News From The Homefront

I received two parking violations...taped to the driver's side window of my truck; found them posted today - in the rain.

Toronto Police might as well have TP'd my vehicle because the papers - with the bright neon orange label that screams to all passers by that I have been a naughty girl - were so saturated from the rain that they couldn't be peeled from the glass without falling apart (see picture).

The truck needs a transmission. That has been purchased from a salvage yard but I am short $150 to install it plus, because along with that I couldn't afford the registration renewal in January. I didn't think this would be a problem since the truck is parked on my property; not on the street.

Unfortunately, the guys who removed the old trany left the truck jacked up on ramps. Hell, I might as well post a sign beside it that says " A Redneck Lives Here!" And while I'm at it, I'm trying to get my gardening done so if anyone has any spare tires they want to get rid of, I could paint them white and plant geraniums in them. If they are tractor tires, that's even better. I like that scalloped look.

So why isn't this a problem?
This building on the corner behind my house has an exterior wall that is buckling away from the upstairs window frames.

When I was a kid, it had a small market run by the family that lived here. It was a nice building with two spacious apartments that each had two bedrooms and the property was beautifully maintained.

The last owner of it died and rumor has it that he owed back taxes of the five-figure variety, yet he was still charging rent.

I reported the condition of this building to the city months ago. Orange cones were set up along the parameters to no avail.

The residents of the upstairs apartments vacated the building but there are still occupants downstairs who are still paying rent and don't seem concerned that they may be ordered to move.

Several weeks ago I told one of the residents about Ohio House Bill 9, introduced by my friend Mike Foley of Cleveland's 14th District. This bill offers protection for renters living in buildings that are subject to foreclosure.

Well, ignorance certainly must be bliss because this tenant was not at all concerned or worried about losing her home. She even said that her landlord was very good to her (imagine that!).

She and her husband have made absolutely no attempt to apply for other housing and the property has been turned over t0 the heirs of the deceased owner.

It's going to be grab and go! I am keeping my battery charged and my memory card open on my camera so that when I hear the creaking sound of the wall starting to collapse I will be ready to run out in time to video the roof coming down. Keep checking in to my YouTube Channel - thiznat. You can link to it on the right side of this page.

I'll get to it soon...
That's all I can tell my friend Sarah who posted on Facebook, "I'm impatiently waiting for your blog post on life at CWS. Were you there when it was called "Guantanamo Cleveland"? "

Yes, I was and when telling my story of being a resident at Cleveland's most notorious women's shelter, I promise I will open up more than I did when I wrote about what I witnessed while there. I now have no fear of retaliation from the staff as I did when I wrote my A Fly on the Wall series for "The Homeless Grapevine" newspaper.

Sarah blogged about her return to the shelter. We have plenty of notes to compare. Mine from the stand point of being a homeless shelter resident and hers as an activist; trying to help empower the residents.

Status on Jet and Bandit
Both of the girls are doing great although they are not growing as well as their brother Topper and sisters Tipper and Miss 'V'. Our wonderful neighbor Kristy bought two large baby medicine droppers which has been easier to use when feeding the kittens.

Jet and Bandit have had problems eating; neither one knows to suck on a bottle or tip of a syringe but they are finally coming around.

Jet was very near death and Bandit began to have problems with lethargy possibly due to malnourishment. You can read more about what happened at "Paws for a Moment" by clicking here.

Is What's Needed A High Colonic?

In T-Town it's not just the hydrants that need flushed out!
After a thirty-year absence I purchased a house and moved back to my home town of Toronto, Ohio. Although basically I've moved back into the old neighborhood (my childhood home is exactly two blocks north on the same street), a lot remains the same and a lot has changed and some of that (possibly most) is not necessarily a good thing.

Examples of things I've noticed that remain the same:

• People vote on name recognition or because "he" or "she" is so and so's son/daughter/grand whatever.
  
• They come from a good family so they get my vote.
• They have been in office for years so I guess they are okay.
• Things are fine the way they are so we don't need change.

Yada, yada, yada!

While I was gone I lived in many small "progressive" towns that:

• Had a city planning commission
• Took advantage of state and federal grant money to revitalive their downtowns
• Saw population double despite rough economic times by promoting tourism.
• Built or converted existing structures into recreation centers (indoor pool, sauna, hot tub, racquet ball courts, etc).
• And the list goes on...

Toronto needs revitalization to remain a city. The community is impoverished; 150 families are being served at the food bank and this town needs to capitalize on its greatest resource - the Ohio River.

Tuesday May 5th is election day- time to cast that ballot for Toronto's future and vote many out of office.

Meet my candidate!

The isolation of leaving behind homelessness...

...and why some return to the streets.

When you become homeless you exchange one community for another.

The community you leave is your neighborhood - once stable housing; the people next door, the people across the street. You might wave to them everyday; they might wave back.

Life in the neighborhood isn't like it was years ago. Back then you knew your neighbors quite well. Neighbors were your extended family. When I was a kid, you hoped that your neighbor didn't see you doing something your parents told you not to do. Believe me, they knew what you were allowed and not allowed to do and they had your parents' blessing to reprimand you for it. If that wasn't enough, you knew you were going to "get it" from Mom or Dad too!

Neighbors were there to help. Neighbors watched out for one another.

Nowadays everyone is too busy to socialize. Mostly, you don't even know your neighbor's name.

The homeless have a community too; much like how life was in the neighborhood back before everyone was too busy to know one another. In the homeless community you make new friends, you see each other on the street, enjoy great conversation, you know each other's names and you help one another too. Want to find a meal site? Where to get free stuff? Ask a homeless person.

Things soon change once you get placed into housing. Sure you now have a place to call your own - if vouchers are available you get furniture, perhaps a TV, cookware - all the necessities.

Most likely, your rent payments are subsidized; based on income and your utilities are included. But with this good thing that you have received; that you have waited for to better your life. Getting into housing may mean, for some, isolation from the community that you've become accustomed to.

I faced this isolation like so many others leaving homelessness for that subsidized apartment.

What many don't know is that the disabled can get into housing quickly - for me it was 6 or 7 months.

The problems that the disabled face when getting into housing:

• The housing may not be near stores, especially the supermarkets. You have food stamps but any financial assistance such as state disability ($115 mo. in Ohio) or SSI/SSDI may not have come through for you yet. No money means no way to get to the stores. Now you are house bound; isolated. What makes matters worse is that you don't have a phone either.
  
• Once you are placed into housing you are off your caseworker's books. There is no follow up; no additional help - they have washed their hands of you. If they are a good caseworker, they have hooked you up with services but more than likely they haven't.
• You might not have been placed into a good, safe building - just a building that will accept you and doesn't care about your credit rating. Having people knocking on your doors 24/7 wanting something is not fun (they aren't the disabled formerly homeless - they are crackheads!). Walking down 12 flights of stairs because the elevators haven't run for a week isn't fun either! And it's not a good idea to leave your apartment after 9 p.m.; you might be stabbed, robbed or raped in a stairwell or elevator. Zip code 44114 is much safer; despite the 130 plus sex offenders in that neighborhood.

What all this boils down to is why the formerly homeless return to the streets.

The Homeless Guy: Mile Stone
The above link is to Kevin Barbieux, The Homeless Guy who offers more insight about getting an apartment and his struggles with living there. I suggest his blog - bookmark it. It's a good read.

While kids say the darnest things what the adults say is (definitely) dumb (er) (est)

Here are a few things that have been said to me regarding homelessness:

The misconception - the visual didn't fit the stereotypical:

While I was homeless, I was standing outside of Jacobs Field when some nice gentleman offered me an extra ticket to that night's game for free. At the time there was a ban on bringing umbrellas into the ballpark and the possibility for rain was eminent. When entering the gate, anyone entering the ballpark with an umbrella had to take the umbrella and put it in a barrel where it could be retrieved upon leaving.

When I entered the ballpark, I was shown where to leave my umbrella. Because there was no tagging system set up, I expressed my concern about getting my umbrella back after the game.
I told the attendant that I was homeless and I could not afford another umbrella.

"You don't look homeless," he said.

Why? Because I was wearing a nice sweater, new jeans, Reeboks and makeup. Oh, yes! I had a purse that contained a wallet, hairbrush and lipstick.

"Get off your lazy a** and get a job!"
Gary and I were both homeless when we met.

I became homeless due to disability. Gary was an unemployed union carpenter who had his livelihood taken away when his van containing his tools was stolen. He cut back from comprehensive to liability coverage. Homelessness soon followed.

So Gary worked selling hot dogs on Public Square and later accepting assignments through a temp agency.

When Katrina hit Florida, Gary and I saw an opportunity to leave Cleveland and to head south. There were carpentry jobs in Florida. Homes needed repairs, restored and rebuilt. Maybe, once we got down there, maybe someone (like an employer) could deduct the cost of tools out of Gary's paycheck.

Catholic Charities was willing to help us with bus fare to Florida so I called my cousin in Ft. Lauderdale to ask him if he could put us up for two weeks; even if it was in his garage.

Then I told him that we were homeless. And his reply was...

You've lost your right to choose...
That's exactly what happens when you become homeless.

Remember your last move? You checked out the neighborhood; the schools, travel time to and from work, where to shop. Oh, must find out what the neighbors are because that (you think) will affect your property and resale values of your home.

Well folks, homeless shelters aren't located in nice suburban neighborhoods. The person in the next bunk might just be a convicted sex offender just released from prison or a schizophrenic who lacks their medication.

So, when I told a cousin that I planned on going to the homeless shelters in Steubenville to research homelessness for a story that I was going to write on homeless in small towns and rural areas she said, "You shouldn't do that, they (shelters) are in bad neighborhoods".

WELL, DUH -like I didn't know!