Posted by
Team Raj on Friday, July 28, 2006 9:44:10 PM
Mayor Street’s Thursday evening speech on violent crime would have been amusing if it were not so frightening.
Here’s my second favorite quote from Street’s speech: “My Administration has made public safety its number one priority and we have fought crime successfully.”
Successfully? The experiences of residents across the Northeast and the entire city tell a different story. Aggravated assaults with guns are up in almost all Northeast neighborhoods, and murder is up 7 percent from this point last year. We’ve seen 222 murders already this year.
John Street has been an utter failure at preventing these senseless deaths.
But wait: Street has a plan! And here’s my favorite quote from his speech. He said, “Let me take a moment to personally appeal to our young people. Please take a deep breath before resorting to the use of guns to settle minor conflicts or perceived personal snubs which are inevitable.”
A deep breath!? How about saying ‘stop shooting other people entirely.’ How about ‘if you commit a crime you’re going to jail for a long long time?’ I don’t care if the guy who shoots me inhaled and found some sense of inner peace before shooting me.
This great Deep Breath Plan is simply another shrug of John Street’s shoulders and an attempt to throw the problem back at Philadelphians.
We need leadership to fight crime in the Northeast now. What Mayor Street has given us is just more talk. My suggestion to Mayor Street: “Take a deep breath and then hire more police officers and fund the fire departments.” Whew.
Raj Peter Bhakta