[Peace-discuss] How you can support Safe Haven tent community

[Jenifer Cartwright]

Speaking wasted money, don't forget Urbana's 6 million dollar clock.
 --Jenifer

--- On Fri, 7/31/09, E. Wayne Johnson <ewj at pigs.ag> wrote:


From: E. Wayne Johnson <ewj at pigs.ag>
Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] How you can support Safe Haven tent community
To: "John W." <jbw292002 at gmail.com>
Cc: "peace discuss" <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>, "Danielle Chynoweth" <chyn at ojctech.com>
Date: Friday, July 31, 2009, 9:10 AM


JW wrote:




WJ Wrote:
Why not some sort of cooperative housing for the homeless?  Government programs don't seem to work and are characterized
by stupid rules and evil authoritarians rolling up their sleeves to beat people into compliance with the rules.
A cooperative system could provide independent super-local governance, some guaranteed freedom from goofy zoners, regulators,
and tax-eaters,  protection from predatory construction guilds, all in the name of getting a roof over peoples heads.

I couldn't agree more, Wayne.  I totally believe in credit unions, municipal utilities (or co-op utlities, as you describe here), and the like.  When I was active with the Prairie Green Party, one of our working groups looked into having a municipal utility in Urbana.  Unfortunately Urbana seemed to be locked into some sort of long-term contract with what was then Illinois Power.  I'm sure Champaign is too, and likes it that way.

We actually do have people working on free wireless internet access for C-U..  It's been in the works for years.  I'm not sure what the holdup is.

Cooperative housing is what the Tent City seems to be, actually.  More permanent, longer-term cooperative housing would require considerably more seed money and strong, smart, committed leadership.  Up in the Chicago area, in the heart of the west side ghetto, the Lawndale Community Church has been very successful in creating affordable housing units for the community, as well as a medical clinic and a number of other amenities.  But it has taken almost 30 years to get to where they are now, with the same deeply committed pastor there the entire time.  All this stuff is more than a notion.  It requires real depth of commitment.  Can we find that in Champaign-Urbana?  Can we call our neighbors when we need help here?

John Wason
There's more to overcome than just Inertia and stupidity, and ignorance and apathy.
There's often real deception and political evil afoot.

Illinois Power and the Co-ops got into Spite Wars over the territory in the days of the establishment of 
the existing turf districts.  Illinois Power used to have a PR guy who would go out and "explain" to folks
that their generators produced a more sine wave like waveform than the Co-op's (REA) generator which produced
a more square wave like waveform.  IP said their electricity is "round" while the REA's electricity is "square".
Next the guy would show the people a copper wire, and ask them if the wire was square or round.
This was in the days when people would put electrical outlets for refrigerators about 3 feet off the floor
so that they electricity could flow "down" into the compressor.  There are quite a few old houses wired that way.

I do fortunately have a network of neighbors I can call on here, but it is rather clear that Urbana/West Urbana is a society
that often includes a lot of what Persig is talking about here:


“They look just like the gasoline attendant, staring straight ahead in some private trance of their own. I haven’t seen that since . . . since Sylvia noticed it the first day. They all look like they’re in a funeral procession. .. Once in a while one gives a quick glance and then looks away expressionlessly, as if minding his own business, as if embarrassed that we might have noticed he was looking at us. I see it now because we’ve been away from it for a long time. The driving is different too. The cars seem to be moving at a steady maximum speed for in-town driving, as though they want to get somewhere, as though what’s here right now is just something to get through. The drivers seem to be thinking about where they want to be rather than where they are.  I know what it is!...We’re all strangers again! Folks, I just forgot the biggest gumption trap of all. The funeral procession! The one everybody’s in, this hyped-up, fuck-you,
 supermodern, ego style of life that thinks it owns this country. We’ve been out of it for so long I’d forgotten all about it." - Robert Persig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

I agree totally that a tent city is cooperative housing.  I agree that leadership is needed.  
I agree that the local churches are quite often much more concerned about their own "ceiled houses"
than the needs of the "poor, lame and halt" (maybe you didn't say that exactly).  I perceive the time
as being short and expect the housing need to increase dramatically.  I would be pleased to be wrong
in my expectations about the coming winter.

The city of Urbana has no problem pissing away millions on ridiculous bike paths to nowhere, millions on widening a road to nowhere,
and about a couple hundred thousand on "public art".  The city is also willing to guaranteed loans in the hundreds of thousands
to ensure that obsolete old houses are not replaced in the "Busey(-bodies) Corridor".  Finding the seed money is do-able.
Changing priorities is not easy, but what are the choices here?  

Sure enough some people think that a tough program of austerity will "force the bums to move along" and get out of Dodge City,
but sooner or later people will need to awaken and ask "where's the love y'all?".






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