sir2gees

Welcome to Cleveland. Take a look at University Hts.

I'm totally disgusted.

What separates me from them was my parents cared about my future and put their own personal desires on the backburner. My parents busted their butts to make sure my brother and I got an education. Don't fall for that "can't move to the burbs, can't afford tuition, none of that..." crap. I'm talking about personal responsibility. The parents in a lot of these neighborhoods are nonexistent. I thought the idea was to make sure your kids did better than you? Why are these kids running the streets and dropping out of school before 16? I'm not trying to be harsh. I just think we are expecting too much out of school districts.

"Beaten out of people." C'mon, that's a cop-out. I'm a 28 year old African-American male, so I know firsthand what you're about. However, that's not the reason people have given up. That's an excuse that has been used too much. We moved from a 120th and Buckeye to University Hts. when I was six. My parents did everything they could to ensure I got a good education. That's the only thing that separates me from the majority of inner-city Clevelanders. My Dad is a steelworker and my Mom is a nurse. However, they understood that education is the great equalizer. Yeah, it doesn't ensure you will make it in life, but it's better than the alternative. My parents caught hell from family members for sending me to private school. My wife had the same experience growing up in Pittsburgh. She had to leave her predominately black high school. The black girls teased her for making the honor roll. She got picked on everyday for acting white. This stuff is more complicated than you think.

The problem is not homegrown. It exist in every inner-city neighborhood in this country. I'm talking about a value that is missing from a certain part of the population. In my opinion, education is family value that is passed down. This exact topic has been an issue in my family for years.

Until parents in a lot of these inner-city neighborhoods buy into education, we are not going to see any improvement. So many parents in these neighborhoods don't believe in education. They don't understand the importance of attaining a college education. I wish we could send some of these parents to school.

^ Unfortunately, I think fixing Cleveland Public schools may be the hardest thing to fix. It's not about money, its about changing the culture within these schools. I don't want to go too far off topic, but there are a lot of underlying cultural issues holding these schools back.

^And the frustrating part about this is cities like Cincy, Cleveland and Pittsburgh have the pieces to compete. Atlanta is cool, but I was pretty disappointed after spending sometime there.

We were a "One trick pony" for almost 100 years. We've may have finally bottomed out in terms of our manufacturing base, so I expect things to get better over the next decade. It wasn't like the area attracted immigrants because our leaders implemented progressive policies. It was because we had a large amounts of manufacturing jobs. This, however, doesn't mean we can't market the city to immigrants. We can't discount the fact our region has lost thousands of decent-paying job. There is hope. I always think about my grandfather who left the south in 1947 looking for a job. Now, my generation is looking for jobs in the south.

^I think you're 100% percent right. People follow jobs and opportunity. It doesn't matter where they are.

I've heard of welcome centers before this article. What concerns me is that the city doesn't seem to have a solid plan. Granted, this has been going one for fifty years, and there is a lot more going on than not having welcome centers.

The city is only now discussing welcome centers? I'm tired of reading articles where the city seems to be behind on just about everything. Eveyone else has a game plan to combat population decline.

All I was trying to say is that killing individual is the ultimate penalty. So, applying the death penalty to a crime where the action doesn't actually kill someone is disproportionate. Therefore, it violates the 8th Amendment...Cruel and unusual punishment.

We are going to take a life of an individual that didn't even take the life of his victim. I understand the rape victim is devastated, and will carry this with her the rest the of her life, but this doesn't even meet the "eye for an eye" standard. In my opinion, this does not equal justice.

^So its about context? That is pretty subjective when we're talking about killing someone, and that is exactly my issue with a state sanctioned death penalty.

I wasn't not calling it racism. I just never seen so many people through around the death penalty like it was a speeding ticket. We are talking about the state killing someone. So, If the kid from Westlake didn't have a lengthy rap-sheet you wouldn't want the death penalty? That's the problem with the death penalty. Where is the cutoff?

I'm not advocating sympathy for any felon. My only argument is that the death penalty is extreme in rape cases. I have no problem with this kid spending the next 20-30 years of his life in jail. Would we apply the same type of punishment for a forcible rape committed by a 16 year old from the suburbs? What if a 16 year old from Westlake raped his girlfriend after prom, would you still be advocating the death penalty? Would you call him a savage?

Tbideon, Doesn't it brother you that we're talking about a killing 16 year old child? Yes, this is a heinous crime, but we're talking about a child. He should not see the light of day for a long time, but I don't advocate the death penalty. Again, "draconian" punishment doesn't deter crime. Do you think this kid actually thought about the consequences? If he did, he probably wouldn't have committed the crime. That's the problem with deterrence. It applies to people like you and me who have a lot to lose. However, for some people, the thought of death or life in prison means nothing.

^Capital punishment? Has capital punishment reduced the murder rate since it's re inception? There is a large segment of the population that doesn't care about mandatory jail time or capital punishment. Do think these teenagers would have been deterred because rape carried a stiffer penalty? Probably not. We have to address the root of the problem. Too many teenagers in certain neighborhoods are being left to their own devices. I remember being 16, and if I didn't have parents, I don't know where I would be.

You're right it's not impossible to secure to the front of the museum. However, can CPD secure every institution in University Circle? Until now, we never though this kind of crime could happen on the front steps of the Art Museum. There are too many variables and too many places to be. It's no different than waiting until my mom turned her back so I could punch my littler brother in his face.

327, Okay, so If two officers are walking around Wade Lagoon what changes. Unless you begin profiling, nothing changes. If two cops see these teens wandering around UC, do they stop them to ask what are they doing? Honestly, I don't want to live in that kind of society. Also, as soon as the cops leave a particular area, that area becomes unpatrolled. We would need a lot more cops for this to work. Also, there is a certain segment of the population that is undeterred by police presence or the thought of going to jail. I will say it again, we are talking about something that is near impossible to stop unless we have a cop on every corner.

If a cruiser rolls past Wade Lagoon at 10:59, and the victim is assaulted at 11:02, how could the officers stop this kind of crime? Unless you actually see the perpetrators in action, what can be done?Unfortunately, there are certain risk we all take when we leave the house in the morning. Yes, I would like to see more police activity in certain areas of the city. However, in my opinion, more pedestrian activity is the only way to prevent this kind of crime.

^It is random. There is no pattern or link. Other than patrolling every alley and street corner, how can you stop this kind of crime. At least we know abortion clinics are targeted by extremist. The same can be said for the Holocaust Museum, that's why there were armed guards at the entrance.

Random crime is the hardest to stop. It's so hard to predict. Unless we put officers on every corner, there will always be an opportunity for this kind of stuff to happen.

This is unfortunate. However, you can't stop everything. My junior year at Pitt, two girls were raped at gun point on the steps of the Pitt Library. The most disturbing part of this incident is the time of day.