Conclusion to Urban Issues

Over the past two weeks, we have spoken about many aspects of urban social and economic problems that plague our cities in the United States. First we explored the social aspects of living in the slums. Does living in an environment that has graffiti make us feel less safe? Some said that the art was an expression that beautified the neighborhood. Yet, others argued that it is never okay to deface someone's property to prove a point or for other petty reasons. We discussed welfare programs and other government entitlement programs. Should the well-off citizens have to pay for the checks of some who did not handle themselves so well and have an addiction? 

We also brought up the fact that although we do not have specific evidence, it si assumed that there is fraud of the various systems like Social Security and Food Stamps. This was refuted on Friday when we were able to read a post that Omar wrote telling us about various myths about Food stamps. Upon further perusal of the same website, I found other truths of speculated inferences constantly assumed concerning New York and our social programs. 

We looked at the educational system. Considering that Poverty is a very large part of urban issues and the reason for continuation of a cycle. Schools in certain underprivileged areas, do not enjoy the same security and opportunities that we may be used to. We discussed what it means for a child to go to their zoned school and try their hardest and never get an education that is equal to that of a child’s in a “better off” neighborhood even though it can cost parents $16,000+ to even live there; (although those schools may have the same temptations and bad influences of drugs and alcohol.) The point is that the children can struggle and without parents who are particularly involved, they can go astray and contribute to the number of people on the welfare rolls.
The best solution, we do not yet know and we may not know for a while. The truth is that the topic is very controversial and can be looked at from many points of view. We do know that there is a vast amount of underreported cases of seniors who are alone and starving, there are children who do not have anything productive to do with their free time out of school and turn to gangs and other mischievous tasks. We can look at positive statistics that have come out of programs like the  New York City Coalition Against Hunger. They say that those who are helped by the federal aid programs are more likely to get a job and be able to sustain themselves without help because they are no longer undernourished.