It’s really easy to say that we as citizens are mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore. It’s a lot harder to actually figure out how mitigation of what we’re mad as hell about is going to be accomplished.

Maybe we should, I dunno, like, give Ballard a chance. He’s only been in office for six months. Eight years of Peterson/Democrat incompetence is not going to be overcome easily in the short term.

But as I think Tully said in his column the other day, at the same time, where are the churches? Where are the community organizations? Why is everybody sitting on their butt waiting for the Mayor to magically produce salvation? If you want to clean up the town, get out there and start cleaning it up. Stop waiting for the government to do it for you (they usually screw it up anyway). Take some bloody responsibility for a change. No matter what plan the Mayor comes up with, I’ll bet it’s going to require public participation.

P.J. O’Rourke reported years ago after the first Gulf War that after entering Kuwait City, you couldn’t even go out on the roof of your hotel without wearing a helmet and body armor, because of all the idiots firing their guns in the air in celebration. This eventually caused one of his companions to lean over the parapet and shout, “STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT! Get a f***ing broom and a mop and CLEAN UP THIS F***ING COUNTRY!”

OK, then. Everybody, let’s get a broom and a mop, and let’s clean up this effin’ city. Run the bums off the sidewalks, get the panhandlers out of the medians, and lock up the drug dealers and the hookers and the gamblers. Tell the gang-banger teens and twenty-somethings to pull up their pants, turn their hats around, and get haircuts and jobs. Remind people that nobody is too poor to pick up their yard, and that the dole is meant to be temporary. And so forth. Teach people to take pride in themselves, their neighborhoods, and their city.

So, when do we start?

Actually, no, I for one am not interested in an “event”. As I stated in my comment above, I’m interested in people taking a hand in their own neighborhoods and cleaning them up. The time for discussion is over — everybody with a lick of sense knows what needs to be done. The problem is, nobody seems to want to do it.

All an “event” does is make people feel good that they “did something”. But after the “event”, they go back to their neighborhoods and continue to live in fear. Yeah, “events” are fabulous. But they accomplish absolutely nothing.

In particular I have to laugh at your assertion that you “would like to see citizens fill the circle to let the criminals that we are not going to take this lying down”. While you fill the circle, the criminals will undoubtedly be breaking into your homes, raping your daughters, and stealing your cars, and laughing at you for leaving your home undefended.

The fact of the matter is that criminals don’t give a damn about public meetings. But they will give a damn about a neighborhood watch and a concerned citizenry that isn’t afraid to call the police when they see someone skulking around their neighborhood who shouldn’t be there. If the neighborhood is vigilant, the criminals will move on.

I’d also make the point that politicians didn’t seem to give a damn about public meetings, either. I didn’t notice a difference in my property taxes. What they really fear is a concerted effort to go to the polls and vote their sorry a**es out of their comfy statehouse chairs. But you don’t need a public meeting to come to the conclusion that it’s time to send most of the packing.

Remember November. And pay attention to what’s happening on your block.