Like Albert, I was surprised by how there could be a domino effect that would lead from neglecting municipal fire services to drugs and urban decay.  This paper was definitely a challenging read because of all of the math and statistics involved in explaining the correlation between these seemingly independent variables.  How can neglecting municipal fire services cause people to contract HIV/AIDS?  I never would have guessed that there would be a connection.  Nevertheless, I am both intrigued and dismayed by the fact that this series of cause and effect could have been stopped, but it was not.  Instead, it was a “planned shrinkage.”  I want to know how the government was allowed to let all this happen.