Cleveland has made some impressive progress also, at least in reducing murders year over year. I'm not sure I 100% understand the mechanism behind it. Could be cyclical.
Could be! There is a number of cities all over America that are trying to do their best on crime, it's just that Detroit and Baltimore are the more famous ones
There are a few things to point Detroit and Baltimore aren't just the normal pattern
1) Both Detroit and Baltimore see greater steeper declines in crime then the rest of America (like 30s and 40s vs the rest of the country 20s)
2) Baltimore's homicides was bucking national trends and kept up climbing during the 2010s
3) Both Detroit and Baltimore are in more economically dire straits than the rest of America, hence any sort of civic improvement like Detriot's blight reduction or Baltimore's youth programs is just going to give you higher returns
Your premise appears to be that both different approaches led to the same result - and it could be! But to me that means it’s equally likely that neither worked and that policy had nothing to do with the successes, especially as violent crime has gone down everywhere, and housing prices and neighborhood quality has also generally gone up everywhere. How do you explain buffalo or Cleveland, that also seem to be doing better? An overarching theory might be the aging of the population, broad based economic growth over a 15 year period, smart phones/video games keeping the youth busy not committing crimes, or a southern migration slowing as the southern metroplexes got more expensive?
Cities need to concentrate on the basics: protect people, protect property, maintain basic infrastructure, provide basic utilities, collect the garbage, keep the streets clean. There are many ways in which to accomplish these tasks. The “best” ways will likely vary depending on the city, state, and local culture.
City councils that focus on things they can’t accomplish - heal the planet, bring world peace, stand in “solidarity” with this or that group or cause - will fail to do the things it can.
I lived in Baltimore for over ten years. Hell on earth and always getting worse. None of my friends who stayed (and to be clear they all moved to the county) report anything different. Population still declining in recent years. Mayor is a clown (as usual).
Cleveland has made some impressive progress also, at least in reducing murders year over year. I'm not sure I 100% understand the mechanism behind it. Could be cyclical.
Could be! There is a number of cities all over America that are trying to do their best on crime, it's just that Detroit and Baltimore are the more famous ones
There are a few things to point Detroit and Baltimore aren't just the normal pattern
1) Both Detroit and Baltimore see greater steeper declines in crime then the rest of America (like 30s and 40s vs the rest of the country 20s)
2) Baltimore's homicides was bucking national trends and kept up climbing during the 2010s
3) Both Detroit and Baltimore are in more economically dire straits than the rest of America, hence any sort of civic improvement like Detriot's blight reduction or Baltimore's youth programs is just going to give you higher returns
Your premise appears to be that both different approaches led to the same result - and it could be! But to me that means it’s equally likely that neither worked and that policy had nothing to do with the successes, especially as violent crime has gone down everywhere, and housing prices and neighborhood quality has also generally gone up everywhere. How do you explain buffalo or Cleveland, that also seem to be doing better? An overarching theory might be the aging of the population, broad based economic growth over a 15 year period, smart phones/video games keeping the youth busy not committing crimes, or a southern migration slowing as the southern metroplexes got more expensive?
Cleveland and Buffalo also worked really hard in cutting down crime
Justin Bibb and Christopher Scanlonmade also made crime reduction a massive priority in Cleveland and Buffalo, also using ARPA funds
Not to mention, despite demographics, crime in Baltimore was on the rise during the 2010s, and crime spiked everywhere post COVID.
I don't really think is the population aging out that explains the reductions or "broad based economic growth"
Their vulnerability is the absolute necessity of outside funding. There in lies the rub.
Cities need to concentrate on the basics: protect people, protect property, maintain basic infrastructure, provide basic utilities, collect the garbage, keep the streets clean. There are many ways in which to accomplish these tasks. The “best” ways will likely vary depending on the city, state, and local culture.
City councils that focus on things they can’t accomplish - heal the planet, bring world peace, stand in “solidarity” with this or that group or cause - will fail to do the things it can.
Good to see a Mamdani/Sliwa supporter in the comments
I lived in Baltimore for over ten years. Hell on earth and always getting worse. None of my friends who stayed (and to be clear they all moved to the county) report anything different. Population still declining in recent years. Mayor is a clown (as usual).