[Peace-discuss] Re: [Discuss] Bruno, Foster Against Any Ordinance re: Gateway Issues

[pengdust at aol.com]

$$.025--

Sending these people to another slumlord who will screw them at a later date is no solution. In all of this it is most important to point out the 800 lb. gorrilla in the room. People are in this situation because they do not have a living wages, healthcare, decent childcare, or access to anything but substandard housing.... amongst a slew of other problems. Combine all of this and it's one precarious life. This is POVERTY! And poverty IS violence, and poverty is the 'norm' for many in CU. For example, more than 60% of students in Urbana, and nearly 50% in Champaign, are on the Federal Free Lunch program last time I checked a couple years ago [I'm sure it didn't go down since, right? I'd be curious what those numbers are now?] Which means that they are living in families whose househould income is below the Federal Poverty Line. That is shameful! But, it is also meant to remain invisible, right? It doesn't fit the picture of a 'quaint little college town,' so it's pushed away and ignored for the most part. It needs to be visible.

Trading slumlords is like quitting McDonalds to work at WalMart and expecting that it is somehow going to be better. The people living at the Gateway, and Forest Glen, were living in hugely overpriced substandard conditions to begin with. They were flatout exploited on many levels, even beyond their housing situation where a slumlord was literally stealing/embezzeling from them on top of all that. [In some more civilized countries this is a crime! Her
e it's 'Business As Usual.'] Even if the tenants here, or Rantoul, get into a new place the kind of disruption thrown into their families lives through no fault of their own, is despicable at best. But, going from slumlord to slumlord is 'normalized' because like many poor people they have bad credit. And what is the first thing a landlord does when you apply for a place? They do a credit check. So the only place they can go is somewhere like this. It's a vicious cycle: Shitty jobs, shitty living conditions, hospital bills, pay day loans, exploitation, layoffs, unemployment, underemployment, social disenfranchisement, racism, and the list goes on.... [I grew up in Gary IN, I know this kind of shit intimately.] For the 50-60% of children in our public schools, and their parents, THIS is reality. Imagine the constant stress that this causes! 

We are just now feeling some of the obvious affects of this crisis. Or, I should say its just becoming so apparent that it's no longer invisible to the community at large, because if you know what to look for you know that many of us have been in crisis for at least a decade, and see it getting worse. It's only the beginning. Gateway, Forest Glen, plant shut-downs in Danville, unemployment rising. There's a dead canary no one wants to acknowledge. The most vulnerable get it first. It's happenning. It's real. But, on the political level it can't be spoken of because it would be 'bad for investment and development.' So, we need to be fucking loud, 
and call it what it is. We need to make trouble so that it's NOT invisible, so it can't be ignored..... and, if the politicos don't like it, then "fuck 'em!" 

We should DEMAND affordable housing, living wages, health care, child care, education, sociality, and dignity. Don't ask, don't beg, demand it. 

"OUR PROBLEMS ARE NOT THAT BIG.... WE ARE JUST LOOKING AT THEM FROM ON OUR KNEES"
-----Original Message-----
From: Neil Parthun <lennybrucefan at gmail.com>
To: Community Courtwatch <discuss at communitycourtwatch.org>; peace discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
Sent: Thu, 14 May 2009 8:19 am
Subject: [Discuss] Bruno, Foster Against Any Ordinance re: Gateway Issues



After Bruno and Foster used their garbage analogies about snow plowing and 


Foster saying that the residents were in a better place because they no longer had to live in Gateway and the City gave them temporary housing assistance, I find it morally reprehensible that they would be opposed to any greater assistance from the City to the poorest of the poor.




Champaign reviewing lessons from Gateway Studios


By Mike Monson 

Thursday May 14, 2009


 
John Dixon

City of Champaign property maintenance inspector Michael Novotny posts 'condemned' notices on an entrance to the Gateway Studios motel property Wednesday on North Neil Street in Champaign. The facility was condemned after AmerenIP shut off its electricity and residents were moved out. 


CHAMPAIGN – Gateway Studios was officially condemned by the city Wednesday. No-trespassing si
gns and "condemned" stickers are now posted all over the sprawling former motel building at 1505 N. Neil St.

With the immediate crisis over, city officials are assessing what lessons they can take from the abrupt closure of Gateway.

The residential complex, which rented rooms by the day, week and month, was forced to close its doors after the owners could not pay more than $44,000 in overdue gas and electricity bills.

City Neighborhood Service officials, in concert with local social services agencies and a Gateway property manager, scrambled over a five-day period to find emergency shelter for about 30 residents. Officials said they had relocated everybody by Tuesday evening.

Neighborhood Services Director Kevin Jackson said city staff spent part of Wednesday morning "debriefing" and sharing ideas about how such a crisis can be averted, or at least better managed, in the future.

"We're definitely going to be looking at what we can do," he said. "We realize something like this could happen again."

Among the ideas raised:

– Whether the city can, by ordinance, require more advance notice when there is going to be a shutoff of utilities to a multifamily building.

– Putting a plan in place for a response to such emergencies, from both the city and local social service agencies.

"This effort was great – everybody jumped in – but there was no specific plan in place," Jackson said.

– Whether the city should create a fund to respond to future situations.

"There is20no commitment to that yet," Jackson said.

Local affordable-housing advocates say they intend to be a part of the debate. A group of about 45 people attended Tuesday's Champaign City Council meeting to advocate on behalf of Gateway residents, but they were not allowed to speak at the study session, where the city typically does not take public input except for agenda items.

Former Urbana Alderwoman Danielle Chynoweth said she will be attending both Monday's Urbana City Council meeting and Tuesday's Champaign council meeting to suggest that the cities should enact ordinances providing up to $2,000 in relocation assistance per household, or three times the monthly rent, whichever is greater, whenever the city condemns a rental unit.

Under the proposal, based on proposed state legislation, the relocation assistance would be the responsibility of the landlord first, but if he or she doesn't provide it within seven days after being notified by the city, the city would step in.

The city could then go after the landlord and assess a civil penalty and file a lien against the property to recover its costs.

"This is a communitywide problem," Chynoweth said. "We want a local ordinance to provide relocation assistance in these kinds of cases. People are paying rent in good faith and being left out in the cold."

Esther Patt, coordinator of the University of Illinois Tenant Union and a former Urbana alderwoman, complimented Champaign officials for their work. But she said the housing crisis for Gateway residents isn't ov
er, just less visible.

"With a situation like this, for the public, out of sight is out of mind," Patt said. "We'll have no idea how many people who lived at Gateway will be homeless in a week from now, or a month from now."

Meanwhile, two Champaign City Council members, Tom Bruno and Karen Foster, indicated they wouldn't support creating a relocation fund.

"In my opinion, it's not the role of government to do that," Foster said.

"There are some folks who believe, for every problem in the world, there ought to be some ordinance passed that can solve it," Bruno said.
Find this article at: 
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/2009/05/14/champaign_reviewing_lessons_from_gateway_studios 
Comments

Solidarity,
   -N.

Neil Parthun
    Sports Journaliist, Public i  || http://publici.ucimc.org

There are many victories worse than a defeat. - George Eliot



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