so Philadelphia may now be the Third World... - PhillyBlog

citywidespecial · #1 (**permalink**) 07-10-2008, 03:15 PM

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_...le_covers.html

Stealing manhole covers...

Don't get me wrong, I love it here (born and raised) but that's some ****ed up ****.

If we're going to be the Third World can we at least get a missile program and Junta? Let's fire Qassams at the suburbs!

phillyaggie · #2 (**permalink**) 07-10-2008, 03:51 PM

Perhaps it can also go find some Can-Do leaders from the Third World instead of being negative and annoying.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine...2/b4026009.htm

LeisureSuit · #3 (**permalink**) 07-10-2008, 04:26 PM

Being a lifelong resident of the great city of Philadelphia, it greatly saddens me to see the low depths, the city is always sinking to.

citywidespecial · #4 (**permalink**) 07-10-2008, 06:26 PM

I prefer to rationalize it as "local color"

Spacely · #5 (**permalink**) 07-10-2008, 09:54 PM

Well given the fact that that the city is run like a third world country with patronage, rigged election and virtual one party rule, this is not a shock.

Mixiboi · #6 (**permalink**) 07-11-2008, 02:37 AM

Nothing new here. It's been happening across the county for months now. Go and Google it.

Those manholes are worth a lot of cash...

But thanks for playing "Philly sucks" game...

phillyaggie · #7 (**permalink**) 07-11-2008, 07:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mixiboi

Nothing new here. It's been happening across the county for months now. Go and Google it.

Those manholes are worth a lot of cash...

But thanks for playing "Philly sucks" game...

not just man holes. Here in shining Dallas, thugs have been all over the place, ruining people's air conditioners and other equipment just so that they can steal valuable copper wire. Several area churches, no less, have been looted in this manner.

Mixiboi · #8 (**permalink**) 07-12-2008, 01:33 AM

It's offical then...America is a third world now!

Westside · #9 (**permalink**) 07-12-2008, 11:03 PM

In some ways America is starting to resemble a Third World country. A lot of that is due to a huge, and growing, disparity in wealth just like the Third World. Cronyism has been a problem in Philadelphia, and almost every major city, for a long time. We have not experienced cronyism at the national level like we have now since the 1920s. Harding/Fall is to Sinclair Oil as Bush /Chaney is to Halliburton (except that Fall was Sec. of the Interior, not V.P. and that Harding had the decency to die during his first term). No bid contracts are another common Third World trait.

By the way we do have a new missle program that threatens world peace but we're calling it a "shield."

Mixiboi · #10 (**permalink**) 07-23-2008, 01:27 PM

http://www.phillyblog.com/philly/nat...hot-metal.html

http://www.phillyblog.com/philly/old...6803-what.html

http://www.phillyblog.com/philly/gen...le-covers.html

Now the NYT:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/23/us...ss&oref=slogin

Quote:

Stolen Statue Sold for Scrap

CHERRY HILL, N.J. (AP) — Thieves who stole a one-ton bronze statue of a horse from the former Garden State Park racetrack cut the statue into thousands of pieces, which they sold as scrap to a junkyard in Camden.

Sgt. Joseph W. Vitarelli, a Cherry Hill police detective, said the statue sold as scrap for a few thousand dollars, a small fraction of its value as art.

Three men were arrested Monday and charged in the theft. A fourth man had been arrested earlier.

Quote:

The problem is playing out elsewhere too.

Phoenix has lost more than 160 of its manhole covers and street storm drains this year, up from 10 last year.

More than 80 drains and manhole covers have been stolen in Long Beach, Calif., this year and at least two local car owners who drove over the open chambers have filed claims against the city.

Starting last year, such thefts in Cleveland, Memphis, Miami and Milwaukee have more than doubled compared with other years, although New York reports no such increase.

“We have had our share of copper theft,” said Michael S. Clendenin, a spokesman for Con Edison in New York. But “New Yorkers are a pretty alert bunch and anyone trying to tuck a manhole under their arm in Times Square would look pretty suspicious.” He added that the utility’s covers weighed 300 pounds.

For most of the cities, the increase started in the spring of last year as the price of steel and iron surged because of a growing demand for recycled metals in China and India. Thieves have been pulling up anything metal — screen door frames, plumbing fixtures, copper wiring — they can get their hands on.

Long Beach is considering plastic covers, and Miami has started welding the covers in place. Cleveland is sealing manholes with tar, and Phoenix has assigned four police detectives to a task force that is investigating the thefts.