Dysfunction and Disorder Abound - This Ain't Funny McGee!

View From The Gaza Strip-



Well folks, it's been a while. I guess I was fooled by the brief, shining nano-second that appeared to reveal the Nelson Neighborhood was improving...Love Community Garden (bless those folks) was flourishing, despite some minor theft and vandalism. Yes, things were looking up and then Muskegon lived up to it's potential for failure.



The clouds of disaster gathered as police spend their energy creating hassles for a community-based charitable group to hold an event downtown, other city functionaries get concerned about random public art, while thugs gather and arm themselves for a spate of shootings and car-jacking attempts. I had used the term "Gaza Strip" sort of tongue-in-cheek, but now here we are: a breakdown of the Department of Public Safety (there's a satirical name if I ever heard one!) evidenced by stone and rock-throwing at unrecognized cars, a viscious hold up at a charitable poker game and shooting at a vehicle driving through a neighborhood. We are the Gaza Strip!



A large part of this breakdown is due to ineffective policing (primarily a lack of preventative presence), to be sure; but, another powerful component is the lack of cooperation the police recieve from those who they serve. Granted, the cops need top be smarter about protecting the identities of those who overcome their distrust of the police and fear of condemnation from their neighbors who have abandoned their role in the social contract to report and bear witness.

The clouds are now darker with despair and we are awaiting the thunderclap which inevitably follows...We are witness to a breakdown of society...Well, after all, it is the Gaza Strip!