Local goings on and Eric Hoffer

I occasionally read a blog written by a fellow who is big on the local city politics (and who even last year ran for mayor but lost) and when I read this entry, it just ticked me off for two reasons:

1. These buildings are failing inspection yet people continue to live there. When we tried to do the right (read: legal) thing and pull building permits when we were finishing the basement, they were all over us about making sure everything was correct. We even had to put in hardwired smoke detectors in all 3 bedrooms and the hallway. We have a fairly small house so there can't be more than 20 feet between them but yet just having one in a centrally located area (like the hallway which, if it went off, there would be no way we could not hear it) wasn't enough. Chuck finally signed off on it but not after some battles (including a big one between Big A and myself). Why isn't he cracking down on these buildings?

2. The fact that people are relegated to living in places that are not kept up properly because of their income level. I was surprised to learn that the playground, with a brightly colored slide and play area next to the apartment complex that is in the article isn't open for the kids to play on. Seems that the overall feeling is because they are poor, they don't deserve things like good drainage or window screens. They should just be happy that they have a roof (barely from the sound of it)over their head. When driving by this apartment complex recently, I did see that the burned shell of an apartment building where three children died was finally being knocked down (but if you read that article, it sounds like a lot of no one accepting responsibility yet again). When wondering why people in this situation don't rise up and demand change, I remember something that Eric Hoffer wrote in The True Believer which was that the people who are most likely to be unhappy with their living situation are the 'new poor'. If living like this has been all they've known, they don't rebel against it.