Streetvibes September 2006 Edition

September 2006

STREETVIBES

Cover Story

Declare Peace

by Elizabeth Byrd & Curt Braman Later this month Cincinnatians will join the national call for a Declaration of Peace.

Since July 4, 2006, high profile fasts, marches, rallies and acts of civil disobedience have surfaced across the country as opposition to the war in Iraq. Oppostion continues to grow with more Americans recognizing the staggering costs of the war. These Americans are telling U. S. Senators and Congressional Representatives tobring the troops home, close all the bases in Iraq, undertake a real reconstruction plan for Iraq’s infrastructure and use redirect the massive amount of money now spent to occupy Iraq and kill its people to pay for health care, education, job creation and affordable housing. They are asking Congress to pass legislation accomplishing these goals by September 21, the International Day of Peace. Finally, in the absence of Congressional action, they are committing to a week of increased Anti-War activity (September 21 - 28).

Kristen Barker of the Cincinnati Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center (IJPC), the organization coordinating the local effort, has noticed the noticed activists’ increased concern for the domestic costs of the war. “The Declaration of Peace Coalition has multiple goals for the week: to highlight the local cost of the war; to draw attention to the growing opposition to the war (a CNN poll taken August 9th showed that 60% of Americans oppose the war); and to involve faith based communities and all people of good will in witnessing against the war.” Barker added, “Not only does military spending lead to cuts in existing social services, but the potential of a “Peace Dividend” redirecting resources from the war to providing economic security and opportunity is immense.”

The U.S. Government Budget Office and non-government sources agree that the cost of the Iraq war will exceed $300 billion by the end of September. At the same time, the administration and its supporters in Congress pledge further cuts in necessary social, educational, and health programs to offset the cost of the war.. The U.S. economy has been operating with record deficits that has negatively impacted funding for essential services.

Programs for Veterans have been attacked while the unprecedented use of the National Guard and Reserve Forces as combat troops has reduced manpower in vital emergency services and has left communities less prepared to respond to natural disasters.

The Center for Defense Information, the Friends Committee on National Legislation and the War Resisters League all report that military spending amounts to nearly half of the federal budget. The National Priorities Project estimates that over $11 billion Ohio tax dollars have gone to the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Cincinnati’s share has been nearly $300 million. Statewide, the money could have been

spent for 1.5 million people receiving health care, 102 thousand affordable housing units, 12 hundred new elementary schools and 1.6 million university scholarships.

In an effort to bring these issues to the front of ongoing Congressional campaigns in the area, The Declaration of Peace Coalition has invited Congressional Representatives Geoff Davis, Steve Chabot and Jean Schmidt as well as their challengers, Ken Lucas, Victoria Wulson and John Cranley to participate as panelists at a Town Hall Meeting to be held September 18, 6:00 pm at St. Monica-St. George Parish Newman Center. The focus of the meeting will be on local citizens giving testimony regarding the impact of the war in Iraq on the community.

Georgine Getty, Executive Director of the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless will moderate the event and offer a keynote presentation. Getty thinks all the candidates would benefit from hearing directly from constituents who are advocates, social workers, educators and others affected by budgetary policies. “The American public is way ahead of members of Congress in recognizing that stable housing, employment and health care should take priority over war.” Getty said, “Policy makers should take advantage of hearing from the people whose vocation is seeking economic and social justice for all of us.”

Members of the local religious community are organizing a week of fasting prior to the September 21 deadline. The invitation sent to faith based groups in the area explains: “Fasting has been an important part of all faith traditions. Through fasting, we are able to carve out a space within ourselves to focus on prayer.

This prayer is that God’s Spirit would transform the conscience of our lawmakers to sign the Declaration and make concrete steps to peace making.”

Without a clear legislative mandate endorsing the Declaration of Peace, organizers in Cincinnati and throughout the nation are planning

multiple events during the September 21-28 time frame. Banners with pro-peace and economic justice messages are expected to hang from locations above city streets and roadways. A Tent City will be built around the Peaslee Neighborhood Center at 215 E. 14th Street featuring a peace fair, a cost of war display, workshops, information sessions and films.

Leaflets will be distributed at schools, military recruiting stations and other public locations encouraging people to contact congress. A rally and march will proceed from the Federal Building to Congressional offices and nonviolent acts of civil disobedience are in the planning stages. In Lexington, the week will feature a march to Representative Ben Chandler’s office asking that he sign the Declaration. The Louisville Peace Action Community will continue distributing materials and engaging in dialogue from their booth at the Kentucky State Fair.

Frankfurt’s chapter of Code Pink will rally at the State Capital Rotunda. Events in Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana are being planned.

The supporters of The Declaration of Peace hope that these events will move our nation closer to ending this costly military endeavor, and closer to committing the resources needed to eliminate the serious inequities so many Americans face everyday.

They call on individuals and religious, labor, peace and economic justice groups who share this hope to Declare Peace and to let policy makers know of their determination to change course.

To get involved in Declaration of Peace activities contact Kristen Barker at IJPC: 513.579.8547; email: kristen@ijpccincinnati.org or fill out the on-line form at www.ijpc-cincinnati.org.

Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless

Streetvibes Streetvibes, the TriState’s alternative news source, is a newspaper written by, for, and about the homeless and contains relevant discussions of social justice, and poverty issues. It is published once a month by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless.

Becoming a Streetvibes Vendor is a great way for homeless and other low-income people to get back on (or stay on) their feet. Streetvibes Vendors are given an orientation and sign a code of conduct before being given a Streetvibes Vendor badge. Vendors are private contractors who DO NOT work for, or represent, the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homleess. All profits go directly to the vendor.

The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless is a group of shelters, agencies and individuals committed to ending homelessness in Cincinnati through coordinating services, educating the public and grassroots organizing.

GCCH Staff Georgine Getty - Executive Director Monique Little - Education Coordinator Lynne Ausman - VISTA Gina King - VISTA Andy Freeze - Intern John Lavelle - Administrative Coordinator Susan Smith - Volunteer Melvin Williams - Reception Linda Pittman - Reception Streetvibes Jimmy Heath, Editor

Photography Jimmy Heath, Berta Lambert Cover Protest Sign at Peace Rally Streetvibes accepts letters, poems, stories, essays, original graphics, and photos. We will give preference to those who are homeless or vendors.

Subscriptions to Streetvibes, delivered to your home each month, can be purchased for $25 per year.

Address mail to: Streetvibes Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless (GCCH) 117 East 12th Street Cincinnati, OH 45202 (513) 421-7803 e-mail: streetvibes@juno.com web: http://cincihomeless.org

Page 2

New Jails, or Education?

homeowners who complain about

by Jimmy Heath training programs for low-income It appears that the Hamilton crime will vote no on school levy’s. .

County sheriff, the county judges, the people.) Why aren’t we talking It costs an average of $67 about real human issues with as much per day to house county inmates. It Cincinnati police and a whole gaggle fervor as the jail issue? Why not bite of politicians are missing the point costs taxpayers $46 each per student when discussing the building of a new the bullet now, diverting some of the in 77 schools with a total of 35,600 City and County budgets into a jail. It may be what we need now students in Cincinnati. (CPS has the crime-free investment in the future? because we have so many adults fifth-highest per-pupil spending in the Hire more teachers with higher pay. stuck in crime - some may be very state. But the district also has the Clean up the schools. Create a task dangerous. highest poverty rate.) force with the power to look at each But, in a neighborhood like With an average daily inmate school and the student population, Over-the-Rhine, half the kids drop population of 2000 and an estimated creating individual attention for each out of school before they graduate.

55,000 admissions annually the local student. Concentrate Many of them are left to jail system is already ranked in the more on emptying jails the streets, or get caught top 25 largest in the nation. And the through prevention up in the drug trade and inmate numbers continue to rise. strategies, rather than other bad behavior.

There is a time to step in, to just deal with it by Some of these break the cycle of kids being lost in locking everyone up. kids are products of an education system that is grossly Most of the money generations of crime and under funded, instead of trying to now funding public addiction. If the kids patch up the problem later on when schools comes from aren’t getting what they Jimmy Heath these kids become adults and fodder property taxes. But need at home and the for the criminal justice system. schools continually fail them, what are we going to get? Overflow in future jails? These are the kids that later wind up filling the criminal justice system.

We will never solve the criminal element by simply locking someone away later in life. But are we going to continue to let our kids slip away, creating a future that generates a thriving criminal justice Mr. Homeless Downtowner Ms. Homeless Downtowner system? Someone needs to have the Name: Allen Johnson Name: Cheryl Yates courage to step out of their little Hometown: Cincinnati Hometown: Cincinnati kingdom and stop this cycle. We Neighborhood: Avondale Neighborhood: Over-theneed more money for schools and Occupation: Carpentry, Painting Rhine after-school programs, individual Favorite Interest: Pretty Favorite Interest: singing, attention to our kids, more teachers Women, watching kids play, good dancing, reading, writing, with higher pay and buildings that memories shopping, eating aren’t falling down around the I can’t resist: money I can’t resist: church students and teachers.

I can’t stand: Greed I can’t stand: violence The School Board talks Person I admire most: Pastor at Person I admire the most: about overall improvement in test Westside Venue because he Mother scores but a lot of kids are still going genuinely wants to help the What I like most about to the street. Of course, not all kids community Cincinnati: All of the are bad – poor maybe – but not all What I like most about different sites bad. Nearly 100% of Over-theCincinnati: That they help the Place I’d like to visit: Rhine school age children qualify for homeless and feed them. There is California again free lunch programs because of their always a place to eat.

If I won the lottery I would: poverty. But their poverty presents Place I’d like to visit: Disney buy a building for the homeless another real challenge. Poverty in the Land and give them their own minds of the middle-class public If I won the lottery I would: clothes, shoes, car, food, air sometimes means criminal. The real get my nieces and nephews conditioning and all other crime is what these kids go through in whatever they wanted and help luxuries order to be qualified for college, a my family. I would build a shelter Happiness would be: going good job, or a future as law-abiding and get things right. to heaven productive members of society.

Happiness would be: serene Life Philosophy: to just be . City leaders are proposing peace and my nephew. stable. a quarter-cent increase in Hamilton Life philosophy: If everyone in County taxes to build a new jail. The the world was happy there would plan now is to build a jail with 1,800 be no depression. beds at a cost of $225 million.

The new jail issue may be close to being settled by the time this publication is printed, but the issue won’t go away for a long time.

Citizens still have time to speak their Streetvibes Vendors are required to sign a code of conduct and opposition with a vote. agree to abide by all the rules of the Streetvibes Vendor ProWhy aren’t Cincinnati Public gram. If a Vendor misrepresents or breaks the rules, she/he may Schools a budget priority? (And be removed from the Program. See page 12 for rules and regulawhat about homeless treatment tions on Vendor conduct. programs, low-income housing and To report a Violating Vendor, call 421-7803. ext. 16

Mr. and Ms. Homeless Downtowner

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Streetvibes

Homeless News Digest Compiled by Jimmy Heath

New York City - Nearly 25,000 Homeless New Yorkers Currently Live In City Shelters The number of homeless in the city has jumped this summer after a two year decline.

The New York Post reports more than 8,400 families or nearly 25,000 people are currently living in city shelters; that’s a 5-percent jump from last July.

According to the Post, 120 new shelter rooms were set up last month to accommodate the extra people.

The Department of Homeless Services tells the Post that this year’s rise is unusual.

Despite the increase, the amount of homeless families is reportedly still less than its peak in 2003.

In Des Moines, during the winter, homeless shelters fill up fast when the temperature falls. It turns out the same is true when the mercury rises.

The air conditioning at Central Iowa Shelter and Services offered homeless Iowans an escape from the heat today. The staff says, when people are outdoors without protection summertime can be just as dangerous as the harsh Iowa winter season.

The shelter sends out a van to deliver cold water to people who live in homeless camps, but they are not staffed to do so on the weekends.

If you need a cool place to stay overnight Polk county officials will open a cooling center.

In Aspen, CO the city manager has fired a policewoman who used a Taser on a 63-year-old homeless woman who was rummaging through donations behind a thrift shop.

“Your decision to use a Taser on an elderly woman who posed no immediate threat to you, herself, or anyone else in the community displays a complete lack of understanding of the values, philosophy and mission statement of the Aspen Police Department,” City Manager Steve Barwick wrote in a memo delivered to fired patrolwoman Melinda Calvano.

Barwick said Calvano can contest her dismissal through the city’s appeal process

In Orlando, FL a charity skirted the city’s new ordinance against feeding the homeless in downtown public parks by serving food out of a van on a nearby street.

Joined by a local American Civil Liberties Union representative,

Food Not Bombs distributed vegetarian meals to the homeless last month just as it has for more than a year.

But this time, with police officers there to monitor, volunteers scooped the items from containers in a parked van nearby. That could be a loophole in an ordinance passed Monday that prevents serving large groups in parks and other public property within 2 miles of City Hall.

Such feedings would be legal only with a one-time use permit.

“Wherever they go after we feed them, well, that’s their own business,” volunteer John Hughes said.

The ACLU, which said after the ordinance passed it intended to sue the city, says it’s also exploring other options.

“I think we’ve won. We got to feed people and didn’t break the law,” local ACLU president George Crossley said.

Police were there with a onetime permit already made out for the group, which would have made the feeding, but not future ones, legal.

“This is a new ordinance.

People may not yet understand all the requirements, so we want to work with them,” said Sgt. Barbara Jones said.

In Detroit MI, Charles Moore found $21,000 in a trash bin.

Some might say, “Finders keepers.” But Charles Moore, a 59year-old homeless Detroit man, made the choice to return the nearly $21,000 he found in the trash to its rightful owners — and in return got the unexpected.

In Texarkana, Ark. fleas from a cat apparently infested a homeless shelter and drove about 50 residents outdoors.

Shelter officials closed the doors of Randy Sams Shelter.

Shelter director Nina White says the fleas posed a health hazard after the cat found its way into the shelter several weeks ago and brought four kittens in with her. The kittens since died but the cat cannot be found.

Meanwhile, shelter workers are cleaning the building. They have ripped out the carpet from one upstairs office and have paid an exterminator to get rid of the fleas.

Shelter resident Robert Harper says many residents have been sleeping outside wherever they feel safe. He says even birds have nests and foxes have holes but they have nothing. At least, though, as long as it’s not raining, Harper says, the residents have a dry place to sleep.

Homeless athletes shoot for spot on Team USA in Charlotte, NC for tryouts for the national soccer squad Junior McGregor, 14, celebrates following his goal during the Street Soccer 945 team practice at a field in Dilworth. The soccer players from Charlotte who competed in the Homeless World Cup last year will have to prove their skills if they want to do so again.

For the first time, organizers are holding national tryouts.

More than 50 homeless athletes from 12 cities came to Charlotte to compete for one of eight spots on the U.S. team.

Those who are selected will play street soccer against other national teams in South Africa this fall.

Charlotte beat out San Francisco to host the tryouts because its program was more organized, said Lawrence Cann, who launched Charlotte’s team at Urban Ministry Center almost two years ago.

Now, Cann is visiting homeless shelters across the Southeast to spread the word.

“Being homeless, you’re on the sidelines of life, and any opportunity to become involved is humanizing,” he said.

Last year, Charlotte’s team was picked to compete at the World Cup in Scotland after the New York team couldn’t go. The team members won the Fair Play award for the spirit they showed in front of about 50,000 spectators.

Many players on the Street Soccer 945 team, named after the center’s address, have since found homes and jobs, said Ray Isaac, the team’s captain.

A local radio station pushes the limit and breaks the City of Las Vegas’ homeless ordinance. On a Monday morning last month, deejays from the classic rock station KKLZ fed the homeless at Frank Wright Park.

The ordinance has a hefty fine of $1,000 and possible jail time for feeding the homeless in city parks.

“Let them have a voice, let them tell you what they want, listen to the homeless.”

Beth Monk insists it wasn’t a publicity stunt, but was intended as a protest against Las Vegas’ most aggressive move on those living on the streets. Earlier this month City leaders outlawed feeding the homeless in public parks to stop them from gathering in large groups and to steer them towards community shelters.

But Monk says the move isn’t a solution. “I can’t believe we’re worried more about helping people than anything else. Shouldn’t we be looking at crime, about people stealing cars than helping our homeless?”

Still, rules are the rules, and Monk quickly learned that with a citation for feeding homeless and two traffic citations on top of that.

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Eventually Monk left bringing the food her. But she says her fight with the law isn’t over. “The fine is worth it to prove a point. I didn’t care how much they charge me. To get it out there that the homeless need help, that’s okay.”

In Honolulu homeless get safety kits to help prevent hepatitis The first batch of safety kits assembled to help prevent the spread of hepatitis in O’ahu’s homeless population has been distributed at the Next Step shelter in Kaka’ako.

The Hepatitis Prevention, Education, Treatment and Support Network of Hawaii and OutPatient Intravenous Infusion Therapy Association began collecting donations for the kits in June and handed them out at the shelter.

Organization officials said people were then sharing personalhygiene products, and they know of at least one case in which hepatitis may have been transmitted to an individual sharing a razor. They hope donations will help buy 1,000 kits containing razors, shaving cream, toothbrushes, toothpaste, nail clippers, nail files, soap and other hygiene products.

The nonprofit groups intend to continue passing out the kits to homeless individuals for a year.

A Maine congressman wants the government to put more effort into helping homeless veterans, particularly for women and for veterans in rural areas providing adequate support to prevent at-risk veterans from falling into homelessness,” Rep. Michael Michaud said as he introduced HR 5960, the Homeless Veterans Assistance Act. Michaud, in repeating frequently used numbers, said there are up to 200,000 homeless veterans, with about half suffering from mental illness and two-thirds having alcohol or drug problems.

The bill would do several things: It would increase to $31.30 the per diem rate to community service providers who provide shelter, food and services for homeless veterans. The current rate is $24.16.

“It would be hard to find a hotel room in most cities at that rate, let alone provide a veteran with means and supportive services, such as mental health and vocational counseling,” Michaud said.

Department of Veterans Affairs programs for homeless veterans would have to include safe lodging for female veterans, something current programs are not equipped to handle, he said, although the VA is trying. “Given that more women are serving in our armed forces and those women veterans are at greater risk for homelessness, we must ensure that female veterans have access to safe VA programs,” Michaud said.

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Homeless for 24 hours The Burglar had a Key

Before dawn the next morning, Omar used his master key to enter Ibrahim’s unit and

by Cydney Gillis Seattle - Tenant sues landlord over building was rustling around in the bedroom closet when Ibrahim woke up. When Ibrahim demanded to manager’s assault. know what was going on, Omar punched him, Getting beaten up and robbed was bad then shoved him so hard onto the bed that the enough. headboard broke, injuring Ibrahim.

But the man who assaulted Ahmed Omar was later arrested and got six Ibrahim and took $5,400 from his apartment at months in jail after pleading guilty to first-degree a Seattle Housing Authority building two years burglary. His sentence included paying $200 a ago was the building’s night manager. month in restitution to Ibrahim. But Omar has The question now is whether SHA bears since skipped town. any responsibility for what happened at Barton In court papers, Ibrahim’s lawyer, Mark Place, a 90-unit building in Rainier Valley.

Lee, contends the burglary and assault wouldn’t Ibrahim plans to find out. have happened if SHA had acted quickly and The Somali immigrant is suing SHA for monetary damages to cover his medical bills, lost removed the manager after Barton Place resident Jacquline Potts complained months wages, and emotional distress. The lawsuit, filed in March in King County Superior Court, argues earlier that Omar had been sexually harassing her. that SHA was negligent: Months before the “In spite of having notice of Mr. Omar’s burglary, the agency had good reason to fire conduct towards Ms. Potts,” Lee argues in court night manager Mursal Omar, but failed to do so. papers, the “Seattle The claim is Housing Authority based on another lawsuit “There is evidence that continued to employ Mr. filed before the burglary.

Omar as a manager, In that suit, a female Mursal Omar entered which provided him with resident of Barton Place the unit unlawfully and the opportunity to attack, said Omar had forced intimidate, and burglarize her to have sex with him that is a cause for another vulnerable under threat of eviction. tenant.”

According to which the housing Court filings in Ibrahim’s lawsuit and a Potts’ case state that authority could have police declaration, Omar started demanding Ibrahim cashed a large some liability.” sex from her shortly after disability settlement he became night manager check in April 2004 and, in 2003. Because she feared losing her housing, believing that he should inform the housing the filings say, Potts acquiesced to oral sex and authority of his finances, made the mistake of intercourse on several occasions. Then, in telling Mursal Omar.

November 2003, Potts reported Omar to the day manager of Barton Place.

Show your support! Get your STEETVIBES After she complained, Omar’s demands T- Shirt Today! stopped. But SHA took no action against the night manager, so, in February 2004, Potts sued the agency in federal court, claiming her civil rights had been violated and seeking Omar’s removal.

In its reply to the lawsuit, SHA argued that Potts had no case specifically because the problem was solved — Omar’s demands had stopped. But the housing authority’s general counsel, James Fearn, says the agency later settled with Potts out of court for an undisclosed sum.

That doesn’t mean Omar was guilty of the harassment, Fearn says. In fact, SHA had considered him a model employee. “But it was essentially a he-said, she-said incident,” says Fearn. “There were no witnesses.”

More importantly, by the time Potts’ lawsuit was headed to court in late 2004, Mursal Omar was in jail for robbing Ahmed Ibrahim, leaving him with “a lack of credibility,” he says.

SHA couldn’t have removed the manager sooner, Fearn says, because Omar had rights as an employee. Until he walked into Ibrahim’s apartment, he says,” It wasn’t demonstrated in any way that he was a danger to other people.”

“I can’t say the case is without merit,” Only $15 Fearn adds of Ibrahim’s lawsuit against SHA. “There is evidence that Mursal Omar entered the We will send your Streetvibes T-shirt to your door unit unlawfully and that is a cause for which the All proceeds benefit the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for housing authority could have some liability.” the Homeless and the Streetvibes newspaper. Call It’s too early to tell, he says, whether 513.421.7803 SHA will defend itself in court or settle.

Lima, OH — Members of a youth ministry spent 24 hours pretending as though they were homeless with their own shanty town outside Lima’s St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church.

This is Lima Life Teens second annual Homeless Awareness Retreat.

Teens from Lima and Delphos spent an hour creating a shanty town of cardboard shelters on the church’s lawn near the bell tower.

Dinner for the participants was potato soup and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, said organizer Chrissy Yakir.

Those attending Mass at the church saw the teens “street performing” with signs on homelessness.

Prior to the conclusion of the retreat, the teens presented Samaritan House and Safe Harbor with donations the teens have been collecting for two weeks.

The guest speaker was the Rev. Patty Crisp of the Fort Wayne, Ind., Charis House.

Participants conducted a candlelight rosary walk and attended a midnight Mass.

The youth ministry includes teens from St. Charles, St. Gerard, St. Rose and St. John in Lima, and St. John in Delphos.

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Streetvibes

Former Homeless Men Offer Solutions Las Vegas - Mike Searfoss said, “It’s all up to the individual. You can show them how to better themselves, but until they are willing.

“Dennis” said, “I was addicted to meth, homeless and I had nothing.”

The city of Las Vegas created a new ordinance banning people from feeding the homeless in city parks.

Since then, there has been an increased focus on the homeless population and the resources to help them.

Free health screenings are just one of the many services the homeless have access to at the Salvation Army.

Mike Searfoss moved to Las Vegas from Pennsylvania. He is taking advantage of these programs.

“I was homeless for quite a while. I ran into some other problems like alcohol addiction,” he said.

Searfoss says ending the homeless problem is simple.

“It’s all up to the individual.

You can show them how to better themselves, but until they are willing. I know in my case, until I was serious about getting on the right track, it would have been just preaching,” Searfoss continued.

“If they want to grow and better themselves there are people and programs willing to help them,” he continued.

Mike isn’t the only one who sees the solution as a simple one.

“Dennis” said, “I was addicted to meth, homeless and I had nothing.”

Dennis has completed a culinary program and is now enrolled at a local community college. He, too, sees homelessness’ as a choice.

“If you are homeless, you are homeless because you want to be.

There are ways for the homeless to get out of being homeless,” he said.

Ways that are working for two former homeless men, as they try to find their place in the Las Vegas community.

The Salvation Army says many homeless people don’t take advantage of the programs it offers because of the rules they have to follow.

Few services available for homeless in rural Arizona PHOENIX - As bad as it is to be homeless in Arizona’s urban centers, it can be much worse in the rural areas.

A lack of resources in rural areas means people can often get only minimal assistance if any at all.

Lake Havasu City has no services for the homeless. Elsewhere in Mohave County, social workers say 200 homeless families were turned away for help in June because of a lack of shelter and money.

The latest state and federal estimates say there are nearly 35-hundred homeless people who live outside Maricopa and Pima counties

Providence police investigate beatings of homeless people PROVIDENCE, R.I. —Police have assembled a special team to investigate reports that homeless people are being attacked by a small group of young men.

That action comes after officials at one Providence shelter said as many as a half-dozen homeless people have been beaten in less than a week.

The Providence Police Department has put together a team of officers to investigate the matter and look for victims, although only one attack has been reported to police so far, Police Maj. Stephen Campbell said.

William Spencer, a homeless man staying at the Crossroads Rhode Island shelter, said he

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was attacked by three men last month. The men, who appeared to be in their late teens, approached him at a bus stop and asked for a light.

“All I remember is reaching for my lighter in my right front pocket and waking up in intensive care at Roger Williams Hospital,” Spencer said.

He suffered a broken wrist, ribs and nose as well as a black eye.

Crossroads’ spokesman Alan Neville said it appears homeless people are being attacked “for the sport.”

Send your letters or comments to Streetvibes, 117 East 12th Street, Cincinnati Ohio 45202, or email to Streetvibes@juno.com Page 5

Huge Shelter Shortage for Domestic Violence Victims

by Catharine Zambon In Washington, D.C., there are just 48 beds, in two confidential shelters, for women and children fleeing domestic violence. And in any given month these shelters may turn away 350 families due to lack of space. Oftentimes these women simply return to their abusive relationships, according to Women Empowered Against Violence (WEAVE) executive director Thia Hamilton.

“We know that fear of an inability to find housing” is the biggest reason women stay in violent relationships, Hamilton said.

Many of the other women and families simply end up on the streets, in a similar vulnerable situation, because they do not have the means to find housing on their own. In fact, more than 1,300 homeless individuals in D.C. reported being victims of domestic violence in a 2005 survey.

These staggering numbers have prompted advocates to challenge laws that unfairly penalize victims, and demand that the City Council increase the number of confidential shelter spaces available to domestic violence survivors.

“Domestic violence victims in D.C. continue to be trapped in violent relationships because they have no other options for shelter or housing …. For an individual who is in a violent relationship and already living in poverty, this harsh reality often means that she literally must choose between life with her abuser or life on the streets,” said Naomi Stern, a staff attorney with the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty (NLCHP), at a recent D.C. City Council Judiciary Committee hearing.

Stern manages NLCHP’s national domestic violence program and heads up the D.C. Working Group on Domestic Violence and Housing. She has advocated for the past several years for changes in the city to help survivors, and said that the three most necessary changes are funding to increase confidential shelter space, affordable housing opportunities for victims, and

legal protections for victims facing eviction or breaking a lease.

Local legal and social services providers have reported that domestic violence victims “are often evicted or expelled from their homes or shelters, or denied or turned away from housing or shelter, because of domestic abuse committed against them,” according to the NLCHP. Additionally, domestic violence victims frequently have problems with housing because of poor credit and lack of employment and housing history, which typically stem from the abuse.

Many domestic violence survivors have to deal with the same marginalization faced by all homeless populations, additionally “complicated by the safety issues … and the gender implications,” Hamilton explained.

Domestic violence “overwhelmingly” affects women and children, she added. In fact, the NLCHP found that 85% of protective orders granted by D.C. Superior Court in 2001 were filed by women.

And many advocates believe that the number of homeless domestic violence victims is likely underreported. House of Ruth executive director Christel Nichols explained that obtaining such information is challenging because it largely depends on victims identifying themselves.

Hamilton noted that the reason there aren’t good numbers on homelessness and domestic violence is because “many, many victims do not seek assistance in the police and court system.”

To address the housing and financial difficulties that confront many domestic violence survivors, Council members Adrian Fenty (Ward 4) and Jim Graham (Ward 1) introduced a pair of bills this spring.

The Housing Authority Rent Supplement Act of 2006 (B16-0661) would provide housing subsidies to private and nonprofit housing providers, to house low-income populations at

affordable rates and help low-income populations find decent and affordable housing options.

The other bill, the Protection from Discriminatory Eviction for Victims of Domestic Violence Amendments Act of 2006 (B16-0703), would protect victims from eviction, release victims from their leases should their safety be compromised, and prohibit discrimination against victims.

“We’re excited about some current prospects with the administration in D.C.,” Hamilton said.

Stern said that outside D.C., public awareness of domestic violence issues is increasing, especially with reauthorization of the federal Violence Against Women Act in January.

“Things addressing domestic violence have become politically popular,” she said. “There’s been an emerging trend around the country to adopt these kinds of legal protections.”

Colorado, Illinois, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, and Washington state all have laws similar to those that the D.C. Council is considering, according to the NLCHP. Additionally, Housing anti-discrimination and early lease termination by battered tenant laws have been proposed in the California, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, and Massachusetts state legislatures.

Still, advocates agree that domestic violence victims need more than temporary shelter.

Nichols explained that there also needs to be an increase in affordable housing and services for domestic violence victims. “Having someone go to a shelter is not the solution,” she said. “The shelter is just a place where” service providers can address the underlying issues.

Hamilton agreed and added that all parties need to work together to increase housing in a way so it does not become “additional warehousing.”

“There have been some encouraging gestures made,” Hamilton said. “But it’s not anywhere near where we need to be.”

Town seeks to close homeless shelter

But the agency wanted to first open a separate residential facility for people recovering from substance abuse to take in some of those who would be displaced.

The agency acknowledges that there are significant problems with the shelter system but insists that housing is a right and wants to move toward providing more permanent housing for those in need, rather than a cot in a room shared with 30 people.

Esty doesn’t see it that way. Housing is “a need,” she said. “But aren’t you supposed to be working all your life toward providing that?

It’s a right if you can afford it.”

Selectmen said they do not want to wait for the agency to open a facility, and want the Irving Street shelter, which houses 25 to 40 residents, closed now.

“I really believe that SMOC management and the board of trustees should look at that program and should unconditionally close it,” said Dennis Giombetti, chairman of the board.

Giombetti, Esty, and Selectman Jason Smith said Framingham should not have to take in troubled people who are not from the town.

“That’s what we’re trying not to become — a wet shelter for the state,” said Giombetti.

Smith said they should return to “wherever they came from.” He said he doesn’t have a problem helping people who are from Framingham, but believes the focus should be permanent housing, not temporary shelter.

Asked about the possibility that once the shelter is closed, homeless people will take to nearby streets, Smith said, “That’s the next step we have to look at.”

Joseph Mikielian, building commissioner, who was out of the office and unavailable for comment last week, previously ruled that the shelter is protected under the state’s Dover Amendment, which exempts properties that serve an educational purpose from most local zoning regulations.

by Lisa Kocian Town officials in Framingham, MA want a downtown homeless shelter closed immediately and without conditions.

In a recent vote, the Board of Selectmen approved an investigation of the shelter, with a majority of members saying they hoped the findings would lead to its closure.

The shelter — formally known as the Common Ground Shelter — is called a “wet” shelter locally because it is open to people who are under the influence of drugs or alcohol. It has come under fire from town officials and local residents in recent months after revelations that its residents include sex offenders and people from faraway parts of the state.

“I’m saying we can close them and we can close them on our own terms,” said Selectwoman Ginger Esty, who made the motion to launch the investigation.

Selectmen want to find out if shelter residents are actually in recovery and receiving educational services, which would help determine whether the facility is protected under state or federal laws.

The South Middlesex Opportunity Council, the agency that runs the Irving Street shelter, announced plans this summer to close it.

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Streetvibes

Raising Minimum Wage Brings Economic Gains, Researchers Say “Whether it‘s Oregon apple pickers plucking $7.50 an hour or New York dishwashers clearing $6.75 an hour, states that have raised the minimum wage above the federal level of $5.15 have netted economic gains, not losses,” said researchers from different states at an Economic Policy Institute news conference, organized to discuss the increase of the minimum wage in Ohio.

“It’s been a really good experience for Oregon,” said Dan Gardner, the state’s labor commissioner. “None of the predictions of the devastating effects of this have come true at all.”

Researchers from Illinois and Wisconsin, whose economies closely resemble Ohio’s, said arguments that a minimum wage hike would be a job-killer haven’t held up.

Sprawled Out

by Dena Burke Seattle - Author Anthony Flint says rampant growth destroys community and makes us less healthy.

Suburbs, exurbs, and boomburbs have been portrayed as the American dream, but instead of paradise, many are discovering long commutes, rising gas prices, and big-box stores with no sense of community.

An alternative to these drawn-out neighborhoods is a dense, mixed-use, urban neighborhood. Anthony Flint, author of This Land: The Battle Over Sprawl and the Future of America (John Hopkins, 2006), predicts that a renewal in city living will replace the mass exodus to suburban developments.

The quiet fight to eliminate sprawl and promote urban living has taken two forms: smart growth and New Urbanism. Smart growth encourages the redevelopment of land in cities through incentives and zoning changes. New Urbanism focuses on designing neighborhoods as they were before World War II: human scale, walkable, and compact.

Flint analyzes these growing movements in his book, but acknowledges that most Americans will not rise up against sprawl out of altruistic or political concern. They will do so only when it directly and immediately affects their own interests.

Real Change: What are the effects of sprawl on the environment?

Anthony Flint: Twenty-five million acres of land between 1982 and 1997 succumbed to suburban development. That is a lot of wildlife habitat [and] farmland that has disappeared. It is a lot of pollution from cars, which are necessary to get around in these dispersed environments.

Though, it has not been enough to change anybody’s mind about sprawl until now. On a personal level, people are discovering that it is inconvenient and actually very expensive to live in sprawl.

RC: Does sprawl also have an effect on people’s health?

Flint: Yes, people are discovering that a little bit of physical activity like I did today [walking up the hills of Seattle] is good for you, and it can have great effects on your health. When we spend so much time in a car, driving around these separated dispersed environments, we’re not out there walking around. A walkable, urban neighborhood promotes a kind of physical activity that can have a big impact, especially as we see the obesity epidemic.

RC: A lot of Americans want to live closer to where they work, but many cannot afford it.

Flint: Affordability is the central challenge for the smart growth movement and the New Urbanism movement. It’s not smart growth if it’s not affordable. There are very few New Urbanism projects compared to sprawl, which is ubiquitous, so part of the challenge is to increase the supply of these places, to make urban neighborhoods appealing, [and to make] urban neighborhoods more ubiquitous. Then they won’t be as expensive because they won’t be as rare.

There is a range of housing in a smart growth development: one-bedroom, threebedroom, rental apartments, and townhomes. Now you have one choice: the single-family home as a periphery. If communities receive funding for smart growth development, they could be required to make 20 percent affordable, that is affordable to families making 80 percent of median income.

RC: In your book you mentioned the notFlint: [Laughs] That’s quite a prediction. in-my-backyard movement, where people who Density has a bad rap in America, but many of us have purchased their house and want to protect love going to Paris and that has more density than their investment fight against low-income Boston or Seattle. [Paris] has a lot of density, and developments. How can those people be we love it because it works. There are virtues to convinced to allow low-income housing? density, having access to transit, and all the Flint: The NIMBY phenomenon is very functions of life jumbled together a bit more. The real, and it is a big challenge for smart growth and suburban model is based on separated use: all the New Urbanism. Established residents have to homes in one place, the stores in another, [and] the recognize that these developments actually add offices in another. I think you’re going to see a value. There are legitimate concerns about traffic, different version of the American dream that parking, and things like that, but that is what makes celebrates the advantages of density. smart growth and New Urbanism harder. You have RC: In your book, you mention that some to deal with neighborhoods. You have to make it a commentators have said that sprawl is a sign of a participatory process. It is good economy. What is much easier to go into the your response to that?

Twenty-five million countryside and turn the Flint: Critics of bulldozers lose. In the smart growth and New book, I ask folks in those Urbanism have been acres of land between neighborhoods to not have hitting the blogosphere a knee-jerk response to and writing up op-ed 1982 and 1997 more development. essays celebrating sprawl.

RC: Is there an [It is] a playing of devil’s example of an American advocate, poking holes in succumbed to city that used smart smart growth and New growth and New Urbanism, but not having suburban development. a program of their own.

Urbanism to change their area?

These critics are not Flint: I think addressing the real issues That is a lot of wildlife you’re seeing a great that communities all over momentum right here in the country are wrestling habitat [and] farmland Seattle. Certainly Portland with in terms of planning has been a model for for future growth. dense residential and We disperse when that has disappeared... mixed-use settlement that we are able to because of uses transit and light rail. affluence. If you can Anthony Flint All of this is about a “back afford a big house on a big to the future” kind of piece of land, you might notion. If you look at go ahead and do that, Chicago, Boston, and San Francisco, what was [but] it is not a straightforward analysis. Sprawl has great about some of these neighborhoods is that been so popular, not because it is driven by they have a center and vibrancy. That only comes affluence, but because it is seen as affordable, at with density. You could look at any city across the least initially, by the middle class. You have folks country, whether it’s Chattanooga, Minneapolis or now moving out to West Virginia and commuting Dallas, [and they] are re-discovering the into D.C. The Central Valley in California has advantages of living in a compact, more become a commuter-shed for San Jose, Oakland, concentrated, mixed use way. and San Francisco. The initial sticker price is very RC: In the future, do you think that the attractive and within reach, and then of course rich will live in the city and the poor and lower [with the price of a car and gas] it doesn’t turn out income will live out in the suburbs? to be the bargain it’s cracked up to be.

Flint: No, living in the suburbs is not less expensive because you have to factor in the cost of keeping a car filled with gasoline. That is going to drive change. You have to factor in the true cost of housing, and the only way to do that is to calculate the cost of transportation and energy. Energy is never going be cheap again; it’s only going to be more expensive — whatever form it takes. A more concentrated settlement will be the choice of the rich and notso-rich alike, almost out of necessity.

RC: Do you think people will have issues living in densely populated areas? Perhaps neighbor rage replacing road rage?

“Don “Don’’t Leave Home W ithout IItt Without

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Berta’s Art Corner

by Berta Lambert

The Face of Over-the-Rhine - detail of entrance mural, 1737 Elm Street.

Earth: Love It or Lose It

by Adam Hyla, (Real Change News, USA)

Book Review: A Short History of Progress

By Ronald Wright Avalon, 2004 Paperback, 211 pages We humans are a dangerously ingenious bunch. We’ve feasted on vast plains of now-extinct fauna, watered deserts for food and then salted them up until they’re worse than deserts, ran recklessly through peak oil like a Pike Street pothole. Now we are looking forward to the hydrogen economy or deep-sea fish farms to support 6.5, 7, 7.5, 8 billion hungry people.

Careful what you wish for, says the British Columbian Ronald Wright in his book on our planet’s biggest enemy, ourselves.

Wright’s frightful, then reassuring, then frightful again thesis is that homo sapiens are facing a progress trap that threatens to end our civilization. But, that we’ve faced, and solved, similar problems many times before. But, in this crisis — as we forecast a worldwide loss of biodiversity, for example, in which 23 percent of all mammals are threatened — this time a community wouldn’t collapse just on Easter Island or the Yucatan Peninsula; we all fall down, in one gargantuan global crash.

Despite the talk of sustainable this and sustainable that, humans have not lit upon a way to defy the Malthusian law that says populations surge past their carrying capacity, then fall back due to disease, predation, or starvation. Homo Sapiens and their forerunners and relations have been doing this for millions of years: running out of game or gathered foods, inventing agriculture, succeeding well enough to clear forest for farmland until the topsoil washes away, and either starving, resorting to cannibalism, or moving on. Now, though, the earth is our dominion; there’s no next valley to move on to.

Hope springs eternal, though, so maybe, like a sick doctor, we’ll try to heal ourselves: start that Manhattan Project of alternative energy. But every new device also carries some new menace.

The Maya wrote about how the tools and household implements rebel in their creation myth, Popul Vuh: “‘You… shall feel our strength. We shall grind and tear your flesh to pieces,’ said the grinding stones.” Half the 20th century was consumed with the mutual annihilation assured by nuclear weapons, Wright notes: that was the tools we thought we controlled in full revolt.

With nuclear war and overseas imbroglios to worry about, it’s tempting to unleash the Luddite and welcome the end of civilization. Especially if this is really the best we can do. But delivering all

Homeless veterans invited to ‘tent city’

RE ET VI BE S

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civilian life. Yahiro, a Danville resident, served in the Army during the Vietnam War. “It has to do with the trauma and the experience of being in the military,” he said. “In many cases, it’s difficult to readjust after serving in the military, especially for combat veterans.

East Bay Stand Down is the Bay Area chapter of an organization that is made up of more than 200 groups across the country.

ST

Pleasanton, CA— East Bay Stand Down 2006 pitched its tents last month at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in an effort to reach out for homeless, downtrodden veterans.

“We pride ourselves as a one-stop shop,” said Jerry Yahiro, director of East Bay Stand Down. “One-third of all the homeless you see in the Bay Area are veterans. Nationally, there are over 250,000 homeless veterans.”

The biennial event, which ran Aug. 10-13, turned the fairgrounds into “Tent City,” where homeless veterans and their relatives where bused in throughout the Bay Area.

Participants will receive free drug and alcohol counseling, dental care and medical attention. Judges will be present to settle warrants and other legal problems. There also will be job and benefits counseling.

Yahiro said veterans often become homeless because of the hardships of adjusting to

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Streetvibes

Homeless for 24 hours Lima, OH — Members of a youth ministry spent 24 hours pretending as though they were homeless with their own shanty town outside Lima’s St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church.

This is Lima Life Teens second annual Homeless Awareness Retreat. Teens from Lima and Delphos spent an hour creating a shanty town of cardboard shelters on the church’s lawn near the bell tower.

Dinner for the participants was potato soup and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, said organizer Chrissy Yakir. Those attending Mass at the church saw the teens “street performing” with signs on homelessness.

Prior to the conclusion of the retreat, the teens presented Samaritan House and Safe Harbor with donations the teens have been collecting for two weeks.

The guest speaker was the Rev. Patty Crisp of the Fort Wayne, Ind., Charis House.

Participants conducted a candlelight rosary walk and attended a midnight Mass. of humanity back to the Stone Age entails the deaths of five billion people. It wouldn’t be pretty.

But it might be coming. From what we can tell from the potsherds and the gravesites, we humans have been bad at stepping back from the brink. In the last 10,000 years of human history, since the invention of agriculture, tools ever more remotely resembled the raw materials lying about.

From chipped flint to wrought iron, we’ve lost the craft of our ancestors. As we ascend the ladder of invention, says Wright, we kicked out the rungs below us. Perhaps this is because of our greatest and most reliable invention, culture: the laws and customs that swaddle us in custom, in language, in law. Having money to buy with, and language to speak with, and laws to live under means never having to reinvent the wheel.

When it first came out, Wright’s book was a sort of sideshow to Jared Diamond’s work of civilizational misfortune, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, the critically acclaimed pop prehistory that takes a comparative look at ancient societies to ponder our present-day crisis in sustainability. What Diamond presented was much more data than necessary; what you get from Wright is a great deal more fun: a witty, readable breeze with just a hint of chill . If you’re going to take a book about the human race’s ruination of itself and its planet to the beach this summer, take this one.

Ohio Governor Rewards Schools for Best Nutrition Practices Ohio Gov. Taft presented both the elementary and the high schools of United Local School in Hanoverton, Ohio, with Governor’s Buckeye Best Healthy Schools Gold Awards. The awards were given under the “Healthy Ohioans” program which rewards schools for promoting nutrition, physical fitness and tobacco prevention.

One of the health team’s most recent initiatives was letting students take their breakfast to their first period classes and attempting to improve the quality of school snacks. The school installed the Snackwise computer program in a vending machine that allows users to rate different snacks based on their nutritional value: green means “best choice”; yellow signals “choose occasionally”; and the red warns “choose rarely.”

Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless Welcomes New Staff

Lynne Ausman I would first like to say that I am very excited to be working in the Over-the-Rhine community. I grew up on the west side of Cincinnati and attended Kent State University near Akron, Ohio. I majored in International Relations and minored in French.

I am happy to be back in the Cincinnati area and very excited to be an AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteer in Service to America) at the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless. I am hoping to work closely with issues surrounding day labor, HIV/AIDS, and civil rights, as well as working on the Homeless Memorial Day, Stand-down, and the Ohio Coalition for Homeless Advocates (OCHA). I hope that the knowledge I acquire with the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless will help me fulfill my goal of working in international development.

I am looking forward to a positive and fulfilling year working in the Over-the-Rhine community.

Violent attacks on Kalamazoo homeless halted for now

Gina R. King Gina received her BA in Communications Arts from Xavier University in 2006.

Gina is a Civil Rights Coordinator with the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless.

Gina is very excited about working on projects such as the Youth Empowerment Program, ReEntry and the Homeless Individuals Task Force.

She hopes that her time with the GCCH will prepare her for a career in social services.

“As one of the newest civil rights coordinators to the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless I am very excited to be working in one of the most historic communities in Cincinnati.

The people of Over-the-Rhine have been unexpectedly welcoming and friendly.

“Originally from Cleveland, I have spent the last four years in Cincinnati where I received a BA in communications from Xavier University in 2006.

“After four years I found myself pleasantly immersed in the rich culture and so smitten by the charming personality of Cincinnati that I found it hard to leave.

“I just began my new position as a Civil Rights Coordinator with the Coalition for the Homeless. I am very excited about working on projects such as the Youth Empowerment Program, Re-Entry and the Homeless Individuals Task Force. I hope that my time with the GCCH will prepare me for a career in the civil, public and social services sector. I look forward making a positive impact in the fight to eliminate homelessness in Cincinnati.”

Kingg_gcch@yahoo.com

Kalamazoo, MI - Stepped-up police presence is being credited with stopping attacks on homeless and vulnerable people in downtown Kalamazoo.

But Carl Paddock, a supervisor at the Kalamazoo Gospel Mission shelter, says he fears the violence is just on hold.

“The simple truth of it is, the police being around all the time will help,” he said. “But they can’t maintain a raised presence all the time.’’

Paddock said it will take at least one arrest, prosecution and stiff judicial consequences to significantly curb the brick and club attacks that homeless advocates say have averaged 15 to 20 a year over the last several summers.

The culprits, it’s alleged, are bike-riding groups of young teenagers who encircle victims and beat them as part of a robbery or just for fun.

The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety has run a number of plainclothes stings in recent weeks, trying to draw out the attackers.

But the bait hasn’t been taken, officers say.

“These kids can spot ‘em. They need to get somebody from outside or they need to get a little dirtier and appear a little drunker,” Paddock said of police.

Officials say the last reported attack occurred in late June when 45-year-old Ken Madison was attacked by young teens on bikes as he and two other homeless friends left a baseball game at Mayors’ Riverfront Park. Madison said he fought back after being struck by a board. The attack left him with scalp staples, stitches and a bruised face.

OBIT Cincinnati Homeless Man Struck and Killed

by City Bus

by Jimmy Heath Louis Donnamaria, a homeless person who frequented the Coalition For the Homeless office in OTR, was struck and killed by a city bus on Monday, July 25th. A memorial was held at Holy Name Church on August 16th.

Witnesses say that Louis fell behind his group because of an injured leg, the bus rounded a corner and struck him.

“All of us at Metro just feel terrible about this,” said Sally Hilvers, Metro representative. Alicia Bryant was driving the bus and is now charged with vehicular homicide and vehicular manslaughter, both misdemeanors.

The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless sends it condolences to Louis’ family and friends.

Louis Donnamaria

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Hobo 101 The down and out found strength and hope in Ben Reitman’s Hobo College (Street Roots.

USA)

by Marc Moscato If you are homeless or have an interest in the rights and history of the homeless you need to know the story of Ben Reitman and the long-lost Hobo College. Founded in 1907, Ben Reitman’s remarkable Hobo College presented an unprecedented effort to address the needs of Chicago’s down and out. A welcoming center and medical clinic by day, an intellectual forum and educational facility by night, the Hobo College served to empower Chicago’s homeless population in a way never seen before or since — non-secular and non-hierarchical. And for nearly three decades, it actually worked.

Although vagrancy had been an issue in the United States since the Civil War, the homeless crisis first came to the forefront of national politics during the economic depression of the early 1890s and again later in the late 1920s, when thousands of families were displaced during the Great Depression. During these lean years, thousands of men took to the road in search of work, hopping freight trains, living in hobo jungles and cheap boardinghouses and working as migrant laborers.

At the center of it all was Chicago (known to hoboes as “The Big Chi”), the hub of the nation’s railroad lines, where between 300,000 and 500,000 refugees passed through each year during the ’20s and ’30s.

“Chicago was the gathering point for migrants as it was the jumping point to all points West,” said Roger Bruns, author of “Knights Of The Road: A Hobo History.” “It was the natural place to look for seasonal work in harvesting, logging or crop picking and to reside in the winter months when there was no work.”

Slowly West Madison Street saw its former upper-crust residences transform into a “main stem” of dilapidated tenements, seedy bars, diners, cheap theatres and shabby hotels inhabited by dozens of hoboes and tramps. But with the poverty there also was some serious intellectual fare.

“There was a creation of a whole culture along the West Madison Street area and in the freight yards,” Bruns said. “This included many authors such as Theodore Dreiser and Carl Sandburg, as well as many sociologists from the

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University of Chicago who were studying patterns of social migration.”

With the mass influx in homeless population, The Salvation Army, the YMCA and other religious organizations began to recruit on West Madison Street, holding revivals and opening their doors to Chicago’s displaced. While the charities provided immediate relief to the needy, living quarters were cramped to capacity, meals were known for their mediocrity and tenants had a limit of one week’s stay. Many hoboes preferred instead to board at one of the many cheap hotels to forgo the religious sermons for their own independence and self-pride.

Most problematic was an anti-homeless attitude emanated by religious organizations of the day. Charities believed that the hobo lifestyle was a sin, and that by being homeless they were in need of repentance.

“Religious charities tried to get recruits and save them,” said Franklin Rosemont, author of “Hobohemia” and a member of Charles H. Kerr Publishers in Chicago. “They were fundamentally authoritarian. They made them pray and had strict regulations… it was very condescending.”

It was evident that there was a need for an organization to directly address the needs of the displaced without the moral baggage. James Eads How, heir to his family’s wealth in the Wabash Railroad, realized the opportunity, and in 1907 he founded the International Brotherhood Welfare Association, or IBWA, dedicated to serving the poor and lobbying for the rights of the homeless.

How also launched a new phenomena: hobo colleges, alternative educational environments for people on the streets. He started colleges in major cities across the United States and also ran a newspaper, The Hobo News. The IBWA was heavily influenced by How’s socialist politics, and it was at the St. Louis Hobo College where he fatefully met and befriended Dr. Ben Reitman who, under How’s guidance, went on to found the largest and most successful Hobo College.

It is no surprise the Chicago Hobo College was a success—if anyone could pull off managing such a project, it was the flamboyant and charismatic Dr. Ben Reitman. Reitman had a rare knack for bridging the barriers between the outcasts and authority. Once a “Hobo King” himself, Reitman was also a doctor who worked with tramps and prostitutes, was an abortion provider and birth control advocate before either were legal, and was probably best known for his ability at attracting the attention of the media (for 10 years he was press agent and lover to anarchist Emma Goldman, whose notoriety is owed almost entirely to Reitman’s promotion).

Under the good doctor’s lead as master of ceremonies, Reitman’s Hobo College flourished.

With his networking ability, he amassed a faculty that included leading professors at

Streetvibes

area colleges and the best soapboxers of Chicago, alongside featured guest appearances by luminaries such as lawyer and author Clarence Darrow, the notorious con-man Yellow Kid Weil and tramp author Jim Tully.

“There was always a meal and coffee, and food was served,” Rosemont said. “Then there was a debate or lecture followed by question and answer. Some characters showed up at all the meetings and were notorious for haranguing and refuting everything that was said. Some were single-tax advocates, some anarchists, but all had at least some opinion.”

“The Hobo College was run by and for the hoboes. It didn’t make demands or try to convert anyone,” said Todd DePastino, author of “Citizen Hobo: How a Century of Homelessness Shaped America.” “It provided a model of citizenship and an opportunity for self-education. It not only allowed homeless people to become part of an active system, it made them take on leadership roles. This idea is very foreign today.”

Most impressively, the Hobo College grew to be a well-known center for debate.

Rosemont related stories about University of Chicago professors bringing their classes to the Hobo College because the debates were livelier than lectures at the universities. Often, the student debate teams would face off against a team of resident hoboes, only to be thoroughly humiliated by the hobo soapboxers.

As like any college, each spring the Hobo College held a graduating ceremony in which hoboes who had faithfully attended lectures throughout the winter months would receive diplomas. Graduation was marked by food, music and speeches, and concluded with Reitman handing out papers stating: “Be It Known To All The World That ____ has been a student at THE HOBO COLLEGE and has attended the lectures, discussions, clinics, musicals, readings and visits to art galleries and theatres. He has also expressed a desire to get an education, better his own conditions and help build a better world that will be without unemployment, poverty, wars, prostitution, ignorance and injustice.

He pledges himself to try individually to live a clean, honest, manly life, and to take care of his health and morals, and abstain from all habits that undermine his health and better nature. He agrees to cooperate with all people and organizations that are really trying to abolish poverty and misery and to work to build a better world in which to live.”

“There is a great deal to be learned from the Hobo College in how to develop organic programs for the homeless,” DePastino said.

“There already exists a homeless subculture. We can build around this subculture and engage social service programs that promote a real and radical democracy.”

“I don’t know much about social service programs of today but I rarely hear homeless people say good things about them,” Rosemont said. “There is little genuine care in many of the programs—they are almost entirely church-based and have rigorous rules. They can learn a lot from the Hobo College, but I’m not sure they are ready to learn.”

In this light, Reitman’s Hobo College provides a working model of a self-help program for and by the needy that is urgent and relevant to today’s homeless crisis. And in this sense, the Hobo College serves as a utopian ideal of how our social service programs could function—or as Roger Bruns describes it, “an oasis in a homeless man’s desert of despair.”

S.F.’S Homeless Aging On The Street A majority of the homeless people on San Francisco’s streets have been there since the 1980s and never left, and without concentrated care they soon will start crowding hospital emergency rooms and dying in large numbers, according to a 14-year-long, first-of-its-kind examination of chronic homelessness in the United States.

The finding — which the researchers say is reflected in other cities — is sure to give added impetus to initiatives in San Francisco and elsewhere to create more programs that combine permanent housing and social services for residents under the same roof.

Without such supportive housing programs, the aging homeless are likely to experience rapid health decline and death, said Judy Hahn, the UCSF assistant professor who led the study.

“The already-troubling health issues for these older street people are not going to go away.

They will just get worse, and we will see them in increasing numbers in our hospitals,” Hahn said. “If they don’t go into the hospitals, many will simply die from living outside. Giving them a residence with on-site health care available will go a long way toward avoiding these troubles.”

Thirty UC researchers and students surveyed homeless people in San Francisco during four periods — 1990-1994, 1996-1997, 19992000 and 2003 — and found the median age of the homeless rose from 37 years old at the start to 46 by the end. Today, they estimate, the median age of the city’s homeless population is about 50 — which in hard-time street years is the equivalent of about 65 given the physical wear and tear, they said.

As the median age grew, so did the number of years the homeless had been on the street, the survey found.

It also found worsening health problems usually associated with older people, reflected in higher rates of hypertension, diabetes and emphysema and in the number of emergency room visits. Hypertension, for instance, rose from 14 percent of those surveyed at the start of the 1990s to 21 percent in 2003.

The findings support what many social workers have long suspected — that there was a “big bang” homeless population explosion as federal housing programs were slashed and the closing of mental hospitals hit home in the mid1980s and that this core group constitutes the bulk of the street population.

Local and national homelessness experts said the study confirms their long-held belief that the homeless population is aging at an alarming rate

and that the national movement to create supportive housing is going in the right direction.

“We’ve known instinctively about this phenomenon, but now having this research to back up that instinct is great,” said Philip Mangano, President Bush’s national point man on homelessness. “This shows that supportive housing is perfectly matched as an antidote to the premature aging of this population.”

An account of the study’s findings, cowritten by Hahn and four other UC researchers, appeared this week in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

Hahn said the “big bang” theory, first propounded in the early 2000s by University of Pennsylvania homelessness researcher Dennis Culhane, seems to be supported by her findings.

Aside from cuts to federal housing programs and the closing of mental institutions, she identified worsening drug abuse nationwide and rising housing prices as contributors to chronic homelessness over the past 20 years.

“It’s clear to me, from our study, that a huge number hit the street back then, and some may have gone in and out of housing over the years, but they wind up back out there again,” Hahn said. “The fact that the median age went up almost exactly with the calendar years as we did our study told us that this group wasn’t being replenished by a lot of new people.”

During the 14 years of research, 3,534 homeless adults were interviewed at six emergency shelters and soup kitchens. These included the biggest two such institutions in the city, MultiService Center South shelter, south of Market Street, and the St. Anthony Dining Room in the Tenderloin.

The team checked with social workers who worked closely with the homeless in Los Angeles, New York, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Toronto and Philadelphia and reported that the same aging phenomenon appeared to be happening in those cities, too.

Trent Rhorer, director of city homeless policy and head of San Francisco’s Human Services Agency, said the study “could have a huge policy implication.”

“The study suggests that a one-time increase in the supportive housing stock could have a big impact on homelessness, and not only have we been doing that, but we intend to keep creating supportive housing in the future,” Rhorer said.

“The report suggests exactly what we have assumed — that we are dealing with what, to some extent, is a static population and that we are

Teens attack homeless man

Huntsville, AL - A homeless man is recovering from broken ribs and head injuries after teenagers beat him with golf clubs.

Craig Steven Rupert, 45, was attacked in his makeshift home in the woods. Rupert told police that a group of seven teenagers threw rocks into his campsite at 2 a.m., then returned with golf clubs and beat him until he couldn’t get up.

Rupert is in the intensive care unit at Crestwood Medical Center.

Huntsville police spokesman Wendell Johnson said the attack on Rupert was the fourth such teens-on-homeless assault in the past few weeks in west Huntsville.

“Its kids who think they’re doing something funny, but there’s nothing funny about it,” Johnson said. “Last summer, some kids attacked a double amputee homeless man in Big Spring Park

and then threw his wheelchair in the lake.

“It isn’t funny at all.”

Principal Leslie Esneault offered the school auditorium for a fundraising concert after a group of pranksters enticed a homeless man to disrobe in a Huntsville High hallway at the end of the school year. Several students are volunteering to make amends for the prank that got national media attention.

The Rev. Sherry Birney, a chaplain advocate for the homeless, called it “sad” that while some young people are working to show their compassion for the homeless, others are out terrorizing “the most vulnerable segment of our population.”

“Of all the homeless people I’ve ever worked with, Craig is the most unlikely person to be assaulted,” said Birney, who spent time with

Streetvibes

dealing with the largest portion of the problem right now.”

In the past three years, the city has created 1,482 units of supportive housing for homeless people. San Francisco’s 10-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness, written in 2004, calls for another 1,518 units to be created by 2010.

Michael Stoops, who has been working with the homeless around the country since the early 1980s and directs the National Coalition on Homelessness, said he isn’t surprised by the report’s findings because the U.S. population in general is aging as the Baby Boom generation grows.

“Boomers are the biggest segment of the population for decades, so just like in the rest of the population, Boomers are aging in the homeless population,” Stoops said. “As they’ve aged, society has had a tendency to give up on them; the attitude is that they’ll never get off the streets because they’ve been there too long.”

The homeless population in San Francisco is estimated on any given night to be about 6,000, according to the last one-day homeless count conducted by the city, in 2005. Throughout an entire year, though, the number of people who experience homelessness at some point is estimated to be closer to 17,000.

“This is probably the most important thing I’ve seen written about San Francisco homelessness,” said Dr. Josh Bamberger, who as housing and urban health director at the city Department of Public Health runs treatment programs for the most severely homeless people in the city. “It shows this is largely a static population that we can actually house and treat, and then we will see a reduction on the street.

“So much of the rhetoric we hear is that homeless people are moving into San Francisco all the time, and we can never stem the tide,” said Bamberger, who helped in the early stages of the study. “But this absolutely refutes that.”

Fifty-year-old Nathan “Nasty” Swift, who has the wrinkled face of a 65-year-old and has been homeless most of the time since 1981, said the study’s findings “sound about right to me.”

Swift was a submarine sonar technician in the Navy, but after he mustered out on July 5, 1980, he said, he did too many drugs and made too many bad job decisions to stay stable.

“I was like a lot of guys who just burned out and had nothing around to help us,” he said, heading to a panhandling spot on Market Street near Van Ness Avenue. “That study says we’re all old and our health is shot? Sounds like me and everyone I know.

“I don’t see a lot of young guys out here anymore. Just old guys like me.”

Rupert. “He’s so mild-mannered. He’s completely nonaggressive. He’s a kind, special man who admits he’s got a problem with alcohol.

“But, in my opinion, these teenagers who attacked him showed they have far more deepseeded problems than Craig does.”

Birney said Rupert told her that the teenagers live in the area and that they had harassed him several times, including shooting BB guns into the homeless camps in the woods behind a mobile-home park on Colonial Park Circle.

“But they had been friendlier to him recently,” she said. “He told me he thought they’d turned over a new leaf and that they were going to be his friends.

“We have to put a value on human life.

Maybe the judicial system can help these kids realize that there are repercussions.”

Page 11

Streetvibes Vendor Code of Conduct All Vendors Sign and Agree to a Code of Conduct Report Any Violations to GCCH - 421-7803 1. Streetvibes will be distributed for a $1 voluntary donation. If a customer donates more than $1 for a paper, vendors are allowed to keep that donation. However, vendors must never ask for more than $1 when selling Streetvibes.

2. Each paper purchased from the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless (GCCH) costs 25 cents. Papers will not be given out on credit. Old papers can not be traded in for new papers.

3. Streetvibes may only be purchased from GCCH. Never buy papers from, or sell papers to other vendors.

4. Vendors must not panhandle or sell other items at the same time they are selling Streetvibes.

5. Vendors must treat all other vendors, customers, and GCCH personnel with respect.

6. Vendors must not sell Streetvibes while under the influence.

7. Vendors must not give a “hard sell” or intimidate anyone into purchasing Streetvibes. This includes following customers or continuing to solicit sales after customers have said no. Vendors must also never sell Streetvibes door-to-door.

8. Vendors must not deceive customers while selling Streetvibes. Vendors must be honest in stating that all profits go to the individual vendor.

Vendors must not tell customers that the money they receive will go to GCCH or any other organization or charity. Also, vendors must not say that they are collecting for “the homeless” in general.

9. Vendors must not sell papers without their badge. Vendors must present their badge when purchasing papers from GCCH. Lost badges cost $2.00 to replace.

Broken or worn badges will be replaced for free, but only if the old badge is returned to GCCH. 10. Streetvibes vendor meetings are held on the first weekday of the month at 1pm. The month’s paper will be released at this meeting. If a vendor cannot attend the meeting, he or she should let us know in advance. If a vendor does not call in advance and does not show up, that vendor will not be allowed to purchase papers on the day of the meeting or the following day. Five free papers will be given to those who do attend.

11. Failure to comply with the Code of Conduct may result in termination from the Streetvibes vendor program. GCCH reserves the right to terminate any vendor at any time as deemed appropriate. Badges and Streetvibes papers are property of GCCH, and must be surrendered upon demand.

The mission of the North American Street Newspaper Association (NASNA) is to support a street newspaper movement that creates and upholds journalistic and ethical standards while promoting self-help and empowerment among people living in poverty. NASNA papers support homeless and very low-income people in more than 35 cities across the United States and Canada.

Streetvibes Vendor: 75 Cents (75 cent profit goes directly to the vendor)

Homeless Coalition

25 Cents

Printing and Production: 25 cents (this cost does not cover expenses)

Page 12

About the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless and Streetvibes.... earned. This program has helped The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless (GCCH) was formed in May of 1984 for one purpose: the eradication of homelessness in Cincinnati. What started out as a coalition of 15 volunteers meeting weekly in an unheated church basement has since grown into a Coalition of over 45 agencies and hundreds of volunteers dedicated to improving services for homeless individuals, educating the public about homelessness and empowering homeless individuals to advocate for their civil rights and housing needs.

Streetvibes is a tool of GCCH used to help us achieve our goal of ending homelessness.

On the one hand it is a selfsufficiency program geared towards the homeless and marginally housed individuals who are our vendors. Streetvibes vendors buy the paper for 30 cents per copy and sell it for a suggested one-dollar donation, keeping the profit that they have

hundreds of people find and maintain housing. The vendors also sign a code of conduct stating that they will behave responsibly and professionally and they proudly display their official Streetvibes badge while selling the paper. Our vendors put a face on “the homeless” of Cincinnati and form lasting friendships with their customers.

On the other hand, Streetvibes is an award-winning alternative newspaper and part of the international street newspaper movement. Focusing on homelessness and social justice issues, Streetvibes reports the often-invisible story of poverty in our community. Streetvibes is also proud to include creative writing, poetry, articles, photography and interviews written by homeless and formerly homeless individuals. Streetvibes enjoys a loyal reader base that respects the honest portrayal of the joys, sorrows, and challenges facing the people of Cincinnati.

Streetvibes is a member of the:

The International Network of Street Papers (INSP) unites street papers sold by homeless and people living in poverty from all over the world. INSP is an umbrella organisation, which provides a consultancy service for its partner papers and advises on the setting up of new street papers and support initiatives for marginalised people.

Where Your Dollar Goes...

The Streetvibes program maintains a minimal overhead cost so that our vendors can keep as much of the proceeds as possible.

Please call our office at 421-7803 for more information about the program. Many thanks for your support.

Streetvibes

Don’t be Squirrelly!

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Marching on in Montgomery

by August Mallory (Street Sense, Washington, DC) One of Street Sense’s vendors, August Mallory, is currently traveling around the United States, reporting back on the homelessness and poverty he encounters.

This month he reports from Montgomery, Alabama.

As late Saturday approaches in Montgomery, Ala., I arrive in the city just before everything closes for the day. I ask a local store clerk if there are buses available to board for downtown, being that I am several miles just outside the Montgomery downtown area. The clerk informs me that there is no public transportation on Saturday or Sunday, and I would have to take a taxi, though taxi service is rather high priced in Montgomery.

I only had enough money to last me for the four days that I had planned for, so I had to hoof it into downtown—and talk about a walk into downtown. The roads in Montgomery are very long and wide and winding, but I didn’t have much to carry so it wasn’t a big problem for me.

As I make my way down Rosa Parks Avenue, I walk at least seven miles to Fairview Lane, down Oak Street, past the Interstate-295 exit ramp, and onto Bell Street, past the Overlook Park leading to the Salvation Army Center of Hope. Located at 900 Bell Street, I check in for a night’s stay as I am directed to a dorm of 14 beds with top and bottom bunks available.

I was awakened at 4:45 a.m. and offered a continental breakfast of coffee and donuts, then a sack lunch for later.

As I am still trying wake up to focus on my assignment, I notice all the security cameras around the property. I have no problem with a facility protecting its property but sometimes this security

West Palm forms ‘Homeless Strike Force’ following complaints West Palm Beach · Housing officials, social service agencies and Mayor Lois Frankel have implemented a “Homeless Strike Force” to identify and help homeless people in the community.

During a meeting last month, the group, joined by business owners and residents, discussed a plan to identify and help some 40 to 50 people identified as homeless in downtown West Palm Beach.

The city called the meeting, in part, because some business owners and residents complained about panhandlers and homeless people in the city’s downtown restaurant and entertainment district.

The task force will assess the needs of the homeless and connect them with the appropriate social service agencies to help them get off the streets. In addition, the city will look at establishing ordinances that would prohibit habitual and disruptive or aggressive panhandlers from loitering downtown.

“They come up to customers asking for money even after I politely ask them to leave,” said David Smith, business owner.

Some business owners said panhandlers

thing just goes too far—especially with uniformed security people. However, at least in Montgomery no one is subjected to a police search the way one can be in the Washington D.C. area.

I spend my day in a lot of the shelters looking at landmarks and retracing history. I came upon Montgomery and Commerce streets in downtown Montgomery, the corner where civil rights icon Rosa Parks was arrested on December 1, 1955 for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white person. During those days it was against the law for blacks to sit at the front of a public bus, to enter at the front door of a restaurant, and to drink from a public drinking fountain that did not say, “Colored Only.”

Montgomery, like many other cities across the United States, has a severe problem with homelessness. I decided to pay a visit to the Friendship Gospel Rescue Mission to see how they operate at mealtime. It is a total zoo in that facility.

As one man put it, “This place is off the chain!”

While many people claim that homelessness is caused by laziness, in Montgomery, I did not see that. Instead, I noticed a lot of willingness and ability in the men and women there and they would jump at just about any job to earn a living. But employment is very scarce in Alabama, and unemployment is very high.

I then left Montgomery for Selma, Ala., to visit the Edmund Pettus Bridge, made famous when civil rights marchers crossed it to protest for voting rights and were met by Alabama state troopers by orders of then Governor George Wallace. His orders were to not let those marchers cross no matter what, so troops viciously clubbed and beat them with nightsticks.

As I look back on all the struggles that went on during the civil rights era, why hasn’t more change taken place for those that are homeless. stand in front of restaurants and scream, demand food, and cause other disturbances.

Last month, Duane Vanduyl, 39, whom police identified as a homeless man, terrorized tourists and a Wellington resident at about 2 a.m. near the Palm Beach County Courthouse.

“In my neighborhood, you can’t even put the garbage out because they’ll open it to find something to eat,” said Valerie Luster, a city code enforcement officer and resident of the Pleasant City neighborhood near downtown.

After a lengthy discussion, Frankel established the strike force, led by The Vickers House and other area social service agencies, including The Lord’s Place and the Palm Beach County Homeless Coalition.

Other ideas mentioned included building a homeless assistance center. The center would temporarily house hundreds of homeless until they could find permanent homes.

Representatives from the Palm Beach County’s Human Services division said it will meet in a couple of months with all the agencies that do homeless outreach to discuss a countywide solution.

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Streetvibes

More Housing and Services for Veterans

by Jill Merselis Introduced in the Senate on June 7, 2006, the Homes for Heroes Act (S.3475) seeks to give veterans greater access to the housing and homeless assistance services offered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The bill focuses on increasing the amount of permanent housing that is available to “very low-income” veterans and their families.

If signed into law, this bill would amend HUD to create a Special Assistant for Veterans Affairs. This Assistant would coordinate all HUD programs that relate to veterans — while also acting as a liaison between HUD and the Department of Veterans Affairs — and would be responsible for researching the effectiveness of HUD programs that provide housing assistance to veterans.

The bill would authorize $25,000,000 to the Department of Veterans Affairs for the fiscal year 2007. In following years, funds would be allocated as deemed necessary.

The Secretary of HUD would provide assistance to private, nonprofit organizations to increase the amount of housing available to impoverished veterans. Funding would be used for constructing, reconstructing, or fixing up any housing structure for veterans in need of housing assistance; with the possibility of an allocation to assist very low-income level veterans with rent payments.

In addition, the bill would ensure extra assistance to the veteran population; services to include: outreach, physical and mental health care (including substance abuse and posttraumatic stress disorder treatment); case management; personal finance planning; employment training and education; and childcare. Veterans would also be advised on benefits, income support and health insurance, all with the end goal of promoting independent living.

Survey Participants Wanted You are invited to participate in a brief survey on hate crimes and violence against homeless persons. Go to: http:// www.surveymonkey.com/ s.asp?u=870921968238Y Your input will help the National Coalition for the Homeless direct our advocacy efforts. The results of this national survey will be released to general public and media in late August.

Please contact NCH for information concerning the rising incidents of hates crimes and violence against homeless persons at www.nationalhomeless.org

Page 13

Holding On

Understand

by Joyce Ann Robinson

by Robert Leech

Trying hard to continue to stand, wondering, finding words and the strength to hold on. Thoughts of the past and lots of present pain spears my every silence of joy. Debilitating dreams of yesterday seems as if they just again occurred.

The stillness in the darkness hoping for the light to appear for tomorrow, hearing just what I want to hear, seems for just a little while that some peace has come. Not to mention what lay ahead. All the killings, all the conspiracies, the hungry and the homeless. The hate mongers of these raging wars that may be pushing our way. No time for family gatherings without someone bringing up somebody’s sinful past. Not finding time to forgive should be the thing of the past, when we can learn to do that, we’ll be able to stand. Our religion should not be base on race because God did not come to save one race or a particular culture so, until the people realize that whatever their belief may be they all have one thing in common, which is either we are going to heaven or hell. So lets stop all the chaos and love one another like God said and together we can all stand.

It would be so damn cool to live underground Where no liquor store, gun runner or dope dealer can be found No electricity, no sunlight to brighten your day Just the dim lights of candles to show you the way No worrying about gung-ho police or crossing the street No sense of direction, you just follow your feet No more bull*&%$ government or the president’s lies You just go from tunnel to tunnel as time flies And what do you do when you come to a dead end?

It’s simple; you just turn around and start the same process over again All this sounds weird, and you wonder where it will stop But soon as your ass gets hungry, you’ll find your way to the top I guess some people say living underground is real cool But if you think you can do it without coming to the top You are the world’s biggest damn fool.

Mama’s Hands, Father’s Necklace

by Gary Evans What can I say? Momma’s hands were full of talent. She made biscuits delicious with them. She shelled peas, washed, sorted beans with them and raising three sometimes hardheaded boys by herself. If you messed up bad enough she could use her hands to knock you into next week. Her hands gave us an allowance. Not on a regular basis but pretty regular — when she could. Her hands opened our report cards and trembled with anger when she got hurt or mad. One time my live-away father came over and they were arguing about something he did. They were in the bathroom and he punched her hard in the eye. We didn’t see it cause we were on the steps. The toilet seat was broke and loose. She took those hands and wrapped the toilet seat around his neck. He ran out of the house like that. Everyone saw it and laughed.

Where Am I? by jh A garbage bag holds everything I own.

My camp is a spot under the highway bridge or sometimes in the bushes near the railroad tracks.

Or near the river, hidden out of sight.

Fitful night sleeping outside.

Maybe a nap in the public library during the day.

Newspaper in my face so security doesn’t notice me nodding off.

Away from the heat or away from the cold.

New Day The plywood is loose on an abandoned building during the winter, easy access.

by Daniel Anderson A pile of newspapers makes a bed.

An abandoned car is best, if you don’t have to share it with too many critters.

As the sun sets and the stars begin to shine, Good to be alone sometimes.

My heart pounds because it’s you on my mind.

Some of the guys run con’s – “need milk for the baby, please” – or Holding you in my arms as we drift off to sleep, “my car ran out of gas, can you help me out.”

I dream of happiness and my mind’s at peace.

Some of them sell stuff.

Morning comes along with a brand new day, Others stand at the corner with a sign and a cup.

And another chance to show my love in a new and special way.

The mat at the shelter is hard and noisy – snoring, coughing.

It smells like booze, vomit and piss in there.

Lights on early.

A meal at the soup kitchen and maybe another nap.

Low paying, unreliable work at the day labor.

How come there are so many day labor businesses in the neighborhood?

Sweeping the stadium.

Washing barrels.

Not enough money to get on my feet, but maybe a hamburger meal, a pack of smokes.

A 40 ounce and some food for the cat.

A night at the mission where they force you to listen to preaching before a meal.

A walk downtown where you are looked at with contempt.

Beneath the Surface Gosh, the girls in the suits are so pretty.

by Renee My feet hurt and so do my teeth. I can smell myself.

Always looking for a convenient sink for baths.

Hoboken is a city of beauty and at night it is Public restrooms where you walk in and nobody notices– the restroom at the church. a city of lights. Beneath all the beauty and A bath from a sink in the restaurant bathroom. lights it is a city full of people who are You have to rotate bathrooms so you don’t get noticed. striving to survive, who have lost all hope A good splash under the arms and the face, maybe rinse out some clothes with the system and only find strength in A pickup truck from the suburbs pulls up to the park with a load of young blonde white girls, those who can relate or those who are in the passing out sandwiches to the eager throng. same situation or predicament and find I don’t want to get in that line – Am I ashamed of myself or the crowd? Ha! To have pride! Ironic. comfort in knowing that they are not alone On the busy streets I amble with my head down, avoiding my reflection in the shop windows. no matter how lost, lonely or forgotten they may be.

Policemen drive by slowly, again and again. I’m afraid I’m doing something wrong.

I can’t cry anymore. I don’t know how.

Years ago, my old lady kicked me out because I drank too much.

Lost my job.

Don’t know where my family is, but I know I have one somewhere.

They don’t want to see me or hear from me.

My friends on the street are my family – Slim, J. J., New York, and Bob. One of my friends died under an overpass – he was sick.

He went to sleep and never woke up. Died with his eyes open. We cried like it mattered.

I’d like to go to sleep too. Don’t have the guts to die.

Page 14

Streetvibes

The homeless

by Don Foran Ten men clamber out of the creaking van, Their sweaty bodies meeting a kiss Of cool night air.

They drift, silently, sullenly Toward the darkened church.

Mattresses lie, two or three to a room, Along walls decorated with children’s Drawings and almost casual crucifixions.

Carl, Eddie, Jake and the others Throw their worn packs and bags Onto the makeshift beds, and John, It’s always John, is first to ask If he can have his sack lunch now, Not in the morning as we had planned.

“Sure,” I say, almost as anxious as he To assuage this remediable hunger.

Several echo John, and soon all Are feasting on pb and j; apples, celery, And other healthy fare remains on the table, But they’re happier now, even communicative.

One thanks me for setting a new pair of white socks On each mattress. Another offers a juice cup To a friend. “Lights out!” Rick calls at ten, And no one argues, no one hesitates. Sleep Knits once more the raveled sleeve of care, Obliterates the hurt, soothes the jangled nerves.

Tomorrow will be another day, Another cheerless day embroidered With small triumphs, fragile dreams.

Homeless by “Homeless” Who Am I? Your sister or brother, your Mother or father, your daughter or your son.

I am homeless. Black or white, red or brown, I walk the streets all day looking just to make it. Through the day people look at me and stand back to their friends and talk about me, about how I look and how I smell, never knowing the real person that is inside of me. As you watch your TV and play your tapes, I try to stay warm on very cold days. When you are warm in your home, I am homeless. As you sleep at night in your nice warm bed I am trying to sleep anywhere I can: rooftops and doorways, park benches and so on.

Homeless Night

by Rodney E. Penilton

In the darkness, I saw four people, huddled beneath a gazebo in a park downtown; as I sat feeling depressed about my life, I watched and saw the broad shoulders of a man reaching for the gentle form of a woman, as she pulled thin covers over the small frames of two children, as they lifted theirs heads for a good night kiss.

In that moment, I saw love amidst struggle, hope come from despair and Loyalty bred of trust.

As the children lay in the arms of the night and the wind, Mother and Father held one another and watched as shadows passed, and dust and leaves did their dance.

‘Imagine the anguish, anguish of our babies sleeping in the park beneath the stars, with no home other than those found each night.’

Tears unseen and questions unanswered, the children know that this is not the way it should be as they watch other kids in new, clean clothes and cool shoes, thinking to themselves, ‘ The stares don’t matter, because mommy said they don’t and daddy promised things will get better.’

It’s Called Pain

by Bridget Sapp It comes like a springtime rain, It’s called pain.

As the day goes by, All I can do is think of you and cry.

It’s called pain.

Like Cupid’s famous art You captured my heart.

You shattered and broke it, This I can not fix.

It’s called pain.

I wish I could find, A way to change your mind.

God put us together, I thought it would haven forever.

It’s called pain.

Just like a sad song, I was so wrong.

I thought what we had was real, But now it is cold and empty, is how I feel.

It’s called pain.

I talked with a friend on the phone, But yet I still feel Alone.

It’s called pain.

‘Maybe my sister? No. ‘ ‘My aunt? How would we get them there?’

‘My mother? She is too old.’

‘Baby, I just don’t know.’

‘Something has to happen, has to change, they deserve better than this.

Baby, I know, we’ll figure something out tomorrow.’

Shutter Speed

by Jimmy Heath

One check away

by James Chionsini twinkling stars cant keep you warm when your sleeping in the park till the break of dawn newspaper pillow and a plastic tarp watching for the pigs that come out after dark lost your job got jacked and robbed your landlord said that’s not my prob doctor bills kill you can’t afford the pills now you’re shaking heart breaking drink as much as you spill waiting on the first to quench your thirst alleviate the discomfort of an asphalt earth trying to find a shelter to get some rest but nowhere seems safe without a knife proof vest if you could just get back to square one start to heal the disease that’s got you on the run feeling invisible going insane scowls and nightsticks fall like rain

The Streets of Buenos Aries, Argentina - 2005

Streetvibes

Page 15

569-9500

Formed in 1984, The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless is a membership organization. Our member groups serve the homeless through emergency shelter, transitional living facilities, permanent housing, medical services, social services, soup kitchens, and mental health/addiction services.

The Coalition also consists of individual citizens who want to take an active role in ensuring that Cincinnati is an inclusive community, meeting the needs of all of its citizens. Join the fight to end homelessness; contact the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless at (513) 421-7803, 117 East 12th Street Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

SHELTER: Both Anthony House (Youth)

SHELTER: Men City Gospel Mission 241-5525 Garden St. House 241-0490 Joseph House (Veterans) 324-2321 St. Francis/St.Joseph House 381-4941 Mt. Airy Center 661-4620 Volunteers of Amer. 381-1954

SHELTERS: Women and Children YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter 872-9259 (Toll Free) 1-888-872-9259 Bethany House 921-1131 Salvation Army 762-5660 Welcome Hse. 859-431-8717 Women’s Crisis Center 859-491-3335 Grace Place Catholic Worker House 681-2365 Tom Gieger Guest House 961-4555

If you need help or would like to help please call one of the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless members listed below.

OTHER SERVICES: AIDS Volunteers of Cincinnati 421-2437 Appalachian Identity Center 621-5991 Beech Acres 231-6630 Center for Independent Living Options 241-2600 Churches Active in Northside 591-2246 Cincinnati Health Network 961-0600 Community Action Agency 569-1840 Contact Center 381-4242 Center for Respite Care 621-1868 Crossroad Health Center 381-2247 Emanuel Center 241-2563 Freestore/

TREATMENT: Both N.A. Hopeline 820-2947 A.A. Hotline 351-0422 C.C.A.T. 381-6672 Talbert House 684-7956 Transitions, Inc 859-491-4435 VA Domiciliary 859-559-5011 DIC Live-In Program 721-0643

TREATMENT: Men Charlie’s 3/4 House 784-1853 Prospect House 921-1613 Starting Over 961-2256

TREATMENT: Women First Step Home 961-4663

HOUSING: CMHA 977-5660 Excel Development 632-7149 Miami Purchase 241-0504 OTR Community Housing 381-1171 Tender Mercies 721-8666 Dana Transitional Bridge Services, Inc 751-9797

Caracole (AIDS) 761-1480 Friars Club 381-5432 Drop Inn Center 721-0643 Haven House 863-8866 Interfaith Hospitality 471-1100 Lighthouse Youth Center (Teens) 961-4080 St. John’s Housing 651-6446

Need Help or Want to Help?

Foodbank 241-1064 Fransiscan Haircuts 381--0111 Goodwill Industries 771-4800 Coalition for the Homeless 421-7803 Hamilton Co. Mental Health Board 946-8600 Mental Health Access Point 558-8888 Hamilton Co. TB Control 946-7601 Healing Connections 751-0600 Health Rsrc. Center 357-4602 Homeless Mobile Health Van 352-2902 House of Refuge Mission 221-5491 IJ & Peace Center 579-8547 Justice Watch 241-0490 Legal Aid Society 241-9400 Madisonville Ed. & Assis.

Center 271-5501 Mary Magdalen House 721-4811 Mercy Fransiscan at St John 981-5841 McMicken Dental Clinic 352-6363 NAMI (Mental Health) 948-3094 Our Daily Bread 621-6364 Oral Health Council 621-0248 Over-the-Rhine Soup Kitchen 961-1983 Peaslee Neighborhood Center 621-5514 Project Connect, Homeless Kids 363-1060 People Working Cooperatively 351-7921 St. Vincent De Paul 562-8841 Services United For Mothers 487-7862 Travelers Aid 721-7660 United Way 721-7900 VA Homeless Worker Center 621-5991 W omen Helping Women 872-9259 MIDDLETOWN/HAMILTON (Butler County) St. Raphaels 863-3184 Salvation Army 863-1445 Serenity House Day Center 422-8555 Open Door Pantry 868-3276

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