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Paul W. Schlecht: City raising white flag on crime

Paul W. Schlecht  —  7/05/2008 8:00 am

Dear Editor: Reading the July 2 Wisconsin State Journal front-page article by Patricia Simms left me a bit confused. A 42 percent increase in police calls over a two-year period and the "emergence of serious crime (due to) the overflow criminal activity squeezed out of the once notorious Allied Drive by city development."

Alderman Zach Brandon: "Tempe Drive is not lost. ... But it is emblematic of what can happen if we don't pay attention. It's a yellow flag -- a caution flag."

Then: "As a whole, that area is safer than the vast majority of neighborhoods in the city of Madison." That statement is on a par with the late great George Carlin's observation that "Attila the Hun had an active outdoor lifestyle."

I have numerous friends in that area, ranging from renters to business owners and longtime homeowners. Their take is not the same as Brandon's. A safer neighborhood than Penn Park, than the Highlands, the north side or Maple Bluff?

Apparently, the city of Madison's priorities are bike paths, trolleys, a platinum cycling rating, sister cities, smoking bans, farmers' markets, meaningless impeachment posturing -- ad nauseam. People don't feel safe in their own neighborhoods, and at least one alder is seemingly clueless.

Does anyone recall the main topic of concern in several overflowing neighborhood meetings attended by both the mayor and the chief of police not long ago? Those meetings and the concerns that were voiced, rather strongly as I recall, should have raised a red flag.

But now we're back to yellow. It might as well be white in this town.

Paul W. Schlecht

Madison

Paul W. Schlecht  —  7/05/2008 8:00 am