Can we actually cope with the challenges that face us in the 21st Century?

Date: 12/15/2017

Have we reached a point that shows we are incapable of fulfilling the needs of society? Have our problems simply outstripped our ability to deal with them?  

I think so.   

I wondered about this in light of the audit conduced by State Auditor Suzanne Bump on the Department of Children and Families (DCF).    The audit is pretty shocking. Here is one of the many findings: “DCF does not effectively identify and investigate all occurrences of serious bodily injury to children in its care.”

Isn’t DCF supposed to be protecting children, especially those children in its system?

This audit report started me thinking about the many issues and problems in our society that appear to be overwhelming us.

Consider for a moment that condition of streets in your community. Is your town or city government able to keep up their maintenance? Or do you have thoroughfares with potholes and bumps and mismatched pavement where quick fixes were installed. Is driving on them a pain?

I took Assistant Editor Payton North on a quick tour of Springfield this week to familiarize her with some landmarks that figure into our news coverage. I don’t think there was a single street on which we drove that didn’t need repair.

In my neighborhood the greatest amount of change has not come from urban planning but from the 2011 tornado. We received a new elementary school, sidewalks and housing because of that event. If we hadn’t been hit those improvements probably wouldn’t have been made.

So why can’t we make the necessary infrastructure improvements? If we can’t manage that, is it any wonder the state can’t manage to have an effective agency to protect children, which I would I think is a much more difficult job that fixing roads.

Look at our public school systems. The Chicopee district is facing a $3 million to $4 million shortfall and has established an independent committee to examine the budget and has less than eight weeks to come up with some efficiency.

Chicopee isn’t unique, though. In every school district you will find teachers working off the clock, buying their own classroom supplies because the system we have in place does not work.

The Commonwealth pretty much ignored the issue of Interstate 91 infrastructure until chunks of concrete were falling from the viaduct. Yes, they have fixed it, but they have also spent time and money on a committee to view alternatives to the viaduct – such as partly burying the highway. Wouldn’t it have made more sense to have had an alternative plan already in place so we could evaluate it in comparison to fixing the viaduct?

Of course, but that is not the way things work. And don’t worry, whatever conclusions the committee presents about a future plan will be buried. The Commonwealth has spent more than $200 million on the fix and they won’t be spending any more in our lifetime.

I think for many people in government their daily job is mainly putting out fires. What is the top of mind issue for the day? What is the crisis that must be addressed?

The evaluation of our social systems and infrastructure needs appear to be almost impossible to address unless there is a report or incident that screams out a problem – like the audit of DCF.

What can be done? I’m not sure. Raise taxes to have greater resources? Only a few people in government would advocate that these days. The goal is to cut taxes, eliminating resources for services? Have a greater element of accountability in government? How do we accomplish that? Look at participation in elections – people don’t seem to want to take an active approach, they would much rather post complaints on social media after the fact.

Or is this simply the human condition we are facing – the new normal?

Yes, this is not a very cheery column leading up to Christmas, but then again what kind of Christmas are those kids in DCF care going to get when one realizes the problems in the system?

If you have an idea about how to address any of our problems, please share it. I know I’d like to see it.

I always like hearing from readers even when they clearly disagree with me. Drop me a line with your opinion at news@thereminder.com.