Streetvibes May 2007 Edition by Streetvibes Newspaper

May 2007

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Cover Story - Homeless Individuals and the Justice System by Lynne Ausman The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless conducted research regarding homeless individuals, the crimes they are charged with, and the severity of the offenses. All public records for October 1, 2005 through October 31, 2006 were obtained and cross referenced with prior public records. The results were shocking. The Hamilton County Jails have a revolving door for homeless individuals. They enter homeless, they exit homeless. This constant cycle creates barriers for homeless individuals in obtaining housing, entering substance abuse treatment, treatment for physical illness or mental illness, finding permanent employment, and accessing other services. Our focus group is comprised of 53 individuals who had given a

“homeless address” and had been arrested five or more times between October 1, 2005 and October 31, 2006. A “homeless address” is any address which was provided as a home address during the time of arrest and is the address of a social service agency which provides services to homeless individuals. We determined that these 53 individuals were more likely to be chronically homeless than other individuals who gave a “homeless address.” There were 792 charges against the focus group. Chronic homelessness is defined by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development as “an unaccompanied individual with a disabling condition that has been homeless for more than a year or has had more than four episodes of homelessness in the past three years.” The average number of times each individual in the focus group had

Graph 1: Percentage of Time a Homeless Address Was Given

Graph : 2 Classification of Charges of Homeless individuals

MM = Minor Misdemeanor M = Misdemeanor F = Felony Numbers indicate degree

been arrested is 12. The number of times arrested ranges from 6 to 43 times in the thirteen month time frame. Those who did not give a homeless address every time they were arrested may not have been homeless at the time of that arrest or they may have provided the address of a friend or relative. However, the fact that almost 60% of these individuals gave a homeless address 80% of the time. This more clearly implies that these individuals are most likely to be homeless, formerly homeless, or at a high risk of becoming homeless. 34% of those in the focus group provided a homeless address every time they were arrested or 100% of the time. Please see Graph 1. Homeless individuals commit a large range of crimes. While sometimes these are serious crimes, the vast majority of the crimes committed are low level, non-violent crimes. Over 75% of all of the

charges against the 53 individuals in our focus group were between a minor misdemeanor and a fourth degree misdemeanor. Less than 2% of the charges were felonies. Many of these crimes are quality of life crimes and are only committed as a result of being homeless. These crimes include public indecency or public urination, being in a park after hours, having alcohol in a park, open containers, loitering, spitting in a public place, sitting on the sidewalk, and improper solicitation. This is sometimes called the criminalization of the homeless. Please see Graph 2. Many homeless individuals are arrested during the warmer summer months, when they are most likely outside and therefore more likely to be caught by police. Also,

JUSTICE Cont. on page 2

So-called “urban pioneers” reinvent the face of Cincinnati by Jason Haap, Guest Columnist Most of Cincinnati knows nothing about the silent campaign mounted by our City’s power brokers — the media moguls, real estate hawks, Blue Chip VIPs, and the politicians their money buys. And because most people don’t know, certain facts remain marginalized — like how Margaret Buchanan (Executive Editor of The Cincinnati Enquirer) sits on the board of 3CDC (a private corporation that has replaced the City’s planning department with for-profit gentrification). So the lap-dog media drools at the ringing of their own bells, marketing a new vision of Cincinnati that happens to include no place for the poor, the homeless, the downtrodden — anything that might

shake the consumer dream-world of a suburbanized target audience. The Corporate Landscape Consider the new jumbotron at Fountain Square. On most days, it plays cable — complete with commercial advertisements and audio accompaniment blasting through the plaza. Television is America’s quintessential escape from reality. Visitors to the renovated Square — surrounded by new paint, new plaza stones, and even a new facade to the 5/3 building — can now find escape right on Fountain Square’s jumbotron, watching advertisements for Crest White Strips, tight jeans at The GAP, and vanity packages for The Tanning Hut. This is the new center-city style, without having to pay attention to the plight of urban life.

3CDC has slowly purchased all roads to Cincinnati — at least the main thoroughfares through OTR. Systematically, buildings get new paint and new windows. Many are still empty — just think of those near Findlay Market — but they look fresh and new. This is all part of the unreality campaign brought to us by the City’s power brokers. Last year, for example, $2.6 million got channeled to 3CDC from a fund that would otherwise be used to pave the streets. If you feel annoyed by potholes this spring, thank 3CDC. And if you have wondered about the City’s budget priorities, you probably just thought about whether the City could afford to subsidize human services. No one talked about whether we should continue subsidizing corporate welfare.

When 3CDC buys occupied buildings under the condition that owners evict residents before the sale, the displacement happens mostly under cover. There are no news reports. Throw some paint on a building, and make a carpet of flowers at Fountain Square — suddenly Margaret Buchanan’s Enquirer has the exclusive story, and the politicians stump speech during re-election campaigns about how much progress the City has made. But progress, in this context, means doing whatever possible to make sure the target audience (and their suburban spending dollars) does not have to experience the discomfort of seeing poverty.

Pioneers Cont. on page 3

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. 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 John Lavelle - Administrative Coordinator Andy Freeze - Education Coordinator Lynne Ausman - VISTA Matt Cohen - AHA Staff Melvin Williams - Receptionist Linda Pittman - Receptionist Susan Smith - Volunteer Streetvibes Jimmy Heath, Editor, Layout and Design, with Andy Freeze and Georgine Getty Photographers Jimmy Heath, John Lavelle, Georgine Getty Cover Homeless person being arrested by Cincinnati Police

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

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JUSTICE Cont. from page 1 when homeless individuals are more visible, the public is more likely to complain to police. Please see Graph 3. Constantly arresting homeless individuals for quality of life crimes is a huge cost burden for the county to bear. This is especially true when there are other more cost effective, proven successful alternatives available within the community. It costs $65 per bed per day in the jail.

The Lewin Group conducted their own study titled “Costs of Serving Homeless Individuals in Nine Cities.” Columbus, Ohio, was one of those cities. In Columbus, Ohio, it costs $70 per bed per day in jail and just over $30 a day for supportive housing. Supportive housing is not transitional and is not emergency shelter. It is permanent and the residents are eligible to continue working with case workers and for various services including substance abuse and mental health treatment. If Hamilton County had housed each of the individuals in our

A Place to Call Home? by Lynne Ausman Ask the average American how many nights they spent in jail in the last year. Chances are that they will say that they have never been arrested. Ask a homeless individual how many days they spent in jail in the last year and you are likely to get a completely different answer. For some, the number of nights that they spent in jail during a year could top 200 days. The average American would consider this to mean that homeless individuals are some of the worst offenders in the country – that they commit crimes so heinous and terrible that they warrant days or months of incarceration at a time. That homeless individuals are violent, unstable, and a threat to society – they are the strangers that parents warn their children about. Most crimes committed by homeless individuals are minor misdemeanors or fourth degree misdemeanors, punishable by maximum of a $100 fine or thirty days in jail, respectively. These crimes include: possession of an open container, public urination, loitering, disorderly conduct, improper solicitation, and sitting on the sidewalk – yes, SITTING on the sidewalk. Another absurd crime found in the records request: Spitting in a public place. Now, spitting might be a gross habit, but seriously, does it warrant a $100 fine?

$100 might be a small amount to some. To the solid middle class, it’s a night out to dinner with the family, or maybe a trip to an amusement park. The average American would say, “Just pay the fine; I can live without the trip to the amusement park. Just pay the fine, and the case is settled.” But to a homeless individual, $100 is a fortune. $100 means a good meal, a new pair of pants, clean socks, bus fair to see family, and a hair cut, or in the winter – a coat. $100 to a homeless family means a night off the streets in a hotel room or maybe the rest of a deposit on an apartment. Last time I checked, any person over the age of 21 was allowed to enjoy an alcoholic beverage. Housed individuals enjoy their beverage on their front porch or in their living room. Homeless individuals enjoy their beverage on their front porch too – except their front porch is the park bench in Washington Park. They enjoy their beverage in their living room – except their living room is the tent by the river. It is my first amendment right to ask another person a question or to voice my opinion in public. What difference does it make if I am asking for a dollar or for a cigarette, or asking what time it is or making small talk about the weather at the bus stop?

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focus group to the maximum extent of the law, they easily could have spent over $4.2 million alone. The average cost per person in our focus group is $35,100. The range of cost is between $1,950 and $538,850. The individual who potentially cost the county $538,850 had 42 charges against him – all but nine were misdemeanors and the nine felony counts were non-violent. Another individual could have cost the county over forty thousand dollars in thirteen months. He had thirty-eight charges against him, gave a homeless address one hundred percent of the time, and his most severe charges were public indecency and improper solicitation – both fourth degree misdemeanors. His other charges included possession of an open flask, and disorderly conduct. For more information about this research please contact Lynne at the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless via e-mail at lynneausman@yahoo.com or phone at 513-421-7803 x11.

No wonder people use the justice center as their address when being arrested and cited. Some days, for a homeless individual, the justice center is home. Not by choice, but by necessity. No, they do not commit crimes to get the famous “three hots and a cot.” They commit crimes because they have no choice. It’s a crime for an adult to enjoy an alcoholic beverage with friends. It’s a crime to camp by the river. It’s a crime to ask for assistance on the street. It’s a crime to sit on the sidewalk. It’s a crime to not have a toilet to pee in. It’s a crime to be poor. It’s a crime to be homeless. Maybe we shouldn’t spend money on a new jail. Maybe we should provide homeless individuals with continued supportive services and housing. Maybe we should stop arresting them and start dealing with their addictions and mental illness. Maybe we should let them enjoy their front porch, aka Washington Park, with their friends. Maybe we should let them enjoy the same first amendment rights we enjoy. Maybe we should put port-apotties on the street corners and in the ally – there are port-a-potties on street corners during the Bengals’ and the Reds’ seasons for the drunken fans stumbling back to their cars to drive back to their homes. Maybe we should designate public space (like Fountain Square for example) where it is okay to loiter. Too bad you need $1 million in liability insurance to enjoy Fountain Square.

Pioneers Cont. from page 1 Panhandling is not always aggressive; sometimes, it is just too frustrating to rationalize a four dollar Starbucks cappuccino when someone is shaking a styrofoam cup for quarters. But who wants to sacrifice a caffeine fix to help the poor? It is easier to blame the victims of a system corrupted. The Politics When The Charter Party was founded, it was designed to prevent undue corporate influence on the City’s political process. But take a look at their emerging face. In 2005, creative class candidate and Charterite Nick Spencer said that, if elected, he would use eminent domain to close the Mary Magdalene House because it promoted aggressive panhandling. In reality, the place offers showers, a washing machine, and maybe a sandwich while waiting to get cleaned up. Spencer was not elected, but fellow Charterite Chris Bortz was. Chris Bortz’s father sits on the board for 3CDC, and his family owns Towne Properties. After emerging as part of the so-called “Fiscal Five” (known as “The Fascist Five” by critics), Bortz pushed to slash human service funding from the budget. More recently, he mounted a campaign to improve the City’s “curb appeal” by getting rid of bench advertisements and replacing all busstop benches with nicer permanent seating that has no advertising. Whether you agree with an enhanced curb appeal for the City is irrelevant. Somehow, our politicians continually threaten the funding of

health clinics, and swimming pools, and anything that exists for the benefit of the poor. This is done under the banner of fiscal responsibility. But when it comes to channeling $2.6 million of street paving funds to a private real estate development corporation, or when it comes to spending thousands of dollars on benches to increase curb appeal, one must wonder at the real motives. It seems the burden of “fiscal responsibility” gets whipped squarely on the backs of the poor. Prediction: Watch which neighborhoods get enhanced and improved benches first. My money says they’ll appear near the homes, businesses, and real estate interests of campaign contributors before they show up anywhere else. (After all, the proverbial fat-cat needs someplace to plant his proverbial fat backside.) Business as Usual In the emerging new face of a corporatized (read “sanitized”) OTR and downtown, 3CDC’s real estate development is designed to maximize profits for their business partners. 5/3rd has representation on the 3CDC board, for example. 3CDC holds traditional mortgages on their development through 5/3 Bank (funded through diverted revenue streams that used to belong to the City). So the new Fountain Square — which has placed the Genius of Water right in front of a 5/3 building — is a real estate investment sponsored, in part, by 5/3 interests on the 3CDC board. 5/3 gets interest off the deal, and the redeveloped Square benefits its corporate headquarters.

Over-the-Rhine These kinds of power brokers are the big money contributors to the campaigns of politicians like Jeff Berding and Chris Bortz — leaders of the Fascist Five, against services for the poor but in support of big corporate pay-outs to gentrify the City for the sake of their friends. Try to criticize, and they will use the rhetoric of reform to marginalize you — saying we need to think “out of the box,” otherwise we just support the “status quo.” What they forget (or more likely, what they want you not to realize) is that there are several options when thinking about change — and that change, in and of itself, is not always an improvement over the status quo. If we let them continue, unchecked, in their radical approach to changing our City according to the corporate agenda, what will happen? Mostly white people will inhabit the City, bringing night-life, entertainment, and employment for mostly white people. Perhaps the

City will gain rehabbed buildings, upscale housing, and expensive restaurants around every corner. (Why is Jean Roberts focusing on OTR anyway? Did 3CDC line his pockets with some cash?) As these so-called “urban pioneers” reinvent the face of the City, we must remember how the pioneers before them reinvented the face of America. Now that it is too late, many people recognize how our ethnic cleansing of Native Americans was immoral and unjust. We might not be killing the poor and the black per se, but Cincinnati’s modern trail of tears follows everyone on their own personal journey to someplace else. Cincinnati wants the poor to become someone else’s problem. Jason Haap is a media activist, and the publisher of The Cincinnati Beacon (www.cincinnatibeacon.com). He writes under the name “The Dean of Cincinnati.”

Streetvibes exists as a forum for the expression of the views and opinions of our readers and supporters. The opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the Streetvibes staff or the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless

Firecats Review Firecat Review: Boycotts Firecat Blue: Let’s review boycotts. Firecat Chameleon: I’m boycotting boycotts. Blue: I boycott Walmart. Firecat Beige: I boycott it, too. Chameleon: If you boycott Walmart, where will you buy cheap crap while eating McDonalds? Blue: Target. Beige: I boycott it because of the giant sea of asphalt. Silver: I like Meijer. Blue: They’re good – they’re union.

Chameleon: I like their commercials. They’re good for a chortle or two. Blue: I don’t boycott – just make individual choices. I have no set boycotts, just the way I live my life and avoid that which doesn’t appeal to me. Chameleon: In that case, I’m boycotting SteinMart. Silver: I boycott all chocolate that’s not fair trade. Blue: You do not! Silver: Yes, I do. Blue: So you don’t eat Hershey? Silver: Oh, I was kidding. Beige: Well, you should. You’re doing a good thing and the chocolate’s better. Hershey is going gourmet now.

Blue: What do you boycott, AntiCat? Anti-Cat: Firecat reviews. Blue: I boycott Bob Evans. Chameleon: Why? Silver: As of Friday, my father can get a Golden Buckeye card. Blue: Bob Evans supports WLW. I hate WLW. Chameleon: I boycott Cracker Barrel – they were really bad on gay issues. Blue: Wendy’s, too. Beige: You should boycott Wendy’s because they’re terrible. Silver: Target won’t support any military charities. (awkward silence) Beige: Does that make them a corporate sponsor of terror? Blue: I boycott all-you-can-eat buffets – they’re just a salute to waste. They’re just wrong. Beige and Chameleon: Gluttony!

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Blue: Except CC’s Pizza. Sometimes I eat there. (another awkward silence) Blue: I boycott 1-800-FLOWERS. They support promise keepers. It’s like you abuse your wife and then give her flowers. Chameleon: Chick-Fil-A and Hobby Lobby are uber-Christian. I boycott them on Sundays… ‘cause they’re not open… Silver: Walmart was closed on Easter. Beige: I feel bad for the people who have to work on Christmas. Blue: At Waffle House they’re mandated a 12 hour shift on Christmas. Beige: I feel like Waffle House kills any hope for small local diners. Silver: Crap! We have a meeting in 5 minutes and I haven’t eaten lunch yet? Beige: Are you boycotting lunch?

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Cincinnati Shelter helps homeless vets find hope by Dan Yount Reprinted with permission from The Cincinnati Herald It is difficult to sense from the smiling faces and the levity of conversation among the men at Joseph House in Over-the-Rhine that these men recently led devastated lives. Joseph House is a campus of seven buildings in downtown Cincinnati where 76 homeless veterans reside in a safe, supportive, abstinence-based recovery environment. “This is the first time I’ve felt real hope in my life,’’ said James, who started drinking at age 4 and battled alcoholism throughout his life. He’s been sober for 22 months. “Alcohol and drugs deaden your feelings,’’ he continued. “But these people here put you in touch with your feelings again. Some of us even cry at the movies as we discover our real feelings again.’’ Joseph House operates two programs to meet its resident’s needs: The Captain Robert S. Marx Veterans Recovery Center, which is certified by the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services, and the Ready & Forward program, which provides permanent housing and services for veterans with a need for long-term support. “We are very proud of our success rate,’’ said William Malone, the executive director who retired after a career in the U.S. Navy. “We started 2006 with 75 residents, and 29 of those men are still on board. Of the 46 who left our program, 42 of them completed 90 days or more of staying clean and sober. Eight of these men had stayed with us more than two years, 10 more than a year, and 15 more than six months.’’ Of the four men who left before completing 90 days, two went to impatient care at the VA Hospital, and two were discharged due to relapses, he said. Since April 2002, Joseph House has accepted about 450 homeless veterans into its programs. About 70 percent of those men stayed clean and sober for more than 90 days, reaching a point where they can continue to rid themselves of substance abuse, Malone said. (The standard for many treatment facilities is just 28 days, he noted.) ‘Sick and tired of being high’ One resident - Harvey - said he was on the streets for three years before he decided to walk into the shelter. “I was sick and tired of being high,’’ he said. “They gave me immediate help. Now, even my family is proud of me.’’ The average length of stay for those who have reached the 90-day sobriety mark has been 10 months. More than 90 percent of those who stay for more than a year begin to

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achieve economic stability through regular employment and leave to reside in permanent housing, well on their way to leading responsible and productive lives again, Malone said. Some residents remain in the agency’s housing for more than a year, and one man has been there almost seven years.

“Residents may stay in the transitional housing as long as they need to become economically stable and solid in their recovery,’’ Malone said. The men leave on their own terms, he said. Another resident - Glennie called the treatment he has received “reality therapy.’’ He said, “We’ve been in a state of denial, and we needed someone to tell us in a pointed way what we have been dealing with. The staff does not pull any punches. They get in your face.’’ Joseph House has met Better Business Bureau, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and state inspection and certification standards, Malone said. The agency operates with a $1 million budget, with 70 percent of the financial support from VA and HUD. Residents contribute about 10 percent, and 20 percent comes from the George B. Riley Trust, the Disabled American Veterans Charitable Trust, the Vietnam Veterans Buckeye Foundations, AMVETS Post 12, V.F.W. Posts 9094 and 1079, and more than 50 other veterans service organizations. The clinical staff includes five full-time and two part-time licensed counselors, and three full-time and one part-time staff members who support the clinical program’s 24hour operations. Four full-time staff members handle administrative and maintenance work. Ret. U.S. Army Gen. Colin Powell visited the shelter in May 2005 and praised the work that is being done there to help homeless veterans. Shelters in Over-the-Rhine The clinical offices and Half Way House are at 1522-26 Republic St. Transitional and permanent residents reside at 1530 Republic, 1207 Elm St., 1519 Vine St., and 1440 Pleasant St., all in Over-The-

Rhine. The buildings are named after local military heroes, including 1st Sgt. Powhattan Beaty, a Black Civil War hero; Capt. Robert S. Marx, a World War I officer; Sgt. Maj. Thomas Hawkins, a Black Civil War hero, and 1st Sgt. Thomas Shaw, a Black Civil War hero who served 20 years with the famed Black Buffalo Soldiers. Joseph House was started in 1994 by offering counseling to veterans living on the streets. The agency began offering housing to five homeless veterans in 1995. Today, Joseph House operates a 30-bed Halfway House Program and an Outpatient Program. In addition, 46 beds of transitional and permanent housing are offered. “Veterans can reside on our campus for as long as they need,’’ Malone said. “We require only that they comply with out rules, seek economic stability through employment, and make progress in their recovery.’’ Calvin Wooten, associate director and treatment coordinator at Joseph House, said, “We focus solely on recovery issues in the Halfway House, using the standard 12 step addiction recovery program. We begin dealing with whatever issues the new resident has, be it medical care, mental heath care, or other problems.’’ Once progress has been made, the resident then moves to one of the transitional homes where he begins seeking employment or enrolls in a trade school or college program, he said. Eventually, the men are able to function on their own and rent an apartment or go back with their

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families, he said. “About 15 percent of those who leave Joseph House return for a ‘tune up’ because substance addiction is a very powerful disease,’’ he said. “They have also experienced the lasting trauma resulting from being homeless, and, although alcohol and drug addictions are treatable, they are not curable.’’ Some of the men continue to stay on at the shelter after they have recovered due to the comfortable relationships they have formed there, Wooten said. “These guys become their family, and they stay on to help the new guys coming through the door,’’ he said. “It helps to give away what you have received in order to nurture it.’’ Wooten, a former retail sales manager, also went through a similar program and decided to become a counselor and help the new men coming into it. About one-third of the residents of Joseph House are Vietnam veterans. For veterans from the war in Iraq it usually takes from 10 to 12 years before addictions resulting from wartime or other trauma begin destroying lives, Malone said. Wartime trauma is an important cause of homelessness, Malone said. About one-third of all men who are homeless are veterans, but only 14 percent of the adult population is veterans, he said. Some of the residents have trauma from their childhoods that pop up to haunt them in later years, he added. Some of the men deal with a combination of issues, including childhood abuse and abandonment, combat trauma, a bi-polar mental condition, and depression, he said.

Joseph House Cont. on page 7

and women in jails, homeless handle. And what good could she shelters, in ghettos, barrios, have done him? Little or none, as reservations, trailer parks, up I later found out. When there is nothing you can do, you do mountain hollows, or down the shards of broken glass. nothing. To attempt to do more narrow, silent alleys? But at least today there is than that might only to make it They have their dignity light along the alley. What I worse. too. It is one of the great remember of it is darkness, even And this distressed me mysteries, and one of the great in the blazing summer day. The even more: this apparent moral replenishing truths, that it is alley was narrow; the buildings nearly impossible to extinguish were three and four stories tall so numbness of the woman (and of myself) What of the children who entirely the human drive for that, with the looming balconies see such a thing? What if he dies dignity. Its terms may be twisted, and the overhanging eaves and right now? The more I thought, its preservation obscure; it may cupolas and the narrow slot left lay long dormant; you may drive for daylight to fall through, Yukon the harder it was to move. The woman in the alley it far down. But it is virtually was dark as a narrow mountain broke me from my enchantment. impossible to utterly stamp it out. hollow, if a mountain hollow I went on to my errand, and over But it seems to me that, baked with the heat of asphalt the years, to many other errands. when poverty joins addiction, we and smelled of urine and diesel I went on to meet many people in have something which puts fume. I remember that it was that community and other dignity particularly at risk, silent once I entered the alley. communities something which assaults the No sound of buses, afflicted with human spirit with an intensity no voices, no poverty. Of these, which neither poverty nor rumble of cars. No many, indeed the addiction can muster alone. A threats. No music. majority, have been man lays in a gutter for the world No banter. The people who faced to see him in his shame. Would it darkness, the hardship with happen in a more prosperous narrowness, and responsibility, community? Would the world the silence humor, and faith, around him be so powerless? oppressed me, but who presented to We all know the answers I do not know that me models for how to these questions. But the other I hesitated as I a person might live question, for which I have no entered. I have a meaningful life in answer, is this: Did the deadly never had much spite of multiple cocktail of poverty and addiction fear in the inner Michael Henson difficulties. They destroy this man’s dignity city, mostly faced their poverty with dignity. altogether? Perhaps not. But I’m because I am small and do not But what of my man in the also guessing that his dignity pose a threat to anyone so no one gutter? Can I say the same thing either died in that gutter or it was feels a need to threaten me. of him? Or of the beggar who so wounded that it might never Besides, by that time I was seemed to single me out from have recovered. I hope it did. It’s known in the neighborhood; no anyone else who might be on the been nearly forty years now, so I one had ever bothered me. I felt street to ask, in a voice that hope the man has, by now, confident on the streets. always reminded me of that of something of dignity, something But I know I stopped Doc Watson, “Do you think you of peace. short after a few steps down the might have a couple quarters for This is the fourth in a series alley, for then I saw the man in a sandwich and a cup of coffee?” by Michael Henson on poverty the gutter. He wore jeans and a Or of the prostitutes on Vine? and addiction. short-sleeved plaid shirt and he lay half in the gutter, half on curb; And what of the countless men his arm shaded his eyes, the sidewalk served him for a pillow. Writers and Artists! He breathed peacefully, heavily Donate your Writing, Poetry as if asleep at home in his bed. I stood stock still, And Art to STREETVIBES immobilized by indecision. What Streetvibes@juno.com should I do? I knew of nothing I could do, but it seemed such a shame to see a man so degraded and to do nothing al all. All the SUDOKU questions of dignity I had been Puzzle asking myself now faced me in a Fill in blunt, incomprehensible way. numbers so A woman passed; she also that each stared - not at him, but at me. column, each For her, I was the odd one, the row, and each college boy from the Bible Center of the nine with his jaw hanging loose. She 3x3 boxes did not give more than a contains the moment’s glance to the man in the digits 1 to 9. gutter. What good would it do There is only her to contemplate such a thing? one solution! Probably none at all. To stop and The ponder someone too sorry to ANSWER is pick himself up off the street on Page 13 would probably complicate her life beyond what she could

The Man in The Gutter liquor and children play among by Michael Henson

When I was young and very inexperienced, I entered the world where poverty intersects with addiction. By that, I mean, I took a summer job as a youth worker Qoute By (more Michael youth than worker myself) with a Catholic social service agency called the Main Street Bible Center and came to live in Over-the-Rhine, at that time a dense, multi-ethnic concentration of some fifty thousand people, nearly all of them poor. The buildings, now valued as historic, were closebuilt, thickly-tenanted, crumbling affairs. But the neighborhood was lively; every storefront was filled. The streets rocked at night with bluegrass and gospel music. It was heady stuff for a smalltown, middle-class boy. I became witness to some of the early skirmishes in the War on Poverty. It was the summer of 1968 and the world was changing. There were things I wanted to know, about the fragility and strength of human dignity and the operation of freedom under adversity. I wanted to know how humans maintained dignity under the assault of poverty. I had a notion that they could, somehow. I had been inspired by the Kennedys, by the Civil Rights marchers, by my reading of Michael Harrington and Harry Caudill, by my visits to a mission in Eastern Kentucky, and by a charismatic social worker named Ernie Mynatt who worked among the urban Appalachians of Cincinnati. I wanted to see what all these people had seen. And I wanted to understand that issue of dignity above all. The experience was fundamental to me and many images remain with me from that summer. But one in particular was painful to me then and remains painful to me still. I walked down Yukon Alley on some errand and saw a man passed out in the gutter. Yukon Alley is only one block long, and runs parallel to Main, just around the corner from the Bible Center. It was a hot, humid day in a river-city midsummer, in a basin which held heat like a steam table. Today, Yukon Alley has been ripped open, its eastern side torn down and replaced with a park where men and women sit at picnic tables to talk and drink malt

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DLOP Takes On Labor Works Cincinnati - Attorneys from Manley Burke, LPA are filing a lawsuit in Federal court alleging various wage and hour violations against Labor Works, an employer of day labor workers, located at 2236 Gilbert Avenue, Walnut Hills and Schwans™ Global Supply Chain, aka Schwans™ that is located at 7605 Empire Drive, Florence, Kentucky. Schwans™ is a corporation that manufactures and distributes frozen foods. The United Food and Commercial Workers, local 1099, and the Day Labor Organizing Project (DLOP) has been working to improve the wages and working conditions of the estimated three hundred (300) to five hundred (500) day labor workers in the Over the Rhine and Avondale areas of Cincinnati. These workers are employed by seven day labor halls in Cincinnati and are subject to abusive conditions at work and substandard and inadequate wages. The federal law suit alleges that Labor Works and Schwans™ are joint employers who do not pay their day labor workers for their entire workday. The workers

Ghetto Rats by Lynda Crane Ink Tank Writer Cincinnati - The drug problems on our block are real, but they are far from the only challenge. Right up there with the drugs are the rats. Once winter set in Ms. Arley downstairs began to complain that they “were comin right on into her apartment.” “They’s no ordinary rats” she told me, “they’s big as a cat. They’s ghetto rats; they’s tough, and they ain’t scared of nothin. They just stand right there and look at me.” And so started our campaign, our war if truth be known, against those ghetto rats. We bought every poison made and they just ate it up and came right back. We put down sticky paper and they hopped over it. We set rat traps, and baited them with peanut butter, cheese, and fried beef in gravy. They loved all of it. “They’s smart” Arley said, “They ain’t gonna get caught.” We bought special plugs to stick in the outlets that made noise only rodents could hear—guaranteed to run them off. Our rats danced through Arley’s kitchen to the tune. Nothing worked.

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spend up to fourteen hours under the direction of either Labor Works or Schwans™. In addition, these workers are mandated to take transportation from Labor Works to the Schwans™

facility in Florence, Kentucky. They pay $7.00 for this transportation, even though public transportation or use of their vehicles would cost a fraction of that amount. These day labor workers are trying to support themselves, and often their families as well. Some of these day labor workers have families to support. A take home pay of $35 for a fourteen hour day is not only unjust, it is also illegal. DLOP and UFCW are joined by many Labor, Community and Religious organizations in calling for an end to these practices and for proper redress in federal court.

Again and again we looked for their entrance, and finally found a tiny hole behind the toilet, so Mona (who saves my skin time after time) covered it over and that was the end of them. They were inside our house no more. Our neighborhood, though, is still overrun with rats. On a warm evening, about dusk, if you happen to be sitting outside on our porch, you can watch them cross the street from the market. One such evening, not so long ago, we watched an especially big rat come ambling across, brazen and bold as you please, and head straight for the lotto and beer store next to the Neighborhood Center. Just as he approached the step, a big old tom cat came from one of the doorways and spotted the rat. The rat was as big as the cat, and all eyes were on the pair, no one sure who would take the day. The cat made a move toward the rat, and the rat turned on the cat. That cat spun around and took off running, and all of us on the porch nearly fell off laughing. “They’s no ordinary rats” Ms. Arley repeated, “They’s ghetto rats. They’s tough.”

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ALMOST 30 YEARS SERVING THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Empowering our neighborhood children through peace, art and education Peaslee Neighborhood Center 215 East 14th Street Over-the-Rhine Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

(513) 621-5514

Celebrate Mother’s Day for Homeless Children and Their Moms by Alice Skirtz, PhD/LISW Cincinnati - Mother’s Day is celebrated in the United States this year on May 13. As we consider ways to honor mothers on that special holiday, let us pause to remember mothers and their children who have experienced homelessness since Mother’s Day a year ago. Information recently released by our Cincinnati/Hamilton County Continuum of Care for the Homeless* reports that in 2006, there were 9,448 individuals who experienced homelessness during the year. Of this unduplicated count of homeless persons, an astonishing 29% or 2,724 were children under age 18. All of these children came to shelters in 732 families with their parents, in 90% of the situations the parent was their mother by herself struggling to maintain housing, employment or job training, school or day care for the children, as well as loving mothering and essential nurturance for her children. This grim picture of a nearly invisible community problem is especially poignant when we know that more than nine hundred (903) of our homeless children in 2006 were under age six. Under age six means newborns, infants, toddlers, and preschoolers who were homeless…their older brothers and sisters ages six to twelve were 652 in number, along with their 1,169 older siblings who are ages 13 – 17. 2,724 children experienced homelessness in Cincinnati and Hamilton County in 2006 – that

Joseph House Cont. from page 4 Tears of joy Some of these men had never had a birthday party or experienced the joy of Christmas, Malone said. At the monthly birthday party at Joseph House, one of the men whose birthday was being recognized broke down and cried, he said. He had never had a cake for his birthday. At Christmas, the Paul Vail V.F.W. Post 4369 in Sharonville treats the guys to a party and gifts. “The men on the streets have to be willing undergo our treatment programs,’’ Malone said. “That time comes when they begin saying, ‘I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.’ However, some of them have lost 10 or 15 years of their lives in the streets before that moment of clarity hits them. They finally begin looking for some hope, and we help them become hopeful.’’

astonishing number of children could easily fill nine elementary schools. It is easy to be blind-sided by the popular press and talk show hosts who portray those who are homeless as adult men perpetuating all the stereotypes of living on the riverbank or holding up signs for food at highway exits. The reality is, one third are children whose mothers struggle for the economic means to maintain housing, food, and nurturing for their children. Sustaining adequate, safe, livable housing is the linchpin to maintaining income, sufficient food, and the basics of care for children, and for preventing the disruptive, emotional upheavals of homelessness. In 1990, voters in the State of Ohio considered a state-wide ballot issue making housing a “public purpose.” (At the time Ohio was one of but three states forbidding use of public funds for housing purposes.) In a statewide co-ordinated effort advocates for housing and homelessness prevention came together to promote the issue. Locally Cincinnatians for Affordable Housing (now convened as Affordable Housing Advocates), the Woman’s City Club, the Metropolitan Area Religious Coalition of Cincinnati, and joined others to promote the issue. We sponsored a call-in television program produced by Channel 64. I was privileged to participate in that program and had permission to take 8 month old Lenny (not his real name) with me as he and his Mom were in one of our family shelters. Lenny represented homeless Ohioans on the program, captivating the hearts of voters as an especially creative Whenever possible, it is important that the ties to the men’s families be repaired, he said. “Those family ties are usually destroyed by the time they get here,’’ he noted. “Often they have stolen from their family members to feed their addiction, or they have become an embarrassment to their family. “One fellow shut down about 12 years ago,’’ he said. “He moved in with his mom and lived in a storage area of the apartment. Finally, he walked in here, and he is now doing fine.’’ One resident, Bob Mattes, was a former restaurateur who has gained some fame after walking around the country since his wife, son and daughter were killed in a car crash in Chicago in 1984. During his travels, Mattes has raised money selling products to make wishes come true for children with illnesses or disabilities. A study by the Department of Housing and Urban Development found that 704,000 people

cameraman made close-up shots of blond haired, blue-eyed Lenny as he tried to eat the microphone affixed to my lapel with an alligator clip. When that failed, Lenny reached for my ear and flashed a big toothless smile and giggled with delight that he snagged my earring. Lenny and his Mom were homeless, and the voters of Ohio resoundingly affirmed the vote that led to the Ohio Housing Trust Fund. Lenny and his Mom eventually were able to leave the shelter for their own housing, regaining sufficient economic equilibrium for Mom to finish her job training and move to an hourly wage job. I saw Lenny not long ago, now himself finishing school, proud to tell me he was also getting his driver’s license. He and his Mom had been homeless one time since our television show, and it was due to Mom’s lay-

off from her job when the company she worked for closed. However, it has been 17 years since Ohio passed the legislation to establish the Housing Trust Fund. Hamilton County, as all other counties, contributes to the Fund, but Hamilton County does not receive its full share of the Fund. Advocates are working with the Board of County Commissioners to explore ways to fully utilize these resources to increase affordable housing options. What better way to honor mothers year-round than provide sufficient housing options for all income levels so that moms (and dads) can provide housing for their children, year-round… for Mother’s Day and for our children.

nationwide sought shelter in the threemonth period between February and April 2005. One-third of those seeking shelter were from families with children. The rest were

individual, mostly adult men. Nearly half were Black. Nine of 10 homeless mothers have been victims of violence, largely domestic abuse.

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Alice Skirtz, PhD/LISW is a Casework Supervisor for the Family Shelter Partnership, a Program for the Continuum of Care.

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Mother’s Day is May 13th. Whether she is a mother, a grandmother, an aunt, a wife, or a sister, Mother’s Day is our chance to show that special woman in our life how much she means to us. Mother’s Day is also a chance to honor the spirit of mothering. Mothers are there to make sure we are clothed, clean, fed, safe, and warm. They are there to tuck us in and kiss away the tears. They are there to read to us, to listen, and to steer us down the right path. The picture above was drawn by 9 year old Asherah, one of many participants in a statewide Mother’s Day card contest for young people. Asherah won the contest because of her touching ability to capture the sprit of support, love and family. Asherah was a resident of a local shelter at the time she drew this picture of her family. Her family is one of 5,000 in Cincinnati who will experience homelessness this year. Nationally, 3.5 million people experience homelessness over the course of a year. Homeless families make up over 40% of that population. This year in Cincinnati alone, over 8,000 children will experience homelessness with their mothers. The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless has been working for 23 years to eradicate homelessness in Cincinnati. We firmly believe that by coming together as a community, we can reach this goal. We need your help to erase homelessness from childhood memories. This year, truly honor the mothers in your life by making a special donation in their honor. We will send Asherah’s Mother’s Day card to the honoree before Mother’s Day, along with a notification that a donation has been made in their name. What better way to appreciate the woman who raised you than by helping other women raise themselves and their children out of homelessness? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------By sending this completed form along with your minimum donation of $10, Asherah’s Mother’s Day card will be sent to the person you designate below. The card will inform the recipient that a donation has been made in her name to the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless. Your name, address, and phone number ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Name and address of the person to whom we should send the card ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Who should the donation be placed in honor of/in memory of? Who should we say the card is from? ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ If you would like the card sent to an additional person, please indicate on another sheet of paper the same information as above. Send this form along with your donation in the enclosed envelope to: The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless, 117 East 12th Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202

This Mother’s Day, how will you show your mother that you really care?

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I Love A Parade by Georgine Getty The Homeless Coalition took 2 hours off work on April 2, 2007, to walk down to Washington Park to watch the Red’s opening day parade go by. It was nice to see all types of people in Washington Park on that beautiful spring day, especially the families with children. Homeless people, who call Washington Park their home, sat back, cautious of the additional police, also enjoying the parade. There were several highlights of the parade and the general atmosphere of celebration. I was delighted to see the Kid’s Cafe float (a program of Our Daily Bread soup kitchen), the kids on the Cincinnati Public Schools float and the Cincinnati Recreation Commission’s banner. It was also great to see the people of Over-the-Rhine cheering for the police officers on motorcycles, riding in careful precision. Findlay Market had several floats and has always been very kind to Streetvibes vendors. There were dancing pigs and CityBeat’s float, featuring freestyle rap. The marching bands

were wonderful. As a former band geek myself, I always cheer for them, even if they are just marching, red-faced and hot in their terrible uniforms to a drum cadence. I loved seeing all of the animal rescue societies walk by with their dogs, pausing to let crowd participants pet and admire them. David Pepper marched with the bucket boys and girls, who are all grown up, and more talented every time I see them. The kids of Junior Achievement got a rousing cheer from the crowd, complete with shouts of “be smart!” and “good for you!” The veterans and color guards were politely cheered, and the fire trucks were also shown respect. Also wildly cheered, was the Over-the-Rhine Senior Center bus and the brave client who marched the whole parade route, in heels. One group of young men in white t-shirts picked up their friend and insisted that a group of passing clowns hug him. To their

Kelly Carr serves food to the residents of Tender Mercies for Opening Day

delight and his mortification, a clown complied. There were also some lowlights of the parade, one of the hazards of living and working in Over-the-Rhine and seeing its dark side as well as its beauty. It was difficult to watch some of the politicians walk by, in full campaign mode, with their big, toothy smiles. Many of these same politicians voted to cut funding to the Rec Centers, the OTR Senior Center and Our Daily Bread, agencies that they shared the parade with. I also watched two suburban youth happily stomping on two shrubs while their oblivious parents unloaded the mini-van. Greenspace is too precious in OTR to be willfully destroyed, something

that these two children, undoubtedly with their full yards at home, cannot possibly understand. I found the person in the Eric Kunzel costume difficult as well, remembering the “Kunzel plan” to remove the Drop Inn Center. And I wished that some of the hundreds of homeless people who clean the Red’s stadiums after the game could have gotten some recognition, or maybe even a little float. Such are the hazards of being alert in this City. I can’t even enjoy a parade as I might once have. But on the other hand, I enjoyed it on a level much deeper than many other people because OTR is MY neighborhood, and it was almost magical to see so many people, if only just for two hours, loving it as much as I do.

Children of Over-the-Rhine neighborhood enjoy curbside view of Parade

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Homeless News Digest Compiled by Jimmy Heath

SACRAMENTO, CA - The Loaves and Fishes program called a community meeting to discuss a plan to improve and rebuild its facilities, despite opposition from the neighborhood. Many residents said they are worried about the impact of an even larger homeless population concentrated downtown, even though the meeting was a briefing about all homeless social services. “They attract so many people daily and then they leave and go through the neighborhoods,” resident Ken Lauszus said. Police said they estimated the Sacramento homeless population at 1,000. About 500 of them are fed and helped daily at Loaves and Fishes. Sister Libby of Loaves and Fishes said the ministry is being victimized by exaggerations. “Loaves and Fishes has been here 25 years,” Libby said. “Our bathrooms need renovating. Our Mustard Seed School needs renovating.” Loaves and Fishes served a hot meal to 450 people a day, but officials said that in 1995 they served about 900 people a day with newer facilities. Libby said her short-term plans are about renovating and replacing what is falling apart. Some residents, like business owner Laura Parker, said problems like vandalism and illegal camping are not improving. “I don’t think they will just re-message what they have,” Parker said. “I think they will somehow expand it. It just feels like it’s not going to stay contained.” At the end of the meeting, city officials said they realized there is such intense interest they need a special meeting solely about the renovation project.

CLARKSVILLE, TN - Legislation that would keep track of the number of homeless children who enrolled in public schools without immunization is on its way to the governor for his consideration. The measure sponsored by Rep. Joey Hensley, R-Hohenwald, passed the House 93-2. The companion bill unanimously passed the Senate last month.

Besides tracking those children without immunization, the legislation would also require the commissioner of education to annually report “the average length of time required for these children to be immunized or to obtain their immunization records.” “This bill would let us know what children in our school systems are without immunization,” Hensley said. “We want to make sure children are protected from the diseases that are out there,” added Rep. Donna Rowland, RMurfreesboro. Gov. Phil Bredesen could not be reached for comment about whether he will sign the bill. The bill is HB1866.

ORLANDO, FL - A homeless man who said he was stabbed repeatedly in the hand by a group of teen-agers made the whole thing up, police said today. Jon Johnson was drunk the night of his supposed attack, he told Daytona Beach investigators. “He can barely even remember where he was, let alone what he was doing,” Lt. George Colon of the criminal investigations division said today. Johnson’s admission came when investigators called him in to get more information about his alleged assailants. He said three young men attacked him with a box cutter on his way to his “hole” near a creek. He told police that the boys kept yelling, “Hey homeless boy!” and called him a “homeless piece of trash.” The stabbing stopped after he threw oysters at the youths and they ran away, he told police. Johnson was treated at Halifax Medical Center for lacerations in his hand and required 15 stitches. But his description of his assailants was vague. And his story became even less credible when detectives tried to find out more about the alleged attack. “He became more and more agitated, leading us to believe there was something wrong with the story that he was giving us,” Colon said. Johnson, 49, refused to take a lie-detector test after investigators

became suspicious. The test measures stress levels in a person’s voice, said Daytona Beach police spokesman Jimmie Flynt. The cuts on his hand looked more like they were made from oysters than they did a box cutter, police Chief Mike Chitwood said today. There’s a chance Johnson may have stumbled back to where he was staying that night and cut his hand on oysters in the nearby creek, Colon said. After fielding detectives’ questions about the attack for about an hour, Johnson called the investigation off, Chitwood said. “How about if we just forget about it?” he reportedly told detectives. “I was so drunk I don’t know what anybody said.” Johnson was not arrested for making false claims. Chitwood said Johnson has enough problems as it is.

DELRAY BEACH, FL - A homeless man in Delray Beach was at the right place, and right time to pull two men from the wreckage of an airplane crash. Witnesses said the experimental plane spiraled into an open field from about a thousand feet just west of I-95 at Congress Avenue around 3 p.m. last month. 57 year old Milton Pendelton, a local homeless man, was peddling by on his bicycle when he found the wreckage site and pulled two men from it. One was the pilot, 61-year old Charles Scherer, a resident of Antiquers Aerodrome west of Delray Beach. The aerodrome is a small community of homeowners who park small planes in their garages and share a mile-long, grass airstrip. The other man, who was in his 50’s, has not been identified. The cause of the crash was not immediately known. The crash in Delray Beach was the second of the day. In Fort Lauderdale, a pilot was forced to make an emergency landing in a field shortly after takeoff. The pilot had just taken off from Executive Airport in the afternoon when he discovered the Cessna 205 was suffering from engine trouble. After contacting the tower, the pilot decided to return to the airport, but was forced to crash land in a nearby field. A witness at the scene said the plane appeared to lose power

during the final approach and made a sharp nose dive, flipping once hitting the ground. Emergency officials rushed to the scene and the pilot was transported to Holy Cross Hospital with minor injuries. The FAA is investigating the plane to determine the exact cause of the crash.

DAYTONA, FL - Egged on by a 17-year-old, two 10-year-old boys joined in the attack of a Florida homeless man, leaving him bruised and bloody, police said. The incident highlights an upswing in violent crime across the U.S. against the homeless. In 2006, there were 142 attacks and 20 murders, several involving teenagers seeking a vicious thrill, according to the Washington, D.C.- based National Coalition for the Homeless. Lat month’s incident, which took place in Daytona Beach, Florida, may make history, said the nonprofit’s acting executive director Michael Stoops. “If we’re talking about 10year-olds, that means we’ve hit an all-time low,” said Stoops. “The youngest person to have ever been arrested for a crime like this is 13.” Daytona Police Sgt. Billy Walden said the teen and two boys were walking in their neighborhood around 9 p.m. when they saw 58year-old John D’Amico. They began throwing rocks at the homeless man. The 17-year-old, Jeremy Woods, punched D’Amico who then fell over a concrete wall. As he lay on the ground, one of the 10-year-olds — whose names are not being released — used parts of the concrete to bash D’Amico in the head, a police report shows. D’Amico’s eye was severely damaged in the attack. Woods and the two boys were charged with felony aggravated battery and are being held without bond at a juvenile detention center in Daytona Beach, Walden said. The Volusia County State Attorneys Office received paperwork on the case and will make a decision about whether or not to pursue charges, said spokeswoman Linda Pruitt. The three boys made their first court appearance wearing ankle shackles and handcuffs, and white jail jumpsuits too big for the two tiny 10year-old frames. Judge Peter Marshall assigned them public defenders.

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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 $3 to replace. Broken or worn badges will be replaced for $1, 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 Printing and Production: 25 cents

About the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless and Streetvibes.... 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 earned. This program has helped

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.

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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.

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Streetvibes Vendor: 75 cents Printing and Production: 25 cents

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Iraq’s homeless poor crushed by war’s aftermath by Patrick Fort BAGHDAD - An old man slumbers on a rotten and stinking sofa as a malnourished scruffy child in rags bats around a ball in the dust and flies buzz through the decay. In Baghdad the homeless live hand to mouth. Left with no income after her son was killed in the war, and with her husband old and helpless, Salwa Lifan Salman had to leave her working-class home and move into a squat at the bombed-out Iraqi air force headquarters in the center of the capital. Her family of 13 — 10 of them children — is today crammed into the small room she rents for 50,000 dinars (40 dollars, 30 euros) a month from an alleged landlord who probably has no legal right over the public building. “He told us he was the owner, that he had bought the ground. We’re frightened, he’ll kick us out if we don’t pay,” said Salman, enveloped in the black abaya. She is 43, but already she looks like an old woman. Surrounded by other

families in a similar predicament, Salman picks a living amid the ruins left when US warplanes bombed the base in 2003. There is no electricity and only a single tap outside on the pavement for water. Frightened about being turfed out by the council, she prefers not to make problems. “If we don’t live here, there’s no where else to go,” she said. Her family is so poor that none of her children go to school. Four of the children had a rudimentary education when they lived in the Shiite slum district of Sadr City. Tuition may be free, but Salman cannot afford to clothe her children or buy the necessary books and pencils for their schooling. So they run wild. “We looked for work but there isn’t any,” she said. In Iraq, where war and insecurity are the primary concerns, reconstruction is limited and funds are short. It goes without saying that her family receives no help from the authorities. “We sell on a little rice or flour from food packages that are

handed out” by charities or social services, she said. Some of her fellow squatters sell oil on the black market to customers too impatient to queue at petrol stations. “We are trying to live on 10,000 dinars (eight dollars, six euros) a day for the whole family. There are days when we don’t even manage that,” said Salman. The United Nations sets the poverty line in Iraq at living on less than a dollar per day per person. Former builder Faik Hasun, who through illness lost part of his sight in one eye and also now needs crutches to get around, is someone else who survives hand to mouth, camping out in a workman’s hut in the bombed compound. Originally from Jadida in northeast Baghdad, he says he left his family in order not to be a burden to them. Today he exists in near total destitution. From time to time, restaurant or cafeteria workers give him things such as crackers to sell on the street. Hasun has access to neither running water nor electricity — just a little stove for winter. But

temperatures are already rising, and before long the squatters will be hit by the merciless Baghdad summer and 50-degree Celsius (122-degree Fahrenheit) heat. “The situation is going from bad to worse. We have never been so badly off,” he said. “Our only chance is if the violence stops and the country recovers some stability. Then there will be a little work. “Economically things will get better and people like me will have a chance to live a bit better.” Crashing from a thriving economy in the 1970s and 1980s, a third of Iraq’s population of 27 million now lives in poverty, according to a recent study by Iraq’s planning ministry and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). For Salman, Hasun and the rest of Baghdad’s poverty-stricken homeless, hand-outs are the key to their survival. They are the living statistics whose only hope is that one day things will improve in the aftermath of war.

worth $5,000,000. We can expect that altogether approximately 50 homeless or on-the-edge-ofhomeless people will get luxury digs from Kawamoto, most of them children of single mothers. That’s the bright side. Thank you, Genshiro K! The dark side is that the sort of real estate speculation that made Genshiro Kawamoto rich enough to do all this lies precisely at the root of nearly all the homelessness Hawaii and the rest of America have to bear. Kawamoto is infamous in Hawaii for evicting renters at short notice to make a quick profit, as well as buying properties and neglecting to rent them at all. In short, he’s a

slumlord to the rich. He may not create homelessness in the demographic he serves, but his practices reduce their housing options, which reduce the options of the next lower class, and the next. It’s the real trickle-down. The end result is homelessness for a lot more than 50 people. So, thank you also, Genshiro K, for being a prime example of how the rich and powerful screw us all and then do some token rescues to make up for it. Just like the government and the Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness, which is really only a plan to reduce a fraction of it. Reprinted from Real Change News, Seattle

The Rich Act Different Seattle - Everyone has their own way of relating how rich Bill Gates is. Bill Gates is so rich; he has half the money in Seattle. Bill Gates is so rich, that he sleeps in a different room of his house every night of every decade. Bill Gates is so rich, when he wants something from the grocery store, he has it delivered. I mean the store. Bill Gates is so rich he could buy most countries. Bill Gates is so rich he won’t buy a used country, preferring a new custom country built from scratch, somewhere between Lake Washington and Lanai. And, finally, Bill Gates is so rich that just his money alone would be all you’d need to end homelessness in America for what’s left of the 10 years before the great US Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness is finished and solves everything. What would it look like if Bill Gates actually did use his wealth to relieve some homelessness around here, just in Seattle? We have fewer than 10,000 homeless people. Gates could get 10,000 cheap prefab homes. At wholesale prices, they’d all put together cost him less than a billion. Another billion to buy the land to put them on, and Bill’s ranking among the world’s billionaires wouldn’t slip by more than 1. But all that assumes Bill would go about relieving

homelessness the way ordinary humans would. It doesn’t take into account the fact that, like all billionaires, Bill Gates is an alien from the Horsehead Nebula. To understand how Bill would try to relieve Seattle’s homelessness, consider another billionaire, Genshiro Kawamoto, who is trying to relieve homelessness in Oahu. Kawamoto, like Gates, likes to spend a lot of time in the Hawaiian Islands. In the ’80s Kawamoto mixed business with pleasure and bought up a lot of property in Hawaii as investments, including a lot of mansions. Recently he got bit by the altruism bug and announced he was going to rent eight of his pricey Kahala Avenue luxury homes to poor struggling Hawaiian native families, preferably homeless families, for $150 to $200 per month, utilities paid, for up to 10 years. Now that he’s moving people in, he’s saying he won’t charge some of them rent at all. He’s partially furnishing the places. To help you visualize the deal, we’re talking about homes in the $2,000,000 to $10,000,000 range that either sit directly on a gorgeous tropical ocean beach or are at most a couple of hundred feet removed. One of the recipients is a women with five children who has been staying in a homeless shelter for the last four or five months. Her new home for the next 10 years is

Sudoku answer from page 5

Streetvibes

Page 13

I Shall Die

by Jose Ornelas I am Indigenous. I am a conquered peoples, one of many. What next? Will I be bitter? Who will I try to conquer? My women, or child? You? No, brothers and sisters, I will surrender so that I may rise. Surrender to my hunger. Accept my humanity. Embrace...us. My nation became a gang, now it will be a nation again. Heart to heart, Love to love, one two three nations under a groove. We will marry each other and see all the children as our own. I am lucky because I am not the inheritor of the legacy of the overseer. I don’t hold the whip, I never did. When it is finished we will bury the past; weep for it and then sing for the future.

by Elizabeth Romero The woman coming toward you is trying to hang on. You can see it in her eyes, her wary sidelong glance. The woman coming toward you is trying to hang on. Her clothes flap loosely in the wind. Her red shoes clash. The woman coming toward you carries the patient rage of her mother and her mother before that like that cracked plastic handbag.

Tagger by Jose Ornelas The carports had these spaces in between them that were big enough to walk through and since they were behind the apartments nobody could see you. So there I am shaking the can and putting the finishing touches on a bomb aguila when along comes this long hair dude with a bottle of something. “Heey, man.” “What’s up holmes.” “Doing some paintin?” I nodded and continued working. He weaved in place. “Heey, wanna drink?” “No thanks, I don’t drink.” “Good for you, man.” He took a swig and stepped closer. Then he grabbed my wrist. “Motherfu... “I could get 600 hundred bucks for turning you in.” “Shyeet. If you could find the phone I bet it would take you all night to dial the numbers.” I easily shook loose and looked him over. “Sabes que, este, graffitti is something you can grow out of, but drunken losers... “

Wolf by Galaxie You could call me a night owl, or you could think of me as the wolf. You won’t see me much during the day, but alas, when you are asleep, I’ll be there in your dreams, sometimes to comfort, sometimes to torment you, for I am your nightmares. I am your dreamscapes, I am the things that you fear and fail to understand. I am the night, I am the darkness. I come and I take away the pain, though I can also make it worsen. Do not cross the night. Because the night, like the wolf, has no fear of the dark.

Second Home by heather gearhardten sing a song of violation equivocation demarcation supplication tribulation and truncation sing a song of subterfuge a deadly ruse loving abuse and splitting in twos and no way to choose sing a song of fighting free a warrior’s creed survival fees ptsd and healing mes.

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by Stan Buriss You could stand. Then you would stand alone! Not with out friends, you understand—with this circle beneath your eyes,far from a real center. Broken from the ends! Sharp, where the best ends are broken for the last time (if you call it the last). Only then, if you use your real name.

Cabin Fever by Virginia Conn I’m freezing, so I tack flannel sheets under the blinds, discovering the frost has resurrected the finger oils of someone named Linda. Twice the precise lettering appears, well out of reach of a child’s hand.

by Kris Schon To Be, to Become To be, to become to believe in yourself the inner voice that propels you forward a waterfall of wisdom of life fears and rejections triumphs and tragedies laughter and hope belly button stuff the main course at life’s banquet for those wishing to attend. grateful are the many who stand firm in a brisk breeze head up, eye to eye with the dragon. Flickering stars candles lit from your strength your courage your hope your faith, burning on.

The window overlooks the street. I’ve stood there, impatient for mail or visitors, yet this is the first I’ve heard from her. I scan my studio for other traces, blaming her for the erratic nails, especially one eye level screw, dead center, that no painting hangs from comfortably. I start to attribute other mischief to her; misplaced keys and night knocks, then fear she may be trapped, the bitter cold compelling her to contact me. ”I never got out. It never warmed up.” I keep checking the pane for further word. I remind myself: It is winter everywhere. Outside, Buffalo trudges past, layered in clothes like shuck on corn. Like that screw, an act of defiance, Linda versus concrete, in relief of the wide white wall.

Streetvibes

Valentine’s Day by Wendy Nakashima Valentine’s Day is for moochers. It might even be for smoochers Please excuse me for not being concerned; I would rather hang out with my Teddy Bear. Cause Fuzzy Wuzzy Really Cares

by Michael Sloan Gray steel wind and tears of rain lash people and pigeons huddled on the steps. The gray morning floods us round. Grayness seeps into the cracks of concrete, into the shadowed clefts between the buildings, into the hair of old men wedded to the streets, and in the eyes and hearts of those silently awaiting an opening of doors.

Standing with Dignity by Paul von Kempf, JR.

Gray drowns even the privacy of thought and the rainbow of memory. We clutch our collars against the morning’s teeth. Someone coughs and pigeons explode, gray into gray they abandon the vigil, vanish in a liquid sky. Yet the human figures stand wordless, inmoving, gray as thoughtless rock. No meeting of the eyes or fingers. No spark of colored laughter. Only the grayness dares to touch such woeful stone. Such gray and weary words a friend once whispered to me; She said, “Some wounds never heal.” and though I hate her for it here in the grayness waiting, watching I see now what she meant.

Standing here with dignity waiting through all kinds of weather selling Real Change Newspaper. Waiting for those smiling eyes hopeful, wanting to be helpful to say paper please, can you see that your generosity is appreciated? Standing here with dignity I see another kind of eye scold, cruel and full of contempt walking past me without seeing, taking the long way around. Can you see my pain? Do I jerk you out of your cocoon, when I say hello? Do I jerk you back to reality? Standing here with dignity I have time to reflect on why I am selling Real Change Newspaper. In another time and another place I have had several jobs I have lost them to accident, illness, disease or my big shot ideas Society deals harshly with people who have big shot ideas where is the forgiveness? Today I am standing here with dignity selling Real Change Newspaper. Waiting for those smiling eyes to say paper please. I hope you can see my gratitude for your generosity .

Abraham and Isaac

Without Blues For all those who have seen drugs, alcoholism and abuse tear their families apart. Without the stub of crocus, the breeze through cedar and hills to climb in the soft light of January I would be lost.

by Michael Henson Again, the climb into the mountain. Again, the boy with his bundle of faggots and his question. Again, the old man with his knife and his answer. Ravens course the ridges. Marmots whistle and dive. In the valley below, smoke rises from a village. Tanks crawl through the fields. They mangle the corn. A line of soldiers snakes along the road. Again, the boy has his question. Again, the old man answers. He answers with a curse. He looks at the boy. He looks at the sky. He looks at the valley. He curses. He feels that his answer is no answer, so he curses and turns to stagger up the stony mountain path.

Without the picket lines’ ”How you doing?”— friends sitting around at the table while November rains, I would wash away in tears. Without my pencil, the work that must be done, the brothers and sisters in the strong August sun, I would go over the edge.

Streetvibes

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357-4602

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) 241-2965 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 557-2873 Salvation Army 762-5660 Welcome Hse. 859-431-8717 Women’s Crisis Center 859-491-3335

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 Emanuel Center 241-2563

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 Full Circle Program 721-0643

HOUSING: CMHA 721-4580 Excel Development 632-7149 Miami Purchase 241-0504 OTR Housing Net. 369-0004 ReSTOC 381-1171 Tender Mercies 721-8666 Tom Geiger House 961-4555 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?

MIDDLETOWN/HAMILTON (Butler County) St. Raphaels (Food Bank/Soup Kitchen) 863-3184 Salvation Army 863-1445 Serenity House Day Center 422-8555 Open Door Pantry 868-3276 New Life Baptist Mission (Soup Kitchen) 896-9800 Hope House (Homeless Families/Singles) 423-4673

Freestore/ Foodbank 241-1064 Fransiscan Haircuts 651-6468 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 632-7186 Health Rsrc. Center 357-4602 Homeless Mobile Health Van 352-2902 House of Refuge Mission 221-5491 Legal Aid Society 241-9400 Madisonville Ed. & Assis. Center 271-5501 Mary Magdalen House 721-4811 McMicken Dental Clinic 352-6363 Our Daily Bread 621-6364 OTR/Walnut Hills Kitchen & Pantry 961-1983 Peaslee Neighborhood Center 621-5514 Project Connect Homeless Kids 357-5720 St. Vincent De Paul 562-8841 The Emergency Food Center 471-4357 Travelers Aid 721-7660 United Way 721-7900 VA Homeless 859-572-6226 Women Helping Women 872-9259

May 2007

The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless

Cruel and Unusual Punishment - How The Justice System Wastes Your Tax-dollars

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