‘Are there no work houses?‘
A modest proposal: could government please get out of the housing business? Have we not learned from Chicago’s Cabrini Green and from Pruitt-Igoe in St. Louis? From the demolition of a functioning, if impoverished, neighborhood: “The Bush” in central Madison? Can we learn from every centrally planned economy? North Korea comes to mind.
'Ill-conceived government programs are able to inflict misery better than any private charity.' — Marotta on Money.
The City of Madison created two islands of concentrated misery within the last seven years. On the east side, 60 units at Rethke Terrace, at a cost of $8.9 million; on the west side, the 45 units of Tree Lane, price tag $11.7 million. The two projects would house folks who are (shall we say) “behaviorally troubled,” practicing alcoholics, chronically homeless. (Excuse us! “Vulnerable families.”) What could go wrong?
In a word, everything — up to and including murder; so much so that the city declared both public nuisances. The projects having failed, both will convert to private market renters in three months. (The WI State Journal explains.)
The idea of “housing first,’ the concept behind Tree Lane and Rethke, is that most chronic alcoholics will never reform. Least we can do is prevent them from freezing to death like George McGovern’s daughter on some Madison street corner.
Scooping up these unfortunate folk and concentrating them in one or two places allows them to be monitored. Might the trouble caused at Tree Lane and Rethke Terrace likely have occurred anyway, only elsewhere? Sure. But the taxpayer could have been spared the expense of new construction and of providing services that went unused because they were voluntary.
We haven’t given up hope. We propose a voluntary, sheltered workshop environment — perhaps on part of the vacant Oscar Mayer plant, surrounded by a secure fence and limited access. To include a small farming operation (chickens and eggs! And Obama’s own arugula!) — but no treadmill as in Dickens’ time. (Hey, it’s Christmas!)
We have proposed the same at Oscar Mayer for delinquent boys. (The industrial complex covers 72 acres.) A no-truancy, residential school, teaching trades. Fenced and guarded. Both enterprises would require some judicial authorization, hopefully expedited. The residential sheltered workshop and the juvenile justice camp would need be heavily supervised and thus, not cheap. And the state has trouble hiring corrections guards, as it is. But the state keeps saying it wants to close Lincoln Hills in far northern Wisconsin.
Blaska’s Bottom Line: The moral of A Christmas Carol is that public works are no substitute for private charity.
10 responses to “Was Scrooge right after all?”
Housing first was Mayor Soglin’s idea, Alder Paul Skidmore welcomed the Tree Lane project to his district. I tried to warn Skidmore that it would be a problem, I had seen what happened on the Northside when landlords rented to problem tenants to get the rent money, not caring about the neighborhood. There must be a desire to change and accountability to receive subsidized housing.
Your proposal for the OM property makes more sense than building more high density “affordable housing” our city leaders are pushing. A 553 unit has been approved for the Hartmeyer property adjacent to the OM site.
Madison’s (Dane County, too) Social engineering gets and “F-.”
There was never a neighborhood more diverse than the Bush. My grandparents neighbors on S. Frances St. in 1911 were AA, Norwegian, northern Italian and Jewish.
What bonded them was relative poverty yet many lived pretty well.
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“Any Man Who Thinks He Can Be Happy And Prosperous By Letting The Government Take Care Of Him, Better Take A Closer Look At The American Indian.” incorrectly attributed to Henry Ford
The Gotch
Hat tip for use of the correct ethnic term (American Indian vs. Native American).
“… public works are no substitute for private charity.” So true.
That’s why we must organize all Republicans and their dependents in Dane County to get off the dole and fund their needs through private charities.
Get your children off Obamacare, off SSI, off SSD and make them work full-time.
“That’s why we must organize all Republicans and their dependents in Dane County to get off the dole and fund their needs through private charities.”
Purging Dane County Righty alms seekers shouldn’t take too awful long.
21.3 % Of U.S. Population Participate In Government Assistance Programs Each Month
MONEY STAT: 41.6 % of black Americans receive government assistance in an average month; 36.4 percent of Hispanics; 17.8 % of Asians or Pacific Islanders, CONTRASTED WITH 13.3 % OF WHITES (bolds/caps/italics mine)
Looks like Dane County Righties are more diverse than you’d think, am I right….?
The Gotch
I wonder how Rollie will square that statistic?
With a round hole…?
The Gotch