On 12/16/03 7:52 AM, "Peter T Schmitz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I thank Peter for providing the list below. Now we actually have something to talk about. I'm not enough of an expert on homelessness to say whether these five items are good or bad, but I do see some things that still make me question some of the strategies being employed. > 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.) This seems like a reasonable request, especially if the Strib can actually get on board. Have advocates for the homeless identified any solutions for how to accomplish this? It seems like it would be simple enough to just say "Stop it!" but we could do the same thing with racial profiling and we all know how much good that would do. So I think there needs to be something more substantial proposed here. > 2) That local anti-camping laws and ordinances be repealed so that those 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. This would also seem reasonable. It might even free up police to deal with other crimes that probably deserve higher priority. But I have three questions: 1. If I recall correctly, CM Zimmermann has proposed repeal of these ordinances. What are advocates for the homeless doing to support his efforts? Are they talking to other council members to educate them about the issues and hopefully gain their support? Especially since repealing an ordinance would require a vote by council and isn't something the mayor can accomplish on his own? 2. As Peter notes in another post, lots of folks are uncomfortable around the homeless. Right or wrong, it's an issue that needs to be addressed. If we repeal anti-camping laws and as a result, start seeing groups of tents setting up in our parks, you can bet there will be a vocal and angry response from segments of our public. How do we reconcile this with the goal of preventing homeless persons from being victims of police brutality? 3. If we can find a way to solve item 1 in Peter's list, is it still necessary to have item 2? In other words, does focusing on item 2 serve to distract advocates from the primary goal, which would be ending police brutality against the homeless? Is item 2 necessary to accomplish item 1? If so, why? If not, would advocates for the homeless make better use of their time focusing on item 1, which would also likely be easier for many folks to support? I doubt even the folks who are uncomfortable around homeless people think they deserve to get knocked around by the cops. > 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. Question: Under whose authority are these bridge rods being installed? I seem to recall it was under MnDOT. If that's correct, I'm pretty sure that neither the mayor or city council has any authority over that state agency. So why would advocates waste their valuable time lobbying the city for something that they have no control over? > 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. Question: Who provides funding to operate these shelters? The city or the county? My understanding was that it was the county that provides funding for homeless shelters and that it was recent budget cuts at the county level that led to some shelters being closed? > 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. This may be perfectly clear to Peter, but it sure isn't to me. It is obvious that our mayor is interested in having a new ballpark for the Twins be located in Minneapolis and I applaud that. What's not obvious is that our mayor is reportedly not interested in addressing issues around homelessness. Perhaps the answer is that our mayor may disagree with some of the solutions being advocated - like I said before, I don't know enough about the issue to judge the solutions being proposed, but it's certainly a possible answer. Or perhaps the answer is that in some cases, advocates may be barking up the wrong tree as I described above. > 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. What public outcry? There was an article in a community newspaper and then a few folks posted on this discussion list about it. Were there protests or marches or anything like that? I sure don't recall any. For another take on how this change came about, see the mayor's comments in current edition of the Skyway News - http://www.skywaynews.net/display/inn_voices/voices02.txt Seems to me that all it took to resolve the issue was to make the mayor aware of it. While this may sound silly to suggest that the mayor wasn't already aware of it, as a government mule at the state level, I can certainly see how that could happen. It's not uncommon for political leaders or even agency heads to not be aware of the full details of how a program is run. That's what having a staff is for. Since the practice was already in place when this mayor took office, I'm sure none of the staff involved thought to ask the mayor what he thought about it and I'm equally sure that given what a silly practice it was, it never occurred to the mayor to ask whether shelter beds were being counted towards the city's affordable housing goals. > 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. Sure, but I think the difference is that advocates for those causes made better choices about who to pressure and perhaps also what to seek. As far as I am aware, our mayor hasn't said or done anything to demonstrate that he doesn't care about the homeless. What I have seen is a heck of a lot of assumptions being made (and you know what they say about what you get when you assume), along with advocates for the homeless ignoring or disparaging the things our mayor has done. The mayor recently got the city council to approve a budget that increases funding for affordable housing. You'd think advocates for the homeless would consider that a victory, or at least a step in the right direction. But no, instead we see conspiracy theories being proposed about how this is just a handout to shady developers. The mayor ends a long-standing practice of counting shelter beds as affordable housing and does he get praised? No, he's accused of only doing it because of some huge outcry and public shaming that reportedly took place. Meanwhile, we have Hennepin county commissioners voting to cut budgets for homeless shelters and we have state agencies spending our tax dollars to install bars under our bridges to keep people out. Plus, we have neighborhood organizations opposing new shelters being located in city churches. In other words, folks who are actively doing things that make life even harder for those unfortunate enough to be homeless. Are any protests or marches being planned for out in front of MnDOT? How about plans to crash neighborhood meetings or to camp out in front of the homes of county commissioners or their supporters? Why is it that with all this other stuff going on, advocates for the homeless are targeting the mayor? Mark Snyder Windom Park REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. 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