stehrster- no one has denied that murder and crimes are a problem in the city, i dont think thats what i said at all

I never said saying there was a problem is racist, but if you dont think any of the comments were racist then, well, you probably dont like to share water fountains with no whites, just read mr owen's last comment

Gary Owen - I'm glad to know that white people don't commit any crimes. I'm sure your neck of the woods is lovely, just remember during a tornado laying in a ditch is safer than staying in the trailer. I was being sarcastic when I said a 6th grade education, but you really do need one.

Crime is not a race issue, it is in large part an economic issue. Wealthy and middle class black people aren't out selling drugs, stealing, or killing people. The people killing each other are a very small minority og the population.

Mr. Langord isn't my favorite person, but I don't see how any of this is his own personal fault. He has been in office for a very short period of time. A mayor's effect on a city is minimal even over a complete turn. One person cannot turn around a ship that has a quarter of a million passengers.

Once again, as you see from SadSad?s post, facts are being turned into racism. Instead of looking at the problem and accepting that it exists along with the fact that the mayor is NOT doing a thing to resolve it, people want to blame crime on racism. These murders are taking place because of racism. Wrong.

No, I don't believe Larry can prevent every single murder, I DO believe he can put a significant dent in the problem by USING HIS POWER WISELY, which he has not done so far.

I suggest a focus of more money for the cops, which they now say they are going to do, cleaning up the police department -cops breaking into cars/selling drugs, doesn't work, and make crime his NUMBER ONE priority! NOT computers for children in a failing school system, (what good is a computer if the rest of the system has degraded to absolute crap?) Not trolley cars on 1st Avenue, not a domed stadium, not an Olympic Village @ Fairpark. All these things are UNIMPORTANT, except fixing the school system.

The black men that need to be addressed are the ones running drugs on the streets and killing people. They aren't going to show up for "Larry's Symposium on Black Male Responsibility",they're just going to laugh while they fire up another rock.

Let me repeat: give the police a raise, get more of them on the streets and make them VISIBLE. Start knocking down crime in EVERY neighborhood, and then work on EDUCATION. After that, the other associated problems will work themselves out. So stop shifting blame and responsibility of crime to racism. That?s not the problem behind the out of control crime in the city. That line of thought is a total cop-out, and YOU know it.

Lack of control and lack of effective leadership is the reason crime is rampant in Birmingham. And that responsibility lands at the feet of the city government, which is headed by the mayor. The mayor is the one expected to handle the problems in HIS city. And he isn't doing it. That is not racism.

Even increasing police presence really won't have that much effect when these people are not afraid of jail and some actually consider it a second home. Ensley is just dangerous. I remember the wonderful late Reverand Ron Nored who had such impressive dreams for improving that area. He marshalled businesses and white-collar workers into spending much time and effort attempting to restore some pride to the area for many years and there are a few who still try mightily to continue the effort. Unfortunately there islands of progress are being overrun with thugs who are a product of increasingly violent streets. Even if we flooded the streets of Ensley with police presence, the violence would only move somewhere else to terrorize the innocents in other neighborhoods because the criminal element always has a nice ride.

The people I feel sorry for are the poor Gramma's and Great-Grams trapped there who have worked literally their whole lives and taken the bus everywhere and whose houses are falling down around them because the able-bodied "men" they support spend their days chemically incapacitated, gambling and finding new women to impregnate. Meanwhile, the worthless grandsons they have tried to raise, lounge on the corners joking about and yelling epitaphs at the well-meaning hopeful suburbanites like myself who show up to work for the BEAT and Habitat for Humanities projects to try to give these folks the handup they say no one ever gives them. I will continue to volunteer for all the Grammas out there because they deserve better than their own worthless relatives give them. But when those few remaining good souls have gone on to their better reward, I truly fear the area will be completely unredeemable.

I suggest you fix your problems with your people and leave the honest alone. If you take a minute, you don't see this kind of event in Hoover or any other suburb do you. I wonder what that equates too? Oh I fogot, I dont' have a 6th grade education, can't think.....Deal with your issues and keep them to yourselves. Yes, it is a race issue.

What do you people propose that Larry Langford or anyone else in a position of authority in Birmingham could've done to prevent this person being shot today?

Maybe every residence in the city should have a patrol car parked outside 24 hours a day?

Maybe a little more racism from the previous posters and the like?

What do you guys sugest be done? lunasea?stehstr? garry owen?

a 6th grade education would benefit some of you very much

Come on thugs!!! Keep the murder rate up. The betting pool is now at a little over 65,000 bucks and I aim to win it based upon your idiotic actions.

And if Larry thinks there is no racism in his city he is a fool.. Thug on thug crime is racism, but the kind I like to watch.

Yeah lets "do somfin Larry",, ain't dat da plan Larry? Wit yo one point plan, put criminals behind bars? Its time to stop passing the buck huh Larry? No mo task forces to study, it be times to do somethin! LIAR, you've done nothing!

A larrydome in larryham would prevent this crime. It's all about the larrydome. It's all about the larry. It's broke, but don't fix it, just look away, look away.......

Gosh, looks like "Larry the Savior" is actually doing a WORSE job than his predecessor.

Way to go Larry!

And I still call out to AC Roper and ask him "Where's your plan and how come it's not making any kind of impact so far?"

But I bet if there's something a little more dramatic or sensational, like a store owner defending his property and merchandise from shoplifters and thugs, the troops can be rallied and Larry the Savior will also be the first one "all up in the camera" talking about how racism won't be tolerated in "his" community........yeah, whatever.

Nothing changes .... just a different idiot in the same job, doing the same as the one before. Which, in case you don't know what that is, is NOTHING.

Stay out of Birmingham people. Stay out. Until something changes, don't spend your money there, don't buy a home there, don't support the local government, etc. STAY OUT.