Freedom From the Press

If I want my kids to learn ONE thing in school, it's to read and write critically. In other words, question stuff --what it's based on, the competency of the writer. (By that standard, anyone reading THIS blog ought to have their head examined, to use an old NY phrase).

On Saturday, the Herald published a story about the continuing plight of the Overtown ghetto. The City has plans for all kinds of spiffy new stuff, and the thrust of the story was that Overtown has always been screwed by the white man, and this was going to continue.

To nail the point, they showed a photo of a community activist next to a burned out apartment building. The activist had one of those great Al Sharpton -like quotes, something about "We don't want the WHOLE pie, just our fair slice," or some such.

The burned out apartment was clearly designed to give that South Bronx in the 70s look, and the caption said it was an "example of neglect."

EXCEPT IT WASN'T! The dwelling shown was a co op owned by one of my clients that exploded in a gas accident 3 months ago! It's part of a development, where I spent a day on a site inspection recently, that's rather well kept. It has a charter school on premises, and is a pretty decent looking place, except for the one unit!

So, the Herald wants to convey this entire feeling of decay, so that we can all feel guilty while drinking our Saturday morning coffee in houses outside of the ghetto, but it's TOTAL BULL!!!!!

The owner of the damaged unit has already undertaken repairs, and is suing the gas company for damages, alongside of our case. The apartment used as this symbol of all that's wrong in Overtown wil probably be repaired and occupied by the summer.

So, the lesson is brought down once again --don't believe everything you read.

That's especially true when the writer tells you he's writing about crap!