Reply to RHEE-SULTS: A LITTLE RED MEAT FOR THOSE senti-MENTAL Rhee/Kaya supporters... ENJOY!! Fight Back!

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Reply to "RHEE-SULTS: A LITTLE RED MEAT FOR THOSE senti-MENTAL Rhee/Kaya supporters... ENJOY!! Fight Back!"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=jsteele][quote=Anonymous]
Now we can talk honestly about substantially increasing the "carrot" to offset those market pressures. What would that look like? I'm not talking about some airy construct like "improve the schools". I'm talking about tangible actions--with costs. And what if we improved the schools and the population of the very poor still fell against the city population as a whole? After all, the city population is growing steadily, which means the denominator is growing. Should we increase social spending in order to bump those numbers back up? After all, you've already conceded that decreasing services and raising the cost of living will make "other jurisdictions become more attractive".  Should we bump up our social spending to better retain our poor residents and better attract poor people from MD and VA and elsewhere in order to keep DC's current socioeconomic profile static?
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Since the topic of "improving the schools' requires a lot more discussion than I am prepared to do in this medium, you are going to have to live with "improving the schools" as an idea for improving the lives of poor people.  The city didn't just magically become more attractive to affluent folks. It became that way because the government actively pursued policies to increase the attractiveness of the city to that demographic. When rising costs associated with those improvements negatively impacted less affluent residents, it shouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone that there was a backlash. Neither should it be a surprise when cynical politicians harness the resentment associated with that backlash for their own benefit. Embracing a policy of reducing poverty through the encouragement of the poor to leave the city will only increase that backlash and strengthen those politicians.

Just as the government pursued policies to attract affluent residents, it should adopt policies that allow the less advantaged to benefit from the city's growth. In the area of education, high-quality pre-k has become a fought-over privilege of the well-to-do. But, that is the type of program that is nearly priceless to a poor single mother who would like to be able to have a job. High-quality daycare and early education  should be programs that progressives support just as strongly as bike lanes. Similarly, improved access to healthcare is another area that can benefit the poor. If collocating those services with schools makes sense, than it should be tried. As another poster has illustrated, job training is an important service that can also be combined with schools. During the campaign, Paul Zukerberg made a legitimate argument that far too many lives are ruined because of a pot bust. Maybe the city should look at decriminalization or simply stop enforcing the marijuana laws. The city could incentivize making healthier foods available at affordable prices. There are a number of things that could be done.

But, an important change is a change in perception. The poor shouldn't be perceived as a problem. Rather, the challenges faced by the poor such as unemployment, poor health, poor education, crime, etc. are the problems. And, those are not just the problems of the poor. Because, as long as such problems exist, there will be resentment and that resentment is oxygen for those politicians who will cynically exploit it. Hence those are problems for anyone who rejects such politicians. We need to deprive those politicians of their oxygen.

Finally, I am painting with a very broad brush here. A lot of what I think we should be doing pertains not only to the poor, but simply the lower middle class. But, I'm trying not to write an encyclopedia.

[/quote]What Jeff said.[/quote]

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