I like the enduring qualities of most hard candy and have a marked affinity for Wild Berry Life Savers and Apple Jolly Ranchers. I love that first burst of flavor that almost immediately settles down but sustains itself the longer you worry the candy in your mouth. Once it's gone you feel like you've gotten somewhere. Very high on the candy-gratification scale, hard candy. We (and by we I mean I) hope this column will function in much the same way. After sitting through countless city council meetings as a reporter for The Gabber and, before that, working in local government, I've had some time to learn how government functions. You know what? It's messed up. Oh, don't misunderstand, I don't presume to try and fix it. That's your job, not mine. But sometimes I read our letters to the editor or comments overheard at council and I think that no...

You know, I'm having an increasingly harder time believing Fearless Leader Baker's party line that "crime is down" in St. Petersburg.

This, fortunately for me although not the Wildwood residents, is not my neighborhood- perhaps because we are blessed with some frequently vocal and neurotic (but in a really, really good way) crime watch people and "regular" police officers. Which is not to say it's all candy-coated houses (some have treats of a different kind, though!) and streets flowing with milk and honey. It's a tough neighborhood. Just not a horrible neighborhood. If you look you can see positive changes here. But NOT because elected leaders step foot into our streets on any kind of regular basis.

All you have to do, Mssrs. Baker and Davis, is for the love of god admit we have a crime problem here and help us fix it. I'm not...