The essence of “planned shrinkage” is so fundamentally contrary to everything public service has come to represent. City services like fire protection and police patrols are meant as the means towards improving and ensuring the health and safety of a community. The departments were not intended to be used as leverage to target and exile poverty-stricken, minority populations. As the first “core value” of its mission statement, the New York City Fire Department proclaims: “The Department continues its unwavering call to protect and serve.” Apparently, the writers of the statement are guilty of lying by omission. In its entirety, the declaration should read: “The Department continues its unwavering call to protect and serve the best interests of whatever massive and corrupt corporation is currently “invested” in our city government.”
From a capitalist perspective the concept of “planned shrinkage” makes perfect sense. From a humane perspective it is simply mind-boggling. Though the copious amount of numbers and statistics did much to dull my response to the sheer cruelty implied by the public policy, at its core, “planned shrinkage” is repugnant. It might as well be labeled “premeditated murder.” The sudden removal of fire patrols from the South Bronx, the neighborhood seemingly most desperately in need of the protection, appears like nothing more than a deliberate attempt to inflict as great a population loss as possible on the blighted community. As a city, you should probably recognize you’ve gone a bit off the deep end when your public policy most closely resembles that of a Batman villain. “Gotham’s time has come…It is beyond saving and must be allowed to die.”- Liam Neeson, Batman Begins
