Is Milwaukee Becoming Gentrified?
Analysis of big cities shows Portland is most gentrified, with cities like Milwaukee also changing, but more slowly.
Census Tract Gentrification since the 2000 Census – From Governing.com and Google Maps
Gentrification is a loaded word. It can be both a positive (poor neighborhoods on the upswing!) and a negative (whites pushing out urban poor people!). For mayors of America’s big cities, with higher concentrations of poor people and surrounded by more well-to-do suburbs, it is welcome news. But among researchers and urban theorists, it is a charged subject.
Which brings us to a recent, data-driven story by Governing magazine, which looked at gentrification in the 50 biggest cities. The story found a significant increase in urban gentrification: “Nearly 20 percent of neighborhoods with lower incomes and home values have experienced gentrification since 2000, compared to only 9 percent during the 1990s.”
Governing looked at any big city census tracts where the median household income and home value were both in the bottom 40th percentile of all tracts in a metro area and then measured the growth of median home values and the percentage of adults with bachelors’ degrees. The “gentrified” tracts were those whose increases on both measures were in the top third among metro-area tracts.
Milwaukee? It ranked higher than 15 of 50 cities, and below the median increase of about 16 percent, with 12.1 percent of poorer tracts becoming gentrified from 2000 to 2010. Interestingly, some of the most gentrified cities saw little change from 1990 to 2000 (in Washington D.C. just 4.9 percent of tracts were gentrified) while in Milwaukee 6.9 percent of poorer census tracts were gentrified in the 1990s.
The gentrification in Milwaukee, which is mapped by Governing, is largely where you’d expect it: in Brewers’ Hill, Riverwest (mostly gentrified except for one northern tract), Bay View (all of it gentrified except the southeastern area which wasn’t poor enough to need gentrifying), and the near South Side tract near National Ave. But there are also several other isolated tracts in Milwaukee that have gentrified for less obvious reasons during that period.
Why is gentrification occurring? Governing offers little explanation, other than a half-baked observation by Kjersti Monson, director of long-range planning for Minneapolis, “who cited the role of infrastructure investments, particularly light rail, the parks system and new sports stadiums downtown.” Meanwhile, the role of Millennials, whose gravitation to cities has been much discussed nationally, gets no mention.
Yet Governing concludes that gentrification “is changing the face of metropolitan areas in every region of the country and generating social consequences that would have seemed far-fetched just a few years ago.” These consequences, it reports, include “escalation in housing costs that has made in-town living unaffordable for all but the affluent; the rise in suburban poverty caused by the arrival of minorities and immigrants who used to be concentrated in central cities; and the creation of affluent urban communities in which traditional families are largely absent.”
In Portland and Seattle, perhaps. But in Milwaukee or any Midwestern city besides Minneapolis, the figures suggest far smaller changes. Indeed, Cleveland (6.7 percent gentrified since 2000) and of course Detroit (2.8 percent) had a smaller percentage of census tracts that gentrified than Milwaukee, while Columbus and Indianapolis, both at 12.2 percent, saw almost exactly the rate of change as Milwaukee.
Moreover, Governing’s suggestion that gentrification is pushing minorities to the suburbs seems contradicted by its data showing that in those tracts that gentrified, the share of non-Hispanic white residents increased by an average of 4.3 percent. That’s not much of a change.
Joe Cortright, a researcher at the City Observatory in Portland, the apparent epicenter of gentrification, blasted the Governing story, noting there has been abundant academic research showing that gentrification has actually displaced few poor or minority residents. How can an increase in well-to-do residents not push others out? Because the total population in the area increases.
The secret sauce in cities is density. Bay View isn’t just getting younger residents, it’s also getting more residents, as under-utilized properties get rehabbed into apartments and rental occupancy rates climb. Riverwest has seen home values and the percent of college educated adults increase, but residents there still struggle with crime and other signs of poverty.
Finally, there could be a significant problem with the data Governing is using. The U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey data, which provides samples of the population, is quite problematic, says John Pawasarat, director of the UW-Milwaukee Employment & Training Institute. “The margin of error on that data is extremely high,” he cautions.
Pawasarat notes the data shows a tripling of college graduates from four percent to 12 percent of adults in a tract near 16th and North, a neighborhood with high rates of poverty and home foreclosures. “There’s no way that data could be accurate.”
Still, most of the changes Governing found in Milwaukee seem to conform with what we know anecdotally, that places like Bay View, Brewers’ Hill and Riverwest are becoming transformed. Beyond that, both the data and its meaning are open to lots of argument.
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“Pawasarat notes the data shows a tripling of college graduates from four percent to 12 percent of adults in a tract near 16th and North, a neighborhood with high rates of poverty and home foreclosures. “There’s no way that data could be accurate.””
Not so fast. Foreclosures may be part of reason why the figures of college educated have gone up.
According to the data, census tract 1854 lost 556 people (unlike the other gentrified tracts that went up). One can presume increased foreclosures would fall disproportionally on the less educated.
Anyways, according to the data the area gained only 104 college educated people in more than a decade. That may still seem like a lot but it can not be dismissed out of hand.
John Pawasarat – you don’t get out of the “Ivory Tower” of academia much do you?! To go from 4% to 12% is very probable considering the gentrification of Lindsay Heights, specifically the Josey Heights development. (http://city.milwaukee.gov/JoseyHeightsOffersNe14726.htm#.VQsWK47F9ps)
http://www.lisc.org/milwaukee/neighborhoods/lindsay_heights.php
In little over ten years, the Walnut Way Conservation Corporation and community members have successfully reclaimed the neighborhood, driven out crime, restored century-old homes, helped to construct new owner-occupied homes,
Typical of what’s lacking / wrong in our public bureaucracy. You managed not only like look a fool in your topic of expertise, but managed to negate the hard work of the community organizers in this hard-hit neighborhood, but also a successful program to revitalize the neighborhood by the City of Milwaukee.
CK
@Thomas Bamberger…. that could be due to the Lindsey Height development. Several single family homes were built in the area. Just a guess. Also, less diverse cities like Seattle, Mpls, and Portland have more potential neighborhoods that have the potential for gentrification. Milwaukee, like Cleveland, St. Louis and Indy are more restricted largely due to race,crime and the perception of crime. The Eastside, Third Ward, Walker’s Point and Bayview will continue to get denser and aggregate incomes will continue to climb while west of these locations will not see much gentrification. Although I think Westown and the Concordia neighborhoods will see moderate redevelopment. We are a tale of two cities. The street car may help.
BECOMING?? … MKE has BEEN gentrified. 53206 is a prime example. But, MKE is not alone. It’s a common phenomenon.
CK James, did you understand what gentrified means? 53206 would be the opposite.
Oops. I am aware of the meaning(s) of gentrification, BUT, I was apparently not focused enough to absorb/contemplate the entire article before hastily commenting from my phone. My fault!
Now that I HAVE properly poured over the content, indeed, 53206 is the opposite.
Aside from that, I believe that a big part of the reason for gentrification, (especially on MKE’s near South side), is due to the existence of HUD programs allowing low-income individuals and families to reside in otherwise higher end rental properties. This system has an interesting way of functioning. It allows a percentage of units to be occupied by lower income residents ; in exchange, the property ownership qualifies for kickbacks and/or tax breaks.
It seems nearly all of the newer lofts that have been turned into apartment units, (from previously vacant warehouses), take part in this program. Anywhere from 10% to 100% of units in those properties are purposed for this. The qualification rules are also often ‘bent or relaxed’ to accept people who would otherwise make too much money to qualify according to the rules. This is an ‘unspoken’ practice among property managers to keep what they consider (upstanding, low-risk, law-abiding ) citizens to enjoy the comforts that these nostalgic and (usually) well kept rental units offer.
At the same time, SOME of the actual qualifying low-income applicants are also admitted – but not as many actually occupy all the units as are reflected on each property’s records. Translation – This program does increase gentrification, but it could increase the amount of gentrification even more, if the income limits (usually 20K annual ) were more strictly followed.
Either way, I think it’s a good program … even if it does include the loopholes for property owners / companies to maximize kickback money or tax breaks while secretly preventing their buildings to ‘fill-up’ with what some would call ‘problem residents’.
Let me add a few more words on the inaccuracy of ACS data. Marketing companies, newspapers and academics blindly use ACS tract data to rank neighborhoods, yet almost never factor in error rates which are worst in low income neighborhoods. Take tract 1854 at 16th & North area: For starters ACS estimates there are 871 individuals ages 25 and over, and this comes with a plus or minus error rate of 171 people. This is not good for a study to hang its hat on. Yet it gets worse. The population with a BA is estimated at 89 residents plus or minus 67 people (i.e., somewhere between 22 and 156 people) and the number of people with an MA or higher is 12 people plus or minus 11 people. We have studied these poorest neighborhoods for 20 years seldom using ACS/Census estimates for critical measures due to high error rates. Instead we use federal, state, and local governmental data sets. Almost never does a neighborhood have such fluctuations on basic, core demographic as education levels as is found in ACS data.
So, is there a word for “average incomes in an area are increasing” that does not carry with it a snooty implication? Because the problem with even talking about “gentrification” is that the term itself is loaded…and not in a good way.
I’m a Bay View resident…and you can see it in the way people talk about newer arrivals and developments: “Gentrification!” they shout – as if it’s a disease. Yet it would hardly seem to be a bad thing to have greater density, better average income, and more businesses. Few people have been displaced in Bay View.
The problem, however, lies with the market: any improvement (by most people’s measures of “improvement”) brings with it increased property values, which of course leads to higher property taxes. This is why the poor can’t have nice things: the moment things begin improving, unless their own income keeps pace, they become priced out of those improvements.
We need to recognize that the market does a very poor job of benefiting everyone where housing is concerned. And since housing patterns and values also flow into property tax income, school funding, etc., those effects can be quite negative. It’s crucial that local government recognizes the value and stability of a mix of residents – and therefore that it encourage and provide incentive for ways to both draw more income into the city and improve the lives of the city’s poorer residents.
This is always an intersting topic for me and a little personal from both ends of it. My neighborhood Williamsburg Heights (Port and Keefe) is one of the hardest neighborhoods in the city but also right by RW and the quickly improving Harambee and also Glendale. My wife and I are excite and really hope we begin to see some improvements in our neighborhood and more owner occupied or locally residing owners of the rental properties and with that the value of our home would rise. My parents on the other hand who live across the street fear that if the neighborhood is improved this will mean that the value of their home will rise (their house is worth about as much now as it was 30 years ago) and also their taxes. Being on a fixed retired couples income this extra cost would really hurt them. They are not alone in thinking that over here and many working age people also feel the same. I think many would be suprised that although the exterior of many of these homes look run down the interiors of the owner occupied homes are gourgous and updated. We call them ghetto mansions. Folks do this so they can enjoy their hard work without feeling like the city is going to penalize them for doing the improvements.
I believe that our state tax code is killing Milwaukee. I don’t believe that it is progressive or fair. The state takes all income revenue, all sales tax revenue, many fees and a chunk of the property tax revenue. The only way Milwaukee can generate revenue is by piling on the property tax, fees and by being overly aggressive on parking enforcement. Then the state tells us what we can and can’t spend our money on, all the while collecting more and more from local governments.
All this has has a terrible impact on our housing stock, causes rifts in neighborhoods, takes away people’s driving priveleges and creates disincentives for people and families looking to locate in Milwaukee. Why would anyone, unless money is not an option, remodel a home in Milwaukee with all the return on your investment going to property taxes? The city, county and state take all creme from the housing market and causes the housing stock to rapidly deteriorate. So what do people do? They leave Milwaukee or they fix up the inside of their homes and not the exterior so the Assessor’s Office has no idea they’re improving the house.
Ultimately, Milwaukee at this time in it’s history need to be a relative bargain for people of means or families, to consider moving or staying here. Because we will all ask the question….. what am I getting for the taxes I’m paying. Again, I don’t necessarily place all blame on Milwaukee. I think our state has a stupid and atiquated tax code that may have worked in 1890, but does not today. Also, it would be nice if places like Mequon helped pay for some of the ammenities Milwaukee provides rather than mooching.
Compelling arguments for something that I’ve advocated for a long time: a city income tax. Everyday, thousands of people make use of innumerable city services free of charge; services that are being paid for by city property owners.
We charge visitors and tourists to the city mercilessly. Why not classify these visitors similarly?
Blurondo….. maybe the answer is lower property taxes and higher sales taxes within the county? Our income taxes are very high as it is.
Why doesn’t Milwaukee secede? Join Chicago then all the mismanaged cities, schools would be in one govt. If I become gentrified can I still drink beer and brats.??
@WCD….. I find your comment interesting. Can you expand?
David has it correct, the tax code, but more specifically the property tax code, means that the only people that can take a chance on a neighborhood and renovate are those with deep pockets. Too many stories in the news in the past about lower income and lower middle income people developing houses in troublesome neighborhoods (like Brewers Hill) and then getting chased out due to property tax increases when the neighborhood starts flipping. Milwaukee needs a system like California where once you buy the place, your property taxes are locked in (if you develop a place with your sweat, you win). If you want stable neighborhoods, then you need stable long term employment and property tax relief. My mother’s house, on the northwest side, by the time we were able to sell it after she had passed, had lost about 40% of it’s value from the early 2000’s, but her property taxes were still pushing $3800. I had to move to Indianapolis for a job, after her passing, and in no way would I defend Indiana’s tax policies, but a similarly priced home would have a yearly tax bill of $800! While people got hit in the housing crash of 2008 here, you never hear of any retiree’s losing their property because they can’t afford the taxes any more; yet when I was last working in Milwaukee in 2013, I met all kinds of retirees that were selling houses off and moving to small apartments because the property taxes were killing them.
Some interesting ideas. I like the idea of California’s tax code (first time hearing about it) but I also know that CA seems to make the news because of their massive amount of debt. A city income tax makes sense but I would fear that would just push more jobs out to Waukesha and make it harder for inner city folks to get to.
Andy- you say you’re not a fan of IN tax system but how is it set up where a similar home as your parents only pay $800/yr? Where is IN making up the difference?
California’s property tax system has been a disaster.
Link did not post: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2011-10-17/california-diminished-by-1978-tax-revolt-shows-u-s-in-decline
The Public Policy Forum and the City of Milwaukee did a study that concluded that Milwaukee actually collects and spends less revenue per capita than our Ohio Valley and Great Lakes peers. Yet its Milwaukee that gets all the blame for being a “tax hell”. Governor Walker preaches tax reform, but he’s doing nothing to help Milwaukee. Act 10 should be expanded to fire and poIice but due to political reasons, they were left out. I like Andy’s idea. They also have something like that in Cleveland. However, it can’t be done if the state takes all income, sales and a chunk of our property tax because we couldn’t make up the difference from other sources. Plus the state would have to approve any changes, and they’re not going to help in any way.
And then we have WCD, who still won’t expand on his secession idea. But then again there is usually no thought behind his words.
Milwaukee’s problems are well known in the state. Out state has not trusted or liked Milwaukee since the socialists were in charge.
Milwaukee has to solve it’s own problems. Most people in state are tired of listening to Milwaukee whine, do nothing to solve its own problems come to state for money for an arena while building a useless trolley.
The reputation as one of the top ten most violent cites, murders way up this year, aggravated assaults made it a problem for decades. Police force down 250 officers while spending useless money on buying votes. Problems never get solved. If state gave more money it would just go into people’s pockets and nothing solved.
Wisconsin Conservative Digest has addressed them many times but there is never anything on this site remotely close to a solution to those problems, mostly just whining and talking points. State Tax set up is not going to change as both the dems and the GOP out state will not change it. When Doyle was in charge, along with the Dems they did nothing. Tried to get Barrett to take over schools and he hid under bed.
If Milwaukee would attempt to address the problems themselves they might get help.
Arena funding at state level is dead according to the leaders.
Here are your problems. Instead of Blue Ribbon committees on Trolleys and Arenas this is what must be addressed: Crime, human trafficking, heroin epidemic, MPS, abandoned houses, corruption, poverty, 57% youth unemployment, city one of top ten worst managed, taxes and finally the Milwaukee county government, MMSD are considered a joke state wide..
@WCD…. hey dopey signed back in!!
Most people “out state” who criticize Milwaukee speak from a place of ignorance and foolishness. I have family in Neenah, Appleton, Oshkosh, and Green Bay. Every time I see them they ask me if I’m afraid to live there and if I have a gun at home for protection. They refuse to visit the city or us, declining invitations to barbeques and Brewers games because they “don’t like to go to the city.” They make overly broad generalizations and sometimes horribly racist statements. Actually they remind me a lot of a certain person who posts here quite frequently. It’s sad that people are content to live their one life overpowered by ignorance, prejudice, and obtuseness.
John Pawasarat makes a good point. Some data is better than others, and some of it can be really bad.
A cautionary tale for glib number crunchers.
So tell me — why don’t more people use better data sets? Is it because they are less convenient? If so
it would greatly enhance the public debate if the best data was made more accessible.
As usual, not answers to problems, just BS.
Your only solutions seem to be name-calling and vague generalities.
As a homeowner in the city I can see the value in things such as the streetcar, which can improve the rest of my neighborhood. That is not to say that we do not have serious challenges, but at a certain point, there is only so much city government can do to fix families.
Strong families is the number one deterrent to crime, the best way to ensure that kids don’t go down the road of drugs and violence.
I think it is telling that WCD comments on these, but never NEVER any of the stories that Urban MKE runs highlighting the good things that the good citizens of the northside are doing to take back their neighborhoods.
WCD is a dimwitted political hack. He doesn’t have answers…. or a clue. It’s a game to him. He’s not interested in solving problems. I keep waiting for him to write something of substance. He’s just a soldier spreading misinformation and spin.
aww….c’mon…this was shaping up to be a great thread about tax policy and what the goverment can do to encourage people to improve their properties and neighborhoods before Bob the Troll hijacked it.
interesting to read in paper today by Borsuk. Three of Four kids in third grade cannot read yet they go on to oblivion. My wife teaches third grade. If you do not learn to read by third grade you are lost in 4th. Rule: You learn to read by third grade then read to learn after that. Wonder why MPS is worst in country?
Also WSJ talks about how Lee Kuan Yew built up Singapore. First their schools are tops in world, next, he focused on clean and efficient government, business friendly economic policies, reduced regulation, and social, crime free order, all things Milwaukee flunks. Instead they focus on talking points; economic inequality, tax the rich, nail the 1% and on, that chased the businesses out to Washington and Waukesha county where people like them.
It is no accident that no one likes Milwaukee, in this state, and their downtown is disaster.
The county and city really believe that the state is going to build them an Arena when they will not put up any money?? the dems will not vote for this and if the GOP does they will get tossed out? Ask Petak and Drezewicki.
Awwww….. I think little Bobby needs a hug. And a nap.
There is something absolutely hilarious…I mean, jaw-droppingly hilarious to hear a die hard neo-con like WCD cite Singapore as great example of conservative ideals.
I’ll just leave this here for people to enjoy laughing at WCD on this one with me. I know he won’t read it because it’s published by PBS, which is a shame because he might have a quick moment where he feels like a horses behind before letting his ignorance creep back.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/first-prime-minister-singapore-lee-kuan-yew-dies-91/
Bruce do any of these hicks have any answers to anything? How about why murders, aggravated assaults are way up in Milwaukee, heroin epidemic? We have given answers and in fact our guys have written books, Clarke and i put answers out all time.
I would have put trolley money into putting more cops on street. that would reduce crime asap if they were used right. Flynn is out, will be interesting to see we are not Neocons.
Come out to the Conservative action Conference that we are running on 4/11 and find out answers. People in this state have spoken and tossed out the Left, except in Milwaukee where they will continue to drive it into ground. When 3 o4 kids in 3rd grade cannot read you have big problem.. Can you people do anyth
ing???
@ WCD. A coward won’t admit when he is wrong. A simpleton thinks simple answers solve complex problems. You are both.
How would you have used the federal rail money for more cops on the street? It couldn’t be used for anything else.
Saying something that is impossible to do as a solution is not a solution.
What is Clarke’s plan to reduce crime in the city?
Clarke’s plan to reduce crime is the same as Donovan’s: add more cops. He suggests cutting library hours, which doesn’t seem wise considering how often WCD mentions the poor reading abilities of children in Milwaukee. His plan is “cut the data driven crap,” arm yourself, and add more cops. That seems to be it.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/nov/17/sheriff-david-clarke-on-fighting-crime-get-rid-of-/
Nicholas, best to have people think you stupid, then open mouth. The feds gave Milwaukee some money but the cost, I think will go over 200 million but Barrett says $124 million. The money over the 55 million that the Feds are giving is coming from a TIF district or out of general revenue, that would go to schools, county and city. According to leg Ref Bureau that will be 100 million over the period of time of the bonds. That means no more cops. Barrett and Flynn protect downtown, east side but let the inner city shoot it out.
As for Clarke, yes one of the main ways of stopping crime is to put more cops into troubled areas but Glenn Frankovis, former Miwlaukee police captain has written a book about how to control crime in Miwlaukee as he did before the nutty female chief fired him for calling thugs, thugs.
Fact is that the Barrett, Chisholm, Flynn, Kremers group has a pact to not put minorities in inner city good people pay. We do not have that problem in Tosa, West Allis, Waukesha. We do not shelter thugs. That is why all of these horrendous aggravated assaults, murders are done by people that should be in jail. Your city is so bad that they cannot even teach kids to read these articles. The people out state including dems are never sednign more money to Milwaukee where the employees and the corruption will just soak it up, they know that. Milwaukee will have to solve these problems themselves but you do not have leaders capable of doing that as are represented by the people on this blog. Your city or county will not put any money into new arena and want people out state to spend 380 million for Milwaukee toys. Not going to happen.
Wisconsin incarcerates more black males than any other state. Traffic stops and arrests in certain high-crime neighborhoods are happening all the time. Your claim that law enforcement just ignores those neighborhoods and lets them shoot it out is a shameful lie and insults the police officers that work in those neighborhoods, like my brother-in-law. He’s a cop in District 5. If you told him that the police are ignoring that district, he would tell you that you are full of sh*t.
http://wuwm.com/post/police-say-more-traffic-stops-mean-less-crime
http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/little-change-in-latest-mpd-traffic-stop-racial-data-0k5cbql-151017185.html
Okay, aside from Name-calling.
More cops.
Then what? If Clarke rejects data-driven policing, so what do you do with the more cops? Does more police neccesarily mean less crime? Baltimore and Washington are both cities near in size to MKE, both have much larger police forces, and much higher crime?
What kind of cops are we hiring? Those from the neighborhoods that need them the most? Or outsiders who take on an occupier status.
Frankovis wrote a book about saturation patrols. Milwaukee currently utilizes these patrols. They are very expensive, but would be less so if Act 10 extended to police and fire. Walker is playing politics.
The ONLY way Milwaukee can generate revenue for more police and better services for poorer neighborhoods is to generate additional property tax revenue. The STATE of WISCONSIN takes everything else. This is done through more development and higher values. One way of doing this is to build modern transit – light rail can do this, at least according to imperial evidence from cities across the country. There is no money transfer from the existing budget from schools. Capital costs for the transit improvements will come from ancillary development as a result of the public investments. After a set time, those revenues will flow to the general fund for such things as more police.
The arena will do the same thing. Build property vales and tax revenue so we can afford more police….. etc. The public should invest in the arena… 50% so they can have a say in its developed. This project, I believe, will be a game changer for downtown Milwaukee and will benefit everyone in the city. WCD, you may not agree with the method, but this is what is being communicated to us from several sources. You shouldn’t be so fast and loose with your information.
It’s not fast and loose with information. It’s creating a narrative that fits a narrow world view, despite plenty of evidence to the contrary.
Case in point his lauding of the former leader of Singapore…
it is well known fact that arenas do nothing for development, Murphy has pointed that out many time. Where is all the great development around the Bradley Center? After Braves left a study showed no big deal in lost economy. Do some research and you would not sound so stupid.
Cities were founded for three reasons: police, fire, sanitation. You do those first, do them right then lavish money on fat salaries, bennies buying votes for useless politicians as Milwaukee does. It is no secret why Milwaukee is in top ten worst violent crime cause it is top ten worst managed. top ten worst poverty, worst schools, heroin epidemic and this all started way before Walker ever came around. They have chased all the businesses out to Waukesha with stupid rhetoric from people like on this blog. You do not find white liberal racists out in Waukesha, only Milwaukee. the path to wonderful cities and schools can be found all around the world and this country, just look.
Can you find any liberals in Waukesha?
@WCD….. you never have anything to say. You have no solutions and your posts are worthless. Sanitation… check, fire….. check, police…. Oh yeah, how about letting us apply Act 10 to MPD?!?! Bob, you’re a dope.
@PMD….there’s more and more liberals sprouting in Waukesha.
WCD….you really might want to do a bit more history research if you think cities were founded for police, fire and sanitation which are all recent (and great) developments. Cities were created when groups combined resources in order to obtain more resources. Cities are injured when another entity comes and begins to suck the city’s resources away. Simple economics. You WCD…give conservatives a bad name and a racist reputation by publicly claiming to be one with your nonsense which only leads to more polarization of this region and state.
You want to cut taxes? How about dismantling the industrial military complex that Eisenhower warned of after WWII? That in its self would free up plenty of resources and capital that could boost the economy forward.