ON THE QT
Everything You Always Suspected--
and Some Things To Hope For
Carola Von Hoffmannstahl-Solomonoff
Publisher and Editor
WELCOME
to On The QT #12. We must delve. As the actions of many people have proved good can grow out of evil.
BETTER INSTINCTS
Many acts of bravery and selflessness followed the September 11th terrorist attacks. Most of them have been noted and they deserve every word written and said. The firemen and police on the original scene, the rescue workers, the doomed airline passengers who banded together and died trying. Rudy Guilliani, in the days after the event, reminded New Yorkers why he'd been respected and elected. The bully boy disappeared. On the streets of New York, odd combinations of people were thrown together by the events. The meaning of the horror was pondered and discussed by old ladies, minority teens and dot-commers stuck together in waiting rooms, coffee shops or hoofing it to some distant subway rumored to be running. Despite terrorism New York New York lived and breathed.
HOME SICK
In American society many have felt that a sense of community has diminished. That something is missing and "citizen" has become increasingly confused with "consumer". But the tragedy of the World Trade Center opened a floodgate of generous public response and made the distinction between citizen and consumer clear. Yet the events of September 11th also opened the discussion on how the two intersect. Financial movers and shakers, who have long derided nationalism as an investment consideration, have changed horses and invoke patriotism in urging investors not to sell in the post attack market. Jack Welch, recently resigned CEO of General Electric, is among them. Which is quite a
FLIP FLOP.
In a 1998 interview on CNN's Moneyline Jack Welch said: "Ideally, you'd have every plant you owned on a barge, to move with currencies and changes in the economy". Mr.Welch was expounding on his policy of moving GE jobs out of the USA. And his pressuring of GE suppliers to do the same. The results of Welch's policies can be seen in the upstate New York city of Schenectady - once upon a time GE's bustling home town. Schenectady now struggles to survive, with parts that look like a ghost town. A hard core underclass is replacing a population of skilled workers. When pushing overseas job shipments Welch urged GE suppliers to
"SQUEEZE THE LEMON!".
One rationale posited for Welch's policies is that retired GE workers also own GE stocks, hence cutting costs is in their interest. But their stock profits are retirement money; not good wages paid young families in a living city. One concept of community that might be examined post WTC is corporate responsibility. Meanwhile, Welch must defend his own lemons from market forces, since a sizable chunk ($436.4 million in 1999) of his wealth rests in unexercised stock options.
FOLLOW THE MONEY
Billions in federal relief funds are headed to New York City. Congressional fiscal watchdogs are concerned that the aid not morph into a slush fund. In New York, developers and politicians are queuing up for redevelopment, some hoping to form a "super agency" not subject to public reviews and environmental or zoning rules. Making sure that aid really reaches those who need it most and that tragedy isn't exploited will require
SHARP EYES.
Train them also on laws that could curtail civil liberties. Or shift power away from representational government. One danger when engaging an enemy is growing to resemble him...
HOW HIGH?
The question of what should replace the twin towers is being considered. As is the concept of concentrated business centers. Whatever befalls these particular terrorists, the threat of New World Disorder is here to stay. Why not consider alternatives to putting the majority of the workforce in a few densely packed urban centers? Information technologies are supposed to make dispersion possible. Decentralizing would also help ease the housing pressure in New York, San Francisco, Boston and the Silicon Valley. And could bring better jobs to cites such as Schenectady, Albany, Buffalo, Detroit, Utica, Rome, Camden, Passaic, Paterson, Trenton, Asbury Park, Hartford, New Haven, Springfield, Pittsfield and all the other American home towns that didn't get much of a boost from the
NEW ECONOMY.
Yet another ripple from the terror attacks will be felt amongst heroin users. Both Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan are heavyweights in the production and distribution of heroin. Drug profits have long been ploughed back into terrorism. But a reduction of product won't necessarily cut Taliban profits: they'll just raise prices on what they've already stockpiled. A tactic employed a year or so ago by the Taliban in response to U.N. pressure to close down Afghan poppy fields.
LET'S TRAVEL
from Afghanistan and Pakistan to one neighborhood in an American city. Pine Hills in Albany, New York. A neighborhood some call the "Student Ghetto" and one apparently riddled with
DRUG FLOPS.
In response to neighborhood tips, the Albany County Sheriff's Department recently busted members of an organized heroin ring centered in the Quail/Elberon/Western Avenue area of Pine Hills. Different dealers connected to the same ring have been busted twice before in the previous year and a half. According to several local news sources, mid level dealers have been installing low level ones in "drug flops" throughout the neighborhood. Using cells, pay phones and bikes to keep sales and distribution flowing. Several arrests on Elberon Street have involved identified members of the Bloods. Drug activity and related violence on single block Elberon is a matter of public record that can be traced back for at least a decade. As can neighborhood complaints about the condition of specific properties. Elberon jokes (grim ones) are made by neighbors.
QUESTIONS:
How can buildings on one block be consistently involved with criminal activity and not provoke equally consistent city backed legal action against a landlord? When will low and mid level arrests become top level? Why is a neighborhood which is heavily populated by young students and the elderly and which includes social service facilities, modest single family homes, lovely brownstones and the north end of historic Washington Park allowed to be perpetually effected by organized criminal activity? Perhaps it's time to
ASK JERRY JENNINGS.
Mayor of Albany for the last 8 years. Now aiming at four more.Who said in 1994 "I want to clean up this city and make
people accountable."
LOVE THY NEIGHBOR
sometimes gets lost in the sauce of perceived financial and/or political advantage. A perception of advantage which is often mistaken. Those who ignore problems in other people's neighborhoods end up denying them in their own. In the meantime the sense of community shrinks to the size of a hanky. If you don't use it, you lose it. The evil of the World Trade Center attack was transformed by New Yorkers moved by a transcendent sense of community. Applying that example in America's more neglected cities would carry the transformation further. A ripple effect devoutly to be hoped for...
SHINING WEBSITES:
This issues's sites are all gang related. Starting with
Cross in The City: an urban Christian outreach group who believe that only God can change hearts. They try to reach gang members with the gospel. "Cross" is compassionate-- but plenty realistic about what gang life means. Their site has lots of good info about gang structure, true life stories and interesting insights into why the thug life has appeal. Many citizens believe that a lack of spiritual and moral life has created the void in which gangs, drugs and violence thrive. "Cross" attempts to tackle the problem from that point of view. A well done, sincere site.
Gangs Or Us is more law enforcement oriented, aimed at educating parents, teachers, neighbors and cops about how to recognize gang presence in neighborhoods or correctional facilities. Robert Walker, the site's author, is also a paid professional consultant with extensive expertise on the subject. The Gangs Or Us site has tons of useful info and links. A recommended resource.
The Coroner's Report: A section of this site was reviewed in an earlier issue of QT and the whole site is re-recommended in this context. Excellent in all ways: information, ease of use and insight.
"If they're going to run this into the ground we're going to
have
to do something."
Thomas E. Burnett Jr., Passenger on United Airlines Flight 93
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