Chicago Skyline commons.wikipedia.org |
You all really are unbelievable. No sooner do we get to 3000 page views, we then jump to 3300 page views. You all are so amazing. You humble me with your continued support. Thank you. I've put up a couple of new boards on Pinterest, one of which is dedicated to saving Tower Records on the fabulous Sunset Strip. Please make sure you go to http://www.change.org, read the online petition, sign it, and spread the word. Now, on to today's topic, gun violence in the city of Chicago, Illinois and the connection to income inequality.
Aerial view of Chicago's South Side shutterstock.com |
Gun violence is a particularly notorious in the city of Chicago. A recent shooting in the South Side injured thirteen people, including a three-year old girl made national headlines. Other similar incidents over the same weekend injured ten more people. This leaves the impression that the "City of Broad Shoulders" is under armed assault. The reality is that it's not the whole city, rather certain neighborhoods. Violence follows segregation-concentrated in particular communities defined by income and race. Daniel Hertz, a graduate student at the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago, has been studying the distribution of violence in Chicago. In particular, Mr. Hertz examines how the distribution rover the past twenty years. He recently sat down for an interview with Noah Berlatsky for an article, "How Chicago Points to a Growing Inequality of Urban Violence," published in Atlantic Cities October 3, 2013, to discuss his findings on geography and urban violence.
Lake Michigan us-pictures.com |
"Concrete Beach" epa.gov |
Grant Park en.wikipedia.org |
"The Loop" kapowevents.com |
Why has economic segregation been allowed to happen? One reason is zoning codes. Mr. Hertz points to economists Ed Glasner, a market-oriented professor at Harvard and Paul Krugman less market-oriented, who target zoning codes, in particular density caps in high demand areas. Places such as Lincoln Park on the North Side of Chicago, are very high in demand, with great amenities and have become very desirable over the last ten years. Normally, the housing market would dictate building more housing in order to create more of a balance between supply and demand, so prices wouldn't go through the roof. However, because of zoning codes and neighbors throwing a fit over the sudden blossoming of high-rises, they can't. Thus, supply is kept at bay and prices go stratospheric. This situation is true in every part of the country. Urban neighborhoods have become desirable locations-making Jane Jacobs do a happy dance in her grave. Therefore, the opportunity for imbalance has become greater because demand has increased. So, all things being equal, when you have an increase in income inequality, the result is an increase in economic segregation.
Finally, does the increase in the inequality of violence make it more difficult to address violence in the communities where it occurs? In answering this question, Mr. Hertz reveals another gap in his research. Mr. Hertz admits to not interviewing police officers and social service organizations that deal with this issues. He postulates that if you have a higher percentage of violence in a more concentrated area, it would be easier to flood the area with police, if the manpower was available. In a rather oddly enthusiastic manner, Mr. Hertz express interest in seeing the dynamic panic over crime, widespread over the city, despite the fact that the North Side is relatively safe, in terms of lethal crimes. He points out the reason for this area being an island of relative safety is that North Side resident still demand from their aldermen more and more police presence because the resident believe they aren't safe. Therefore, it maybe harder, from a resource perspective, that city should pile on the police presence. To put it more succinctly, someone gets killed on the South Side and the residents in the more affluent areas demand more police. Makes sense right?
While Daniel Hertz presents some interesting finding from his research, he still has further to go. I suspect that his is a work in progress that will ultimately lead to a dissertation or other scholarly treatise. I think Mr. Hertz's research would greatly benefit from a serious comparative analysis. How does Chicago's statistics on crime inequality measure against New York or Dallas, for example. His research would also benefit from interviewing police officers, social workers, and the residents of the South Side to get anecdotal information. Overall, the interview left something to be desired as far as any real substantive information. However, as I said, it is a work in progress and it'll be interesting to see where it leads.
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