So, we all know the routine. The Cult of the GOP has been saying for 90 years that government is never a help, never the answer, and always the problem.
Well, bullshit.
Look at this photo:
Over the great orange jump for more...
That photo was of Charlotte Street in the south Bronx in 1979. Back in the 1970s and the 1980 presidential campaign, this was a must stop for candidates. Democrats went to push for better housing programs. Reagan went there to show, well, I'm not sure what- why inner cities should be bulldozed and the people tossed in the sea?
Well, he sure as shit didn't go there to push for better housing.
So, what has happened on Charlotte Street?
In today's NY Times, Michael Powell has a small article, Government Can’t Help? Tell That to the South Bronx about the public-private partnerships in NYC that has transformed this and other parts of the city over the past 25 years or so.
The effort started during the Koch administration, continued with David Dinkins, no mention of Rudy (but I know it didn't stop completely), and Mike Bloomberg...well, for all the crap he takes,
The Bloomberg administration will, in the end, have poured more than $8 billion into building and preserved 165,000 apartments — more than enough to house the population of Miami.
All the housing that has been built or saved is not sold or rented at market rates. An overwhelming amount of it is rent stabilized or reserved for middle and lower income families. And beyond the housing, there are new schools being built in the area as well, and stores have come into to places that a generation ago they wouldn't have touched without a tank in front of the place.
It isn't perfect, there are complaints, the article says about construction wages being less than union scale, but there were always more minority workers on these sites then in other construction sites around the city- giving jobs to many who never had one.
So, what does Charlotte Street look like today? A picture is worth a 1000 words:
Nice, eh?
That's an apartment building going up in the background. It will (or already does) have stores on the street level.
So Mr Boehner, and the rest of the Teahdist GOP cult bullshit throwers.... government can't help?
Go to the South Bronx and tell them that.
Fuck you and the horse you rode in on.