[ reading reflection and response part i ]

So, after the light and interesting chapter three this one seemed particularly dry and dense. I, to be honest, felt like I was re-reading the first chapter. It was essentially the same story, only with Baltimore and syphilis replaced with New York and violent crimes. It was the same time period (nineties) same setting (highly populated urban area) and (I think this is what topped off the feeling of déjà vu for me) in both scenarios, the "push" that caused the epidemic to tip was crack cocaine. In Baltimore, the slums were being demolished and the outpouring of highly sexually active people, plus some crack to impair the people's judgement some more, "tipped" the syphilis outbreak. In New York, reduction in crack use was considered one of the major factors causing the drop in violent crimes. Just thought that was sort of interesting.
Anyway, I think the Broken Windows theory was pretty intriguing. I never really thought of it this way but the idea that by fixing up a facility you are deterring criminal activity around that facility seems so simple and obvious after reading the chapter. I like it.