Should we be so afraid?

Everyone I talk to seems to have a story about a kidnapping, home invasion or murder. Channel 5 is doing a series about the drug war in Mexico spilling over the border. Some of the guys I know are buying AR-15 and AK-47 to give to their wives. People complain they can't sell their houses to escape the coming violence.

So far, though, the statistics don't bear it out. When considered in terms of murders as a percentage of the population, Brownsville is still safer than Texas or the nation as a whole. We are also safer in terms of violent crime. We are a little higher with theft, but most of us don't buy a AR-15 to fight off a GPS theft through the passenger window of the car.

Brownsville has about 4 murders per year for every 100,000 people. Of course, this is horrible if you are a loved one of a victim, but there is no way to run away from it and stay in the United States. You can go to Europe. Most of Europe have had under 1 murder for 100,000 people for years. Europe, right now, is probably the safest place homo sapiens has every been since the beginning of the species.

Rapes, robberies and assaults are also much lower in Brownsville than the rest of the country. Even auto thefts are lower: who would have guessed it. We are safer than Port Isabel and Harlingen.

We used to go to Matamoros for dinner, a haircut, the pharmacy. Now most everyone I know is afraid to go. This is not born out by the statistics, either. Tamaulipas has a rate of 9 murders per 100,000. This is twice that of Brownsville, but still less than Houston and much safer than going to DC (24 per 100,000). The Yucatan has a mere 2 murders per 100,000, almost down to European levels. A visit to the Mayan ruins may be safer than staying at home. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate

Wireless Brownsville

St. Cloud, Florida has provided a free wireless network to anyone in the city limits. http://www.stcloud.org/documents/Cyber%20Spot/Cyber%20Spot%20FAQ_1.pdf

This is a 15 square mile grid and cost $3 million to set up. Brownsville is more than 80 square miles so, the project would not be as simple.

Many big cities like San Francisco and Philadelphia had similar wireless plans, but the projects have run into trouble when the service provider EarthLink reneged on the deal.

Some areas such as NYC have aimed more at providing wireless parks and public buildings.

I don't know whether any of this is feasible for Brownsville, but it would seem the potential would be great.

Providing greater access to computers would be nice also. What would it cost to give a laptop to every 6th grader? I recall Newt Gingrich had a similar plan, so this is not just my personal weirdness. (Though it may be a shared weirdness--sort of a Folie a Deux for politicos.)

I have heard about the $100 laptop plan for poor areas. We should qualify. Even without that computers have gotten less and less expensive. I am typing this on a $300 computer called ASUS eee. It is cheap because it dodges Microsoft by using the Linux operating system (which I prefer).

I think of the flowering that Brownsville kids had when JJ Guajardo and others decided to teach them chess. All of a sudden, Russell Elementary kids being raised without the benefits of Suburbans, summer camps and math clinics were on a level with the top students in the most expensive schools in the country.