If you want more police on the street and in the community (by closing Third District to which I agree ) take a page from Third Federal's strategy--gradually shift residents expectations and behavior and offer incentives. 

Keep working to improve city services.

  What ever happened to the program that put police and fire fighters to work on an abandoned house to live there for a period, before transferring it to a deserving family?  What happened to the Cleveland Housing Network?  Why the push for demolitions in this Citywide plan?  Renew and restore.  And above all, have your planners coordinate city services, so one hand knows what the other hand is doing to this city.  When I moved to my street, it was freshly paved and looking good.  Within months, the city water crews dug holes in the street to repair lines....and on and on.  But, back to the kids,  Dr. Sanders plan for boarding schools is an encouraging strategy to save our kids, who don't have real parents.

(To paraphrase Third Federal's letter--Third Federal will close the Tremont branch in August.  They informed patrons that "We know you may be disappointed to learn that the Tremont Branch will no longer be open.  However, since the office has only been open two days a week since August 2005, you may already be accoustomed to doing your banking at" another branch.."as you may also know, there is daily access by public transportation" and the letter closes with a special opportunity to win a gift basket at their Welcome Days event.  Very smart)

One thing we should all consider:  How far am I from home in the event of a disaster?  Katrina, 9/11, the blackout of August 2005...safety forces--all of us--found our selves far from home.  Can you walk or ride  home in a crisis? See today's PD 5/11/07. Think about it.

When you work with the public as the face of authority, you don't want to live with the public you serve.  You don't want to deal with the harassment and the fear of retaliation.  So, what can we offer as a real  incentive for safety forces to stay in the city? 

Why the income requirement on vacant house restorations?  Why not give them away, but require that the title holder occupies the home for the 12 year loan period?  I would much prefer a real homeowner commitment and not the transferable tax abatement.  Heck, why not waive property taxes for safety force employees who live in the city or designated problem areas?

Everyone likes to think that anger only comes in one color.  A couple of weeks ago, as I returned from the pool, I heard snapping and swearing from underneath the Brooklyn Brighton bridge and watched a sapling topple on the hillside.  I looked down to see two teens ("white" teens, in hoodies) viciously jumping on and breaking...a tree..A TREE.  Maybe they had a hard time finding some homeless people to beat up.

The soul searching will  go on for a few weeks and then the Success Tech horror will  be erased.  Kids will be driven to school or removed from one school for another "safer" school. How far away from the city is "SAFE?" Parents will gradually go back to the easy patterns--to give in to the television, MySpace, and computer games.  I hope that a few of them will take the time to go on a bike ride with their kids.  Go for a hike.  Teach them how to fix something.  Play catch.

For our part as adults, we can make a difference in the policies we enact on computer  and video game usage and access.  I am making a plea for libraries to examine how they can help to prevent a child from losing their sense of reality.  Libraries are a part of the solution.  We can do better.  Schools can't do everything.  Kids want standards from their parents.  If the parents can't provide a standard, then the rest of us should step up.

At the very least, if it is a beautiful day, a child should be outside, running, playing, exploring...