Crime Tax Too High for Baltimore Merchants

Last week, courtesy of Seattle’s Jason Rantz, we shared five signs that accurately predict a coming crime wave for your city. The signs include:

1. Second–guessing politicians with no law enforcement experience who restrict police officers from using time–tested and effective means of controlling crowds and criminals.
2. Grandstanding politicians who promise to “defund” or “reimagine” policing.
3. Anti–police agitators who flood “civilian review boards” with false complaints to make the department look bad.
4. Politicians who attack their own police department and depict officers as a brutal, occupying force.
5. The Silent Majority of citizens remains silent.

The city of Baltimore has all those symptoms and the skyrocketing crime rates that prove Rantz’ prediction is accurate.

In Baltimore, pro–active policing is extinct. And much of what formerly constituted routine law enforcement has vanished.

As a result, the streets in Baltimore are ruled by the depraved, the degenerate and the delinquent.

Now, a group of 37 restaurants and small businesses have decided to hit the politicians who created this civic disaster where it hurts — in the pocketbook. The group, based in the Fells Point portion of the city, sent a letter addressed to the mayor, city council and state’s attorney that threatens to go on a tax and fee strike until city leadership starts enforcing the law.

The letter paints a stark picture of what happens when obeying the law becomes optional, “When it comes to prostitution, public urination and defecation, and the illegal sale and consumption of alcohol and illicit drugs on the streets, we know these crimes are not as serious as the carjackings, shootings, and homicides that have become routine. But, as this past weekend proved [three men were shot], a culture of lawlessness rarely remains confined to petty offenses and invariably leads to the kinds of violence and tragedy we witnessed late Saturday night.”

The result is inescapable, “But if there is a cautionary tale in the decline of the Inner Harbor and Baltimore's Downtown, it is that where small issues go unchecked, it is only a matter of time before deeper problems take root and neighborhood collapses.”

In other words, the ‘Broken Windows’ theory of policing is accurate and Baltimore’s experiment encouraging the breaking of windows proves it.

Baltimore politicians, living in secure homes and protected by taxpayer funded personal security, never witness what happens on a regular basis in front of these businesses: “What is happening in our front yard — the chaos and lawlessness that escalated this weekend into another night of tragic, unspeakable gun violence — has been going on for far too long. …we have reached our breaking point. Our elected leaders have closed their eyes and ears and turned their backs on our community for long enough. We are fed up and frustrated, and we now realize that nothing will change unless we demand action.”

The action resembles that of a tenant’s rent strike which leftist politicians reflexively support. We’ll be interested to see how the city responds when it is the target instead of landlords. The fed–up business group plans to stop paying all city taxes and fees and instead put the money into an escrow account. The city will get the money when the following demands are met:

Pick up the trash

Enforce traffic and parking laws through tickets and towing

Stop illegal open–air alcohol and drug sales

Empower police to responsibly do their job

It’s a telling comment on the failure of Baltimore ‘leadership’ that the citizens have to demand these sensible public order policies be followed. And the group agrees, pointing out, “Frankly, it is pathetic that we have to beg for these basics. But this is where we are.”

If your city is run by a similar clown caucus, we urge you to follow the lead of these courageous and sensible Baltimore entrepreneurs. Cut off the city’s money until you start receiving the services for which your tax dollars are supposed to pay.

And we also urge you to use the same brilliant language for your demand letter conclusion that was used in Baltimore:

“Bottom line: Please do your job so we can get back to doing ours.”

Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Reagan, is a Newsmax TV analyst. A syndicated columnist and author, he chairs The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Michael is an in-demand speaker with Premiere speaker's bureau. Read Michael Reagan's Reports — More Here.

Michael R. Shannon is a commentator, researcher for the League of American Voters, and an award-winning political and advertising consultant with nationwide and international experience. He is author of "Conservative Christian's Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now with added humor!)" Read Michael Shannon's Reports — More Here.