Sunday, August 28, 2011

Added to the blog roll

Stories from the Streets isn't really a new blog but caught my attention the other day with a post called "Anxiety and a Lost Loved One."

posted by Jacqueline Dowd @ 6:30 PM 2 comments

Thursday, August 25, 2011

"Arresting someone who does not have the money
to pay their fines does not solve the major problems"

As the summer heat continues to beat down, the police in Jackson, Tennessee, are doing what they can to provide assistance to people who are most susceptible to the elements, as a new division works to build lasting partnerships.

The Homeless Outreach Team, or HOT division, pairs police officers with crisis intervention training with members of the community and organizations who have a heart for the homeless.

"Usually, we deal with criminal matters and complaints, but arresting someone who does not have the money to make bail or pay their fines does not solve the major problems," said Capt. Thom Corley. "By offering outreach to these men and women now, we are taking preventative actions against things they might be inclined to do later. Not to mention these people are our citizens, too."

Corley said the inspiration for the outreach team stemmed from a conference he attended where members of the Colorado Springs Police Department talked about how their outreach efforts helped to reduce the homeless population from 700 to 75.

Read the Jackson Sun report here.

posted by Jacqueline Dowd @ 7:33 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Welfare drug-testing yields 2% positive results

Since Florida began testing welfare applicants for drugs in July, about 2% have tested positive, preliminary data shows.

Ninety-six percent proved to be drug free -- leaving the state on the hook to reimburse the cost of their tests.

The law, which took effect July 1, requires applicants to pay for their own drug tests. Those who test drug-free are reimbursed by the state, and those who fail cannot receive benefits for a year.

At least 1,000 welfare applicants took the drug tests through mid-August, according to the Department of Children and Families, which expects at least 1,500 applicants to take the tests monthly.

Cost of the tests averages about $30. Assuming that 1,000 to 1,500 applicants take the test every month, the state will owe about $28,800 to $43,200 monthly in reimbursements to those who test drug-free.

That compares with roughly $32,200 to $48,200 the state may save on one month's worth of rejected applicants.

More than once, Gov. Rick Scott has said publicly that people on welfare use drugs at a higher rate than the general population. The 2% test fail rate, however, does not bear that out.

According to the 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, performed by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services, 8.7% of the population nationally over age 12 uses illicit drugs.

Read the Tampa Tribune report here. And see previous post here.

posted by Jacqueline Dowd @ 9:37 PM 2 comments

Homeless win a voice

They asked, and they received.

Homeless or formerly homeless people won two seats on the Homeless Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County during a gospel-music-inspired meeting at a small church in downtown Winston-Salem.

The Homeless Council, which helps distribute federal grant money to local agencies that deal with the homeless, includes representatives from nonprofit and government organizations.

David Harold, executive director of the council, promised that homeless or formerly homeless people would have two voting seats on the council, adding that he would pay those representatives a small stipend for their work. The two members will be chosen within a few weeks.

"For a long time, we have wanted this; we just didn't know how to make it happen," Harold said. "Homeless people and people who have recently been homeless know much better what works than people like me."

Read the Winston-Salem Journal report here.

posted by Jacqueline Dowd @ 10:02 AM 0 comments

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Teen sentenced to 40 years
for stabbing homeless man

Family stories about a promising musician and even a plea from the man he stabbed were not enough to ease the penalty against a Jacksonville teen behind a senseless knife attack.

Eric Francis Sandefur, 18, was setenced to 40 years in prison — the maximum allowed under a plea bargain. He pleaded guilty to knifing Jason James Jerome, a 29-year-old homeless man, on the streets of Mandarin in December.

Sandefur confessed he stalked Jerome for 30 minutes as he slept on a picnic table. The two had never met before Sandefur tried to kill him. Grainy surveillance video shows Sandefur, wearing a suit and tie and gripping a knife, walking toward Jerome, with a blanket wrapped around himself.

Jerome said he has forgiven Sandefur, who cried during others’ testimony, and asked the judge for mercy. He doesn’t deserve prison time, but rehabilitation. “I walked away from our encounter with my life and my faith in tact,” Jerome said.

Read the Florida Times-Union report here.

posted by Jacqueline Dowd @ 9:34 AM 0 comments

Friday, August 19, 2011

Gainesville votes to end meal limit

The campaign to end Gainesville's soup-kitchen meal limit scored a major victory when the City Commission voted unanimously to repeal the controversial code in favor of a three-hour window in which anyone can eat.

St. Francis House, the only institution regulated under the limit, filed a petition earlier this year to lift the 130-meal cap and replace it with a three-hour time frame.

The time limit was a point of contention for some advocates, but most felt it was a good compromise.

The city attorney's office will now draft an ordinance that the commission will have to approve in two more votes. Then St. Francis House will have to apply for a permit under the newly adopted ordinance.

Kent Vann, the shelter's executive director, said he would submit his application with the city next week so it can move ahead as soon as the commission casts its final vote.

Read the Gainesville Sun report here.

posted by Jacqueline Dowd @ 9:57 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Miami government building
installs spikes to ward off the homeless

In the courtyard of downtown Miami's Stephen P. Clark Government Center, there's a big, dry fountain where homeless folks sit and hang out.

But county workers recently cordoned off the thing with yellow plastic while they outfit the perimeter — traditionally the seating surface — of the fountain with metal rods.

County spokesperson Suzy Trutie denies that the "renovation" has anything to do with the homeless. "What it's about," she insists, "is constantly updating and refurbishing all of our buildings."

"Yeah, but they look something like spikes," writes the Miami New Times. "And they feel a lot like spikes. Yes, we tried to sit on them. They hurt our butt."

Read the New Times report here.

posted by Jacqueline Dowd @ 10:08 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Democratic Party leaders ask Orlando mayor
to stop arresting homeless activists

The Orange County Democratic Executive Committee wants the region’s top Democrat to stop arresting anti-poverty activists who feed the homeless.

The Orange County party’s officers passed a resolution calling on Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer to stop enforcing a controversial ordinance that’s led to the arrest of nearly 30 people who handed out food to the homeless at Lake Eola Park.

“Whereas, the passage of this ordinance and its enforcement involving arrests may reflect badly on Orlando, internationally. Moreover, adverse publicity about these arrests may significantly hurt the economy and reputation of the City Beautiful,” the resolution reads, in part. “Whereas, as Democrats, we stand firm in our belief in anti-poverty policies and expect our elected officials to do the same.”

Read the Orlando Sentinel report here.

posted by Jacqueline Dowd @ 9:50 AM 0 comments

Monday, August 15, 2011

Oh, yes, we still have a long way to go



Thanks to Steve over at Stone Soup Station for pointing this out.

posted by Jacqueline Dowd @ 9:35 PM 2 comments

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Gainesville’s vote on meal limit set for this week

Mayor Craig Lowe has put the proposal to do away with the 130-meals-per-day limit on soup kitchens on the agenda for the Aug. 18 meeting, as he said he would last month.

Advocates for the homeless (and for the proposal) believe there are enough votes to overturn the limit and replace it with a three-hour window in which meals can be served, as laid out in the code changes proposed by St. Francis House.

Read the Gainesville Sun report here.

posted by Jacqueline Dowd @ 8:37 AM 0 comments

Saturday, August 13, 2011

No breakfast for the homeless in Tampa

As the sun rose over downtown Tampa, dozens of homeless gathered in a city parking lot and waited for breakfast.

But for the first Saturday in six years, volunteers had nothing to offer but bad news. Tampa police shut down the meal program last week, saying the group doesn't have a permit to serve food on public property.

"It's crappy, really crappy, coming here and telling these people that 'we can't feed you because someone who hasn't missed a meal in a lot of years says we can't feed you,'" said Doris Lutkus, part of the loosely organized group of church volunteers who have spent each Saturday morning aiding the homeless.

Tampa police Officer Ron McMullen stopped by the parking lot to say the city doesn't want to keep people from feeding the homeless -- it just can't be done on public property.

McMullen said the shutdown is a result of complaints from people in the area who say the homeless who gather to eat end up aggressively panhandling.

Read the Tampa Tribune report here. And see previous post here.

posted by Jacqueline Dowd @ 6:47 PM 0 comments

Friday, August 12, 2011

Tampa tells group to stop feeding homeless downtown

For the past six years, a loosely organized group of church volunteers has been feeding homeless people on Saturday mornings from a city-owned parking lot downtown. In recent years, the numbers of mouths to feed has grown, to more than 150 men and women, but they've never had issues and the city has always looked the other way.

Until now.

Last weekend, Tampa police shut down the meal, politely telling them that the activity is illegal and they need a permit to serve food on public property.

"They're trying to sweep these people under the rug," said Doris Lutkus, who has been volunteering for the past four years. "It's unconscionable."

Lutkus said she began calling city departments this week, trying to figure out what the regulations are and how they can get a permit. She said she got the "proverbial runaround."

"They passed me around like an old shoe, from one office to the next," she said. "No one could tell me what law we were breaking, just that we were not allowed to be there."

Santiago Corrada, Mayor Bob Buckhorn's chief of staff, said there is a whole host of state and local regulations for activities where food is served to large groups on city-owned property.

"If they've been doing this for years without permits, somewhere along the line we might have dropped the ball," he said. "There are all kinds or requirements on public feeding."

Read the Tampa Tribune report here.

posted by Jacqueline Dowd @ 11:11 AM 0 comments

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Getting homeless man off streets is no easy task

A newspaper columnist thought he had helped get a homeless man off the streets. Then he saw him again, trudging along a sidewalk.

Mark Howard, a 59-year-old who once held down a six-figure salary as a digital design weapons systems engineer before his life unraveled 16 years ago, got some help -- a shower, a haircut and clothes -- but he just didn't want to stay at a board-and-care facility.

Read Doug Krikorian's column in the Long Beach Press-Telegram here.

posted by Jacqueline Dowd @ 9:38 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

'Long thought to be a relic of the 19th Century,
debtors’ prisons are still alive and well'

The sentences of five Michigan residents who were locked up by judges because they were too poor to pay their misdemeanor tickets are being challenged by the ACLU of Michigan.

In each case, the ACLU said, the judges failed to give the defendants the option of paying their fines in installments or being sentenced to perform community service.

“Long thought to be a relic of the 19th Century, debtors’ prisons are still alive and well in Michigan,” Michigan ACLU director Kary Moss said in announcing the legal challenges. “Jailing our clients because they are poor is not only unconstitutional, it’s unconscionable and a shameful waste of resources.”

Read the Detroit Free Press report here. And read more about each of the defendants and see the motions fled by the ACLU here.

Related: Barbara Ehrenrich asks "Since When Is It a Crime to Be Poor?"

posted by Jacqueline Dowd @ 10:20 AM 1 comments

Sunday, August 07, 2011

Bet you didn't know ...

Now that the USA is no longer in the club, all 13 countries* with an AAA credit rating have universal health care.
---------------
* Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom.

posted by Jacqueline Dowd @ 12:10 PM 1 comments

Thursday, August 04, 2011

Nursing home dumps disabled veteran
at homeless shelter

A Tallahassee nursing home dropped off Robert MacDonnell at a homeless shelter with two plastic trash bags filled with his few belongings, a sack lunch and a month’s worth of medications.

In a manila envelope was a comb, a pocket calendar and a brief note, instructing MacDonnell on the complicated schedule of when and how much to take of 15 different medications and, if his insulin levels spiked, when to go to the emergency room. The telephone number for Brynwood Center was nowhere on the paperwork.

“My mind is completely blown that in America, a veteran would be treated like this,” said his twin sister Rosemary Rousch. “He is a combat veteran, not a sack of potatoes.”

MacDonnell suffered brain damage following a diabetes-induced coma in February.

Brynwood Center Administrator Lisa McGinley said the nursing home followed procedures and was authorized by an order from the Department of Children and Families to discharge MacDonnell.

“We always make certain all discharges are in compliance with regulatory requirements,” McGinley said. “That happened in this case.”

Rousch said the nursing home wanted MacDonnell discharged for lack of payment, an issue she says should have been resolved last month when her brother was finally approved for Medicaid.

“I’m absolutely certain if I wasn’t in the picture this would be a death sentence for him,” Rousch said. “He fell through every crack there was.”

Read the Tallahassee Democrat report here.

posted by Jacqueline Dowd @ 10:18 AM 1 comments