RESURRECT DEAD ON PLANET JUPiTER

Interesting…

So I’m watching this show. It’s pretty damn good. It’s about a city with a skyrocketing murder problem and the corrupt, cash strapped and incompetent government that’s trying to deal with it. It’s very realistic. Although the downtown and surrounding neighborhoods are seeing a lot of condo construction and gentrification, the middle class is largely fleeing.

The police chief is more a political appointment than an effective leader. He’s tied in with the mayor, who despite all the corruption all around him, is somehow clean. Together, they “lower” crime by cooking the books… basically downgrading crimes from felonies to misdemeanors. It still doesn’t hide the escalating murder rate and even though the local paper has been eviscerated through buyouts and layoffs, no one buys it.

The Democratic party is entrenched, but one of the most powerful State Senators is facing multiple indictments right in the middle of the mayoral primary. He’s doing things like funneling money through his various nonprofits and giving no-show jobs to associates. A long shot candidate, fueled in large part by dissatisfaction with the corrupt mayor and police chief runs and somehow wins the primary on an anti-crime/reform platform. Without a viable republican base, the general election is a joke.

Although the chief resigns quietly, the reform mayor inherits a budget mess. The School District – for example – has been running millions of dollars in deficits for years and is facing a state takeover.

Meanwhile, murders continue. The show spends as much time among the endless blocks of red brick rowhouses as it does in government offices. Many of them are abandoned. Drug culture and fear rule. The mayor can’t afford to fully finance the police department and pay off the school deficit. He looks for a construction project to put his name on. He considers slots or a convention center expansion.

Did I mention this was an east coast city between New York and Washington?

In closing, I think The Wire is an excellent show, but you might only understand exactly how excellent it is if you live in Baltimore or Philadelphia… or maybe D.C.