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Layoffs to gut East St. Louis police force (Pastor: "The criminals are going to run wild.")
STL Today ^ | 7/30/10 | NICHOLAS J.C. PISTOR

Posted on 08/01/2010 4:33:22 PM PDT by Libloather

Layoffs to gut East St. Louis police force
BY NICHOLAS J.C. PISTOR
Posted: Friday, July 30, 2010 2:15 pm

EAST ST. LOUIS - The Rev. Joseph Tracy said he’s tired of going to funerals. And now, he suspects he’ll be going to more of them.

"It’s open field day now," said Tracy, the pastor of Straightway Baptist Church here. "The criminals are going to run wild."

Gang activity. Drug dealing. Cold-blooded killing. Tracy worries that a decision to shrink the police force by almost 30 percent will bring more of everything.

The pastor voiced his concern on Friday at a raucous special City Council meeting at which East St. Louis Mayor Alvin Parks announced that the city will layoff 37 employees, including 19 of its 62 police officers, 11 firefighters, four public works employees, and three administrators. The layoffs take effect on Sunday.

(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events; US: Illinois
KEYWORDS: donutwatch; layoffs; police; stlouis; unemployment
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To: Libloather

Nobody in east St. Louis will co-operate with the cops anyway. I think they call it snitching. Reaping what you sow can be hell.


21 posted on 08/01/2010 4:48:01 PM PDT by tickmeister (tickmeister)
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To: Libloather
Going to the old Cardinal ball field traveling on 55 North there was an exit with a sign that said "To The Arch" right after it. That exit went to over the bridge to East St. Louis. Ask me how I know that.
22 posted on 08/01/2010 4:51:49 PM PDT by Walmartian
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To: Libloather

Time to arm up.

...........................

City leaders tried to make the cuts through furloughs, but a federal arbitrator decided that the furloughs violated contracts and ordered the city to repay workers $510,000. Several weeks ago, Parks said he hoped the city’s decision not to contest the arbitrator’s repayment ruling would bring the unions to the table to discuss alternatives to the layoffs.

Yet on Friday when the council voted on repaying the $510,000, it failed to get the four votes needed for the financial move. The vote was the same 3-2 split as the layoffs.

The city’s Financial Advisory Authority, which was given oversight of city finances when the city received a state bailout in 1991, voted July 23 to give the city 15 days to get them a balanced budget or they would intercept state funding. That interception would mean the authority would take over paying city bills.

“We believe that we have accomplished what the FAA needed us to do to get them a budget that shows a balance,” Parks said of the layoffs.

At one point 50 layoffs were projected. That number decreased because the city deferred its 2005 bond series payments by one year, which resulted in a savings of more than $500,000.


23 posted on 08/01/2010 4:53:06 PM PDT by smokingfrog (freerepublic.com - Now 100% flag free.)
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To: Libloather
East St. Louis is in Illinois directly across the Mississippi from St. Louis, Missouri.

The town is falling apart. Gangs roam and run the neighborhoods. There was almost complete white flight this past decade when blacks become almost 98% of the demographics.

Crime is on a steady increase due to poverty and complete lack of opportunity. Land on the outskirts is fouled with poisons from unregulated industrial and agricultural waste disposal which begam decades ago.

Successive black mayors have not had the ability to stem the the town's dreadful downword spiral.

In yesteryear when East St. Louis was a working class town with opportunities to make a living in the small businesses and factories, several notables were born there, including Hank Bauer, Jimmy Connors, Al Joyner and Shelley Winters (nee Schrift).

They didn't stick around or come back when they achieved success in a world where capitalism was not a dirty word.

Leni

24 posted on 08/01/2010 5:03:32 PM PDT by MinuteGal
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To: Libloather

Those Amish are wacky!


25 posted on 08/01/2010 5:03:51 PM PDT by wac3rd (Somewhere in Hell, Ted Kennedy snickers....)
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To: Libloather
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

East St. Louis citizens need to "insource" their protection.

26 posted on 08/01/2010 5:09:51 PM PDT by Vince Ferrer
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To: Libloather
We got lost there about ten years ago coming back from an orchard.....it was one of the scariest experiences our family went through. My husband at one point ran red lights because he refused to stop the car or let it slow enough that someone could come up to it.
27 posted on 08/01/2010 5:17:23 PM PDT by Lady Heron
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To: Libloather

In East Saint Louis the cops and the criminals are one in the same.


28 posted on 08/01/2010 5:22:52 PM PDT by MIchaelTArchangel (Obama makes me miss Jimmah Cahtah!)
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To: Pylon
See that sign that says ‘rib tips’?

Tried 'em. Didn't like 'em. Could've killed my own dinner - if I had a grill on board.

29 posted on 08/01/2010 5:23:40 PM PDT by Libloather (Tea totaler, PROUD birther, mobster, pro-lifer, anti-warmer, enemy of the state, extremist....)
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To: Libloather

Well Rev, arm yourself and your flock and don’t let the criminals run wild but once. A dead criminal isn’t a threat to the community.

When you rely on others to care for you, you’re a pet.


30 posted on 08/01/2010 5:24:55 PM PDT by Dr.Zoidberg (Warning: Sarcasm/humor is always engaged. Failure to recognize this may lead to misunderstandings.)
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To: Lady Heron
My husband at one point ran red lights because he refused to stop the car or let it slow enough that someone could come up to it.

And you thank him daily - no?

31 posted on 08/01/2010 5:27:38 PM PDT by Libloather (Tea totaler, PROUD birther, mobster, pro-lifer, anti-warmer, enemy of the state, extremist....)
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To: smokingfrog

Arming up will get you arrested, unless you stay home or in your fixed place of business with your piece. No help if you’re out and about in East St. Louis. This is Illinois we’re talking about, the most egregious infringer of the right to bear arms among the several states.


32 posted on 08/01/2010 5:49:54 PM PDT by The_Reader_David (And when they behead your own people in the wars which are to come, then you will know. . .)
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To: Libloather
Here's a site showing East St. Louis in all its "glory":
33 posted on 08/01/2010 6:14:52 PM PDT by Greg123456
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To: Greg123456
woops forgot the link
34 posted on 08/01/2010 6:17:52 PM PDT by Greg123456
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To: Greg123456
did it againClick Here"
35 posted on 08/01/2010 6:18:58 PM PDT by Greg123456
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To: Greg123456
Ross Kemp on Gangs - St. Louis Drug Dealer
36 posted on 08/01/2010 7:17:28 PM PDT by Errant
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To: Walmartian
Ask me how I know that.

I made that same mistake myself back in the early 90s.

37 posted on 08/01/2010 8:59:50 PM PDT by Fundamentally Fair (Bush: Mission Accomplished. Obama: Commission Accomplished.)
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To: exPBRrat

Diverse?

The city is 97.74% black.


38 posted on 08/01/2010 9:20:52 PM PDT by Graybeard58 (Nobody reads tag lines)
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To: Libloather

What is the gun control situation in E St. Louis?


39 posted on 08/02/2010 6:19:53 AM PDT by MichiganConservative (A government big enough to do unto the people you don't like will get to doing unto you soon enough.)
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