong democracy could envision and implement the change that is needed. And what is true about solving the public school problem is equally true of other problems. We need a much stronger democracy if we hope to solve big problems.
An effective democracy would bring about an authentic transformation of our public system of education and would create strong communities where individuals and families would be strengthened and where “moral poverty” would diminish. Our democracy has failed to find a way to discover and to promote the common good. “Real solutions” will be impossible to find unless our democracy becomes effective. The article asks, “Can Ohio’s Big Cities Be Saved?” I believe, yes they can. But, I believe that solving big problems depends on understanding root causes. In my judgment the root cause why Ohio’s big cities are in trouble is that our system of democracy has failed. Therefore, I feel, we should be doing everything possible to authentically revitalize our democracy. My belief, that I explored in another article, is, “The Ascending Issue for Our Democracy is Democracy Itself.”
I keep reading the mantra that the suburbs and exurbia cannot escape from the urban problems and that regional economic health depends on the core cities being healthy. I haven’t come across any convincing arguments. Don’t get me wrong, I live in Dayton and want it to succeed. Dayton has a lot to offer, but to get citizens from the rural, exurbia, and suburbia interested in our plight we have to make a rational case. Maybe the Columbus Dispatch articles will make the case. I’ll wait and see.
I have to agee with Rick on this, and I’ve posted on this subject before. Living & working in suburbia I just don’t see the connection between Dayton’s decline and how well things are doing in Centerville or Beavercreek or Tipp City.
In fact I think the situation could be reversed. The economic well-being of Dayton’s citizens might be tied to how well the suburbs are doing, if most of the jobs are being created in suburbia.
For the most part this has always been true; however, Johnson’s Great Society moved too fast and Blacks forgot that most of the money they made was from whites. Whites took the money and left town; relying on their everbooming offspring to do the work, making decisions to increase wealth and the status quo aparthied that Johnson destroyed.
You know something is wrong when the Black Leadership has not evolved beyond Preachers. Maybe Oprah and Obama can turn the tide!
It is great to use evolved and Preachers in the same sentence!
Well, two things:
First, those who say there is no evidence that the ‘burbs will decline in a domino effect are, perhaps, historically short-sighted. It was only a few decades ago that Kettering, Oakwood, and other communities were asking Dayton about incorporating–and Dayton at the time thought they didn’t need those lesser lights and turned them down.
As for whether inner-city problems impact the ‘burbs, one of the major aspects is in the drug trade. A former criminal justice colleague commented once that it wasn’t unusual to find suburban or rural kids in west Dayton, lost and half-naked–they go there looking for drugs, and wind up robbed and carjacked and fortunate they weren’t raped or wounded. Don’t forget that the main source of revenues for gangsta rap is the white suburban teen market.
Frankly, those who assert that inner-city problems do not cross the imaginary lines of polical boundaries are the ones who ought to prove the assertion by the preponderance of evidence. Of COURSE a condition of lawlessness and desperation in an urban center will affect conditions in the contiguous communities. The extent of the effects will depend on local law enforcement and mass transportation.
[...] Dispatch series about big Ohio cities on Dayton OS Monday (and gave me a link… Thanks Teri!) “Solving Dayton’s problems: Whiners and wimps need not apply” Teri lives in Huber Heights Ohio, a suburb northeast of Dayton. Teri wrote a rant today, [...]
I think there is a bit of urban legend to the annexation history story, based on what I’ve read.
@@@
“Of COURSE a condition of lawlessness and desperation in an urban center will affect conditions in the contiguous communities. The extent of the effects will depend on local law enforcement and mass transportation”
RTA as a way for the predator to reach its prey? Interesting. Maybe it’s a good idea to live away from a bus line if it increases the risk of crime.
I was thinking more in terms of economics not crime. But, yes, It would be very interesting to actually study the stats on suburban crime to see:
A) ….if there’s been an increaseover time, and…
B) ….if the perps/suspects are city residents (what % and is it increasing?)
I wonder how available this information is?
I suspect when most people think of crime and Dayton they think of being at higher risk of becoming victims while in the city, but not being at risk living in the suburbs.
One can imagine the reaction if it does prove out that Dayton is becoming a pool of criminal predators and the suburbs their prey, and that the situation is worsening over time.
I am certain one could get the data; however, one has too look at weighting factors. When the economy is good, less crime, when the economy is going south more crime.
So let’s look at two cases. Crime stats before and after the bus traffic coming to the Dayton Mall and the stats when 35 west was completed. Is that type of data available?
[...] Monday- hopeful “Solving Dayton’s problems: Whiners and wimps need not apply” [...]