Monthly Archive for October, 2010

Street Sights Asks Candidates about Homlessness and Affordable Housing

Published in October, 2010 in News.

Read the background information below, and then see the responses from the candidates here:

Candidates for Governor
Candidates for Lieutenant Governor
Candidates for Attorney General
Candidates for Secretary of State
Candidate for General Treasurer

Background:

Rhode Island is experiencing record levels of homelessness. 4,340 Rhode Islanders — many for the first time — are expected to seek emergency beds sometime this year, the highest number in the more than 20 years that officials have been keeping track. 40% of the homeless in Rhode Island are families. 53% are experiencing homelessness for the first time.

We have a winter emergency shelter crisis. There are currently 282 more homeless individuals in Rhode Island than there are shelter beds to accommodate them. Unless action is taken, most of these individuals will be forced to sleep outside this winter.

Rhode Island has a severe shortage of affordable housing. Rhode Island has experienced the second largest increase in the nation for the largest gap between what people earn and the cost to rent a home. The average monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Rhode Island is $1,170 – to afford this you need to make $46,800 a year. Housing is simply unaffordable to many Rhode Islanders. In 2008, nearly 25% of renters in Rhode Island were spending more than half of their income on rent.

Affordable housing is a strong economic investment. A recent study by HousingWorks RI found that the $50 million housing bond passed in 2006 will generate more than $790 million in economic activity across the state. That is $15.80 per $1 invested through the program.

Missing You

Published in October, 2010 in Creative Works.

By Charles Sherman

As I sit here and look at the sky.
I start thinking about you and I want to cry.
When I lost you I did not know what
I would do.
I wonder why GOD took you.
I stayed up late that night
I wondered if the choice GOD made was right.
I felt a part of me die that day.
I felt like you just walked away.
I know my life would never be the same.
I also know you are not to blame.
I may not have you here with me.
I may not know what the future may be.
I know I can handle what ever comes along.
Thanks to you I know how to be strong.

Fantasy Life Under the Street Lights

Published in October, 2010 in Creative Works.

By Lance Ellis

Drifting from state to state
never knowing where your next meal or bed will be.
The streets look the same
only the names and faces change.
The stories all remain the same
nothing more than scams and lies.
Dog eat dog what a way of life
but from time to time
you find an honest person
that’s not full of scams and lies.

Into the Chrysalis

Published in October, 2010 in Creative Works.

A Serialized Novel

By Francisco Colber

Chapter Five

I woke up in my mother’s arms. “My brave girl — you are here — it is over.”

“Where is father? I am angry with him.” My words of pain provoked tears.

“He has returned to the world you hate, to rebuild your shelter,” mother answered.

“He did not help me as he promised; he said I would learn something, yet I have learned nothing.” Continue reading ‘Into the Chrysalis’

Families Cut From Welfare Get Hardship Benefits

Published in October, 2010 in News.

By Irwin Becker

A majority of the families that were cut off during the summer months by the state’s welfare program are receiving hardship benefits because of an inability to find jobs or adult/child disabilities, according to the Poverty Institute.

From May to August, some 2,800 families had their benefits restored and were required to take actions such as job training, using rehab services and other activities for three to six months, according to the information from the Department of Human Services compiled by Linda Katz, policy director of the Poverty Institute at Rhode Island College.

A major cause of the need for hardship applications is the state’s 24-month limit for families receiving cash assistance, a rule that is among the harshest in the country. Requests for hardship relief were 470 in May, 686 in June, 743 in July and 872 in August. In July, for example, 476 families cited the poor economy, 235 had a disabled adult, 16 were caring for a disabled child, 9 were victims of domestic violence, and 7 were homeless. Continue reading ‘Families Cut From Welfare Get Hardship Benefits’

One Day

Published in October, 2010 in Creative Works.

By Thavanda Khoun

One day when I feel alone.
Remember I’m at the end of the phone.
I love you and that must show.
I want to let the entire world know.
I have a friend that is you.
I love you for all you do.
Your heart is so sweet and your eyes so gentle.
Keeping me together when I’m going mental.
Telling me you love me and that you will hold me tight.
Being there for me even through the night.
Thank you friend you mean a lot to me.
Maybe now you’ll see how much you mean to me.

Loving You

Published in October, 2010 in Creative Works.

By George Lopez

We are always so eager to please others no matter what
Go above and beyond for them to be happy
Sometimes not taking care of us
No matter how hard we try it’s never good enough
We shed a few tears when not appreciated
So we brush them off and still put ourselves last
Still we forgive them and put the blame on us
When the first thing we should do
Is love ourselves
Because love is too precious to hand it to another
When in fact the one that deserves it is you
So begin by looking in the mirror and start loving you.

Coming Back

Published in October, 2010 in Creative Works.

By Amanda Luce

I never once had it all
But then you went and broke my fall
You picked me up, where I fell down
You’d always smile never frown
We sit in the shade and gaze around
On the green grassy round
The sky is blue, the sun is bright
There’s not a cloud, or rain in sight
You listen to me, and hear me out
You don’t yell, nor do you shout
You stopped the hurt and opened my heart
You made me happy, part by part
You opened my eyes and showed me the way
My heart healed slowly, day by day
The tears fall less, only one or two
I’m happier, I’m feeling less blue
My savior came, he opened my eyes
The happiness comes out, the pain it dies
I finally stand up and shut out the tears
As this day ends and another one nears

Dusk in May

Published in October, 2010 in Creative Works.

By Dean W. Martineau

The closed down steel mill next to my brother-in-law’s tenement apartment
With rusted cars out front on blocks
His father’s father worked there.
Fading sun-light-shining off
high tension power lines
Along the polluted river.
His baby my niece Sarina eating my MickeyD’s French-fries
Watching the buzzing hand-me-down color TV plastic wood console:
Star Trek: The Next Generation
No more jobs. No more jobs.
Hulking empty warehouses boarded up grayed plywood windows,
Bored security Rent-A-Cops smoke on empty wooden wharves now twisted.
As seagulls squelch the afternoon into night
Drunk drivers in “The Fast and The Furious” style low-riders careen around the corner.
Some older neighborhood men congregate smoking low-tar cigarettes,
Passing a paper-bag sharing a newspaper,
across the street the gas station sign lists sideways,
Open All Night
even though they don’t sell gas anymore.
The intersection’s blinking yellow light a slow metronome:
No more jobs… No more jobs….
Keeping measure of our tired existence, our tamed resistance, NAFTA bled insistence,
Our filibustered history of off-shore tax havens, out-sourced
Networked customer service, manufactured Chinese–plastic-bullion-flat-screen-TV’s,
Public-servant lobbyists with a Ph.D. degree in Sophistry.
Above the granite curb one aluminum street light flickers,
It’s electronic buzz comforting in its annoyance,
The men disperse for supper and such
We rehearse for what? Not much….
Forlorn we wait, late dusk in May…

Vagrant

Published in October, 2010 in Creative Works.

By James Conroy

I am the walking man
the idle man
the man who is nowhere
as I arrive.
Set no place for me.
When supper is ready you will
begrudge me the meal
and expect me to steal your silverware.

RICH Report: Record Demand for Emergency Winter Shelter Expected

Published in October, 2010 in Columns.

By Taylor Ellowitz and Julio Roman

Shelters across the state are reporting that they are at capacity or are overloaded. With colder months ahead and the increase in need for emergency shelter that comes along with them, we at the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless are working to prepare for what is shaping up to be a winter with the largest need for emergency shelter in our state’s history.

The Coalition, along with our partners at the RI Homeless Advocacy Project, our member agencies, the state’s Office of Housing & Community Development, and other allies are working to advocate for earlier and more comprehensive planning to meet the needs for winter shelter this year. Areas of concern are: families, unsheltered individuals, chronic homeless individuals that live in the more urban areas and a new population of very young men that have recently been noted in the shelter system. Continue reading ‘RICH Report: Record Demand for Emergency Winter Shelter Expected’

Helping Offenders to Be Better Fathers

Published in October, 2010 in News.

By William Harter

There are 1.5 million children in America with a parent in prison. Ninety percent of these prisoners are male. Children growing up in homes without fathers are five times more likely to use drugs, be victims of abuse, be in poverty, be homeless, will drop out of school and/or have emotional or behavioral problems, studies show.

Mayor Cory Booker of Newark N.J. speaks highly of the ‘Fathers Now” program combating crime and recidivism. It is no secret that many people released from prison are homeless, poor and jobless. Often, they cannot go back home to parents or their children. Often their children have grown up without a father figure at home. And too often returning to crime for support is their last resort. Continue reading ‘Helping Offenders to Be Better Fathers’

Go, Fetch, and Don’t Come Back

Published in October, 2010 in Creative Works.

By Josh Hicks

You can work for dreams
you can slave and scheme
find many dreams sold for greens
hollow though, those dreams seem

Or you could seek your own
on a bed of endless stone
with no need to fill a home
without greed… you could just roam

You could live by no man’s law
be the shadow no one saw
find the dreams not in a store
you could find more…
than this perpetual chore

In the end, find your own way
if they say sit, and there you stay
have a dog treat F#!@*%* buffet
go ahead, be bought and paid

The other option is yours alone
inside your mind where it has grown
at the end of the world of stone
the path begins, in the unknown.

Don’t Sit In The Park!

Published in October, 2010 in News.

By Melissa Howard

When I asked what were some of the issues that the homeless community were facing, police harassment was the biggest one that kept coming up. According to many, people are being harassed almost anywhere they go, public parks or even walking down the street.

“Once the police see you around and assume that you’re homeless, they start to harass you and they don’t stop,” said K. “I’ve seen this first hand. On my way, with 20 minutes to kill, I decided to sit in Burnside Park. I was looking around, seeing people sitting on the grass or on benches. Some were reading or drawing. Some were just sitting there enjoying the day. As I sat there, I watched a cop arrest someone. As I was sitting there four other cops walked into the park and started talking to the other. They looked around at everyone there. At which point, I saw some people leave as if they knew what was going to happen. That is when the police started to tell certain people they needed to leave. But I noticed that they weren’t going over to everyone. They were going over to people they thought were ‘a problem’.” Continue reading ‘Don’t Sit In The Park!’

Nowhere

Published in October, 2010 in Creative Works.

By Regina Watkins
1st Place, 2010 Street Sights Poetry Contest

rumpled wet cardboard
newspaper floats on gusts of wind
the smell of smoke burns the nostrils
while someone is urinating on the wall

small dogs growl as you pass by
cold bare feet show from under worn blankets
while one hand grasps the wheel of a shopping cart
making sure no one takes their life’s belongings

clean clothes a faded memory
as are the faces of loved ones
dementia and paranoia settle in
as your new best friends

“Spare a dollar sir, for something to eat?”
“I don’t think so, you’ll just buy a bottle”
“You are right sir, but that bottle keeps me warm”
“Get a job you freak, and leave me alone”

last cardboard box on the back wall
strange smell, stranger than usual
poke Joe with my left toe
Joe won’t be needing that blanket anymore

shared bottles, germs abound
hey, I used to be a CEO, ya know
then all the voices came around
and told me I had to end it all

hospital told me I couldn’t stay
had to go home, and then I laughed
home….you mean that cardboard box?
well while I was in here, someone took it

that makes me homeless ya know
if you have no box, you have nowhere
can’t use park benches or you’ll be arrested
hey, free room and board, sounds good

warm cot feels so good to my aching back
peanut butter and jelly sammich filled the belly
but damn, didn’t know I had to watch my back
someone made me his beyatch when I wasn’t looking

nowhere is not the place to be

Breaking Down the Barriers of Intolerance

Published in October, 2010 in Success Story.

By Arline Bolvin

Ann C. Cruz strides confidently and purposefully as she packs her presentation materials in the car, her smile and demeanor conveying warmth but also poise and style. At forty-seven Ann travels a road many women travel, but few survive and flourish as well as Ann has.

Working with women in recovery from domestic violence and mental illness is what gives Ann purpose today. Having lived the experience both as a child of a single, bi-racial, and mentally ill parent, as well as becoming mired in an abusive marriage herself, there aren’t too many sides of these issues Ann hasn’t experienced herself. Continue reading ‘Breaking Down the Barriers of Intolerance’

Questions

Published in October, 2010 in Creative Works.

By Sean Trott

As I awake in the morning
My questions begin to swirl
Where am I?
Where do I belong in this world?
How did I get here?
And when did it take place?
I look in a broken mirror
Splashing water on my face
Washing away yesterdays memories
With every single splash
Then time to hit the road in search of some cash
Chasing a dollar or change to make it through the day
Again I hear the question
How did I end up this way?
Was I down on my luck?
Did I suffer addiction?
Was I a victim of recession?
Does anyone listen?
Can someone hear the questions and thoughts
Running through my mind?
Guidance toward a new path is what I long to find
Pick me up, take me away,
Pull me out of this fire!
Listen to my story before calling me a liar
I want someday to have positive thoughts in my head
Until then my only hope is a meal and a bed
A sink to wash up and remember the clouds of my past
Where did the time go?
Where was I last?
As I continue to wake up wondering
If I even belong
Every day that passes I grow to be strong
Well hopefully someone will hear these questions
With answers for them to say
No matter where I have been or what I have done
I deserve real Hope today

Serving Penance

Published in October, 2010 in Creative Works.

By K. Eric Crook

Certainly I should have known better
than to trust my brother
who volunteered to cover my back,
but whose eyes gleamed like Judas
at his fistful of gold coins
as he shoved me over the abyss?
Verily I should serve this penance
for trusting that blood runs thicker than self-servance,
for having faith in fairness
and falling victim to an endless divorce
with a properly penitent point of view
shrouded in self-loathing?
Just how do you skip the invitation to the pity party
when you are held hostage by the New York State Supreme Court
in an endless proceeding spawned by your brother’s whim
and dedicated to the proposition that no case shall end
until the attorneys have got it all?
Is that worth five minutes of penance?
Well, I made a few good chess moves
against two Canadians and a Swede,
heated up some leftover coffee for breakfast
and drove out into that great big penitent world
to serve my time and pick up a few groceries.
To my chagrin I discovered that Seven Stars bakery
is open on Labor Day, likewise Julian’s
and that the local Laundromat is never closed
but thankfully I got a little bit lost in Olneyville (again!)
so I would have to conclude that my penance has been served.

Lost Heroes Art Quilt

Published in October, 2010 in News.

On September 7-10, at the State House, there was a display of the “Lost Heroes Art Quilt”. The quilt is for all the men and women who have been killed in Iraq. But what makes this quilt unique is in each square there is a camouflage jacket with a childhood picture of the fallen.

Matthew K. Serio represents the 21 fallen heroes in Rhode Island. He was killed in Iraq in 2004. He was 21 years old. He was a Lance Corporal in the US Marines. Thank you to all the men and women who risk or lost their lives for us.

The Turkey Award Goes To…

Published in October, 2010 in Editorials.

By Irwin Becker

Here is my first annual Turkey Award which goes to our lame duck governor, Carcieri. With the state suffering its worst economic crisis since the Depression, the governor has repeatedly argued that to balance the state budget, as required by law, cuts must be made across the board for all programs.

So without much thought about the impact of fewer state dollars, programs that helped the poor, the working class, homeowners, educators, the elderly and the unemployed were slashed, forcing the cities and towns, all of which had no money to spare, to cut their necessary services and raise taxes. Continue reading ‘The Turkey Award Goes To…’

Our Mission

Street Sights serves as a forum for advocates, homeless and formerly homeless people, students, state officials, and the general public to share accurate and honest information about issues relating to homelessness. Our goal is to shed light on a subject not often addressed and, to some degree, ignored. We aim to provoke discussion and give a voice to voiceless people in our community. We provide a space free of judgment in which we recognize the dignity and worth of each person and in doing so empower the group as a whole.