------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Aug. 29, 2002 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
NYC MAYOR MAKES HOMELESS SLEEP IN JAIL By G. Dunkel New York City New York's billionaire mayor Michael Bloomberg decided he would solve the housing crisis for homeless families in New York City by putting them in prison. His team picked an unused detention center in the Bronx, a few blocks from the Emergency Assistance Unit. They tacked up a few sheets of plywood here and there to hide the bars, and tied back the doors so they wouldn't bang in the night, like they do in active jails. Then the first families were moved in. Soon pictures of kids playing in front of the bars and behind the barbed wire, and families marching into a building that could be nothing but a prison, started hitting the local press and television. Bloomberg and his allies found it hard to justify putting homeless people in prison, when their only crime was being poor. The Legal Aid Society, which has had a suit against the city for years for its treatment of the homeless, quickly examined the prison and found elevated levels of lead in peeling paint. The city responded by removing children younger than 5 and saying it was considering other alternatives, like convents and YMCA facilities. Bloomberg's people say they will conduct their own testing to make sure Legal Aid got it right. Part of the pressure on Bloomberg comes from the case of 16- year-old Jason-Eric Wilson, who committed suicide Aug. 5 after his family was shuttled between the Bronx unit and temporary shelters. Wilson was mentally ill, and his family had become poor after his father was diagnosed with leukemia in 1996 and lost his job. He could not cope with the stress of the Emergency Assistance Unit, which his social worker noted. But Wilson would have been no better off going to spend the night in a jail. New York City has a serious problem with homeless families. Some 8,400 are officially on the waiting list for emergency housing, a 25-percent increase from last year at this time. But to adopt a dangerous, dehumanizing, hasty and ill- conceived vehicle doesn't even come close to a solution-- except perhaps in a billionaire's dreams. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] Support the voice of resistance http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
