Great piece piece from Jersey Journal this morning, by Earl Morgan:
Neglecting us, while hoping rich move in
There’s this thing I’ve come to describe as the “entropy attitude.”
You know what I’m talking about: Deterioration is natural and inevitable, whether you’re talking about the universe or the Jersey City public school system.
It explains everything. Take street crime, for instance. The increase in crime is an inevitable consequence of the inevitable erosion of our institutions.
But sometimes it’s not entropy.
…
There is so much of the already-existing city to preserve and reinvigorate, yet those swaths are left to deteriorate as visions of another “Gold Coast” – and more tax abatements – dance in politicians’ heads.Is it possible that in some circles a consensus has been reached, based on this “entropy attitude,” that it’s not worth the effort to save the old and battered city most of us live in, and instead our energies should be focused on creating a new city for the well-to-do?
For years, I have used this space to scold officials for lacking vision when it comes to saving and repairing our city.
Perhaps that was a misreading of their true intent. Perhaps they long ago embraced the entropy attitude. Perhaps their vision is of a new city, one that replaces all that is old with that which is new – even when it comes to the voters.