It’s being reported that theft played no small role in the decision to “pause” year-old operations at the heavily taxpayer-subsidized Salem’s Market in the Hill District.
That’s according to the store manager, as reported by the Tribune-Review.
And theft also was believed to have played a significant part in the failure of Salem’s predecessor, the also heavily taxpayer-subsidized Shop ‘n Save grocery store.
As dubious as these taxpayer-underwritten endeavors were on their face, one would at least think that given the running theft problem, better steps would have been taken to combat the pathology of such dedicated five-fingering.
That said, we can be nothing but taken aback by comments made to the Trib by Alexus Brown, a senior social scientist at Pitt’s Center on Race and Social Problems.
She rationalized that, as the Trib reported it, theft at Salem’s is part of a larger issue that reflects the lack of resources in the Hill District and the constant divestment often seen in many black communities.
“There’s a lack of resources that leads to higher crime rates. There has been a lot of divestment from the Hill. …
“It’s not the fault of the people doing the stealing. Yes, that is bad, but the solution isn’t to take away more. Prices have gone up with inflation, and people need help.”
Hold the phone!
Far from “divestment,” taxpayers, in the name of the Hill’s “redevelopment,” “rebirth,” “renaissance,” or whatever it’s being called this week, have been shaken down for hundreds of millions of dollars for decades, not only in the form of wealthfare for corporate titans and the barons of sport but also by Hill District “stakeholders” in a perverse game of demanding to be made “whole.”
Then, to add insult to injury, some in the community chose to steal from the very investors and investments that they so deride as lacking. In a climate featuring such a deleterious mindset, nothing can succeed and no one can prosper.
Talk about a self-defeating prophecy.
As we noted last week, this indefinite operations “pause” at Salem’s reportedly will be used to determine if a reconfigured – that is, shrunken – grocery store might be the answer to a store that didn’t catch on with customers but apparently was a big hit with thieves.
But just as there should have been no taxpayer money whatsoever in the failed Shop ‘n Save and Salem’s ventures, there absolutely must not be any more public dollars in any attempted Salem’s reboot.
For it is abundantly clear – twice now — that there is no market for a Hill District grocery store. We noted Friday that attempting this grocery farce twice reaffirmed the definition of insanity. Attempting it a third time – in any form – would be a gross dereliction of duty by any government official pimping for it.
Colin McNickle is communications and marketing director at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).
