Mark Wilde wrote:
"quit asking the police to smile more, its naive."
Isn't it possible that some of what makes the job of
policing "dangerous and dirty" comes from lack of community integration in
the job of policing, and lack of community support for the policies of the
department and behavior of officers? I think it's na�ve to believe we can
have a city which is as safe as possible for as many citizens as possible
without a more approachable, accountable police force. Sometimes a
smile-and the respect behind it-is what's needed to ease the tensions
between our neighborhoods and our police department.
As far as the plowing of streets... I believe that the
complexity of snow emergency procedures and the exorbitant impound rates
create a not-so-clandestine, regressive tax on those who can least afford to
pay. Much like speeding laws, snow emergency procedures are designed to be
broken, to produce revenue for local government. Except that while many
well-off folks own fast cars and drive them too quickly, earning themselves
speeding tickets, many well-off folks also have off-street parking, and
therefore avoid the tow-trucks. If the purpose is really to remove the snow
from the streets (and as I bicyclist who has crashed on slippery roads three
times in the past two days, believe me, I have no problem with this...)
there may well be a better way to go about it.
Robin Garwood
Marcy Holmes
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