"Chaz Valenza" -America's 14 Most Ready to Riot Cities
August 12, 2011 |
Could a Tottenham happen here? And, if so where? Here's a list of 14 large American cities that may be ready to erupt. They have been identified by sorting common social, economic and demographic data including: unemployment, education, income, crime, housing and homelessness. Other data was also included that might indicate probable "flash points" igniting unrest. These include: cities with especially high rates of reported police misconduct, high disparity between rich and poor, city budget deficits threatening social services, high incidence of hate crime, and large difference in home values between neighborhoods. One such statistic is the Wealth Disparity Index is calculated as a "Gini" co-efficient. The index measures the inequality of the local wealth distribution. In this case, the closer the index number is to 1 the greater the disparity between the haves and have nots. If the American economy should take another dive into "official recession" makes little difference if our cities and states become dysfunctional with a recovery that does not include jobs and a missing safety net to catch those victimized by an economic system based on fraud. Why should the victims economic tyranny turn to anger and action? It has been said that Americans are too self absorbed to challenge the status quo. Even under the intolerable stress and life threatening situation of Hurricane Katrina cooler heads prevailed among even those in the must desperate situations. For the most part, we are a patient people. But at some point the fuse will be lit if economic relief is not forthcoming. The rational may be factious as it was in Newark, NJ in 1967, when a rumor of police injustice sparked riots that lasted six days and nights. But when polite protests fail, as they did in London, action speaks louder than words. As a young man said to an NBC news reporter in Tottenham: "You wouldn't be talking to me now if we didn't riot, would you?" 1. Detroit, MI: The poster child for what has gone wrong with American capitalism. One way the city aims to increase revenue is to work with the state to identify businesses that had not been paying the city income tax, an initiative with the potential to generate $49.5 million over the next five years.
2. Miami, FL: Here is a moderate example of economic schizophrenia at work. Commuters increase Miami's population 37.3% every work day then leave the business district a ghost town every evening. Foreclosure paper work clogs a Miami courthouse with no end in sight. The city faces a $50 million budget deficit for 2012.
3. Cleveland, OH According to The Plain Dealer: "People on the streets of Cleveland... say they are impatient with bullish economists and bickering politicians who don't seem to realize how little the economy has improved. They waved away questions about higher debt ceilings... because many of them wanted to vent about how much the economy stinks."
4. Memphis, TN: "Not so long ago, Memphis, a city where a majority of the residents are black, was a symbol of a South where racial history no longer tightly constrained the choices of a rising black working and middle class. Now this city epitomizes something more grim: How rising unemployment and growing foreclosures in the recession have combined to destroy black wealth and income and erase two decades of slow progress," News One for Black America.
5. New Orleans, LA: (Tie) Between 2000 and 2009, New Orleans lost more than a quarter of its residents. This decline was largely attributable to Hurricane Katrina. According to Delta Dispatches, New Orleans has rebounded in a big way since 2005. But the facts say it has a long way to go. Will the Big Easy keep its cool?
5. Buffalo, NY: (Tie) Number one in hate crimes reported and ranking in the top 20 for misconduct of police officers in forces of less than 1,000, Buffalo is skating on thin ice. It has fared better than many with a relatively low unemployment rate, but poverty and disparity are taking a toll. SNAP (the new name for food stamps) recipients have increased over 20%.
6. Milwaukee, WI: A June 2011 study from the John K. Maclver Institute, a Wisconsin-based think tank that promotes free markets, individual freedom, personal responsibility, and limited government, showed Milwaukee slid 28 spots in a national ranking of economic strength. With a school district high school graduation rate of only 315, the city's government may want to be less than limited in address the community's educational needs. Other Wisconsin business notables are complaining they don't have enough qualified applicants to fill job openings.
7. St. Louis, MO: Another schizophrenic urban gas guzzling disaster where the work day affluent commuters boast the city's population by 34.5% and then leave for their suburban oasis each night. As reported in the St. Louis Beacon: Historian Colin Gordon takes the long view when it comes to understanding how St. Louis has fared during the nation's recent economic downturn -- and his perspective isn't pretty. "We're now in a situation in a lot of settings -- most starkly Detroit but also in cities like St. Louis -- where land values in the central city have fallen off the abyss. There are properties you can't give away," he said. "But by the same token, some of the incentives for building out in a cornfield have been restrained both by the lack of credit and by the undermining of environmental costs. In some respects, when gas prices spiked a couple of years ago, that was at least a temporary wakeup call for the kind of sprawl that areas like this have experienced over the course of their history."
8. Baltimore, MD: Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has admitted her latest proposal to balance the city's budget by eliminating marine, helicopter, and mounted units from the police force; cutting 900 city jobs; closing 29 recreation centers; decrease hours at 311 call centers; and end the Fourth of July firework display, is "unacceptable" and "goes too far." But, Baltimore has other festering problems as well. What's wrong with this picture? Baltimore's unemployment is relatively low. Oh, I forgot. Working class jobs don't pay very well.
9. Atlanta, GA: The population of Atlanta increases by 62% every workday due to commuter influx. Lot's of homeless, an amazing per capita income of $36,912, and a Mecca to young southern professionals. Atlanta is a shining example of disparity and inequity on steroids. Hey, good buddy, how many hours were you parked on I-75 today?
10. Cincinnati, OH: "The explosion of violence in Cincinnati--the largest urban disturbance in the US since the 1992 Los Angeles riots--revealed the deep social tensions in every American city... The April riots underscored the most basic fact of life in America: the enormous social gulf that has opened up between the wealthy elite and the vast majority of the population." Jerry White, writing for the World Socialist Website about the roots of the riots that erupted in Cincinnati, Ohio in April of 2001, following the police killing of an unarmed black teenager.
11. Long Beach, CA: "These past two years, we have been waging a war of attrition, with each ensuing year requiring additional cuts to service levels. We cannot afford to continue on this path. We must find a way to reach structural balance and further invest in our infrastructure. This year presented the most challenging fiscal and budgetary environment in my time as Mayor but has, in recent days, also provided the single most significant step to our long-term fiscal health in the form of a tentative agreement with the Police Officers' Association that cuts pension costs and, if it were to be mirrored by our other employee groups, eliminates structural deficits by the end of FY 13 based off current projections." From the Mayor's Budget Recommendations, Fiscal Year 2012. Bob Foster, Mayor of Long Beach, CA.
12. Newark, NJ: To close the city's budget gap, Mayor Cory Booker is proposing a 7% tax increase in order to maintain the city's current level of service. The mayor's proposed increase will also reduce the city's current budget deficit of $58 million. The tax increase will raise $18 million in additional funds. Governor Chris Christy is also attempting to close a New Jersey State budget gap of just $10.5 billion dollars.
13. Philadelphia, PA A Flash mob struck Center City Philadelphia Friday night, July 29, 2011 leaving two people injured and several others robbed. Police have arrested four people in connection with the crime. Mayor Nutter has decided in impose a curfew of 9:00 PM on those under the age of 18. Business can also register their security cameras with the police department. Don't panic. This isn't the real anger hopeless commoners with torches and pitch forks, just a bunch of kids.
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