Audio By Carbonatix
Uncle
Luke, the man whose booty-shaking madness once made the U.S. Supreme Court
stand up for free speech, gets as nasty as he wants to be for Miami New
Times This week, Luke lays out his ideas to fix
Miami’s inner city neighborhoods.
While it was nice to see Tony Crapp Jr., an African American who
has grown up in Miami, become the first black city manager since Howard Gary,
we still have a long way to go in addressing the problems that keep plaguing
Overtown and Liberty City. We need Miami’s elected officials and their
counterparts in county government and Miami-Dade Public Schools to follow my
advice.
First, we need the city and the county police departments to
place more police officers in the black neighborhoods during the hours when the
criminals like to come out. We need to see more of those mobile command centers
on NW 15th Avenue between
the hours of 10 p.m. and two o’clock in the morning. I think both police
forces can come up with an effective community policing strategy that will make
Overtown and Liberty City residents feel safe, not threatened, when officers
are in the hood. Put more of those officers on bicycles and horseback — like
the ones in Brickell, Little Havana, and downtown Miami — in black communities.
Add more police manpower to the neighborhood enhancement teams that serve
Overtown and Liberty City. We need more officers who care about these black
neighborhoods and who will have a friendly dialogue with the people. If we take
these steps before the killings start
Placing more police boots on the streets is just the first step. We also need city and
county officials to go after the slum lords who own all the rundown projects
and crack houses in Overtown and Liberty City. If Miami Beach and Coral Gables
can find a way to hold property owners accountable for maintaining their
buildings, Miami can do the same. Give Crapp the green light to crack down on
these slum lords. You need to come in and rebuild every property on NW
15th Avenue and the surrounding neighborhoods, including
the government projects. And when you tear down the blight please provide the
construction jobs to the inner city residents; give them a reason to feel pride
in their community.
I recently went on a trip through a black neighborhood in Athens,
Georgia that used to be
nothing but projects. Now, it is a beautifully landscaped and gated community
with street lights and security entrances that serve as criminal deterrents.
And there are no people in the streets selling drugs. Why? Because the
residents took part in building it. I’d love to see the city and county mayors
implement similar ideas in Overtown and Liberty City so that African Americans
can have hope in their communities.
I have a plan for the The Miami-Dade School Board to fix Miami’s
inner city schools too. We need to have three types of schools: one for kids
who plan to attend college, vocational/trade schools for those who don’t, and a third type for the
knuckleheads. A big reason F schools exist is that you have a lot of knuckleheads
bringing the school’s grade point average and FCAT scores down. The
knuckleheads are the bullies who know nothing but F’s on their report cards and
fighting.
These
are realistic goals for our city and county leaders to make an impact in
Miami’s African American communities. If they don’t see fit to implement these
solutions, then I’ll be forced to run for mayor myself to get the job done.
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