The writing on the wall
Broken windows syndrome
‘In a 1982 Atlantic Monthly article titled “Broken Windows,” James Q. Wilson and George Kelling argued that disorder in a community, if left uncorrected, undercuts residents’ own efforts to maintain their homes and neighborhoods and control unruly behavior. “If a window in a building is broken and left unrepaired,” they wrote, “all the rest of the windows will soon be broken. . . . One unrepaired window is a signal that no one cares, so breaking more windows costs nothing. . . . Untended property becomes fair game for people out for fun or plunder.”
‘If disorder goes unchecked, a vicious cycle begins. First, it kindles a fear of crime among residents, who respond by staying behind locked doors. Their involvement in the neighborhood declines; people begin to ignore rowdy and threatening behavior in public. They cease to exercise social regulation over little things like litter on the street, loitering strangers, or truant schoolchildren. When law-abiding eyes stop watching the streets, the social order breaks down and criminals move in.
‘”Stable neighborhoods can change in a few months to jungles,” declare Wilson and Kelling. Disorder also can have dire economic consequences. Shoppers, whether they’re looking for spring plungers or some other commodity will shun an area they perceive as being “out of control.” One study analyzing crime in 30 different areas found that the level of disorder of a neighborhood — more than such factors as income level, resident turnover, or racial makeup — was the best indicator of an area’s lack of safety.’
William D. Eggers and John O’Leary
Policy Review
Fall 1995, Number 74
Mai berry furst lolcat
moar funny pictures
Divisoria!
Our trip to the jersey shop at 168 Mall at Divisoria was a little disappointing, particularly because the quality of the football jerseys had come down to a point where none of them screamed at us to buy them, not the way they did two years ago when we last visted Tsai’s sports gear shop. Even I felt no great impulse to buy a replica of Lionel Messi’s No. 10 jersey for FC Barcelona—the fabric wasn’t as good as it used to be and the patches were not even patches anymore, they were now just printed on. Sam said it was probably because the real jerseys looked the same these days and since these were replicas we really could not expect much.
But there were other accessories that begged a second look. Lanyards and cellphone straps (P30 each), water tumblers, key chains, replica foot balls that sold for a fraction (P350) of what the originals (P2500+ at the adidas depot) were priced. Football fans out there who’d like to deck themselves out in their favorite team’s kit can do so at Tsai’s store located at the back of the 168 Mall if you enter via the leftmost Soler entrance. Walk all the way to the back of the store, and then double back at the second corner where they sell tv stands. This is the only store I know that sells football jerseys in Divisoria. They even had a bargain bin with kids’ sized outfits so we got a German team jersey and shorts for Maia (P150).
And of course I couldn’t pass up my team pins collection. The first one cost me P350 two years ago, and the great thing is it still cost the same when we picked it up today.
Probably the stupidest thing I did today was to go to Divisoria with no batteries in my camera, and thus I had to pass too many scenes that I could not digitally capture. Even stupider was the fact that I had a camera in my celphone, which I didn’t think to take out of my bag because I think of it primarily as a celphone and not a camera. It was by pure chance that we passed by a hole in the wall grocery store that sold energizer batteries, which allowed me to take the following photos before the warning light started to blink.
after the rush
Now that Christmas is over (in a few hours anyway) and this grand plan of an 11-day holiday has got a lot of people out of town, I figure it may be a good idea to foray into Divisoria again, something which Sam and I were not able to do at any time this year, or last year as well. There’s a particular store inside the 168 mall that has the latest replica football jerseys on sale. Not only that, the store also has team pins and other paraphernalia such as cellphone straps and lanyards in the colors and logos of your favorite European football teams. We plan to go day after tomorrow. It’s going to be a Saturday, which we hope will not be as crowded as other Saturdays prior to Christmas. I have other stuff on my list, mostly for the house, and hopefully I’ll be able to get all of them. Here’s hoping.
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