EDCIVIC at DELPHI.COM
01-04-1995, 11:51 PM
I'm reposting this because I'm not sure whether a first attempt worked
properly. If it did, sorry for overloading your email box.
Ed Schwartz
As is customary in relation to federal policy, the whole debate
on the Republican contract is unfolding with little attention to
the impact of proposals on America's communities. We get a full
account of how budget cuts and tax reductions might affect
federal spending. We learn how the elimination of federal
programs will affect the interests or the industries that benefit
from them. We are bombarded with appeals to the "family" and the
"middle class." But missing from the equation is analysis of how
specific proposals will affect entire communities. The bipartisan
practice of treating people as abstractions with no real
relationship to each other remains unchallenged by this latest
political "revolution."
The irony is that much of the anxiety and anger shared by
Americans now revolves around conditions within our communities.
Crime is a community problem.
Schools are community institutions.
Even feelings about the economy relate as much to the business
and job climate where we do than they do about the economic
condition of the country as a whole. It's nice to learn that
America is experiencing a recovery, but in Philadelphia we're
still losing jobs and that's what matters here.
And what about the people who get apoplectic over what they see
on the evening news--even if they aren't personally threatened by
what they see? Doesn't this make a powerful statement that we
aren't isolated from each other--that what happens near to us
affects how we feel and behave even if we can protect ourselves
from the dnagers?
Communities shape the conditions of our lives, but politicians of
both parties talk as if they don't exist. And this, I submit, is
a major reason that politics itself has come to seem so
fraudulent and empty. It seems that way because it is. Public
officials are debating matters that will have a massive impact on
the way in which we live, but without the slightest interest in
examining what the real impact will be.
As the debate over the Republican Contract and whatever the
Clinton adminstration proposes as an alternative unfolds, we will
be subjected to a variety of impact statements. There'll be the
Deficit Impact Statement, the Poverty Impact Statement, the
Economic Recovery Impact Statement, the Childrens' Impact
Statement, and maybe even an Environmental Impact Statement or
two.
I think we ought to demand a Community Impact Statement too--from
our own representatives. When it became necessary to cutback on
military installations, Congresspeople in affected cities and
towns demanded compensatory help to cushion the blow and they got
it. Since little such sensitivity seems to be emerging from
Washington, we've got to demand it.
Here are a few basic questions that we ought to ask.
Will a proposal improve the physical condition and appearance of
our communities, or will it result in deterioration and decay?
Will a proposal make our communities safer or more dangerous?
Will a proposal strengthen the the ability of our communities to
educate our children, or will it result in even more serious
problems for our schools?
Will a proposal help the economy of our community, or will it
hurt?
Will a proposal result in fewer people living in poverty in our
community, or will there be more?
These are the major concerns that people raise about
neighborhoods and communities. We want to live in places that are
clean, safe, educationally sound and economically viable. Surely,
we need to understand how new policies and programs will shape
these conditions.
Because the cost to our communities of many of these proposed
"reforms" may more than outweigh what appear to be benefits now,
but we won't really know that, will we, unless we start asking
these questions now.
Ed Schwartz, Institute for the Study of Civic Values, 1218 Chestnut St.,
Rm. 702, Philadelphia, Pa. 19107 215-238-1434 edcivic@delphi.com
HN2088@handsnet.org
ISCV is found on the Center for Civic Networking Gopher
Check out the gopher server:
at a unix prompt: gopher gopher.civic.net 2400
URL: gopher://gopher.civic.net:2400/
ISCV is on "The Civic Network" Menu
"Citizenship is the American ideal. There may be an army of actualities
opposed to that ideal, but there is no ideal opposed to that ideal."
--G.K. Chesterton
---
This post transferred from the cdb-l mailing list
properly. If it did, sorry for overloading your email box.
Ed Schwartz
As is customary in relation to federal policy, the whole debate
on the Republican contract is unfolding with little attention to
the impact of proposals on America's communities. We get a full
account of how budget cuts and tax reductions might affect
federal spending. We learn how the elimination of federal
programs will affect the interests or the industries that benefit
from them. We are bombarded with appeals to the "family" and the
"middle class." But missing from the equation is analysis of how
specific proposals will affect entire communities. The bipartisan
practice of treating people as abstractions with no real
relationship to each other remains unchallenged by this latest
political "revolution."
The irony is that much of the anxiety and anger shared by
Americans now revolves around conditions within our communities.
Crime is a community problem.
Schools are community institutions.
Even feelings about the economy relate as much to the business
and job climate where we do than they do about the economic
condition of the country as a whole. It's nice to learn that
America is experiencing a recovery, but in Philadelphia we're
still losing jobs and that's what matters here.
And what about the people who get apoplectic over what they see
on the evening news--even if they aren't personally threatened by
what they see? Doesn't this make a powerful statement that we
aren't isolated from each other--that what happens near to us
affects how we feel and behave even if we can protect ourselves
from the dnagers?
Communities shape the conditions of our lives, but politicians of
both parties talk as if they don't exist. And this, I submit, is
a major reason that politics itself has come to seem so
fraudulent and empty. It seems that way because it is. Public
officials are debating matters that will have a massive impact on
the way in which we live, but without the slightest interest in
examining what the real impact will be.
As the debate over the Republican Contract and whatever the
Clinton adminstration proposes as an alternative unfolds, we will
be subjected to a variety of impact statements. There'll be the
Deficit Impact Statement, the Poverty Impact Statement, the
Economic Recovery Impact Statement, the Childrens' Impact
Statement, and maybe even an Environmental Impact Statement or
two.
I think we ought to demand a Community Impact Statement too--from
our own representatives. When it became necessary to cutback on
military installations, Congresspeople in affected cities and
towns demanded compensatory help to cushion the blow and they got
it. Since little such sensitivity seems to be emerging from
Washington, we've got to demand it.
Here are a few basic questions that we ought to ask.
Will a proposal improve the physical condition and appearance of
our communities, or will it result in deterioration and decay?
Will a proposal make our communities safer or more dangerous?
Will a proposal strengthen the the ability of our communities to
educate our children, or will it result in even more serious
problems for our schools?
Will a proposal help the economy of our community, or will it
hurt?
Will a proposal result in fewer people living in poverty in our
community, or will there be more?
These are the major concerns that people raise about
neighborhoods and communities. We want to live in places that are
clean, safe, educationally sound and economically viable. Surely,
we need to understand how new policies and programs will shape
these conditions.
Because the cost to our communities of many of these proposed
"reforms" may more than outweigh what appear to be benefits now,
but we won't really know that, will we, unless we start asking
these questions now.
Ed Schwartz, Institute for the Study of Civic Values, 1218 Chestnut St.,
Rm. 702, Philadelphia, Pa. 19107 215-238-1434 edcivic@delphi.com
HN2088@handsnet.org
ISCV is found on the Center for Civic Networking Gopher
Check out the gopher server:
at a unix prompt: gopher gopher.civic.net 2400
URL: gopher://gopher.civic.net:2400/
ISCV is on "The Civic Network" Menu
"Citizenship is the American ideal. There may be an army of actualities
opposed to that ideal, but there is no ideal opposed to that ideal."
--G.K. Chesterton
---
This post transferred from the cdb-l mailing list