Streets of Baltimore

[BT]

A city council leader, alarmed by Baltimore's rising homicide rate, wants to give the mayor the power to put troubled neighborhoods under virtual lockdown.

"Desperate measures are needed when we're in desperate situations," City Council Vice President Robert W. Curran told The (Baltimore) Sun. He said he would introduce the legislation next week.

Under Curran's plan, the mayor could declare "public safety act zones," which would allow police to close liquor stores and bars, limit the number of people on city sidewalks, and halt traffic during two-week intervals.

Police would be encouraged to aggressively stop and frisk individuals in those zones to search for weapons and drugs.


This "surge" approach sounds novel. Perhaps if it works we can try it elsewhere. . . .


Then again:
"Obviously, we need to just leave Baltimore. We’ve been there for almost 200 years and still don’t have it under control. I think we should cut off funding to the city to teach them that we mean business and be out of there by the end of summer. I’ve got 29 Senators who agree with me…."

http://instapundit.com/archives2/005350.php

[Plane]

When I was in Boot Camp our CC often used the smokeing lamp as group punishment , we wold learn to do something well or the priveledge of smoeing would come late that day.

You may think that those of us who did not smoke would be immune to this measure , but noooo....... we wern't.

A neighborhood shutdown seems drastic , but what murder rate is more tolerable?

[Michael Tee]

<<A neighborhood shutdown seems drastic , but what murder rate is more tolerable?>>

Huhhh???  The murder rate is the price of freedom.  Aren't you people prepared "to pay any price . . . ?"

Or is this another one of those veiled racial situations where some people's freedom isn't as valuable as other people's freedom?

[Plane]

<<A neighborhood shutdown seems drastic , but what murder rate is more tolerable?>>

Huhhh???  The murder rate is the price of freedom.  Aren't you people prepared "to pay any price . . . ?"

Or is this another one of those veiled racial situations where some people's freedom isn't as valuable as other people's freedom?

What is veiled about it?

[Lanya]

We should really look at the continued price we pay for having guns in the hands of ordinary citizens.

No?  That's too high a price to pay?  OK then.  So is a police state.

(Note: I don't think we should take guns from anyone. It was a point I was making. )

[Michael Tee]

<<(Note: I don't think we should take guns from anyone. It was a point I was making. )>>

You made it very well, but for some people, the right to bear arms comes way, way, WAY ahead of the right of certain people to move about freely ("without let or hindrance")  on the streets of an American city.

[BT]

Robert Curran
Council Vice-President
Room 553, City Hall
100 N. Holliday St.
Baltimore, MD 21202
Phone: 410-396-4812
Fax: 410-396-8621
E-mail: rcurran@baltimorecitycouncil.com

Committees: Chair, Executive Appointments, Chair, Public Safety Subcommittee; Vice Chair, Judiciary and Legislative Investigations; Budget and Appropriations; Labor Subcommittee.
 
Councilman Curran, a son of the late City Councilman J. Joseph Curran and Catherine Mary Curran, was born July 17, 1950. He is a graduate of Loyola High School and attended Mount Saint Mary's College and the Community College of Baltimore. He is a brother of Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr. and former Councilman, the late Martin E. "Mike" Curran. His sister, the late Sister Margaret Curran, was a member of the School Sisters of Notre Dame community.
Councilman Curran was first elected to office as a member of the Baltimore City Democratic State Central Committee in 1982 and is currently vice chair of the Baltimore Democratic Party. He also serves on the executive committee of the Maryland Democratic Party.

Councilman Curran was elected to the Baltimore City Council in 1995. He is a member of the Original Northwood Community Association and the Society of the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick. Currently, he is on leave from his position as foreman with the Domino Sugar Corporation in South Baltimore and is a former member of Local 692 of the Retail Clerks International.

Councilman Curran is married to Janice Vetter.

http://www.baltimorecitycouncil.com/district3.htm

[Michael Tee]

I think well before I came to the "Friendly Sons of St. Patrick" bit, I got the message:  He's Irish.  All the way.  And a Democrat.  Is there some point that I'm missing here?  Is it supposed to be inconceivable to the liberal mind that there are Irish Democrats who are not as liberal as the Kennedys? 

[BT]

Is it supposed to be inconceivable to the liberal mind that there are Irish Democrats who are not as liberal as the Kennedys? 

Well he's a Southern Democrat. We know all about them.

[Michael Tee]

<<Well he's a Southern Democrat. We know all about them. >>

- Clinton and Carter are Southern Democrats too, and they wouldn't touch this guy's proposal with a ten-foot pole.  He must be an old-line Southern Democrat - - you know, the ones who turned Republican due to Goldwater's Southern Strategy.  You still find a few of his ilk in the Democratic Party today, especially at state and local levels.  They helped rig the Florida election for Bush in 2000.

[BT]

Maybe he is like one of those blue dog democrats who helped capture the house for the dems.

I understand he was also behind outdoor smoking bans in Baltimore.

What next? Banning incandescent lights?