JohnFrim wrote:
I stand informed... the mayor is a democrat. But shouldn't this be a federal issue? When I learned a bit about plumbing I was always told water can go up but crap always goes downhill; i.e., it starts at the top.
Federal issue? Federal employees are not expected to show up in our cities with shovels and scoop up human poop. If they did, they would be doing much more valuable work than they are doing now. Our system, more than any other Democracy. was set up to give the most amount of control to local governments. That is why we have "States" and local jurisdictions. This is one of the main things that Conservatives try to "conserve" because we don't want a small group of people in Washington who do not know anything about us to dictate every little move that we make.
This is also why living conditions and laws can be drastically different depending on where you live in America. Without exception, all the big cities are run exclusively by Democrat-controlled administrations, and in probably most cases 100% Democrat controlled with no Republican representation whatsoever. Many of these big cities have not had a Republican mayor in more than 50 years.
Just as predictable as which political party runs the big cities are these facts:
1. The overwhelming majority of crime takes place in big cities. I think more than half of the total murders in America occur in just a few big cities. In 2016, 4.5% of murders in the U.S. occurred in just one city, Chicago. Chicago's population is less than 1% of the country, about .8% In the same year in the State pf Michigan, over half of the murders occurred in just one big city - Deetroit, whose population is just 7% of Michigan.
2. The vast majority of people on public welfare reside in big cities.
3. Almost the entirety of the homeless population live in big cities. Homelessness is exceedingly rare outside of big cities.
4. The public school systems in big cities are the worst, and their students routinely score not just below the National Average, or below rural cities, but often two or three grade levels below the average, and with appalling rates of dropping out.
5. Although drug usage is everywhere, the places where it is concentrated the most is - you guessed it - big cities, along with graft, corruption, and prostitution.
6. On the plus side, big cities have museums and sports teams.