Red Star editors - muddled and befuddled

The Red Star editorial board's foggy socialism is on display today in an editorial titled "Design strategy/Fight costs, fat and crime". It appears there is a connection between the layout of the streets, fat people and crime. The solution? Walkable streets.

Here are some numbers to worry about: 2.60, 7 and 7.63. Two-sixty was the average per- gallon price for gasoline in the Twin Cities last week. Seven is Minnesota's rank among states in which people are growing fatter fastest. Seven-point-six-three is the percentage increase in serious crime so far this year over last in Minneapolis, reflecting the general uptick in many metro communities. These numbers may not seem related, but they are. Indeed, coping with all three can be accomplished by a single strategy: designing healthful, walkable neighborhoods.

How is it possible that ostensibly educated people can be so divorced from reality? Have they ever seen evidence of success of their socialist utopia vision? These folks are living in a different world than us.

Here is their take on reducing crime:

Now crime. After years of dramatic decline, it's rising again -- for a number of reasons we won't get into here. We'll simply note that crime requires motive and opportunity. Of those, opportunity is the easiest to impede. Street crimes go way down when law-abiding people greatly outnumber criminals in public places [ed. - source?]. Lively sidewalks and robust mixed-use neighborhoods put eyes on the street and deter criminal activity.

So crime doesn't happen in crowded areas? Criminals are scared of normal people out on the streets? Rambix would call that scenario a crime smorgasboard.

The Red Star editors live in a bubble. They socialize with other socialists, they don't really know people with diverse political ideologies, and they view the world within a narrow construct of liberalism. Only that can explain today's editorial.