You mean there's crime in Progress City

The first part of actually fixing a problem is to recognize that you have a problem.

Apparently, our city leaders in Cincinnati do not want to recognize their problems and they get pissed when people actually spell it out for them, ie Joe Deters.

I first saw this issue pop up in a post over at the Daily Bellweather (read the comments). What I find totally amusing is that "progressive" leadership looks like a bunch of kids who's response to listening to what they don't want to hear is putting their hands over the ears shouting LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA.

Most of them are pissed because Joe Deters isn't out there blowing smoke up everyone's ass. He's calling it like the thousands of people who have left the city already know. Drive through Clifton Heights some time and look at all the windows with bars on them. Drive through Walnut Hills and see all the businesses boarded up. Listen to the news, the city already has three murders this year. The city is turning into a full fledged dump.

But here is how the "progressives" see the city's problem.

Councilman Chris Bortz, the chief proponent of the streetcar idea, said he doesn't entirely disagree with some of Deters' comments, including those about needing a new jail. But he said the prosecutor missed the broader point that policing and locking up criminals don't work in a vacuum - that economic development is key.

Just out of curiosity councilman how much money does No. Ky. spend on "economic development" as compared to the city of Cincinnati? My guess; it's a pittance.

You want businesses and residences to move back into your damn city, create an environment where people don't have to have bars on their windows. Aggressive cheer leading doesn't work.

I'll say here what I said over at the Bellweather.

I agree that drugs are rampant in the inner city. But why haven't these same drugs ripped apart suburbs like Beechwood, Upper Arlington, Dublin, Centerville, Mason, West Chester, etc.

The fact is, all of Ohio inner cities are dumps and they are all run by Democrats. It's either a matter of a dysfunctional community electing dysfunctional liberal leadership or liberal leadership who's governance creates these dysfunctional enclaves.

Which is it?