OrangeVerse XLV: Cities and Their State

The president chatted with his Number Two, Tucker Carlson, the other night - Sean Hannity must have been off working on policy papers with Jared, or something.

Carlson got things going,talking about cities they'd seen on the trip to the G-20, with no graffiti, no one going to the bathroom on the street, no junkies. And how that was "very different" from our cities. The president corrected him, saying "some of our cities." Carlson and Trump agreed it was "sad" about cities like New York, San Francisco,  and Los Angeles.

And it is - there's no question about that. We do have issues with homelessness, and drugs, in many cities large and small, in the suburbs, and perhaps even more critically, in rural areas where there are even fewer services available than in our cities.

Where it got poetic, though, was when the president ruminated on why it is that American cities have this kind of issue.

It's On Me

It's a phenomena 

that started two yeas ago.

It's disgraceful.

Seriously Maybe Important

I'm gonna maybe

and I'm looking at it

very seriously,

we're doing some

other things

as you've probably noticed

like some of the

Very Important Things

we're doing now.

Can't Have That

But we're looking at it

Very Seriously

because you can't do that. 

You can't have what's happening

where Police Officers are

getting sick by

just walking the beat.

I mean

they're actually

Getting. Very. Sick.

In Sickness and Mental Health

Where people are getting sick

where the people are

living in hell, too.

Although some of them

have mental problems

where they don't even know

they're living that way.

In fact, perhaps,

they like living that way.

Oh Wait - Maybe It's Not On Me?

They can't do that.

We cannot ruin our cities.

And you have people

that work in those cities.

They work in office buildings

and to get into the building

they have to walk through a scene

that nobody would have believed

possible three years ago.

And this is the liberal establishment.

Fight. Fight. Fight

This is what I'm fighting.

They - I don't know

if they're afraid of votes? 

I don't know 

if they really believe

this should be taking place.

But it's a terrible thing

that's taking place. 

The Situation Room

And we maybe

you know - I had a situation

when I first became president.

We had certain areas of

Washington DC where

that was starting to happen

and I ended it

Very Quickly. 

I said "you can't do that"

when we have leaders of the world

coming in to see the president

and they're riding down a highway

they can't be looking at that. 

I really believe

it hurts our country.

The West Coast Has The Sunshine

San Francisco, I own

property in San Francisco

so I don't care except

that it was

so beautiful.

And now areas

that you used to think of being,

so, you know, being really

Something Very Special,

you take a look

at what's going on

with San Francisco it's terrible. 

Checking Our Equipment

So we're looking at it

Very Seriously

We may intercede.

We may do something

to get that whole thing

cleared up. 

It's inappropriate.

We have to take the people

and do something.

We have to do something.

And you know

we're not really very equipped

as a government

to be doing that kind of work.

That's not really

the kind of work

the government should be doing.

We've never had this

in our lives before

in our country. 

Nope, Definitely Not On Me!

At the same time

most of our cities

are doing great.

But if you look at

some of these,

they are usually sanctuary cities

run by Very Liberal People

and the states are

run by Very Liberal People.

The Update Desk: Hire Ground

Late last month, I wrote about a new program here in Syracuse called Hire Ground. Here's some information on the program from the original post:

Syracuse and Onondaga County are collaborating on a program that will help reduce panhandling and help establish an income stream for some of the city's homeless population.

In a few short months, we've moved away from plans to address 'aggressive' panhandlers via a local law, and instead will be looking to give people a leg up towards improving their situation.

The new program will be coordinated by John and Leigh-Ann Tumino founders of In My Father's Kitchen (IMFK), a local non-profit focusing on helping the homeless. Again, from February's post:

The program will have a van with a driver and a caseworker to assist the laborers, who will work Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays along side the driver and caseworker - so it's not just a pick-up drop-off program. For each workday, the people will receive a $50 stipend.

So what's new?  Well, the Hire Ground program has some new partners - we learned today that some of merchants as Destiny USA will be helping support the program.

The Eddie Bauer and Carhartt stores are going to provide clothing and shoes for the workers, and Panera has offered to provide one meal a month for a year for participants.

IMFK's Tumino hopes this will be a "catalyst" and inspire other businesses to provide support to the program as well. Maybe someday the program, which got some initial support from the owners of Ziebart and Driver's Village, could become self-sufficient and not need to rely on taxpayer dollars.

The program is slated to get under way on May 1st.

Grains of Salt (v43): Hire Ground

Grains of Salt

Syracuse and Onondaga County are collaborating on a program that will help reduce panhandling and help establish an income stream for some of the city's homeless population.

In a few short months, we've moved away from plans to address 'aggressive' panhandlers via a local law, and instead will be looking to give people a leg up towards improving their situation.

How did this transition occur?  According to this article,

Four months ago, then-County Legislator Ryan McMahon proposed a different tactic against "aggressive" panhandling. Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh voiced support for McMahon's efforts at the time, but stopped short of endorsing the legislation.

... after extensive discussions with social service providers and others, McMahon and Walsh unveiled  what they called "a better option."

That option? A $200,000 pilot program designed to provide jobs and support to this both visible and invisible population of the city.  The program, called Hire Ground Workforce Development, will provide transportation for up to eight people to job sites three days a week, and also connect them to services, such as drug counseling and health care.

McMahon, now the Onondaga County Executive, said his change in approach came from listening to the experts, something that a good leader should do. He said the old plan, the local law, never had the goal of putting people in jail, but was designed to avoid safety issues that come from panhandlers basically refusing to take 'no' for an answer.

Part of our dialogue was, is there an alternative approach to take, a conservative approach. That's kind of what we're doing here. 

Homeless man not wearing his new boots

Now, about a month after one of New York's Finest gave a homeless man a pair of boots and socks, there is more to the story.

To recap:  Larry DePrimo, a NYPD officer, saw a homeless man on a frigid November night, and went into a nearby shoe store and spent his own money buying insulated boots and warm socks which he then helped put on the homeless man.  A tourist from Arizona captured a picture of the officer's kindness and the rest, as they say, is history.

I wrote about this heartwarming story, not from the point of view of the officer who helped, or the tourist who got the picture, but more from a 'what would I have done' perspective (and admit that I might not have been as charitable as Officer DePrimo.).  I also found a number of other stories of police officers doing good deed, because I really think this happens more often than we realize.

Today, scrolling through one of my news services, I saw this headline:

Man given boots by NYPD officer: Street life ‘my choice’

Seems that, according to the one of the Yahoo blogs, the 'homeless' man who got the assist from DePrimo is not homeless after all. Jeffrey Hillman, 54 and a veteran, actually has an apartment where he sleeps sometimes, and he's not wearing the $75 boots but instead has them hidden so they won't get stolen.

The Yahoo story linked to one in the New York Times, which told of the again-barefoot Hillman, his military service (five years and an honorable discharge), and that a woman had previously bought him a pair of shoes.

Another story, in the NY Daily News, tells of the Bronx apartment, which is paid for by a combination of safety net programs and Hillman's veteran's benefits. It also includes more background information, including comments from an old high-school friend who has set up a fund to help get Hillman off the street.

As this saga continues to unfold, it's clear that there are no easy solutions to solving the homeless problem that cities large and small face.  For many of us, it's hard to imagine wandering the streets barefoot in the northeast in November, when you have a pair of insulated boots you could be wearing. And we don't understand why folks 'choose' the homeless life when there are options, including loving families and friends, and a variety of shelters, places for a hot meal and a warm bed, and yes, even the kindness and generosity of strangers. Why would anyone pass up these opportunities these options, and instead stay on the street? 

Sometimes none of these alternatives are viable for the homeless. For whatever reason, people make the same choice as Hillman every day, and sometimes, it ends badly.

Back in September, here in Syracuse, a homeless woman named Michelle Noce was found unconscious under a bridge, and later died; she likely had been involved in a fight over territory, a prime panhandling location. A memorial service was held; friends who knew her back in high school in a small town east of here remembered her as a completely different person than the one she had become, as did Jeffrey Hillman's high school friend.

In Syracuse, according to reports, there are an average of 423 homeless people receiving services from local organizations each night.  In New York City, the numbers are mind-boggling: over 46,000 each night in the municipal shelter system, another 5,000 in private shelters.  And there are countless others who can't or won't get into shelters.

Those that try and make a difference, whether officially (social service agencies or NGOs) or unofficially (like Larry DePrimo) have to face the possibility that their efforts will be rebuffed by the likes of Hillman and Noce.  But it doesn't mean that we should stop trying.