Streetvibes vol 18 issue 13 no 280 final

June 19th-July 2nd, 2014 | Vol. 18 Issue 13 (No. 280)

advocating justice | Building community

Where Is Our Sense Of Community?

LOCAL | 3

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

IT TAKES A VILLAGE | 5

IRELAND’S INVISIBLE HOMELESS | 8

FUKUSHIMA’S CHILDREN ARE DYING | 9

ONE WAY TO PREVENT A BEDBUG INFESTATION | 10

Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition 113 E. 12th Street Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

streetvoice | 13

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J u n e 19- J u l y 2, 2014 | n o . 28 0

They Want You to Grovel JOSH SPRING

Executive Director

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arlier this week I was in a meeting regarding permanent supportive housing, Commons at Alaska. There were folks present who do not want the permanent supportive housing on their block or in their neighborhood.

Permanent supportive housing is housing for people experiencing homelessness with a professionally verified disability. The disability could be physical, mental or cognitive.

One of the speakers who does not want the housing in her neighborhood said that the “stakeholders” and “leaders” in the community must be included in the conversation as to whether or not permanent supportive housing should be placed in certain areas, how it should look, what it should do, etc. This speaker also was insinuating that the community was not involved in the Commons at Alaska process.

The community, however, was involved, there were several meetings of the Avondale Community Council. It just so happens that the folks now opposing the development did not show up at those meetings that took place at the end of their block. All of that said, why do people that are housed believe

Linda Thomas opposing Permanent Supportive Housing. Photo: Justin Jeffre

that they should get a say in whether or not affordable or permanent supportive housing is placed in their neighborhood?

Sure, people should be included in community improvements and voices should be heard, but why should developers have to come and ask permission as was being insinuated?

Do you think that when a large company plans a building full of luxury condominiums, they contact everyone in the neighborhood and ask if they are okay with it? We all know the answer to that; they do not ask for permission and in majority of cases no one second guesses it.

But when you say you are going to create housing for people experiencing homelessness and even when you do have community discussions, people have a problem with it and think they should have been given the

opportunity to give permission.

Folks are generally okay with development as long as it is for people with financial wealth, but scoff at housing meant to provide stable opportunity for people currently without homes.

Neighbors will say ‘well the expensive housing will improve our economy and the low-income housing will lower our property values and increase crime’ (even though there are no statistics to prove this).

This attitude is as old as humans. The attitude that if someone is financially poor or does not have a home or suffers from the disease of addiction or has a mental illness or cognitive impairment that they must ask for freedom and access from people not in those situations. This attitude proclaims that people not in those tough situations have made better decisions, have more to protect and therefore should have more say. This belief system is inherently wrong and discriminatory.

People who are the victim of a systematic ill and/or a biological issue under no circumstance are morally required to seek permission to live from anyone else. If you want to go deeper, the truth is, people have not enough because other people have too much. Therefore it would make more sense for people who have taken too much to ask permission from those who do not have enough - and to return what was taken.

-Josh Spring, LSW Executive Director

THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED

Streetvibes is an activist newspaper, advocating justice and building community. Streetvibes reports on economic issues, civil rights, the environment, the peace movement, spirituality and the struggle against homelessness and poverty.

Distributed by individuals experiencing homelessness or on the edge of homelessness, in exchange for a $1.50 Donation. Streetvibes is published twice a month by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless (GCCH), a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that works to eradicate homelessness in Cincinnati.

113 East 12th St. Cincinnati OH, 45202 Ph: 513.421.7803 FAX: 513.421.7813 WEB: www.cincihomeless.org BLOG: streetvibes.wordpress.com EMAIL: streetvibes@cincihomeless.org Editor: Justin Jeffre Executive Director: Josh Spring Director of Development: Leslie Moorhead Director of Education: Monica Peeple Distributor Program Manager: Anna Worpenberg Layout: Jeni Jenkins, Uncaged Bird Design Studio Reception: Chris Fowler, Steve Reams Clarence Daniels Charles Carpenter Maintenance: Pete Roper CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE Writers: Bonnie Neumeier, Bob Turansky, Nancy Sullivan, Bill Woods, Emily Beard, Steve Sunderland, Harvey Wasserman, Helen Bird, Jason Haap, Jennifer May, Michael Tee, Willa Denise Jones, Kim Green, Alexis Aghotte. Jerry Davis, Photography/Artwork: O-T-R Movement Archives, Justin Jeffre, Nancy Sullivan, REUTERS/ Cathal McNaughton, freepress.org

Thank You For Reading Streetvibes And Supporting Our Mission To Build Community And Advocate Justice.

Streetvibes and The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless do not endorse candidates for public office.

no. 280 | J u n e 1 9 - J u l y 2 , 2 0 1 4

Where Is Our Sense Of Community?

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BONNIE NEUMEIER

Contributing Writer

[Editor’s note: On the evening of June 6, as part of the SOS Art Show [Save Our Souls social justice art] at the Art Academy, a panel of eight speakers, moderated by Michelle Dillingham, presented ideas about the housing crisis in OTR. The panel, organized by Kate Gallion was sponsored by the People’s Coalition for Justice and Peace (formerly Allies of Anna Louise Inn). Long time OTR activist Bonnie Neumeier passionately read the following essay.]

Photo credit: O-T-R Movement Archives

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Photo credit: O-T-R Movement Archives

have lived in Over-the-Rhine for over 40 years. I paid $33 a month for my first apartment in Over-the-Rhine. Two of the apartments I lived in still had the owner living next door; or in the building I was living in. There were many more “Mom and Pop” landlords serving people with low incomes back in the early 70’s. I saw an advertisement the other day for the rental of a townhouse apartment for $2015 a month.

People in our neighborhood are a “displaced” people. Shoved off their lands when someone else found a reason to make a profit on the land we call home. We feared that when our neighborhood became an historic district, gentrification would follow. It has. We were 99 percent renters and 95% of our housing was substandard and needing to be upgraded and improved.

In 1973 a 65-year old male living with the disease of alcoholism was the face of homelessness.

In 2014 that face is a 9-year old child. And the numbers continue to grow. In that picture something is tragically going wrong.

Our people were not sitting on our laurels waiting for a hand out.

Our neighborhood people organized a movement that tried and still tries to figure out communitybased solutions to issues facing us.

There were (and still are) People sleeping on our stoops and in our streets. We started the Drop Inn Center. To really end homelessness we knew we needed to maintain and build affordable housing, which Over-the-Rhine Community Housing is accomplishing.

When our Peaslee Elementary

School closed we fought hard to save it, lost, but turned it into an educational resource now called Peaslee Neighborhood Center.

We created the Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition to give voice to those struggling on our streets.

We worked for policy changes and fought for ordinances that would help us gain some control or voice over what was going on in our community. And, yes, sometimes we did civil disobedience to make a point. We pushed for neighborhood plans…the 5520 Plan was in 1985. We called for protecting the 5520 units of affordable housing, wanting development without displacement.

The housing crisis speaks to this country’s loss of moral fortitude, not caring for our brothers and sisters on the margins. We have become a profit-making consumerist society, not caring whether we condemn those at the bottom to live in squalor, as if it was their fault. Where is our sense of community? Did any one of us make it on our own? I doubt it. If people live in housing security, can’t we see we all benefit? I am so frustrated with so many neighborhoods crying “not in my back yard.”

I think part of the problem is that people with more power rarely see the beauty and assets of a community that looks and lives differently. How we live is going to “look differently” because we don’t have the same amount of resources to spend on our dreams. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t do the best we can with what little we have. We know the importance of leaning on our neighbors in time of need. We know the value of coming

together to figure things out collectively, rather than individually. We know how to pool our resources so we can create a communal garden in our affordable housing project.

We watch out for each other’s children because we know the stressors living in poverty. We value the little of what each can give. We don’t weigh our success on how much we spend, but we weigh our success by the relationships we have built and by whether we feel a sense of belonging. We have quietly inhabited spaces that others have abandoned or discarded, and made it our home. We put our sweat labor and tears into this less than a square mile of land and every day we work to build something for ourselves that we are proud of.

And now, because we don’t have the almighty dollar, or enough political quarterbacks to stand up for our rights, someone with more money can steal our neighborhood from us overnight. That’s not right.

We work hard every day to build community. Now that Over-theRhine land has become valuable, we experience that no one regards the people as valuable.

I miss the people that used to live around me. I miss neighborhood-serving businesses that cared if we had a place to shop for an aspirin, or for a curtain rod, socks and underwear, or a place to do laundry. Mostly, our families can’t afford to eat in the new restaurants. When I walk down the street, I have to admit I feel like a stranger in my own land. We’ve called for changes; upgrades to our streets and alleys; wanting good recreational places; better lighting; where was all the investment when we the poor and working class asked for these improvements. There is some just anger out in our streets because people see that investment discriminates.

And with all the improvements going on now, the question is: will we still be here to benefit from the

THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED

changes. There was little concern for the poor until another class of people desired our land.

I have always felt we need the federal government, and local government, to legislate our protection through ordinances/policies or something because it’s not going to happen by letting market forces go amok. Developers should not be getting away with condo development and market rentals without also doing units for people poor and with low incomes. The old SCPA building should have some affordable units. We saved this neighborhood. How is it that corporate Cincinnati can dictate what stays, what goes. Our neighborhood people, for as long as I’ve been around, have been strong actors in our history making. We were not victims sitting along the sidelines doing nothing. We created “family” on our neighborhood blocks. Our stories weaved a web of connection. We should have a say so in what’s going on in our neighborhood.

It feels like our lives are invisible to planners, developers, and newcomers rushing in to revitalize.

This renaissance refuses to recognize that we are a community with strong connections. It hurts when we get busted up. We need more allies to help name what’s going on and call for more accountability from the City and 3CDC, people who will work to not have this be another city that pushes poor and working class people out of its urban core neighborhoods, like many cities across this country have already done.

I want to live in a city that values my brothers and sisters who are on the margins. With that core belief in humanity, maybe we can turn things around. Because for now we are going somewhere that’s not good for any of us.

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BOOK REVIEW

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Goran Therborn’s The Killing Fields of Inequality INEQUALITY KILLS – PART ONE BOB TURANSKY

Contributing Writer

THIS IS A REVIEW OF GORAN THERBORN’S THE KILLING FIELDS OF INEQUALITY IN TWO PARTS, THE FIRST ON THE NATURE, EXTENT AND FORMS OF CONTEMPORARY INEQUALITY, THE SECOND, WHICH WILL APPEAR IN THE NEXT ISSUE, ON THERBORN’S VIEW OF HOW EGALITARIANS CAN FIGHT BACK.

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nequality is unnatural. By nature, humans are equal.

Genetically, as Harvard biologist Stephen Jay Gould put it, there’s not a dime’s worth of difference among people.1 Inequality is a social construct.

And, according to University of Cambridge sociologist Goran Therborn in The Killing Fields of Inequality 2, it is best defined as a denial of human dignity, a denial of everybody’s human potential to develop. Moreover, its consequences are dire: humiliation, ill health, subjection, exclusion from knowledge, anxiety, poverty, powerlessness, lack of self-confidence and exclusion from life-chances as well as the resources to act and participate in the world. Inequality always means excluding some people from something, ultimately life itself. Death comes earlier to the poor; inequality kills.

After Auschwitz and apartheid, there’s at least general recognition, however immaterial and nominal, that humans are equal. But what, asks Therborn, is meant by equality, and what equality is desirable? Therborn’s definition is “equality of capability to function fully as a human being”, which must entail “survival, health ..., freedom and knowledge (education) to choose one’s life-path, and resources to pursue it.” 3 Such a capability approach to equality allows Therborn a basis for analyzing struggles against inequalities, “which should be seen as multidimensional barriers to equal human capabilities of functioning in the world.” In this sense, inequalities are violations of human rights.

FORMS OF INEQUALITY What are the forms of inequality preventing people from

living a life worthy of human dignity? Therborn notes three broad interacting dimensions. First, human beings are organisms, minds and bodies, susceptible to pain, suffering and death, who can therefore suffer from vital inequality, “socially constructed unequal life-chances”, which can be assessed through the study of mortality rates, life expectancy and health expectancy.

Second, humans are persons, with selves, living their lives within social contexts. Existential inequality is the “unequal allocation of personhood, i.e. of autonomy, dignity, degrees of freedom, and of rights to respect and selfdevelopment.” Third, humans are actors, capable of acting towards aims, but their goals can be thwarted by resource inequality (or, simply, economic inequality), providing agents with unequal resources to act. Resources can most easily be tracked by following the money trail, but one’s first resource is normally one’s parents, their wealth, their knowledge and their support.

UNEVEN PLAYING FIELD What are the mechanisms which produce and reproduce such inequalities? Therborn notes that liberals make much of the distinction between equality of opportunity and equality of outcome, favoring the former, while opposing the latter. Though this was a radical idea two hundred years ago, such a dichotomy between the two is “a sociologically untenable ideological construction” because what liberals call “achievement” is in fact dependent on the systemic rules of the game. And the playing field is skewed at birth. Therborn analyzes four mechanisms designed to keep it that way.

The first he calls “distantiation”, that is, what liberals call “achievement” is blind to everything but the so-called achieving individual, telling us nothing about her relations to, and dependence on, others, “about the social script defining ‘achievement,’” or about the contexts of rewards and opportunities. This is what is meant by distantiation. A moves ahead of, or distances herself from, B because of A’s better preconditions, such as more affluent parents, private education, con-

stant ego-stroking and the like.

And the distance between A and B, given the institutions through which both must maneuver, is only likely to grow over time, because the system not only defines “winning”, it is geared to producing winners and losers, as well as the distance of rewards and opportunities between them.

But there are contextual variables other than systemic arrangements, which further put paid to liberal individualist ideology that success is the singular achievement of the successful individual. “Human beings emerge as adult actors with different health and vigor produced by their childhood.” Actors are bound to differ in self-confidence facing risks and uncertainties, given differential access to information and parental support. “In this way, through actor formation, social distances – of school achievement, job careers, social standing – tend to be reproduced over generations.”

A second mechanism producing inequalities is plain, oldfashioned exploitation, which is “the worst form of inequality.” A derives her advantages over B because of the valuables that B provides her with. Slavery and serfdom were classical examples. Capitalist exploitation, though less obvious, is based on an asymmetrical appropriation of the fruits of human labor, and is in this sense exploitative as well, an assessment which, Therborn claims, “will be rather non-con-

THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED

troversial among egalitarians.”

Two other mechanisms producing inequality are exclusion, barring the advance or access of others to social goods, a set of hindrances including discriminations of various kinds such as “glass ceilings,” and “hierarchization,” institutionalized rankings of social actors through formal organizations which open the door to the included, while shutting out the excluded, which may also take less institutional, more cultural forms through value systems and aesthetics of “taste” and “style”.

TODAY’S UNEQUAL WORLD VITAL INEQUALITY In measuring the three forms of inequality, Therborn employs two metrics, inter-national and intra-national. The three types of inequality are unequally distributed throughout the world, but, while vital inequality between nations (inter-national) has generally been declining, within nations (intra-national), after dropping in the ‘50s and ‘60s, it has once again begun to climb, resulting in “a stability of class inequality of life and health.”

Therborn cites two chief causes of the resurgence of such life-and-death class inequality: first, growing economic insecurity and polarization, along with lack of respect on the job and control of one’s life and work situation; second, what is generally misnamed “lifestyle”. As Ther{Continued page 6}

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no. 280 | J u n e 1 9 - J u l y 2 , 2 0 1 4

It Takes a Village

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NANCY SULLIVAN

Contributing Writer

f someone offered your neighborhood a large lot as a blank slate on which to project dreams and ideas, what

would you want to see there?

Thanks to the BLOC Ministries, two adjacent empty lots on McPherson opposite the church are available for muchneeded recreation space. Three Miami University education majors participating in the Urban Teaching Cohort (UTC), set out to engage with the community around this question during their three week placement in Price Hill.

MU alumna and Price Hill Will board member Pat Bruns asked around the community for placement possibilities and Nancy Sullivan, VISTA volunteer with Transformations CDC, jumped at the opportunity. Together they explored different ideas, from the “nature-based play space” at the CinThe common space next to the church. cinnati Nature Center Photo: Nancy Sullivan. and later with the de-

Politics Then And Now- Part I BILL WOODS

P

Contributing Writer

olitics has changed. Few would say it has changed for the better, and many reformers believe that the political system that guides our democracy has gotten more and more undemocratic. The influences of “big money” and computer perfected gerrymandering “, and the emergence of the forces of ideology and polarization are key factors that brought about this unhealthy change.

As I look back over fifty-one years of political involvement, I can describe how the major political parties changed over time. For one thing, during the 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s, we did not have a liberal Democratic and a conservative Republican Party. Both parties possessed conservative, liberal, and moderate wings, and these diverse factions were forced to work together to forge national agendas or Presidential campaign platforms.

I remember pundits of that period decrying this lack of ideological party unity, and declaring that the country would be better off with a clear cut choice between a party of the left and a party of the right. In hindsight, however, these divided parties fit our Constitutional structure of divided government and certainly the divisions within the U.S

population at-large. This situation also made for a more pragmatic politics that accepted compromise as a given in order to get things accomplished in Washington, D.C. and in the various state capitals.

To provide some specific examples, Senator Jacob Javits, a New York Republican, had more in common with Senator Ted Kennedy than he did with Senator Barry Goldwater, a Republican from Arizona. Likewise, Goldwater was closer in views to many Democratic Senators from the South than to Republican Senator Mark Hatfield of Oregon.

In Ohio, Governor Frank Lausche, a Democrat, and Senator Robert Taft, Jr. were both considered moderates during this era. Remember, Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren, who was vilified by the Right as an extreme radical, had been the Republican Governor of California before his appointment to the Court by President Eisenhower, a Republican.

Thus, liberals, conservatives, and moderates had to struggle to get along within each Party. This situation also meant that members from each Party cooperated on a daily basis in Congress, and that many bipartisan policies were hammered out. Across the aisle coalitions were constantly being organized.

Neighbors Vote for Favorite Ideas. Photo: Nancy Sullivan.

signer, to different kinds of community gardens and seating areas as possible ideas for the site.

Then the students, Kate Roberts, Andrea Spenney and Julianne Ballog, developed a photo montage questionnaire showing some ideas and walked around the neighborhood, soliciting input from residents and passersby, old and young. Working with Sullivan and young students in the Transformations’ “Price Hill Learning Club”, an after school program for children of immigrants, they made a huge banner inviting people to the first step of a multi-phase planning process.

Curious adults and children turned out to see what was hap-

pening, as high grass yielded to a verdant meadow and picnic tables with drinks and snacks and chairs dotted the top of the hill. A giant slip-and-slide led to large photocovered posters where people could vote for their favorites and also add their own ideas, as well as sign up to participate in further planning.

African-American, white and Hispanic neighbors enjoyed a perfect evening in the lengthening shadow of the historic church.

Together we took the first of many steps toward creating a beautiful common space where children, youth and adults and elders can take a break from city life.

Another factor at work during this period was the ongoing influence of the Great Depression and Roosevelt’s New Deal. A majority of the American people had come to accept the active involvement of government responding to a host of economic and social issues. Even if many Republicans took a more cautious approach to implementing national programs, they still accepted that government should be an active player. The debates usually revolved around not whether but how government should be involved. In retrospect, the time frame under discussion was a relatively progressive period.

This more diverse and fluid political process meant that individual activists and issue oriented groups could work with and develop allies in both the Republican and Democratic Parties. As a young adult concerned about urban issues and then the Vietnam War, I had a wide range of possibilities for political involvement.

Hired in 1963 to write press releases for the Charter Committee, a group led by Councilman Charles P. Taft, a progressive Republican, I then supported Lyndon Johnson over Barry Goldwater in the Presidential election of 1964. In 1970, I wrote several position papers for Jack Gilligan during his successful race for Governor, while I continued to serve as the Ohio correspondent for The Ripon Forum, a Republican journal published in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1972, I worked

as an organizer in rural Ohio for the McGovern for President Campaign, and one year later, I was hired to do some research on urban issues for Congressman Charles Whalen, a liberal Republican from Dayton. It was a time when an issue oriented person could indulge in this kind of political gymnastics.

I do not mean to over idealize the time period under review in this article. True, it was an era when most of the major Civil Rights laws were passed, and Medicare and many housing and anti-poverty programs were enacted. Nevertheless, it was a time dominated by the Cold War and finally left scarred by Vietnam.

The War and then the Watergate scandal laid the groundwork for the demise of this era of confidence in public life.

It is, however, instructive to compare the not so distant past with the present. The politically fluid and pragmatic public process of the 50s, 60s, and early 1970s stands in dramatic contrast to the ideological and polarized politics of today. If Novelist Thomas Wolf warned us that we can’t go home again, we also know that history teaches us a lot about successes and failures. As we look at our current gridlocked national and state governments and our “take no prisoners politics,” we need all the help we can get in our efforts to bring about a more optimistic public life that emphasizes the collective-we.

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LOCAL Could This Program Help Eradicate Homelessness?

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EMILY BEARD

Contributing Writer

ast year there were close to two million homeless individuals in the United States, according to Statistic Brain. The people who make up this number are veterans, abused women, people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol, children, the unemployed, mentally ill and all different races.

Homelessness can affect anyone at any time. We, as a society

{Continued from page 4} born notes, the latter should be better termed “life-options”, not so much a choice of style as a perspective on options. People who have little control of their basic life situation - finding or maintaining a job, paying the bills may be less prone to control the health of their bodies, to notice and to follow expert advice on alcohol, tobacco, exercise and diet than those who have a sense of controlling their lives.

And, at the heart of vital inequality is a negative asymmetry of information; whereas in existential and resource inequality it is usually the disadvantaged themselves who are best informed, the opposite is true when it comes to diet and health. Premature adult mortality, and socially unequal risks for it are driven mainly by cardiovascular diseases.

The major causes of heart and blood vessel diseases are known even to lay people: smoking, animal fats, cholesterol, obesity, lack of exercise. But the most vulnerable know the least what food and medical treatment – what “lifestyle” – are best for them.

Moreover, the asymmetry of information, in part a result of increasingly unequal systems of education, one private, the other public, runs even deeper to the psychosomatic effects of social stress, of social hierarchies, and lack of control of one’s work and life-situation.

And to make matters even worse, limitations of lay knowledge are compounded by constraints of choice – “not a choice between a good healthy job and a bad risky job, but between a bad job and no job at all.” Furthermore, some of the means to cope with such stress – perhaps granting momentary relief or oblivion – have dire long-term consequences on the body, e.g. alcohol, fats, sweets, nicotine, narcotic drugs.

and privileged people, have a duty to make sure all people have a safe place to go. According to The Drop Inn Center statistics, there are roughly 2,000 confirmed homeless individuals in Cincinnati alone. That number is higher than the number of available shelter beds in the city. Every major city in this country has similar statistics to ours.

One way we can bring new Therborn’s meticulously researched book is peppered with data, backed by copious studies, including many by various committees of the United Nations.

For instance, to illustrate growing vital inequality in wealthy states, he looks at life expectancy among adults in London. The results are startling. “If you travel east on the underground Jubilee line [in London, moving from upper middle-class to working-class neighborhoods], life expectancy of the residents is decreasing by half a year at every stop.”

EXISTENTIAL INEQUALITY Unlike vital and resource inequality, existential equality, though far from complete, is largely a success story. The defeat of racist fascism in World War II, culminating in the 1948 U.N. Charter on Human Rights, gave impetus to the struggle for human rights. But it was not until the 1960s, after the South African Sharpeville massacre and the development of the American civil rights movement, that momentum quickened in the struggle against racism. And, as Therborn puts it, “without social strength, without sustained social struggle, there can be no existential equalization.” The ‘60s witnessed the expansion of the struggle for recognition and respect into gender, sexual and settler-indigenous relations, eventually encompassing the disabled as well. In contrast to income and vital inequality, existential equality, in the aforementioned forms, appears to be gathering force in the early twenty-first century. But the picture becomes clouded with the emergence of a new form of such inequality, intertwined with vital and resource inequality, viz. the “marginalized” or “underclass” excluded from the labor market. In the UK, they’re known as “chavs”, while the American conservative, Charles Murray in his 2012 bestseller,

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solutions to the homeless problem in Cincinnati is to study and possibly model solutions that are proven successful in other cities.

According to CBS News, one solution the city of Madison, Wisconsin has developed to eradicate homelessness is The Tiny Homes Mission. The people who comprised the recent “Occupy Madison” movement are helping to make sure the homeless community has a place to go, especially in the winter. When the Occupy people were protesting, a lot of homeless people would set up camp with them. It provided the homeless with food, shelter and some education. That is where individuals in the “Occupy Madi-

son” organization got the idea to build tiny homes for the homeless community.

The concept of Tiny Homes is to develop very small, individual shelters that provide the basic necessities and services necessary to live and be protected, especially in harsh weather conditions. The first home they built was for a couple who had been homeless for a number of years. Their home is less than one hundred square feet and is made mostly from recycled materials. It has a composting toilet, which uses a different processing system instead of using water to flush the toilet. In these homes they also have running wa-

Coming Apart, heaps existential scorn upon a new “lower class” of “the unmarried, lazy, dishonest and godless.”

Class warfare from above has succeeded in diminishing the resources, concentration and cohesion of labor and ensuring that the top 1% of income earners in the United States, one of the most unequal of nations, more than doubled their appropriation of national disposable income from 1979 to 2007, while the bottom 80% lost, and in fact the lowest 40% of full-time workers have seen their paychecks decline each year from 1980 through 2005.

Particularly noteworthy in the United States is the limited equality of opportunity, so vaunted by liberals. The rags-to-riches myth is just that ... a myth. High intragenerational inequality is connected to high inter-generational inequality. Inequality of opportunity is positively correlated with inequality of outcome.

How is it possible for existential equality to make progress amidst growing levels of economic inequality? Therborn notes that a crucial difference between the two is that the latter is usually a zero-sum game while the former is usually not. As a privileged beneficiary of existential inequality you can bask in the deference forced upon your subordinates, satisfied that the “unworthies” are kept in their place, while economic inequality means unequal command over resources, with which you can buy whatever you want.

Though existential inequality can be used to maintain and enhance economic inequality, existential equalization need not change the advantageous life chances of economic inequality. Existential inequality has been decoupled from resource inequality because powerful elites have found the issue “a gift of costless egalitarianism.” A Black Lesbian single mother or an Inuit seal hunter can be granted a crack at their life-dreams without challenging inequality of resources one whit. Moreover, “existen-

RESOURCE OR ECONOMIC INEQUALITY Resource or economic inequality, in stark contrast to existential inequality, has soared over the last thirty-five years. Though world polarization among countries has not stopped, inter-national inequality declined somewhat with post-WWII decolonization. But within nations economic inequality has risen significantly since 1980. Brought on by deindustrialization, the weakening of labor and trade-union strength, financialization of capitalism, deregulation, and a relative decline in social spending, the world has been brought back to pre-WWII, gilded-age levels of inequality.

Therborn surveys three theories on the causes of the steep rise in economic (or, as he calls it, “resource”) inequality: globalization, technology and politics, and, though the three are interconnected, he settles on the neoliberal politics of the 1% (a percentage made famous by the Occupy movement but which might be extended to 5 or 10% with no alteration in the basic oligarchical point) as the principal factor. The political movement was driven at the top by the expansion and concentration of capital and at the bottom by policies to keep the poor down and “softened up to accept anything.” The methods – and there are many – include “high involvement management” (which some workers less euphemistically labeled “management by stress”), precarious part-time employment, off-shoring or foreign direct investment (FDI) in the endless search for cheaper, more exploitable labor, freeing of financial and currency markets, and, most significantly, strikebreaking and union-busting.

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no. 280 | J u n e 1 9 - J u l y 2 , 2 0 1 4

WE, TOO, ARE HUMAN: The Cancer Patient STEVE SUNDERLAND

Contributing Writer

sing the praises of hospital networks that The quest for certainty is a quest offer “care” and imply better “treatment.” for a peace which is assured, an The Internet, always a object which is unqualified by ready source of inforrisk and the shadow of fear which mation, offers reports too general on various action casts. doctors, and medical — J. Dewey (1929). procedures.

Family The quest for certainty. Capricorn. and friends offer advice on their own personal experience or what they have heard n amazing transition in thinking and action from their friends, often informaoccurs when a doctor tion that is confusing and contrainforms a person that dictory. Personal physicians who they may have cancer. Suddenly, are not cancer specialists offer giant fears appear, represented in referrals without any assurance questions, important confusions that the physician is the “right” about both the kind and depth of one.

National and local news magathe illness and the chances for removal, and the future life chanc- zines “rate” doctors and hospitals with rankings of “best” without es.

Recently, a family member indicating the basis for their deciheard that they may have can- sions. All the while, the cancer pacer. I wanted to help in the de- tient and their support system are cisions and I kept an outline of reduced to facing a life and death my thoughts and feelings. I ob- decision that has more confusion, served my own behavior as I went more doubt, and more fear. What through predictable stages of un- seemed obviously missing was certainty, phases that have not a system that helped the patient gone away but have changed as and their support system find the we selected physicians, hospitals, “best” and least risky choices. treatments, and went through re- Couldn’t the health profession in covery from surgery. The more the 21st century, in these kinds of we walked into each question, dangerous diseases, find a better the more we realized that a kind way than word of mouth?

Two processes would change of uncertainty would accompany this ongoing reality: First, the each decision.

Why is this the case? Cancer medical profession needs to rank is widespread in America. (“This doctors in terms of success with year, more than 1.6 million Amer- certain procedures. Any patient icans — 0.5 percent of the popula- seeking help needs to know if tion — will receive a diagnosis of the doctor is qualified by expericancer.” E. Emanuel (3/23/13). ence with the form of cancer, and “A plan to fix cancer care.” N.Y. with a high level of success. We Times.) Television commercials faced experienced surgeons who

A

{Continued from page 6} tial income discrimination does not make much sense to financial capital.”

ECONOMIC INEQUALITY = POLITICAL INEQUALITY Hand-in-hand with economic inequality, the movement toward political equality has been stopped or reversed due to deunionization, “monetary electioneering” and what Therborn calls the “social dissolution of popular classes”. What others call an oligarchy, ‘dollarocracy” or kleptocracy, Therborn labels a “dictat-ship”, not quite synonymous with dictatorship, but close.

7

What he means is that a political Diktat does not require a dictatorship for economic elites to exert their political will. In a dictatship, like the United States, there may be competitive elections and a diversity of media; you may vote as you wish and say what you like but with no effect. “’Virtually all U.S. senators, and most representatives in the House, are members of the top 1 per cent when they arrive, are kept in office by the top 1 per cent, and know that if they serve the top 1 per cent well they will be rewarded by the top 1 per cent when they leave office.”4 In a study conducted by Princeton University political scientist,

(One who is afraid should not go into the woods. But we are all in the woods. Everyone is in a different way and a different place.) There’s only one thing certain. That is one’s own inadequacy. One must start from that.

— G. Janouch (2012). Conversations with Kafka. New Directions.

could only tell us that their procedures would likely be successful but we could not find medical research and physician statements that confirmed their skills or success. The reality that such a thorough grading system does not exist suggests that the medical profession does not want to have a level of transparency that holds the physician or the treatment opinion accountable. The public, especially the cancer patient, needs to be educated to the risks of both procedures and physicians if sound decisions are to be made and some amount of uncertainty reduced. Each doctor, hospital, and/or health insurance company could provide a checklist of critical factors to be used in the decision making, each factor connected to a risk. We really needed such information early and throughout the process.

None exists.

Secondly, in the absence of such a review of competence in methods of practice and physicians, the patient and their support system need an opportunity to express their fears in a safe way and with the expectation of kindness and compassionate listening. Fear can heighten the feelings of helplessness. Physician interactions with the cancer patient can deepen this fear. The fears may be about asking about the way the diagnosis was made, and/or the treatment options, and/or the likelihood of recovery, and/or the long term prospects for full the return of the cancer.

Fears haunt each question and are not ever fully removed as the treatment advances. Recognizing that the cancer patient is a person

that is engulfed in different experiences of fear, so much fear that what doctors and nurses say may be totally and/or partially missed, calls out for a more compassionate relationship with all aspects of the treatment process.

We enormously benefited from a two hour discussion with one surgeon who took seriously our concerns about his unusual treatment option. We came somewhat prepared to understand the dangers; his willingness to be clear about the uncertainty of this option was a giant step in helping to make a decision. Another surgeon carefully showed us a CAT scan and explained the mysteries in understandable English. A third surgeon and his staff were unprepared for an in depth discussion and only frustrated our capacity to choose. Considering what was at stake, we needed an advocate that would help us decode the doctor’s statements. No one was made available.

The cancer patient has a capacity for learning, choosing, and living with uncertainty. This ability will only increase when physicians and nurses emphasize compassionate and real communication. And, when the health system joins the caring discussion with a realistic assessment of procedures, surgeon competence and experience, and risk factors.

Slick commercials, fancy and expensive operating techniques without evidence, and too short meetings combine to dehumanize the cancer patient and their support system. The cancer patient must remind the health care system: “We, too, are human.”

Martin Gilens, it was found that neither Democratic nor Republican senators responded positively to any opinion from the lowest earning third of the population and were only moderately responsive to the middle third.

When income groups diverge in their preferences, the poorer half of the population has no chance of winning. Only the most affluent 30% stand any chance and the top 10% trumps everyone.5 Like existential equality, allowing the populous to cast a vote every now and again need be no threat whatsoever to unequal distribution of resources.

1 Stephen Jay Gould. The Mismeasure of Man. New York: W.W. Norton, 1996. 1

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2 Goran Therborn. The Killing Fields of Inequality. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2013.

3 Therborn employs the definition of well-known moral philosopher Amartya Sen. The Idea of Justice.

4 Joseph E. Stiglitz. “Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%,” Vanity Fair, May, 2011.

5 Martin Gilens. Affluence and Influence. New York: Princeton U. Press, 2012.

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INTERNATIONAL

J u n e 19- J u l y 2, 2014 | n o . 28 0

Ireland’s invisible homeless JENNIFER MAY

H

www.street-papers.org Ireland’s Big Issue

omeless charities have warned of the chronic housing shortage for the last couple of years, but it has taken until now for the government to acknowledge the serious housing crisis in Ireland.

Homelessness has now reached epidemic proportions, and, as our cities’ hotels fill up with increasingly desperate people, there doesn’t seem to be any cohesive policy in place to deal with this issue.

We are not only talking about the ‘visible homeless’ - those who sleep rough on the streets of our cities - but families: mothers, fathers and children who have absolutely nowhere to go; people trying to cope with rising rents and rising living costs who had been renting privately and suddenly find themselves priced out of a home, and with absolutely no chance of social housing.

I’m in a hotel just five minutes from O’Connell Street on one of the less salubrious streets. Traditionally a tourist hotel, it’s a nice enough place - small and clean with friendly staff - but this morning it bustles with people. They are not tourists, but families trying to have breakfast in the small diningroom before getting their children off to school. Children in school uniforms clamour for Rice Krispies while their harassed-looking parents pour tea from small pots.

A holiday this isn’t; these families have recently been made homeless and have been placed here temporarily.

Liam is just back from taking his two children, aged seven and ten, to school. That involves taking a Luas and then a bus; a journey of over an hour twice a day. He has agreed to talk once his name is changed (the sense of fear among these new homeless is palpable; they are afraid to speak out against the agencies they are so reliant upon, unaware of what their rights are, or where they will be sleeping this time next month).

Both he and his wife worked, but neither was particularly well paid, although they were able to make ends meet. “We rented a house in south county Dublin for the past six years,” says Liam, who is still shocked and angry by what has befallen his family. “We were settled there; the kids were in school, we both worked and we managed to pay the €1,200 monthly rent on the property.”

However, when his hours were cut, they started to struggle. When the landlord raised the rent by €100, they fell behind. Eventually they were given notice to quit.

“In some ways I can’t blame the landlord,” he says magnani-

mously. “He bought that house during the boom as a way of having a pension, and that’s fair enough, he needs the rent to be paid. But what I find unfair is that tenants have no rights. Landlords can raise rents whenever they want. People like us are left high and dry.”

Once they were told to leave, Liam tried to find alternative accommodation, but could find nothing within their price range.

He contacted the council - he has been on the housing lists for seven years - but was informed it would be years before he would be offered a house.

The day they left the house they called home, his children were inconsolable and are still devastated. “Look I’m not asking for sympathy,” he says. “I know there are people worse off than we are, but we work hard and we are still not able to provide our kids with a roof over their heads. There is something wrong with the system.”

While the hotel is pleasant (unlike many B&B’s traditionally used for housing the homeless which can be unspeakably rough), the room - a family room with two single beds and a double bed - is small, stuffy and no place for a family of four to live. The children sit on their beds to do their homework or watch television, and while they try and instil some sense of normalcy to the situation - insisting on homework before TV for example - Liam says it’s impossible to live properly.

“We’re living on takeaways, buying sandwiches in the evening to give the kids for breakfast, because we leave too early in the morning,” he says. “At weekends we take them out as much as possible. But it’s not normal living. They can’t play with their toys; leave the room on their own, have friends over. It’s as if our lives have been suspended, but we don’t know when we’re getting them back.”

So what action is the government offering in the wake of this crisis? €35 million has also been made available to bring 1,750 long-term vacant units across the country back into ‘beneficial use’, however while this may sound brilliant, social housing lists across Ireland are so long this will barely make a dent in numbers, and will not help families in immediate need of a home.

Minister Jan O’Sullivan has said that her department will also work with Dublin City Council to ring-fence specific units for homeless people. “In the short term I expect significant supply of vacant units, with construction, acquisi-

A homeless man begs on the street beside Government buildings, in Dublin Photo:

REUTERS/Cathal McNaughton

tion and NAMA units also coming to stream,” said Ms O’Sullivan.

“These would provide units for people who are currently homeless.”

As well as this, the establishment of a Social Housing Rental Service (SHRS) in Dublin - a one-stop-shop for landlords, local authorities and the homeless to ‘identify and manage’ accommodation in the private rented sector (whatever that means), the Minister said there would be some new flexibility with regards to rent caps in the capital for families at risk of losing their tenancies (what this ‘flexibility’ is, remains unclear as Joan Burton is not increasing Rent Allowance). There has also been a pledge to end homelessness by 2016. (With all due respect, we’ve had these pledges before: The Way Home Strategy to End Homelessness in Ireland 20082013, made the same pledge and look at the situation now!) While at least there is now a sense of urgency around the issues of homelessness, there are some glaringly obvious steps that should have been taken before the situation got to where it is today.

With councils not investing in new social housing units (and 90,000 families on social housing lists) we have to accept that private renting is a necessary housing solution in this country, therefore legislative change is needed in that sector. Unlike other European countries, private tenants here have few rights. Yes there is the PRTB, who can insist that tenants are given the legal amount of notice or that rented properties meet certain standards, however, without proper statutory rights for tenants (long term tenants in particular) and rent control, this is tokenism and the private rented sector will remain fraught with difficulty for tenants.

The system of rent allowance, payable to the unemployed or those on low income also needs overhauling. It is common knowledge that rent caps do not meet the rates of rents being charged in most areas, meaning that most people are priced out of the pri-

THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED

vate rental market before they even start looking.

Considering the amount of money it costs local councils to house families in hotels, would it not make good financial sense to increase rent allowances, thereby cutting the numbers of homeless families expediently? (The Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton, argues increasing that allowances will only encourage landlords to increase rents. We say this is where rent control legislation is handy, Joan… like in Holland, Germany, France, Spain, etc.)

However, there is no point in increasing rent supplement unless we deal with another glaring anomaly. Landlords are entitled to refuse to rent to those on Rent Supplement, and most of them (for their own reasons) do. Look at any property website and you will find most advertising is accompanied by a No Rent Supplement tag.

This is blatant discrimination.

Although every citizen in Ireland is held as equal under the law - and can take an action for discrimination under nine grounds, including gender, civil status, race, disability or sexual orientation - those who are poor are not included. (Imagine if potential landlords put a ‘No Homosexuals’ or even ‘No Wheelchair Users’ tag on their ads? There would be an outcry…and rightly so). New legislation should be drafted as a matter of urgency by the government to correct this imbalance.

Without an honest look at the issues and an acceptance that social housing cannot deliver the number of homes needed to solve this crisis, we will not solve this problem. If thoughtful, fair legislation protecting both tenants and landlords had been put in place years ago, children would not be suffering sleepless nights and days fraught with fear, packed into unsuitable accommodation with their human rights violated on a daily basis.

(Some names have been changed for privacy reasons). For more information: www.threshold.ie

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no. 280 | J u n e 1 9 - J u l y 2 , 2 0 1 4

INTERNATIONAL

9

Fukushima’s Children are Dying HARVEY WASSERMAN

S

www.freepress.org

ome 39 months after the multiple explosions at Fukushima, thyroid cancer rates among nearby children have skyrocketed to more than forty times (40x) normal.

More than 48 percent of some 375,000 young people—nearly 200,000 kids—tested by the Fukushima Medical University near the smoldering reactors now suffer from pre-cancerous thyroid abnormalities, primarily nodules and cysts. The rate is accelerating.

More than 120 childhood cancers have been indicated where just three would be expected, says Joseph Mangano, executive director of the Radiation and Public Health Project.

The nuclear industry and its apologists continue to deny this public health tragedy. Some have actually asserted that “not one person” has been affected by Fu- More than 48 percent of some 375,000 young people—nearly 200,000 kids—tested by the Fukushima Medical University near the kushima’s massive radiation re- smoldering reactors now suffer from pre-cancerous thyroid abnormalities, primarily nodules and cysts. A homeless man begs on the leases, which for some isotopes street beside Government buildings, in Dublin Photo: freepress.org exceed Hiroshima by a factor of abandon Fukushima at the worst and Ukraine have been horrific. out to sea (and towards America). nearly 30.

There is on-going risk from irBut the deadly epidemic at of the crisis, probably saving mil- According to Mangano, some 80 lions of lives.

Workers at the site percent of the “Children of Cherradiated produce, and among site Fukushima is consistent with imwho are employed by independent nobyl” born downwind since the workers whose doses and health pacts suffered among children contractors—many dominated accident have been harmed by impacts are not being monitored. near the 1979 accident at Three by organized crime—are often a wide range of impacts ranging Current dose estimates among Mile Island and the 1986 explonot being monitored for radiafrom birth defects and thyroid workers as well as downwinders sion at Chernobyl, as well as findtion exposure at all.

Public anger cancer to long-term heart, respiare unreliable, and special notice ings at other commercial reactors. is rising over government plans to ratory and mental illnesses.

The must be taken of radiation’s severe The likelihood that atomic force families—many with small findings mean that just one in impacts on the human embryo. power could cause such epidemics children—back into the heavily five young downwinders can be UNSCEAR’s studies on backhas been confirmed by the Canacontaminated region around the termed healthy. ground radiation are also “misdian Nuclear Safety Commission, plant.

Physicians for Social Responleading,” say the groups, and there which says that “an increase in the Following its 1979 accident, sibility and the German chapter must be further study of genetic risk of childhood thyroid cancer” Three Mile Island’s owners denied of the International Physicians radiation effects as well as “nonwould accompany a reactor disasthe reactor had melted.

But a rofor the Prevention of Nuclear War cancer diseases.” The UN asserter. botic camera later confirmed othhave warned of parallel problems tion that “no discernible radiaIn evaluating the prospects erwise. near Fukushima. tion-related health effects are exof new reactor construction in The state of Pennsylvania mysThe United Nations Scienpected among exposed members” Canada, the Commission says the teriously killed its tumor registry, tific Committee on the Effects of is “cynical,” say the groups. They rate “would rise by 0.3 percent at then said there was “no evidence” Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) has add that things were made worse a distance of 12 kilometers” from that anyone had been killed. recently issued reports downplayby the official refusal to distribute the accident. But that assumes the But a wide range of indepening the disaster’s human impacts. potassium iodide, which might distribution of protective potasdent studies confirm heightened UNSCEAR is interlocked with have protected the public from sium iodide pills and a successful infant death rates and excessive the United Nations’ International thyroid impacts from massive reemergency evacuation, neither of cancers among the general popuAtomic Energy Agency, whose leases of radioactive I-131. which happened at Three Mile Islation.

Excessive death, mutation mandate is to promote atomic Overall, the horrific news from land, Chernobyl or Fukushima. and disease rates among local anipower.

The IAEA has a long-term Fukushima can only get worse.

The numbers have been anamals were confirmed by the Penncontrolling gag order on UN findRadiation from three lost cores is lyzed by Mangano. He has studsylvania Department of Agriculings about reactor health impacts. still being carried into the Pacific. ied the impacts of reactor-created ture and local journalists.

For decades UNSCEAR and the Management of spent fuel rods radiation on human health since In the 1980s federal Judge SylWorld Health Organization have in pools suspended in the air and the 1980s, beginning his work via Rambo blocked a class action run protective cover for the nu- scattered around the site remains with the legendary radiologist Dr. suit by some 2,400 central Pennclear industry’s widespread health fraught with danger.

Ernest Sternglass and statistician sylvania downwinders, claiming impacts. Fukushima has proven The pro-nuclear Shinzo Abe Jay Gould. not enough radiation had escaped no exception. regime wants to reopen Japan’s Speaking on www.prn.fm’s to harm anyone.

But after 35 years, In response, Physicians for remaining 48 reactors. It has Green Power & Wellness Show, no one knows how much radiation Social Responsibility and the Gerpushed hard for families who fled Mangano also confirms that the escaped or where it went.

Three man International Physicians for the disaster to re-occupy irradigeneral health among downwind Mile Island’s owners have quietly the Prevention of Nuclear War ated homes and villages. human populations improves paid millions to downwind victims have issued a ten-point rebuttal, But Three Mile Island, Cherwhen atomic reactors are shut in exchange for gag orders. warning the public of the UN’s nobyl and the plague of death and down, and goes into decline when At Chernobyl, a compendium compromised credibility. The di- disease now surfacing near Fukuthey open or re-open. of more than 5,000 studies has saster is “ongoing” say the groups, shima make it all too clear that the Nearby children are not the yielded an estimated death toll of and must be monitored for de- human cost of such decisions cononly casualties at Fukushima. more than 1,000,000 people. cades. “Things could have turned tinues to escalate—with our chilPlant operator Masao Yoshida has The radiation effects on for the worse” if winds had been dren suffering first and worst. died at age 58 of esophogeal canyoungsters in downwind Belarus blowing toward Tokyo rather than cer. Masao heroically refused to ------------------------

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10

LOCAL

J u n e 19- J u l y 2, 2014 | n o . 28 0

One Way To Prevent A Bedbug Infestation In Your Home

R

JASON HAAP

Contributing Writer

ecently, a friend from work told me he bakes all his books and DVDs from the public library at 150 degrees for three hours. Why? To kill the bedbugs! He said bedbugs can’t survive in that heat, but it’s not enough to melt the DVDs or to burn the books. That sounded crazy to me, but could it be true?

I asked a library employee who agreed to communicate with me anonymously. Here are rather detailed responses from this employee to my questions. (I did ask the library directly, but the response I got was not nearly as detailed or as interesting as what is posted below - though the basic facts did verify the following.).

Can you tell me the degree to which this is a danger? Can people get bedbugs from library books? Is book baking really the way to go?

Bringing a bedbug (or bugs) home in library materials is always a possibility. Not just books, but CDs, DVDs and magazines as well.

“Book baking” is one way of ensuring any hiding bugs are killed, but is a little extreme. There are other behaviors library patrons can do to prevent an infestation of their

own, such as thoroughly looking through the book, under its cover, along the spine, etc. Book baking also assumes that you put the library materials in a sealed plastic bag after pulling them off of the shelf—there are all sorts of places bedbugs can scurry off to before you get the books into the oven.

Also, cooking your books is potentially dangerous, even if the temperature is nowhere near 451°F. Bedbugs come in and out of the library all the time without ever becoming an infestation.

Most of them travel on people, not library materials. If a single bedbug is found, it is captured, killed, and reported to the facilities department. If it was found on library material(s), those items are cooked in a PackTite™ oven for the prescribed time and temp.

(120°F for 1hour). Then, library staff thoroughly look over the material before being put back into circulation. If it was found on furniture, that furniture is monitored for evidence of more bugs. If multiple bedbugs are found on furniture (which I believe constitutes and “infestation”), the furniture is spot-treated with appropriate

pesticides, and/or disposed of, depending on the condition of the furniture. Library computers can also be cooked in the PackTite™, should an infestation occur at a computer station.

It is also library policy that if “visible pests” are found on a patron, the patron is discretely notified of this by library staff, and is asked to leave the building until the problem is remedied. Any materials they might have been returning will be cooked in the PackTite™.

What is the risk for a patron and if there is no risk, how can we be assured?

I consider the risk to be high, only because the chance of finding a bug is always a possibility. You can be assured that library staff are diligent about checking for bugs, and remedying any bug problems they may discover. However, bedbugs are particularly sneaky, so there is always a chance one will

get through, especially if staff are handling hundreds of items at a time—they don’t have the time to comb through every item.

Patrons should be just as diligent. Thoroughly look over your library materials before even carrying them around the library. If you find a bug, alert staff immediately and they will take care of it. Sitting on the wooden or cloth furniture exposes you to possible bugs the same as sitting in a bus, on a park bench, or in a movie theater. Don’t just scratch that itch, look and see what is itching you!

Finally, if you are afraid of bugs crawling out of your books, you should also consider that the previous patron may have been reading that book in the bathroom while taking care of other business.

You might want wipe it down with sanitizer as well.

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LOCAL

no. 280 | J u n e 1 9 - J u l y 2 , 2 0 1 4

O

11

Life, Liberty And Libertarianism?

NOW HIRING

MICHAEL TEE

Check out these openings! Visit their webpages for more info.

n its philosophical surface, libertarianism can be very appealing. Who would be opposed to upholding the Constitution, free markets, civil liberties, limited government or non-military intervention?

Let’s take a quick look at the Libertarian Party (USA) Statement of Principles: “We hold that all individuals have the right to exercise sole dominion over their own lives and have the right to live in whatever manner they choose, so long as they do not forcibly interfere with the equal rights of others to live in whatever manner they choose.” This includes free speech, freedom of association and sexual freedom. Libertarianism favors an end to the prohibition of drug use. What progressive-minded American could disagree with any of that? Before I delve into this a little deeper, I’ll briefly overview the Libertarian Party electoral history in the US. According to Wikipedia, “The Libertarian Party was formed in the home of David Nolan in December of 1971. Prompted in part by price controls implemented

by President Richard Nixon, the party viewed the Democratic and Republican parties as having diverged from the ‘libertarian’ principles of the American founding fathers, toward more authoritarian political positions. In the 1972 presidential election the party had grown to over eighty members and attained ballot access in two states. In 1980 the Libertarian Party gained ballot access in every state, the first party to accomplish this since the Socialist Party in 1916.

In 1983 the party was divided by internal disputes. A new strategy brought former Republican Congressman, Ron Paul, to the presidential ticket in 1988. Investment advisor, Harry Browne, headed the 1996 and 2000 tickets.

In the 2004 election, Libertarian presidential candidate, Michael Badnarik - a gun rights activist and software engineer - received more votes than all non-major party candidates except for Ralph Nader . . . In recent elections Libertarians have run far more candidates for office, at all levels, than other third parties combined.”

Libertarianism, as a philosophical idea, has actually been around for 200 years. Anarchists in Europe used the term long before it was co-opted by American political thinkers. One of the difficulties with defining libertarianism and identifying its adherents, is that it is often used very loose-

Contributing Writer ly. There are some on the ‘left’ & ‘right’ who describe themselves as libertarians. Many so-called centrists - whatever that means - call themselves libertarians. Many anarchists subscribe to it. The term is invariably invoked to refer to certain personality orientations, e.g., indulgence, permissiveness, etc. However, if we limit our focus to the contemporary electoral political meaning of libertarianism, a distinct picture comes into view.

“One of the more pretentious political self- descriptions is libertarianism” comedian George Carlin Ron Paul, for instance, ostensibly, argues for a woman’s right to choose (whether or not to bring a pregnancy to full term). Yet, he wants to leave it up to the individual states to determine the legality of abortion. Therefore, a woman’s right to dominion over her own body could be denied, depending on what state she resides in, and Paul would be o.k. with that. Why is the state’s authority so different from that of the federal government? Both could ‘trump’ the decision of the mother. Also, would this states’ rights policy apply to drug prohibition? So, the ‘authorities’ could prosecute you for using drugs in one state, and in another, they would look the other way? Do libertarians advocate the legalization of crack, heroin and ‘meth’? If prohibition is repealed by certain states, would profiteering still be allowed? If so, what would prevent drug dealers from ‘mass-migrating’ to those states - bringing with them the predictable social chaos and gang wars?

Another major plank of the Libertarian Party is the promotion of ‘free trade’. According to political economist Joe Stiglitz, “Free trade should benefit all if there is comparative advantage. But in the real world there is absolute advantage, due to mobility of capital. This means that free trade can (and does) harm some. Underdeveloped nations that have been foolish enough to listen to free trade advocates have languished in poverty, while those that have strategically erected trade barriers have developed. The libertarian unequivocal endorsement of free trade is merely the voice of predatory business which does not care if absolute advantage results in harm. The reason multinational corporations flourish is because their internal transfers of capital between nations allows them to exploit absolute advantage at the expense of others.”

I’ve always been perplexed by the libertarian ‘aversion’ to most

government-sponsored social programs. I guess, the following ‘explains’ it all.

In a chapter entitled, Conservatism and Libertarianism, of his book, Democracy - The God That Failed, Hanns-Hermann Hoppe says, “Those parts of the federal ‘leviathan’ responsible for the proliferation of moral and cultural pollution, such as the Department of Education, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Federal judiciary should be closed or cut down to size. In order to restore social and cultural normalcy, true conservatives can only be radical libertarians, and they must demand the demolition of - as a moral and economic perversion - the entire structure of social security.” Whew! Is this how they intend to ‘limit’ government - on the backs of the poor and low-income people?

Libertarians, of course, worship the U.S. Constitution. They, among others, love to invoke the ‘original intent’ of the authors as if it’s actually possible. They speak of the Constitution as if it’s a ‘holy’ document. As Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall once remarked, - and I paraphrase - the Constitution was flawed from the very beginning, requiring a Bill of Rights, a slew of Amendments, a massive Civil War and Reconstruction Acts, to get it where it is now.

And, exactly, where is it now?

Well, we still have that little clause in the 13th Amendment allowing slavery for commission of a crime.

There’s that other pseudo-science fiction in the 14th Amendment about corporations having person hood. We have yet to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. Don’t get me wrong. In all fairness, the founding fathers could not have foreseen the rise of (predator) transnational corporations, cyberspace technologies and catastrophic ecological degradation. For its time, the Constitution was a great piece of work. Nevertheless, it remains a work-in-progress.

Let’s take a look at a libertarian view of property rights. One of the founders of the Libertarian Party, Murray N. Rothbard, says, (WARNING! This gets really ugly): “Every property owner should have the right to sell, hire, or lease his money or other property to anyone whom he chooses, which means he has the absolute {Continued page 12}

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CCATsober.org - Accepting ongoing applications Cincinnati Union Bethel www.cinunionbethel.org - Quality & Company Manager - Head Start/Early Childhood Education Teacher (Pre-K 3-5 years of age) - Head Start/Early Childhood Education Teacher Assistant Joseph House- www. josephhouse.com -Chemical Dependency Counselor Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati- www. lascinti.org -Client Specialist Lighthouse Youth Services www.lys.org - Jr. Application Developer - Licensed Social Worker or Licensed Counselor - Licensed Social Workers or Licensed Professional Counselors- Full-Time Openings - Program Coordinator - Assistant Program Director - Residential Manager - Language Arts Teacher Lighthouse Community School -Several Open positions Southwestern Ohio Nurse Association (SONA)sonanet.org - Board Member St. Vincent DePaul of Cincinnati- www. svdpcincinnati.org - Re-Entry Program Coordinator - Director of Development - Store-Associates- St. Vincent de Paul - Assistant Store Managers Tender Mercieswww.tendermerciesinc.org - Resident Support Worker

12

Invisibility HELEN BIRD

www.street-papers.org The Contributor - USA

A

my told me, “My dad bought me a bright, limegreen T-shirt one Christmas and when he gave it to me he said, ‘Here. Now go on, get yerself noticed!’” Her voice trailed off. Having spent six months, as a teenager, comatose, ventilated and feeding tube inserted into her stomach after a car accident and subsequent head injury, the rest of Amy’s life was anything but unnoticable.

She became a heavy user of methamphetamine, and her addiction, combined with the chronic depression and learning difficulties since the wreck, contributed to the loss of her son to foster care.

She had suffered terribly at the hands of an abusive ex-husband.

And what was left of her family, they really didn’t care anymore.

So, she drifted from city to city, traveling and existing by the seat of her only pair of pants. By no means slow or stupid, I found Amy to be very quick-witted, curious and definitely street smart. Hitchhiking and hustling from place to place, she’d learned to trust no one.

Her voice was permanently hoarse from her medical procedures, and she readily showed me the scars on her belly. “See?” She continued, “When you’re homeless you try real hard to not get noticed. People look right through ya anyway. They just don’t wanna see {Continued from page 6} ter. Electricity is also wired. Small appliances, like microwaves, lamps, and phone chargers can be accessed through the outlet.

People who live in these homes get to help build them, which makes them feel like they have a purpose, and they take great pride in their house and their hard work.

Many people in Madison, Wisconsin feel this way. According to a CBS News interview, Harold “Hap” Morgan, a homeless man in Madison said, “You’re out of the elements, you’ve got your own bed, you’ve got a place to call your own… It gives you a little bit of self-pride: This is my own house.”

This could be the opinion of many people in Cincinnati if they were {Continued from page 11} right to discriminate all he damn pleases. For, if it is right and proper to outlaw my discriminating against blacks, then it is just as right and proper for the government to figure out if I am discriminating or not, and in that case, it is perfectly legitimate for them to employ quotas to test the proposition. So, what is the remedy for all of this? What has to be done is

STREET VOICE

J u n e 19- J u l y 2, 2014 | n o . 28 0

you.”

My experience on the street was much different to Amy’s, but we share the same feelings of isolation and vulnerability. Street life.

It’s beyond an edgy, space-time continuum that’s all screwed up. A glorious absence of monotony and immeasurable pain. It’s a two-way street because you want people to see you, so that they can help you and understand how life can just beat you down so hard, that it can so easily happen to anyone.

But, mostly you don’t want to be noticed at all. As if there could be a parallel dimension to slip unnoticed in to and avoid having to have contact with the rest of society ever again. Ashamed that your clothes are soiled. They smell and have been slept in. Embarrassed that you haven’t shaved or seen a dentist in a while. Quite a while.

You’ve bathed randomly at gas stations and truck stops, making do with what you can in the rest rooms. A backpack is a dead giveaway and there’s no way around it.

You just need to carry your stuff, somehow, someway without looking like a turtle hauling his house full of junk and scrap metal.

We turn into shells of our former selves. You keep your unwashed hair tied back and under a hat, making it easy to look down.

Eyes to the ground.

I read somewhere that, “A home is a place where you are supposed to be able to leave the outside world behind.”

Imagine that. Now all of a sudden the outside is your home and all that you do is visible to the pub-

lic.

given this opportunity and a similar program was available.

According to RT America, these homes have appealed to not only the homeless, but others with modest means who want to live in a sustainable living community.

This approach takes the stigma off of it being a homeless community and enables the community to be more accepted by the general population.

One aspect that was stressed in the RT America report, the ultimate goal of Occupy Madison is to make a neighborhood out of these tiny homes. They will have gardens for people to eat and sell the food. It would help employ homeless people and give them a safer way to make money. They

would not have to panhandle, and instead be contributing citizens.

Their mayor has also showed interest in getting them land for their community.

According to the same RT America report, one hurdle is to convince the city to pass laws that allow these tiny homes to be put on city land. Right now it is illegal according to zoning laws. Currently, the City Council of Madison has allowed these houses to be placed in private church and nonprofit organization parking lots.

This movement and type of homeless development would benefit the city of Cincinnati greatly.

A high number of homeless people are battling an addiction with Heroin or other substances. The

tiny homes would give people a safe place to battle their addiction.

If they are in church parking lots and non-profits, they would be close to counselors and churches that can help them. A perfect spot would be Over-the-Rhine, and it would not be a far move for this population from where shelters are today.

We need to take pride in our city and its people, including the homeless population. Bringing the Tiny Homes Mission here would help accomplish that. We could be the second link in the chain for this movement to go nationwide. It is time to acknowledge this problem and do something to change it.

to repudiate civil rights and antidiscrimination laws totally and in the meanwhile, on a separate but parallel track, try to privatize as much as we can.”

HOLY-MOTHER-OF-ALLGRAND-DRAGONS, BATMAN. I wonder what Martin Luther King would say about that?

It’s no wonder why Libertarian candidates typically run in Republican primaries and generally align with the Republican Party.

Despite all the talk about being ‘independent’, they not only seem to have an affinity for the ‘Grand Ole Party’, but also are drawn like magnets to the most extreme sectors of it, e.g., the Tea Party. Keeping with that trend, many libertarians despise the ‘moderate’ Republicans almost as much as they despise Democrats and radical progressives. They would, literally, devour us if they could, or, if we would be as gullible as little

red riding hood.

Oh, I forgot to mention Ayn Rand, who is usually associated with libertarian thought. Maybe, it’s because she clearly said, “I am not a libertarian.”

After a while of living on the streets, certain groups of people notice you a great deal and learn to recognize you.

For example, the police and officers within the criminal justice system. A cop told me one day to, “Get outta here!

I don’t wanna ever see your face again!”

I was on the way to the library. It readily felt like the local sheriff was running me out of town as soon as I got there.

So, what do you do? Hide in “Invisibility”. Artwork by Helen Bird plain sight and try to blend in. You It’s simply too hard to “circulearn fast, from other late” and not just through a lack of homeless, travelers, drifters, and local eccentrics. Random samples money. The guys, they think of the of the roughly handled. They tell streets as simply survival; from the you where not to go, where the moment you wake up, you have to cops love to harass. “Don’t ever keep moving. It’s like a deer hunt cut across a parking lot downtown, out there and we’re wearing targets. they’ll arrest ya for trespassing.”

With sore, tired feet and shoes Invisibility becomes a way of that barely hang together, you stop life … physically, psychologically and fall asleep dead in your tracks. and socially.

The soles of old shoes, the shoes of An old friend will call you up old souls. and ask, “What’s up? How are you doing? Wanna do lunch this Helen Bird is a Nashvilleweek?” I glance down at my nails, based songwriter and artist. all dirty and uneven from painting For more information, visit and camping in the woods. “Uhwww.reverbnation/helenhum...Oh, I’m great! But … err, bird and www.helenbirdart.

I’m pretty busy all week. But soon, wordpress.com.

OK?” ------------------------

THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED

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[Editor’s note* The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless does not endorse any candidates or political parties.]

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13

STREET VOICE

no. 280 | J u n e 1 9 - J u l y 2 , 2 0 1 4

Gone

A BATTLE FOR THE AMERICAN SOUL

GONE ARE THE DAYS THAT WE ONCE KNEW

We once were known as the land of the free,

GONE ARE THE DAYS NEVER TO RETURN SO NOW WHAT’S NEW?

A beacon of hope from sea to shining sea.

GONE IS LIKE TOMMORROW THAT NEVER COMES IT’S ALWAYS TODAY

Are we now a nation obsessed with greed,

GONE IS THE EMPLOYMENT RATE AND HOUSING FOR PEOPLE LIKE ME, FOR A CHANGE I

That has great contempt for those in need?

PRAY!

Many politicians proudly profess this creed;

GONE ARE THE DAYS OF MARTIN LUTHER KING, JOHN F. KENNEDY AND SINGER LUTHER VANDROSS TODAY SOME PEOPLE SCREAM OSAMA BIN LADEN IS DEAD AS THE WORLD YELLS BARACK

Declaring that’s why their Party should lead.

Do we truly believe that is all we want to be, Or is there still a place for the collective-we?

OBAMA IS THE BOSS

BILL WOODS

TODAY WE AS HUMAN PEOPLE SHOULD NOT BE WORRIED OR CONFUSED AS TO WHO IS RULING TODAY WE MUST UNDERSTAND THAT THIS IS GOD’S WORLD. SO WHY DO THE PEOPLE

Contributing Writer

WAITED TOO LONG Have you waited too long?

KEEP FOOLING I SAY STOP KILLING OURSELVES WHEN IT IS WITHOUT A DOUBT WE LIVE IN ORDER TO DIE SO WHY NOT TAKE EACH DAY AS A BLESSING ABOVE GROUND AND JUST SAY HELLO AND

Waited too long to become humble and strong Feeling all alone

WHEN WE’RE GONE JUST SAY GOODBYE

Has that feeling come and gone?

WILLA DENISE JONES

Streetvibes Distributor & Contributing Writer

Don’t wait too long When everything is gone Saying to yourself I didn’t give it my all I waited too long!

KIM GREEN

Streetvibes Distributor & Contributing Writer

Inclusivity in Cincinnati Homeless Resources ALEXIS AGHOTTE & JERRY DAVIS

Contributing Writers

All of us know the laundry list of barriers facing individuals experiencing homelessness—the lack of affordable housing, family violence and low wage jobs.

The list goes on and on. As service providers, we often redirect individuals in homelessness to focus on what they can do to effect change in their situation. We stress engagement in services that are new and often scary for someone isolated by the circumstances of homelessness. At times, we fail to honestly look at ourselves and our programming to consider an important question: How do we cultivate an environment where individuals feel safe enough to ad-

dress their challenges in order to move out of homelessness?

The first thing to remember when working with individuals in homelessness is that it is vitally important to earn their trust so that unnecessary barriers don’t build up between the case manager and consumer. Once trust has been established, the work can begin. The ideal goal is to get an individual into stable, affordable permanent housing. It is important to be persistent in this goal. The need for increased affordable housing is very important and is one of the main barriers to be considered. Increasing access to mental health and sub-

stance abuse treatment services is especially important too. It’s important to remember these things when serving all those living in homelessness.

Recognizing and celebrating diversity is another important piece of the puzzle for agencies serving those living in homelessness. It may be challenging for us to reach out to individuals who speak a different language or present their gender identity differently than we do. Similarly, it may be hard for an individual of a different culture to approach our services in need of help. We believe it is important to consider the inclusivity of programming on a daily basis. A conscious effort should be made to help us recognize how we can better connect with those living with HIV/AIDS, immigrants (both with and without documentation) and those on the LGBTQ spectrum.

We believe that Cincinnati agencies do an excellent job of

THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED

collaboration with one another in order to support individuals as they move out of homelessness.

Representatives from the Homeless Coalition, PATH team, Drop Inn Center and Lighthouse Youth Services come together monthly at the HOG (Homeless Outreach Group) meeting to share resources and brainstorm the best ways to reach individuals living on the streets and in homeless shelters.

If we continue working together we believe we can ultimately end homelessness with an inclusive approach that honors the diversity in our community. This goal will surely support those on the streets and all those who are part of our Cincinnati community.

Alexis Aghotte is a Care Manager at Paths to Recovery Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services. Jerry Davis is organizer for the Homeless Congress and a Streetvibes Distributor.

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PUZZLES

J u n e 19- J u l y 2, 2014 | n o . 28 0

CROSSWORD PUZZLE NO. 45 Across 1. Shape 5. Period of time 9. Ursine animal 13. Woodwind instrument 14. Avid 16. Car 17. Deterioration 18. Underwater breathing device 19. Harvest 20. Type of poem 22. Pay close attention to 23. Domicile 24. Sign of assent 26. Tardy 28. Award 33. Something surviving the past 36. Anger 37. Test 39. Wanderer 41. Reconstruct 43. Mistake 45. Speed competition 46. Hanker 48. Hinge joint 50. Fuel 51. Appliance that removes water 53. Almanac 55. Pitcher 57. Nothing 58. Admonish 61. Sport 64. Molars 68. Assist, usually in wrongdoing 69. Overhead 71. Land measure 72. Insect 73. Warble 74. Scorch 75. Recount 76. Condition 77. Expect with desire

Down 1. Poultry 2. Comply with 3. Bellow 4. Sheep with high quality fleece 5. Affirmative 6. Apiece 7. Chills and fever 8. Renegade 9. Unmarried man 10. Currency 11. Particle 12. Strong cord 15. Detection instrument 21. Young male horse 25. Challenge 27. Decimal base 28. Ethereal 29. Doctrine 30. Aromatic wood 31. Desperate 32. Ahead of time 34. Adult insect 35. Chocolate tree 38. Part of the ear 40. Writing table 42. Asian 44. Type of horse 47. Novel 49. Legal document 52. Refund 54. Whitener 56. Automaton 58. Float on air 59. Strong and healthy 60. Spool 62. Deposit of valuable ore 63. Finished 65. Reverberation 66. Snare 67. This place 70. Type of hard wood

SODOKU PUZZLE NO 19- HARD

PUZZLE SOLUTIONS ISSUE 279 CROSSWORD PUZZLE NO. 44

SODOKU PUZZLE NO 18- HARD

THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED

PUZZLES from puzzlechoice.com

RESOURCES

no. 280 | J u n e 1 9 - J u l y 2 , 2 0 1 4

Shelter: Women and Children Central Access Point Bethany House

381-SAFE 557-2873

Grace Place Catholic Worker House

681-2365

Salvation Army

762-5660

YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter

872-9259

1841 Fairmount Ave, Cinti, Ohio 45214 6037 Cary Ave, Cinti, Ohio 45224

131 E. 12th Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202

Shelter: Men

City Gospel Mission

Churches Active in Northside

591-2246

FreeStore/FoodBank

241-1064

Madisonville Ed & Assistance Center

271-5501

McMicken Dental Clinic 40 E. McMicken Ave, Cinti

352-6363

St. Vincent de Paul

562-8841

Mental Health Access Point Mercy Franciscan at St. John

558-8888 981-5800

NAMI of Hamilton County PATH Outreach

351-3500 977-4489

4230 Hamilton Ave, Cinti, Ohio 45223 112 E. Liberty Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202

4600 Erie Ave, Cinti, Ohio 45227 Serves area codes: 45226, 45227, 45208, 45209 1125 Bank Street, Cinti, Ohio 45214

Treatment or Supportive Recovery: Men Charlie’s 3/4 House

241-5525

2121 Vine Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202

St. Fran/St. Joe Catholic Work. House 381-4941

Prospect House 921-1613

Mt. Airy Shelter

Starting Over

1419 Elm Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202

1437 Walnut Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202

682 Hawthorne Ave, Cinti, Ohio 45205

661-4620

Caracole (HIV/AIDS)

1821 Summit Road, Cinti, Ohio 45237

Drop Inn Center

217 W. 12th Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202

First Step Home

2203 Fulton, Cinti, Ohio 45206

569-9500 761-1480

CMHA Excel Development OTR Community Housing

114 W. 14th Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202

721-0643

721-4580 632-7149 381-1171

Tender Mercies 721-8666

27 W. 12th Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202

Tom Geiger House Volunteers of America Anna Louise Inn 421-5211 Cincinnati Union Bethel 768-6907

Lord’s Pantry OTR/Walnut Hills Kitchen & Pantry

OTR: 1620 Vine Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 Walnut Hills: 2631 Gilbert, Cinti, Ohio 45206

961-4555 381-1954

1730 Race Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202

Joseph House (Veterans)

241-2965

1522 Republic Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202

Hamilton County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board 946-8000 Recovery Health Access Center 281-7422 Sober Living 681-0324 Talbert House 641-4300

Advocacy

Catholic Social Action Community Action Agency Contact Center

421-3131 569-1840 381-4242

Franciscan JPIC Gr. Cinti Coalition for the Homeless

721-4700 421-7803

Intercommunity Justice & Peace Cr. Legal Aid Society Ohio Justice & Policy Center Faces Without Places Stop AIDS

579-8547 241-9400 421-1108 363-3300 421-2437

1227 Vine Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202

Health 621-5300 961-1983

Our Daily Bread 621-6364

St. Francis Soup Kitchen

961-4663

351-0422 381-6672

117 E. 12th Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202

300 Lytle Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202

Food/Clothing

961-2256

AA Hotline CCAT

830 Ezzard Charles Dr. Cinti, Ohio 45214

Center for Respite Care

621-1868

Cincinnati Health Network

961-0600

Crossroad Health Center

381-2247

Health Resource Center

357-4602

3550 Washington Ave, Cinti, Ohio 45229

2825 Burnet Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45219 5 E. Liberty St. Cinti, Ohio 45202

McMicken Integrated Care Clinic and Mobile Medical Van 40 E. McMicken Ave, Cinti, Ohio 352-6364

1800 Logan St. Cinti, Ohio 45202

Other Resources

Treatment or Supportive Recovery: Both

Interfaith Hospitality Network 471-1100 Lighthouse Youth Crisis Center (10-17 y/o) 3330 Jefferson Ave Cincinnati, OH 45220 961-4080

Housing:

784-1853

Treatment or Supportive Recovery: Women

Shelter: Both Lighthouse on Highland (18-24 y/o) 2522 Highland Ave Cincinnati, OH 45219

15

535-2719

THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED

Center Independent Living Options Emmanuel Community Center

241-2600 241-2563

Peaslee Neighborhood Center

621-5514

Franciscan Haircuts from the Heart

381-0111

Goodwill industries Healing Connections Mary Magdalen House

771-4800 751-0600 721-4811

People Working Cooperatively The Caring Place Talbert House United Way Women Helping Women Off The Streets

351-7921 631-1114 751-7747 211 977-5541 421-5211

1308 Race St. Cinti, Ohio 45202

215 E. 14th Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202 1800 Logan St. Cinti, Ohio 45202

1223 Main St. Cinti, Ohio 45202

Hamilton/Middletown St. Raephaels Salvation Army Serenity House Day Center Open Door Pantry

863-3184 863-1445 422-8555 868-3276

Northern Kentucky Brighton Center

859-491-8303

ECHO/Hosea House Fairhaven Resuce Mission Homeward Bound Youth Mathews House Homeless & Housing Coalition Parish Kitchen Pike St. Clinic Transitions, Inc Welcome House of NKY

859-261-5857 859-491-1027 859-581-1111 859-261-8009 859-727-0926 859-581-7745 859-291-9321 859-491-4435 859-431-8717

Women’s Crisis Center VA Domiciliary VA Homeless

859-491-3335 859-559-5011 859-572-6226

799 Ann St. Newport, KY

205 West Pike Street, Covington, KY 41011

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J u n e 19- J u l y 2, 2014 | n o . 28 0

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