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| Economy |
| Layoffs to gut East St. Louis police force |
| 2010-08-05 |
| The Rev. Joseph Tracy said he's tired of going to funerals. And now, he suspects he'll be going to more of them. "It's open field day now," said Tracy, the pastor of Straightway Baptist Church here. "The criminals are going to run wild." Gang activity. Drug dealing. Cold-blooded killing. Tracy worries that a decision to shrink the police force by almost 30 percent will bring more of everything. The pastor voiced his concern on Friday at a raucous special City Council meeting at which East St. Louis Mayor Alvin Parks announced that the city will layoff 37 employees, including 19 of its 62 police officers, 11 firefighters, four public works employees, and three administrators. The layoffs take effect on Sunday. Parks said the weak economy has robbed the city of badly needed money. For example, revenue from the Casino Queen was $900,000 below budget expectations last year. There are no signs of improvement, Parks said. "I want our citizens to know we have some of the bravest police officers and firefighters in the country," Parks said. "But we don't have the money to pay them. We have to have fiscal responsibility." City officials wanted police and fire unions to accept a furlough program that would have required employees to take two unpaid days in each twice monthly pay period. If accepted, emergency responders would have seen a pay cut of about 20 percent for the rest of the year. Parks said the two sides couldn't reach an agreement. On Friday, he stared at a standing-room only crowd and told his emergency response chiefs words they didn't want to hear: "Tell your workers to start packing their things." The news spurred shouts from the crowd. "The blood is on your hands," yelled Michael Hubbard, an East St. Louis police officer. Hubbard said he will be the lone patrolman for East St. Louis' midnight shift when the cuts go into effect. "This is devastating," Hubbard told a reporter after the meeting. East St. Louis has been crippled by crime and poverty for decades. Police officials say the cuts will mean fewer officers for patrols, investigations and juvenile cases. Fire officials said the region should be upset because the department will have fewer people at the ready to fight fires on some of the region's major highways and bridges. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #12 I guarantee that were 50,000 visas granted immediately to anyone with a college degree to move to East St. Louis for the next few years and work towards citizenship, it would become a great town. Managed immigration is a tool we choose not to use to our sorrow. |
| Posted by: rammer 2010-08-05 22:33 |
| #11 Betcha they still fund libraries and midnight basketball. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2010-08-05 20:57 |
| #10 working class neighborhoods have vanished or transmuted into slums. Posted by Shieldwolf Great experiment in E. St. Louis in the late 50's and 60's with highrise public housing..... that's until the electricity was turned off for non-payment and the windows were all broken out. The projects have long been raised and hauled away. Been a dismal place for half a century or more. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-08-05 18:50 |
| #9 I don't see how this is a bad thing. If we can end war by getting rid of our army, getting rid of the cops should drive the crime rate to near zero. I look forward to seeing the data from this fascinating experiment. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2010-08-05 18:36 |
| #8 Actually, in the 1930s, 40s and 50s, East St. Louis was not a bad town; it had bad neighborhoods but it also had a branch of the major railroad stockyards and slaughterhouses in town. It had several very nice working class clean neighborhoods, with well-maintained houses, no garbage, and safe streets after dark. Then the stockyards and slaughterhouses shutdown, and the city decayed. Now, something along the lines of 90% of the population is on some major form of public assistance, and all the nice working class neighborhoods have vanished or transmuted into slums. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2010-08-05 18:21 |
| #7 They still have one? Who knew? |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2010-08-05 14:21 |
| #6 Looks like the city tried to make an acommodation, granted a hard one, and the unions said shove it. Times are hard, folks. The public sector unions seem to think they have some kind of immunity to them. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2010-08-05 12:32 |
| #5 You would have to have a history book to find out how long East St. Louis has been a pest hole. Likely well before World War I. Even at its peak in the 1950s, it was a destitute, decaying stink pit. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2010-08-05 12:28 |
| #4 St. Louis heads towards Detroitistan. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2010-08-05 10:34 |
| #3 Sounds like yet another success story of the saga liberal government and unions. |
| Posted by: Keenster 2010-08-05 09:03 |
| #2 Hey libs! Let's make sure to extend unemployment to infinity! Who needs police anyway? |
| Posted by: gorb 2010-08-05 04:44 |
| #1 See also TOPIX/FREEREPUBLIC > THE TOP FIVE MOST CRIME-RIDDEN US [Federal] JUDICIAL DISTRICTS ARE ALONG THE MEXICAN BORDER. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-08-05 01:36 |