Home > Gwinnett > Rick Badie / My Opinion > Archives > 2008 > April > 26 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USStop dividing and blaming
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
One night Fran Kurtzman ran into her mailman in the grocery store. They talked about the trash and litter in her neighborhood, especially near the entrance.
The mailman said they ought to hold a cleanup day. Invite the neighbors. The event was scheduled for April 20. A notice, written in English and Spanish, was posted. Kurtzman and her house mate, Sue Felsen, passed out fliers in the subdivision, located off Club Drive in Lawrenceville.
“I figured there’d be two of us out there,” Felsen told me.
But on the day of the cleanup, folk turned out in droves. Upwards of 30 or more. They came armed with shovels, edgers and lawn mowers. They worked several hours, giving special attention to a wooded area that had become a depository for bottles, diapers and other trash.
“It was shocking what was hauled out of there,” said Fran’s son, Howard Kurtzman of Atlanta. “I’d never seen anything like it. They made a dramatic difference. Apparently this idea hit home for a lot of people.”
Kurtzman and Felsen were pioneers when they moved into Brooks Landing 20 years ago. The subdivision was culturally diverse, but everybody spoke English. Now it’s undergone a cultural change. Most residents speak Spanish.
But apparently language wasn’t too big of a barrier when it came to the neighborhood protecting its value, shoring up its appearance, caring.
It’s tapered off in recent years, but I used to get a stream of e-mails and calls about neighborhood decay. Some homeowners expressed valid concerns; others just wanted to vent. They’d be angry because some of the people responsible for code violations didn’t speak English. They, the frustrated homeowners, didn’t speak Spanish. I was amazed by the uncanny ability of some venters to size up their neighbors as Mexicans, just by looking at them.
Seldom were there any efforts to talk to the violators, though, to explain things. The issue, along with the resentment, lingered.
Perhaps there’s a lesson in Brooks Landing.
When we walked through the subdivision, Kurtzman pointed out a house whose owner couldn’t care less about upkeep or tidiness. I suggested she, or someone, report it to the county code enforcement office. The subdivision plans to have cleanup days on a regular basis since the first one proved successful. Neighbors have already approached Kurtzman wanting to know about the next event.
“Most people have had such a good spirit,” she said.
Turnout for the inaugural cleanup day moved Felsen to tears.
“I expected two to three people, but they kept coming and coming and coming,” she told me. “Why didn’t we think about this before, about putting a sign up in Spanish and English and say, ‘Please come.’ “
Howard Kurtzman’s a proud son. He was so moved by his mother’s efforts and the response it garnered that he fired off a letter to AJC Gwinnett News.
“What if everyone stopped complaining and took a step toward educating others and uniting people instead of dividing and blaming?” he wrote. “This story made me so proud of my mom and all the people who worked so hard. I hope more people who read this will be inspired to make Gwinnett, Georgia and America the most beautiful place on earth.”
Rick Badie’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875 or e-mail: rbadie@ajc.com.
Permalink | Comments (38) | Post your comment | Categories: Rick Badie
Comments
By Get Real
April 26, 2008 12:04 PM | Link to this
Oh my god seriously someone fire this dolt rick badie and get a real writer in here.
By LT5000
April 26, 2008 12:06 PM | Link to this
Just when you though a Badie article couldn’t get any more insipid.
Give us a break Rick. Every piece of trash in my neighborhood is either a Modelo Negro bottle, a Jarrito bottle or a bag from Mercado del Pueblo. Now you want to tell me where the trash is coming from?
The littering is really a minor worry. The Illegals coming here molesting children, dealing drugs and getting DUI’s is what worries me.
Why don’t you take that Ride Along with the Norcross Police and describe what you see on a Saturday night? That actually might be something worth reading.
Much better than your Jimmy Carter / Obama campaign ads.
LT5000
By Mark
April 26, 2008 1:02 PM | Link to this
What a stupid blog, as usual. The neighborhoods ridden with trash are the ones with blacks and hispanics living in them.
By Mark
April 26, 2008 1:13 PM | Link to this
Badie, I see you’ve toured the Gwinnett county jail. What, in your estimation, was the percentage of blacks and hispanics being held there?
By Atico
April 26, 2008 1:25 PM | Link to this
Rick: what we need to stop this type of litter is better education at the “border” and in our useless Public School System. Speaking of the Public School System I also want to say, “Never have so many done so little for so much, and always have their hands out for more tax payer money than the employees of this system.”
What is the racial/ethnic make up of “Brooks Landing” subdivision. My guess is: 48% black, 39% hispanic and 3% white. Little, or no pride of ownership, with an attitude that the world owes me a living and I will do what I damn well please. Bad culture mixture, to say the least.
By he way the problem in this country is culture, NOT race…………just so you will understand where I’m coming from.
By the way your article is pretty weak when put up against your past performance.
By Bruce Wilcox
April 26, 2008 4:13 PM | Link to this
If the four children above are any example of Gwinnett’s Public School system, I agree they failed.
Let’s see, Bert’s big plan to increase the living space to 400 square feet got sidelined for his “Field of Dreams”, he must have forgotten it. Weak penalties for offenders of the codes in place by a very weak judge, with all the photo ops and press coverage code enforcement is weak.
The topper is Commissioner Greene who started the program said there were/are too many complaining about petty things? Wasn’t that the whole idea behind “Broken Windows”, stop the little things before thay get out of hand?
Another thing to consider that is far from the commissioners minds, with tenements expanding in Gwinnett, is the safety of our firefighters is at stake, on arrival they have to do an inital search, how can you do safely if you have no idea how many some slumlord can fit into a home? For the children that would say just don’t do the search, it just doesn’t work that way with firefighters nor the police.
Backdoor deals costing the taxpayers millions without ANY public input, photo-op programs that haven’t done much, and a very weak judge to enforce the code, any wonder why we have CID’s and neighborhoods coming together to fight for Gwinnett, the commissers won’t.
I think it’s great that a mixed neighborhood can come together and work for the betterment of all. But it’s kind of sad that it got that way in the first.
By reader
April 26, 2008 4:57 PM | Link to this
I don’t think there is any dispute as to what the problem is, or what the solution should be. Clean-ups are definitely not the answer to the underlying issues. However, until you get to the point of implementing the solution, community clean-ups at least deal with the immediate blight staring one in the face. A rundown n’hood indicates lack of interest and responsibility; maybe even that no one cares. That no one cares attitude, in turn, welcomes the undesirables in. Once they’re in, it’s hard to get them out. As citizens, you need to decide what’s worth paying for and how much you’re willing to pay for it. Most importantly, elect officials who will represent their constituents. Perhaps areas of unincorporated Gwinnett County should follow the lead of their neighbors in N. Fulton?
By Michael H. Smith
April 26, 2008 10:59 PM | Link to this
I was amazed by the uncanny ability of some venters to size up their neighbors as Mexicans, just by looking at them.
Are you no less amazed by the uncanny ability of reality to size up Mexico as the number one migrant sending country of all immigrants in the U.S.(Legal and ILLEGAL) just by looking at the statistical numbers, Mr. Badie?
Dang that old uncanny reality!
Stop dividing and blaming is good advice Mr. Badie, so when are you and others who are dividing and blaming going to stop trying to divide Americans from the American culture, the American language of U.S. English and stop blaming them for rightly being Americans by justly voicing (not venting) grievances in public redress?
America!
Only the legal, ready, able and committed to assimilate need apply, in U.S. English.
By Justin
April 27, 2008 1:29 PM | Link to this
Rick it seems the only responses you got to your story were from those that choose to sit on their couches and complain about everything. If more folks would participate in events like Fran held this county would be back to what it once was. As far as the fireman comment; pretty stupid, the first thing a First Responder should know is not to assume anything, especially how many people might be in a dwelling. I guess in a 3 bedroom home Bruce will stop looking after 4 people have been found. Good article, thanks.
By Eyeonthenews
April 27, 2008 5:14 PM | Link to this
I moved into Gwinnett County about 29 years ago and settled just outside the city limits of Duluth. Back then the only trash you’s see on the streets (nd in yards) was from storms blowing it in from outside the area; now it’s commonplace! the only difference is that our area was almost 100% caucasian. Now that number is down to approx 70%.
My family came to America in 1937 as young newly-weds and learned English (albeit with a heavy accent!) right off the bat as my dad wanted to be an “American.” As a first-generation AMERICAN of Polish descent, I understand the plight of immigrants. Having said that, however, my partents did the LEGALLY, LEARNED ENGLISH, ASSIMILATED INTO OUR CULTURE and, well, my dad can’t say anything about that now as he’s buried in France…having fought and died fighting for “his country.” Yeah, let’s talk about the poor (illegal) that we’re puttng up with.
By Cindy
April 27, 2008 5:42 PM | Link to this
Same comments, different blog.
Stored in a word document? copy and paste.
grrr.
By Michael. H. Smtih
April 27, 2008 6:20 PM | Link to this
Same comments, for the same advocacy journalism blog agenda of a different date. With no joining of the hands in singing Kumbaya and drinking La Kool-Aid :)
By Bruce Wilcox
April 27, 2008 6:21 PM | Link to this
Justin use your head, not assuming how many are in a house is the entire point. But now you have tenements, garages turned into how many bedrooms, or a dorm maybe, the dining, is that cut up for a few extra beds?
These tenements are no longer your typical three bedroom ranch with a two car garage. Now they a maze of cut up rooms, even your typical ranch is diffcult to search in heavy smoke, just consider furniture as one thing to hinder you. Now imagine the maze firefighters encounter in one of these tenements, add the language barrier, sooner or later there will be a disaster.
Justin here is a little test or game for you, have someone blindfold you, get on your hands and knees and get to your bedroom without hitting anything. Of course you won’t have the weight of the gear, the noise, a mask on where you have to control your breathing or lugging a hose.
Oh and Justin when it’s over, take the blindfold off, I can tell by your writing you’re not the brightest bulb in the pack.
By Cindy
April 27, 2008 6:44 PM | Link to this
I don’t like that song anyways. And Kool-Aid makes my belly ache.
so there. :)
By Bruce Wilcox
April 27, 2008 6:45 PM | Link to this
Justin, todays AJC, 4 dead, 27 injured when a pick-up truck rolls over in Arizona. If that many are in a pick-up truck, how many do suppose are in one of these tenements? How many nooks and crannies will they be in.
By Cindy
April 27, 2008 7:00 PM | Link to this
In the house that was too small for my 5-person family, before we lived there, I think about 14 people lived in it (mighta been 13…just to be fair). One bathroom. That could be really inconvenient if they had a virus going around, huh?
Weren’t we supposed to be talking about trash in the yard or something?
By Justin
April 27, 2008 9:08 PM | Link to this
Bruce and Michael, do you guys ever have a happy thought? I have been reading your posts for some time now and you both seem to be miserable and always complaining and being nasty. I find that very sad. Maybe, if you tried to find good in something it would change your outlook in life. Get out and volunteer with a group doing something positive with our community and you might feel better about yourselves and others.
By Michael H. Smith
April 27, 2008 9:42 PM | Link to this
Justin when if I ever need your negative advice and sad errant assessments, then and only then, would I be in need of something positive.
Pains me to agree Mr. Wilcox, but this guy is a few bricks short of a full load.
By Michael H. Smith
April 27, 2008 10:14 PM | Link to this
To the eyeonthenews - I have a great deal of respect for “immigrants” like your family who came “legally”, learned U.S. English and by the way, their really is no correct accent in U.S. English, that is what sets our English apart from all other English speaking counties including the mother tongue of the U.K. . Your dad “had to earn” what I received via birthright affirmed through the indoctrination of this country as an American. That is why the naturalized citizen of the United States who truly assimilates receives a higher degree of respect from me than many native born, because they usually value that U.S. citizenship with the honor it rightly deserves. Where many of us - native born - never give it a second thought.
Well, with age, I’ve lived long enough to give U.S. citizenship more than a mere second thought, including the price legal immigrant have to pay in earning that citizenship, in not missing a step on the legal pathway, and that also is why I oppose illegal immigrants in what some may see as an unreasonable zeal.
By Lifetime Gwinnettian
April 27, 2008 10:36 PM | Link to this
The clean-up wouldn’t have been necessary if people would not trash-up entrances, the road right-aways, etc. This is not the way Gwinnett County has always been. So what has changed … . . THE PEOPLE!!!!!! who have come here … that’s what has changed! The nare-do-wells!! In fact some of the very same people from that neighborhood who helped clean up .… . probably were the ones who trashed it!!!!
By Katie
April 28, 2008 7:55 AM | Link to this
I think it’s great that people came to clean up, however, the litter shouldn’t be there to begin with. What type of people are littering?? what type of person acts like the street is their trash recepticle?? Gee, I wonder!!!
Get rid of those types of people and the problem is solved.
By LT5000
April 28, 2008 11:56 AM | Link to this
Here’s the part of the Badie article I love. Complete and utter nonsense in less than 3 sentences.
They, the frustrated homeowners, didn’t speak Spanish. I was amazed by the uncanny ability of some venters to size up their neighbors as Mexicans, just by looking at them.
Seldom were there any efforts to talk to the violators, though, to explain things. The issue, along with the resentment, lingered.
First, why would you have to “explain” to someone that throwing beer bottles out of your car window, not cutting your grass or leaving litter in your front yard is wrong. They know it’s wrong, they just don’t care because it’s not their country.
Second, if the Illegals “no speek ingleeesh”, how are you supposed to tell them that they need to not litter and clean up their yards?
Surely the AJC could do better. Even Highlights magazine wouldn’t hire this nimrod.
LT5000
By LT5000
April 28, 2008 12:59 PM | Link to this
By the way Justin,
I would suggest that you not be blindfolded on your hands and knees when Brucie is around.
It could easily lead to a life changing trauma.
LT5000
By Cindy
April 28, 2008 1:45 PM | Link to this
Hey! I LIKE Highlights magazine. Whenever I go to a doctors office or dentist and that magazine is there, I always want to check it out. One of my favorite written things came from a December issue…I think 1976.
December
I heard a bird sing In the dark of December A magical thing And sweet to remember We are nearer to spring Than we are in september I heard a bird sing In the dark of December
Come on now LT5000…we can’t be talking bad about Highlights :)
By Cindy
April 28, 2008 2:02 PM | Link to this
when I typed the December thing up there, I had it all on seperate lines…all poem style and stuff like it should be…but then it messed up when I posted it.
I don’t have a problem with Badie’s writings though…the man should be able to write about whom/what/where he chooses…when they were looking for bloggers…they liked his style and approach…and decided that he was AJC Blog Material. I also submitted an entry (to be the Snellville blog person)…and they wrote me back and said they liked it…so it could just as easy be me that you all criticize…because I know for a fact that if I’d been chosen and ya’ll constantly ridiculed my blogs, I’d break before I bent. But I had to move out of the county and it disqualified me.
By Mark
April 28, 2008 2:18 PM | Link to this
Bruce Wilcox
It is better to be thought a fool, than open your mouth and remove all doubt….
By reader
April 28, 2008 2:55 PM | Link to this
Mark: You messed up that quote by Abraham Lincoln. It goes, “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.” Hmmmm…
By KIM
April 28, 2008 3:20 PM | Link to this
Exellent article, Mr. Badie. It is so true about the benefit of simply talking to neighbors and explaining what can improve the environs. Actually, talking to neighbors about ANYTHING is a great way to start to end the fear of the unknown…the fear of those different from who we think we are.
And Rick, I do hope you know that the silent majority appreciates the goodness in people that you write about. Whatever you do, don’t stop writing. News needs to be positive. And quite frankly, you write honestly.
By LT5000
April 28, 2008 4:13 PM | Link to this
I think Kim just became the first, and undoubtedly, only member of the Rick Badie fan club.
Kim, Badie doesn’t write honestly, check out his Taser story.
He basically accused the Gwinnett Police of murder and then lied about it in a subsequent article on Tasers.
He also claimed there was a recession, when he doesn’t even know what the definition of a recession is.
Then he published that absolutely pathetic Jimmy Carter infomercial last week.
Kim he sucks, pure and simple.
LT5000
By Bruce Wilcox
April 28, 2008 5:10 PM | Link to this
Boys, I was a firefighter in New York for twenty years, retired out as a Ladder Captain.
Do you really think girls you can discuss the dangers of these over-packed tenements with rooms cut up in all sorts of ways to fit more boarders in on my level?
By Cindy
April 28, 2008 6:14 PM | Link to this
LT5000, Dang man…I forgot about those things. Thanks for being my voice of reason. :)
By Niteowler
April 28, 2008 7:00 PM | Link to this
After living in Gwinnett county for almost 20 years, we have dealt with neighbors who violated our laws and ordinances. In the past all it usually took was either communicating with the violator about the problem or when all else failed, we filed complaints for our officials to help resolve. Now it’s a whole new class of people out there who are forcing negative values & behaviors on our communities and despite all conventional methods of trying to resolve issues, the violators continue repeatedly the concerned residents detriment to destroy the value of neighborhoods. There comes a point where those in power (i.e., government, mass media) should be astute enough to put the blame squarely on the violators but where do you see or read about this happening. Wow imagine someone in power actually writing an article or addressing on TV,radio or in a newspaper about what it takes to be a good neighbor in Gwinnett and spell out exactly what the consequences of breaking our laws are.
By Alecia
April 28, 2008 8:50 PM | Link to this
I just rented out one of my properties and Gwinnett, and noticed a trend towards several races trying to stuff more than 1 generation into a house. I have been a landlord for 10 years and own several properties. This time around there were a lot of roomates and household consolidators. One of the applicants wanted to move her mother, grandfather, brother, and his 2 children into the house. She was not Hispanic. With the economy making it tight more people are starting to consolidate. It is not just a Hispanic thing. In my experience people of all walks of life try to overstuff a house. On the subject of trash and debris, the only problem people I have encountered have been white rednecks. They want to jack up their pick up trucks in the front yard, throw trash and beer bottles all over, never maintain their house,and complain about the Hispanic guy coming home from work to have a Corona on his deck while he grills out. I have tried to deal with Lorraine Greene concerning a house in one of my neighborhoods that is filled up with trash, has a 10’ trench and is falling apart. She is useless. Dealing with the quality of life people is also useless. If it cannot be easily done during their normal doughnut break, it will not get done.
By What're you, and idiot?
April 28, 2008 10:52 PM | Link to this
It can’t possibly be true that English-speaking Caucasians would choose to live in squalor. A bunch of people have said that only Mexicans are capable of parking their cars in the front yard, not cutting their lawns, throwing their trash everywhere, living with too many house-mates, and of course no speeek eeeenglish.
White people just wouldn’t do that. Apparently its genetic or something. Whites also have the innate ability to pick up a foreign language when going to another country. In fact I think Europeans frequently compliment Americans on their willingness to assimilate and learn the local language when visiting their country.
By LT5000
April 29, 2008 8:09 AM | Link to this
Uh Idiot.
What a stupid statement. Fits right in with the Badie article.
Americans rarely move to other countries. We only visit, no need to learn the language if you are just visiting.
Oh yeah, when we visit, we also don’t illegally sneak into those countries.
My experience, in Norcross, is that every problem house seems to involv hispanics.
I’m sure you can find anecdotal evidence implicating Caucasians, but those instances are few and far between.
People just aren’t willing to admit there is an obvious problem.
LT5000
By what're you an idiot
April 29, 2008 8:30 AM | Link to this
bigotry
how’s that for an obvious problem
By LT5000
April 29, 2008 9:01 AM | Link to this
Idiot,
Racism, the last refuge of the scoundrel.
If you can’t win an argument with facts, just cry racism.
LT5000
By what're you and idiot
April 29, 2008 5:28 PM | Link to this
I get it. If you’re outed as a bigot, acuse the other guy of having no facts?
You just overwhelmed me with facts like we don’t need to learn the language because we’re just visiting, and “every problem house seems to involv [sic] hispanics”.