Berkeley Urban Blight

I read this article today on a local website that I like to visit: City says it is addressing Telegraph Avenue rat problem. The article discusses the issue of a rat infestation in a vacant lot in the middle of downtown. It says: "the vacant lot ... was infested with rodents, drawn there at least in part by people leaving food out for them" and was accompanied by this picture:

And then in the tag at the bottom of the article, the subject matter is labeled "Berkeley Urban blight."

According to Wikipedia, Urban blight, or urban decay, is "the process whereby a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude. It may feature deindustrialization, depopulation or changing population, economic restructuring, abandoned buildings, high local unemployment, fragmented families, political disenfranchisement, crime, and a desolate, inhospitable city landscape."

Yeah, I'm sorry online magazine, but there may be a rodent infestation on a vacant lot in the middle of downtown, but it's not urban blight. It's a bunch of fucking hippies thinking that all animals are sacred and should be respected as our equals, sharing the planet with us. (Kumbaya, my lord.... Kumbaya.....) Kind of like my neighbors who ask you to feed their raccoons for them while they're out of town and are subsequently surprised when the fucking things keep breaking in through the cat door, this problem has been intentionally created by irresponsible human beings. Urban blight happens because of a variety of socioeconomic factors, none of which include "flaky, rat feeding hippie."

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