Our city is running more than one murder per day in the new year. Every day, day-in, day-out, the yellow tape and chalk circles dominate the nightly news. One does not go to church without something in his pocket. [Local slang for "carrying a gun"] Municipal employees are human beings and no more willing than the rest of us to submit or to subject our families to life in the Hobbesian state of nature.

Why is it hard to accept that market pressures should not force cities to get their act together.

The tax eaters prefer take-out.

Not so surprisingly, for those who read history, the ruling class of the city will choose to fail rather than reform by repudiating their ideology.

Sometimes, suffering is a good thing - it forces change. Just like alcoholics, the cities need to hit bottom before they'll be willing to come back.

Why shouldn't city taxpayers be able to dictate where the recipients of their largesse live? Don't want to live there? Don't take the lucre.

Mr. Judd;

I certainly agree with that, but the issue is a bit muddied by the amount of state taxpayer money that flows to the cities.

However, the fact that the cities may no longer do that remains and leaves the cities' ruling class with the choice of adapt or fail.

Two things tend to happen with residency requirements.

1. If the requirement is enforced fairly, those people who want to move out because the place is going down the tubes still do anyway, and all thr residency rule does is reduce the talent pool that the city hires from, leading to a decline in the quality of city services.

2. More commonly, for the reasons set forth above, the requirement is ignored in practice . . . until someone in violation of the residency requirement gets on the wrong side of someone else. Then, it's used as a way of getting rid of the "troublemaker."

Cleveland was over a while ago. The position of the barn doors is no longer an issue.

In Cleveland, the white firefighters and police live in a few areas of the west side, in other words, as close to the suburbs as possible (and as far away from blacks as possible, sad to say). There is a grandfather clause so those who worked for the city but lived outside the city before 1982 can still do so. Those hired since 1982 knew of the law before they took the coveted jobs.

It is a fundamentally racist state law and anti-democratic to boot. Not to mention shortsighted. It encourages white flight and what benefit does the state gain? More state aid to Cleveland?

Mike:

No they don't. They want the jobs, which pay better than in the 'burbs. That's why the unions want the change.

AOG:

As long as we don't have to listen to Rightwingers who support this kind of thing complain about non-citizens getting government benefits.

Our major cities are excellent illustrations of the results of ‘destructive compassion’. Communities that fail to demand self-discipline of their inhabitants will continue to decline. As Senator Moynihan predicted, a community can not survive a 70% illegitimate birth rate.

Our school district scrapped its residency requirement a while back. The state made them do it. So now the teachers, at least the ones with school age children of their own, live in a sort of "donut" surrounding the city line. Although this is not to say that many of them had not been using phoney addresses before the switch.

The change had to be made in order to get enough certified teachers to meet state and federal requirements.

As usual, the race card had been played here and played badly. Our observations have indicated that teachers of African and partial African descent vote against the city with their feet only slightly less eagerly than their peers of European heritage. It has to do with not wanting one's own children to be shot, robbed, raped and terrortized. And why is that a bad thing--who wants stupid teachers?

Lou:

As long as they don't want the city money that enables them to move they're welcome to.

Perhaps book reviewers should live in the same city as the publisher of the book. Or the same city as the author. I don't believe that only city money goes to pay the police, firemen and teachers. I'll bet there is also state and federal money involved. No money or services for non-citizens.

Allen:

I'll live anywhere that the taxpayers will pay me over 50k for writing book reviews, which is less than a Cleveland teacher of similar education and experience makes.

So we know what kind of girl you are, and now we're just haggling over price.

joe:

Absolutely, so long as you're willing to be bought there's no right to get in high dudgeon when someone tells you what they want for their money.

Since when is it their money, oj? Remember your own motto: you only get the sovereignty we decide you get. I see no more reason to be solicitous of Cleveland's than you do of Sudan's.

joe,

Do you ever hope that he gets too close to a candle, and his back hair catches on fire?

No, that would just convince him that candles were anti-social and needed to be outlawed. I want him to stay very safe.

You going to pay Sudan's civil service?