Crime

The major approaches shown in the video for preventing crime all center around providing opportunities for inner city minorities. The suggestions include creating job opportunities and offering a better education so that more jobs and careers are open to inner city youths. Community involvement, such as church events and mentoring as well after school events so that young people can talk. The mad dads are an example of mentors, similar to big brothers, who can replace drug dealers and gangsters to serve as male role models for young men who have no fathers in their lives. Another suggestion was to discourage out of wedlock births with an aim to promote two parent families. Increased police presence in the neighborhoods was also suggested. Finally, incentives for obeying the law were also suggested. The suggestion made for handling crime was to increase the punishment to act as a deterrent and punish those who commit crimes more severely. Notably, there was no mention of rehabilitation of criminals or re-entry programs to help those who come out of prison to succeed. 

Police should handle neighborhoods with extreme violence by implementing and taking part in programs to prevent the violence before it happens. In addition to prevention suggestions mentioned in the video, the police should participate in community policing, which is where the officers are members of the community, they know everybody who lives there, and they treat people with respect in order to gain their trust. Then, the police can have a positive influence on the community. An opposite approach, the one almost always implemented despite it’s poor success rate, is zero tolerance and criminalization of the activities of the poor, such as drug abuse. If drug abuse were decriminalized and treated like an illness, those who abuse drugs would have more opportunity to be rehabilitated and become productive members of society. 

Laws that allow guns to be on campus promote a culture of violence and paranoia. The focus of the campus should be on education, not on self defense or offense. Bringing a gun to campus is unlikely to prevent or promote crime on campus. Our country is one of the most violent in the world, and we also have some of the most permissible gun laws, so it seems there might be a correlation between the two. 

Laws that allow the police to ask people for their papers to prove they are in the country legally promote a culture of segregation, finger pointing, and fear. The statistics on whether crime has been reduced since SB 1070 was passed are not reliable because the statistics on kidnapping before the law was passed were later found to be inflated. Hispanics feel attacked by the law, and making any group feel attacked is generally not good policy. 

Economic Development

Proposal for Economic Development of the Downtown Area of the City Of Phoenix

The downtown area has been improving, with two high rise buildings: the Cityscape and the Westin Hotel. The city offers a downtown that is close to the airport and connected to it by light rail. It offers ASU, as well as major corporations and banks, but the city could do more to attract the best and the brightest people.

Phoenix doesn’t have a specialized industry, although potentially, the biotech research center and medical schools may lead to a specialized industry in the future. There will be an employment pool of graduates coming out of the medical school, and the city should offer employment opportunities to them. 

There are empty lots throughout the downtown area that could be built up to accommodate industries and provide office space. Additionally, there are empty historic buildings, like the National Bank building on the corner of Central and Monroe, that could attract businesses. The city could offer tax incentives or abatements to attract industries to the area.  

Richard Florida advises cities to encourage independent business owners so they can compete with large chains. Independent, unique businesses, such as restaurants and boutiques, attract the creative class. Phoenix has some of these businesses, such as Bianco Pizza and Modified Gallery, but there could be many more. 

Additionally, Phoenix offers a lot, maybe too much sunshine. The city should provide shade on the downtown street so people can walk comfortably. The city could also try to promote solar energy, perhaps housing a business center for solar energy downtown because Phoenix is known for its outstanding sun. 

The city should promote its opportunities for recreation, such as hiking in the mountains,  visiting the lakes. The city has done well in the past to promote its sports events, and it should do the same with other attractions. Arizona and Maricopa county have gained reputations for intolerant of other races. The city instead also promote its diversity and cultural awareness, like the Japanese garden, the Irish cultural center, and the Heard museum.

Finally, Phoenix should apply for a federal grant for Hope VI funding in order to provide affordable housing for the service sector employees, so they can live near work, cut down on pollution caused by commuting, and be patrons of some of the downtown commercial establishments. This would promote diversity in the downtown, which already offers a low cost of living compared to other big cities.