Nobody wants to admit
that we have much of a crime problem here, and you certainly can't
fault the police department – these guys are getting assaulted almost
every time they try to arrest someone.

So what happens when the
budget is cut back and every department – from the DPW to the Schools
to the Police and Fire Departments – are all asked to share the pain?
It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out that this is not going to
be a pleasant next few months (and next fiscal year most likely as
well).

There is no surprise then to watch our elected officials
and the city department heads squirm and become more and more anxious
about their upcoming budgetary woes – because they will try as hard as
they can to avoid cutting services, and it really won't be their fault,
but, the haters in this city will remember every step they take in
budgetary bludgeoning that is inevitable.

So what does that mean
for the low-income people of the city? There are many who have already
lost their jobs and unemployment will only last so long. Then crime
will be up even higher than before and this pattern of violence related
to drugs and alcohol will escalate.

Will less money in the
budget this and next fiscal year mean fewer police patrols? Will there
be cuts to services in our schools that the lower income families need
more of, not less of? Will there be more drinking and drug use on a
wider scale out of economic desperation?

These are all tough
questions that follow lockstep with how we as a community (as a whole)
react to the upcoming budgetary process. One only needs to look at the
arrest logs to see what is happening right here, right now. Let's hope
that this part of urban reality doesn't get worse before it gets better.