For all of our talk on this blog and elsewhere about the larger themes of government and public policy, there’s not a lot of space devoted to government on the micro-level.
Here’s one. It begins with a pit bull attack on a friend of mine, Claire Ward, in her own driveway. Her dog, a Corgi named Barney, is killed and she is injured trying to thwart the attack.
This is the sort of story that the press loves — and both the RTD and the local television stations have jumped at the chance to cover it.
But how are Richmond officials responding? That’s where things get weird.
The local precinct captain appeared on Claire’s doorstep to personally apologize for the delay in responding to her 911 call. She was told her case was a “top priority.” They are trying to build as solid a case as possible, and may believe that this attack will lead them to uncovering a dog fighting ring (it also seems that South Richmond is a haven for dog fighting…and heroin trafficking, the two appear to go hand-in-hand).
Meanwhile, Richmond animal control has issued nuisance warrants for the owners of the dog, but say they can’t be served because they do not know where the owners are. Richmond police, on the other hand, have issued no warrants for the attack, but know exactly where the owners are.
Right.
Meanwhile, a call to the Assistant Commonwealth’s attorney investigating the case results in what can only be described as a bad bit from the Howard Stern Show. Claire calls, identifies herself and asks where things stand. The response? The ACA thinks it’s a friend prank calling him and just laughs out loud.
Not good.
There are a lot of other threads to this — like old courts orders that were ignored, non-responses from the health department regarding rabies treatments and such — that lead me to believe that while portions of Richmond government may have changed for the better, it’s guts haven’t changed at all. If anything, the city has elevated bureaucratic plodding to an almost Zen-like state.
The good news is that Claire has the resources, determination and contacts to overcome many of these obstacles (at least so far). But most Richmonders don’t. Not even close. We can write about transportation crises and taxation until our fingers bleed, but it’s at the micro-level, where government and citizens meet every day, that really matters. And in Richmond, and in this case, the results so far are truly depressing.