GIMMIE

When I was a kid, and there was something we wanted, we'd just say: "gimmie, gimmie, gimmie !", with our anxious hands stretched out to grab... Finally, one day - my cousin said:  "Gimmie got SHOT !"  Then we all laughed, and carried on.

I didn't get it then, I just pretended to... But, I laughed with the rest just the same.  Now I know - people who want, want, want, and beg, beg, beg all the time - end up getting nothing.  In fact, expecting something without giving anything in return could REALLY get you shot - for real.

That's what I think of, when I hear HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan speak.  He's always asking, begging, wanting, needing... More, and more and more and more.... He's like that greedy little kid on the street whose got his own marbles, but he wants YOURS, TOO !

Case in point:   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/14/hud-awards-colorado-12-mi_n_898246.html

HUD awarded $12 million dollars to the State of Colorado for upgrades and improvements to their public housing units.  However, the last sentence in the article quotes him as saying:  "...The funding helps, but it's not enough".  Well, gee, Mr. Secretary - how much would be enough?  14 million?  16 million?  How about we just hand you a blank check and let you write in the amount YOU think is just and fair ??  How about you use reputable contractors to do the work within the budget?  How about you house people in code compliant homes in the first place, so that you wouldn't need so much money later to make them code compliant?  How about you not squander and waste the money you've already been given by the taxpayers of America, so that you wouldn't have to go to the President and Congress every year with your hat in hand, and your palm up... Saying:  "Gimmie, gimmie, gimmie....."  without shame or embarrassment.  At least have that.... Dang....

TRAP HOUSE

TRAP HOUSE

Don't know what that is, do you?  It's a house that police set-up with cameras and audio wire taps to record the drug activity going on inside.  Here's a link to demonstrate what I'm talking about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRuxedRI2q4

But, what I'd like to talk about here today is the negative impact these 'trap houses' have on neighboring residents:

I lived in a suburb of Washington, DC back in 2001.  It was a nice neighborhood.  A good mix of  races, religions and ages.  Kids played football in the street.  They rode their bicycles and skateboards down the sidewalks.  We all got along, and life was grand.  Until our local Police department (in conjunction with HUD) got the bright idea to set-up a trap house down the street.  Overnight, our neighborhood was under siege.  We stayed indoors much of the time, because crackheads came from all over to visit the trap house.  The kids didn't play outside anymore.  Morning, noon and night, the crackheads could be seen walking, like zombies - to the crackhouse.  We complained.  We took pictures.  Lawn ornaments began disappearing, and we all feared for our safety.  One of my neighbors openly threatened the drug dealer who supplied the house, and was threatened in return.  There were fights and stabbings.  We thought that would surely be the end of it, they would shut it down - but they didn't.  They allowed it to continue.

Did the crackheads realize they were visiting a trap house?  No, and I don't think they cared.  Did they know or understand how much they were ruining our neighborhood?  No, and I don't think they cared.  Did they know they were threatening our health, safety and welfare?  No, and I don't think they cared.

It did no good to complain to my landlord, who was a Housing Authority under HUD.  Because, I realized much later, that they were in cahoots with the local Police to run this 'sting' operation, it was a HUD operated property, and they approved the operation.  They were determined to do their part in our 'war on drugs', no matter the human cost in the process. I was a good tenant, and a respectful neighbor - but, this was asking too much of myself and my family.  

So, for the better part of six months we lived as no one should live - like prisoners in our own homes.  I only hope the police accomplished their goal, and caught the people involved in the drug ring;  However, they should know that it was at our expense, and that's unforgivable. That's what living in public housing under HUD feels like - hell.

Fence-line Community

Hi again, all - 

I read a profile in 'O' magazine entitled: 'The Avenging Angel', about a political activist named Hilton Kelley - who lives and works out of Port Arthur, Texas.  Though he grew up there, and moved away to pursue numerous other endeavors and jobs, one visit back home propelled him into political activism.  Quoting the articles' Author, in introduction of Mr. Kelley, he says this:  "What do you do when your hometown is dying-wheezing in the shadow of massive oil refineries spewing poison through parks and playgrounds around the clock?  If you're Hilton Kelley, you get angry.  Then you get smart-raising your voice, raising money, and raising awareness as one of the most effective, exciting activists of your generation."

Mr. Kelley is quoted as saying:  "Clean, breathable air is a basic, human right".  He's most astounded by the conditions of Carver Terrace, a federally subsidized housing project that was built in 1952 opposite the Gulf and Texaco oil refineries; Hence, the term he coined: 'fence line'community.  Any residential developments literally abutting acres-in this case, more than 7,000-of industrial might, hardly any distance between homes and toxic conditions.  "...People are breathing benzene out here," says Kelley.  "That's a known carcinogen (cancer-causing agent).  They're breathing sulfur dioxide, a toxin that messes with your respiratory system.  People call that the rotten-egg smell," which grossly understates the issue, making it sound more comfortably domestic than it should-inhaling sulphur dioxide feels like swallowing burlap.  "Clean, breathable air,"  says Kelley, "is a basic human right that folks out here have been deprived of."  There's no healthcare clinic here, either, in a region where pediatric asthma is common and the cancer rate is higher than in the rest of the state.  I think it goes without saying that the residents of this community are the most disenfranchised, the poorest, the least politically active, and environmentally educated.  In short, they don't know they're dying because of something they have to do everyday:  breathe.  They don't know that the powers that be make decisions about their lives, health and welfare for the economic benefit of their towns, to the detriment of them and their children.  It boggles the mind that someone - anyone - would intentionally poison a group of people for money.  So much so, that Kelley finds himself on a one-man crusade.  He observes that as the oil refineries grew, the land around them became less and less residentially desirable, although it continued to be developed through 1970 for low-income housing.  If that's not the very definition of institutionalized, economic racism, I'm not sure what it is....

I can relate to Mr. Kelley, his anger and his frustration.  As you might know from my previous blogs and posts, I myself live in public housing (subsidized by HUD), on a dead-end street, next to an industrial park with no less than 15 HAZMAT companies, across from an active landfill.  Our neighborhood is literally fenced in.  And, astoundingly, there are also several parks and schools within a 10 mile radius.  Coincidentally or not, you'll find very few white people living here (those that are are cops).  Most are 'minorities', with really no place else to go.  A friend of mine in the Mayors office told me once:  "David Skull is the place where they put you when they want to forget about you."  

For someone like myself, who is politically, economically, legally and scientifically educated - it hurts my sensibilities and insults my intelligence that here - in 2013, we still see the poor as 'sub-human', undeserving of safe, quality housing.  That our so-called political 'leaders' still justify their heinous actions as appropriate.  That to this day they bank on the ignorance and apathy of the poor, elderly and disabled to increase their personal and political cache.  Slavery is over, technically - but when one group benefits economically off the backs of another class or group of people - what is that - I ask you?

Kier Corp's Crap:The Destruction of a Landmark: The Cost of Kier's Negligence: The Life of Drew Ga...

Kier Corp's Crap:The Destruction of a Landmark: The Cost of Kier's Negligence: The Life of Drew Ga...: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------------------- ...