To address some of Jonathan Palmer's questions. What do those without homes and their advocates want.?
1) Clean, safe and affordable housing 2) Jobs 3) Treatment for medical, mental health, dental and chemical dependency problems 4) Three square meals Given that our local, state and federal governments are unwilling to guarantee the above for those without homes this is what those without homes and their advocates are asking for now: 1) That Minneapolis Police stop harassing and physically abusing those without homes. (Refer to a Minneapolis Star Tribune editorial published in February of this year.) 2) That local anti-camping laws and ordinances be repealed so that those without homes who are turned away from homeless shelters for lack of beds are less vulnerable to police brutality. When people are technically breaking the law, whether the law is consistently enforced or not, they are at the mercy of our dubious legal and law enforcement system. 3) That bridge rods not be installed, so those turned away from homeless shelters can at least stay halfway dry when it rains or snows, and have some protection from the wind as well. 4) That existing shelters be cleaner, safer and better staffed so that those without homes can be confident that a homeless shelter is preferable to the streets. 5) That existing shelters stay open 24 hours a day, so that those without homes are not forced to compound their misery and despair by wandering the streets from 6 or 7 in the morning until the shelters reopen in the evenings. Revenue shortfalls and budget crises? Nonsense. When we had "prosperity", budget surpluses and tax rebates in the late 90s through the first part of 2001, there were nearly as many underserved homeless people as we have now. Face it folks, in an excessively materialistic and militaristic culture, such as ours, that fosters violence and hyper-individualism, homelessness is not going to go away. In Canada and much of Europe homelessness hardly exists. But this may change, unfortunately, given the imperatives of globalization which demand that nations decrease social service spending and raise their military budgets, just like the good ol' USA, which has the dubious honor of exporting so many of its social problems. The homeless problem we have now is not the fault of our current mayor and city council, but the indifference displayed by them (as well as our county, state, and national office holders) is rather appalling. While it may be up for debate whether or not R.T. Rybak actually supports government funding for a sports stadium, its perfectly clear that he's more interested in a new sports stadium for Minneapolis than addressing issues around homelessness. This is where I part company with Mark Snyder. Of course, Mark is perfectly correct to suggest a sensible advocacy approach. No one likes to be put in the hot seat and publicly shamed. Political advocacy is like medicine. You always begin with the least invasive procedure, and only step up if the disease persists. Therefore, if office holders ignore polite inquiries through letters, emails and phone calls, as Mayor Rybak has (I remember him asking Margaret Hastings and others, on one occasion, to let up on the emails to his office), then concerned citizens not only have the right, but the moral obligation to step up the pressure. While I was wrong to assume that the counting of shelter beds as affordable housing was a practice started by the Rybak administration, it appears that public outcry, as well as a little shaming by others, had the desirable effect of forcing Rybak's office to change this outrageous practice. And Mark, I doubt that any progress in the area of human rights would have been made had civil rights advocates, feminists, and AIDS advocates been as nice and sensible as you think Margaret Hastings should be.-------------------------Peter Schmitz CARAG REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
