Buttigieg Promises To Help the Poor, But Some in His Own City Are Shooting Up a Warning Flare
Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana, unveiled an ambitious proposal to combat poverty and crime in his early days in office. Dubbed “1,000 Houses,” the initiative targeted vacant houses for demolition, promising to elevate poor communities to better economic standings.
To the openly gay mayor’s credit, his initiative succeeded in demolishing some 1,000 houses. But that’s about the only thing that happened according to plan, and the poor communities are in arguably worse shape than before.
As CNBC reports, the problems began appearing alsmost as soon as the houses were torn down.
Clouds of material rose from the lots where the crumbling remains of homes sat. Because of the age of the houses, neighbors feared the dust likely contained a toxic mixture of asbestos, lead, and other chemicals and byproducts.
Leaving an open space that nature soon reclaimed, the demolition inadvertently created a haven for disease-carrying vermin. Raccoons, capable of transmitting rabies and exotic parasites to human hosts, began popping up in surrounding homes.
The sites also became easy dumping grounds for less scrupulous members of the community itching to get rid of trash. Hidden by tall weeds that replaced the homes, the problem became rampant, CNBS reported.
The destruction didn’t help ease the city’s crime problem, either.
The South Bend Tribune last week reported that while serious crimes have fallen overall since Buttigieg was first elected, some violent crimes have seen almost a threefold increase since the “1,000 Houses” project began. Robbery and car theft have also seen an upward trend since the initiative.
Instead of the promised economic mobility, locals are now contending with incursions by raccoons, increased crime, and potential long-term health hazards from the toxic clouds unleashed by the house razing. Residents of South Bend, understandably, are unimpressed with Buttigieg’s work.
“This s*** looks the same, every time I walk through here,” C.J. Neely, a teen who’s lived in the area his entire life, told CNBC.
Roads in disrepair, shattered curbs, and vacant lots sometimes full of trash paint a picture of economic stagnation that is the complete opposite of what Buttigieg’s home demolitions were supposed to accomplish.
Neely’s thoughts were echoed by fellow South Bend resident Shawn White.
“Ain’t s— changed,” White told CNBC. “How is he gonna run the whole country if you can’t even get your city right first?”
Buttigieg, White says, has never even bothered to stop by the neighborhoods he aimed to change with his ill-fated economic initiative.
“I ain’t ever seen the dude. Tell him to chill with us for three or four days,” White said.
Now using his time as mayor to propel himself onto the national stage, Buttigieg is unlikely to chill in the same neighborhoods his disastrous policies helped to stagnate.
However, if he does end up winning the Oval Office, remember that his own constituents warned us: he wasn’t even able to manage a flagship program in a city of 100,000 people.
His ideas could be pure chaos at the national level.
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