515 ASSOCIATES v. City of Newark

This case illustrates further the reality that the true victims of inner-city crime are the residents themselves. When the citizens in this community cried out for police protection, the answer they received was “buy your own police.” Not so long *199ago, in the context of a case concerning private-landlord tort liability, a Michigan justice foresaw what we now experience.

Public safety is the business of government.

Today’s decision concedes the failure of government to make the streets and homes of certain areas reasonably safe and in effect transfers the governmental function of public…