THE SADNESS OF FEAR

On August 18th, I will note the second anniversary of my one and only encounter with a burglar. Last year I blogged about the first anniversary. It seems like so far away yet so close. I remember the fear I experienced for weeks afterward every time I would hear a noise or see a shadow. And I no longer left my windows open at night to let in the soft breeze and the warm night air.

My kids kept urging me to do something – anything. They bought me a little tube of mace – the only thing I agreed to accept – which I carried everywhere for awhile. But then that got to be too much bother, and I began leaving it at home. My youngest son is a hunter – bow and rifle – so his first suggestion was to purchase a gun. I politely disagreed as he knew I would.

Their other suggestions included bars on the windows or a security system. I guess I procrastinated about as long as I could. But about a month ago, I finally capitulated and had a security system installed.

Gone are the days of my youth in South Whitley when I left the keys in my car and my doors unlocked at night. Gone are the days of trust. Gone are the days of walking down a street without fear.

I had the system put in on a Monday night, but I could not bring myself to use it until Wednesday night. As I set the door sensors and the motion sensors for the first time, I felt a deep sadness. I looked around at the windows, in particular, the one where the burglar had entered. I felt like I had lost something valuable – something that could never be regained.

I knew that the fear I had never felt before in my life would always be with me now and knowing that I would never really be free from that fear generated a sadness that will never go away. So now I set my alarms every night, and I sleep more soundly than I have in a long time. But that deep sleep comes with a price, and that price is the loss of my youthful trust.

WRECKING THE NEIGHBORHOODS – THE CITY’S NEW ROLE

Residents and proponents of older neighborhoods struggle in a never-ending battle to save abandoned homes all the while attempting to convince residents that outward flight to cookie-cutter suburbs only hastens the decline of the urban core.

This past Monday’s Journal-Gazette contained a front page article by Dan Stockman describing a new policy the City wants to establish. The City wants to selectively demolish homes it thinks are eyesores and “cancers” in a neighborhood even though those homes may not be ready for the wrecking ball. Private property interests will again be assaulted to accommodate official views of how a neighborhood should look.

Since 1990, Fort Wayne has demolished over a 1,000 homes. Any guesses where those houses are located? Take a drive through the east central part of Fort Wayne. Vacant lot after vacant lot greets drivers as they head west on Washington or Berry or east on Wayne or Jefferson through the East Central Neighborhood. The southeast part of Fort Wayne also has its share of empty lots.

Recently, my own neighborhood – West Central – has seen increasing demolition of abandoned homes. In addition, a number of fires have broken out in vacant homes, leaving them prime candidates for destruction by the City. Fires leave homes unsafe and with little to restore, so the most obvious solution is to demolish the homes.

The following is an abstract of the City’s 2003 Housing Strategy Recommendations.

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Title	City of Fort Wayne Housing Strategy Recommendations
Highlights	There is implicit recognition that the City permitting system is not satisfactory. The Fort Wayne Housing Strategy suggests taking a customer satisfaction survey of the permit office. There is implicit recognition that tax policies discourage the redevelopment of housing. The Fort Wayne Housing Strategy recommends a number of tax incentives to encourage redevelopment and rehabilitation. There is implicit recognition that the City Zoning ordinance does not offer sufficient incentives to develop affordable housing. The Fort Wayne Housing Strategy suggests that the City consider an inclusionary zoning ordinance.
Description	In August 2003, the City of Fort Wayne, Indiana, along with a number of private and non-profit partners, published a strategy to revitalize the city. In the report the city acknowledged that it needs to set goals and adopt a comprehensive set of policies for growth and neighborhood revitalization. The city and its partners identified twelve issues that affected Fort Wayne’s housing environment. From those issues they created eight goals and a number of coordinated steps to reach those goals. In those steps were a number of regulatory issues. In Recommendation 3.3 the report suggests that the city improve the permitting office’s customer service through conducting a customer satisfaction survey. They also suggest publishing all policies and procedures in short brochures and on a city Web site. Additionally, in Recommendation 5.2, the authors suggest the city develop a parcel-basemap to identify property in the city. Further, they suggest the creation of a housing development coordinator to assist developers with various development rules and regulations. (5.3) In Recommendation 5.6 they suggest revising the demolition protocol of the code enforcement program to reduce the chance of a building being demolished if it can be rehabilitated and sold instead. Further they suggest revising the tax code to encourage rehabilitation and redevelopment (5.7 and 5.8). They also support the consideration of inclusionary zoning ordinance provisions (8.7).
Publication Date	2003
Organization	City of Fort Wayne, Indiana
Web Location	http://www.cityoffortwayne.org/images/stories/community_development/strategic_planning/files/housing_recomm.pdf

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Demolishing homes in the urban core creates empty lots, which, in turn, decreases the property tax base. A list of properties currently up for demolition can be found at the City’s website. The City appears to be working at cross-purposes in that it stresses saving the urban core and undertakes revitalization efforts on one hand and on the other hand seeks to put in place a new policy which will only hasten demolition of homes the City deems unworthy of saving.

The new policy will allow the City to determine not only the terms of demolition of abandoned homes which has been within its purview but also the terms of demolition for those homes not yet ready to be torn down. All for the sake of its own vision of our urban neighborhoods.

If our City’s urban core is to be saved, continued demolition of existing, older homes is not an acceptable solution. Instead, the City should be providing every possible incentive to buyers to return to the urban core and revitalize the older homes instead of providing the very wrecking ball to destroy those homes.

West Central Neighborhood – Historic neighborhood with older homes

East Central Neighborhood – older neighborhood showing the effects of demolition. Notice the empty lots and lower density than the West Central Neighborhood.

MUGABE MADNESS IN ZIMBABWE – ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY

Almost three decades ago, Robert G. Mugabe – now 84 years old – assumed political office in Zimbabwe, formerly known as Rhodesia. Zimbabwe is located in the southern part of Africa surrounded on the south and southwest by South Africa and Botswana; on the northwest by Zambia; and, the northeast and east by Mozambique.

Photo credit: CIA Factbook

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During the 1960s and 1970s, Mugabe was a political prisoner in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). He left Rhodesia in 1976 to join the Liberation Struggle – Rhodesian Bush War – in Mozambique. At the end of the war, Mugabe was hailed by Africans as a hero, and he won in the general elections of 1980: the first elections in which the majority black Africans participated.

Mugabe became the first Prime Minister of black-ruled Zimbabwe in 1980 after calling for reconciliation between formerly warring parties, including whites as well as rival parties. But today he is seen as a power hungry ruler in control of a country where inflation is running rampant. A 2-ply sheet of toilet paper costs $417 – the entire roll costs $145,750 or $.69 in American coinage.

In March of this year a presidential election as well as a parliamentary election were held with no clear results. One of the two challengers, Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) garnered a greater percentage than Mugabe but not enough to seal his role as president of Zimbabwe. With the lack of a clear winner, a second election – a run-off – was necessary to establish the election of the president.

But Mugabe and his forces have other ideas as to how to corner the vote and remain entrenched in power. By intimidating and killing supporters of Tsvangirai, Mugabe has forced Tsvangirai to withdraw rather than see continuing slaughter of his supporters. While reaction from non-African nations has been swift and negative, few African leaders have voiced an opinion on Mugabe’s thug tactics.

As the old saying goes, “absolute power corrupts absolutely.” After years of leading Zimbabwe and overseeing change and growth, Mugabe has now succumbed to the lure of power over the welfare of his people and his country.