Blackwell: Worst Secretary of State Ever

Ken Blackwell Should Be Impeached

It was ironic that Subodh Chandra was up for contempt issues when Ken Blackwell held the ultimate contempt for nearly every court in Ohio. First, he never gave the local boards proper guidance on the voting ID law. He then did not inform the local Boards of Elections properly of the agreement with NEOCH/SEIU. On the Monday before the election there was a settlement over the role of the observers that he was supposed to inform every county board of elections (issued by a Cuyahoga County judge). Blackwell instead only informed the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections and that was in the last minute of business on Monday November 6. Then there was still confusion over the counting of provisional ballots (because thousands of Ohioans were improperly forced to vote with a provisional ballot) and the legal team had to work out another compromise over the counting of votes. So after all these fights, some boards still did not get the information and were not using the agreement to govern the rules to complete their count.

Having learned from 2000 and 2004 that there is no going back once the official count is announced, Chandra was probably overly zealous in informing each board of elections director in the state of the agreement he spent so many hours crafting. Who could blame him? If Blackwell had done his job in the first place there would not have been so many provisional ballots cast that needed counted. I hope that one of the courts find Blackwell in contempt. The state legislature should impeach him for not directing the local boards on HB3 and then showing disregard for court monitored agreements, and finally acting with such extreme dereliction of duty in overseeing this election. I remind you that Blackwell shook off all suggestions to appoint someone else to oversee this election despite his obvious conflict of interest as a candidate for governor. He also railed against the 2004 voter initiative that would have taken some of the conflict of interest out of the Secretary of State's office.

This is not a partisan issue either, because both Sherrod Brown (D) and Bob Taft (R) were very good Secretaries of State. They both did a very good job in trying to get every citizen to vote and reduce the barriers to voting. Bob Taft was one of the first Secretaries of State in the United States to implement rules for homeless people registering to vote. The Taft rules were models adopted by many other states and pushed by advocates. Blackwell has to be one of the worst Secretaries of State in the United States. He has disenfranchised more Ohioans than anyone since Ohio Secretary of State Harvey Smith presided over the 1919 Elections before women were granted the right to vote.

Brian
PS. Why was the Plain Dealer so harsh on Chandra? Did it have anything to do with how soft they were on Michael Vu and local election's officials?

Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

Our Homeless Voting Rights Activists

Homeless Voters Wait Out Ohio Attorney General

There is no doubt that the 2006 Ohio Voter ID law was a way to keep poor people away from the polling place. We challenged this law and won a huge victory. The Secretary of State repeatedly refused to follow the law. Blackwell did not inform the Boards of Elections on the proper method for implementing the law, and this forced thousands of voters to cast a provisional ballot instead of a regular ballot. In Franklin County this has real consequences. As many as four races are still up in the air, and it will hinge on the results of the provisional ballots. Lawyers spent all last week working out how those ballots will be counted. There was a good summary by Subodh Chandra that another blog posted here.

I never got the chance to describe the three individuals who went down to Columbus from the Cleveland shelters to secure the right to vote. Pam is a graduate of Spelman College and grew up in Birmingham, Alabama during the last days of segregation. Her cousin was one of the children killed in the bombings. She told us the night we met with the lawyer that she was surprised that Ohio was doing what Bull Connors was trying to do in the South. We viewed the Southern attempts to block voters as racist, but Ohio's rules were passed under the guise of "preventing fraud." She is a very strong woman who volunteers and had a very stable life in the suburbs. She is trying to do everything to help her husband who is confined to a nursing home, which has brought her to the brink of financial ruin. Her driver's license expired and she had no address to put on a new license. What would you do? Pam fought for the right to participate in democracy?

Cornell was a veteran of the U.S. military. He just wants to be left alone at this point. He has medical issues, but has found a way to survive within the shelters. He had identification, but it was from a previous address, and that was not the address that the Board of Elections had on file. This would have confused the poll workers and there is no guarantee with Cornell would be able to vote.

Micky was also a veteran and had struggled with homelessness for an extended period of time. He volunteers at 2100 Lakeside to make sure the area remains safe. He loves walking the neighborhood to make sure that it stays clean and safe. His issue was that the only form of ID he owned was his Public Housing identification. It was unclear to everyone whether "other government document" included a public housing identification since they are a quasi-government entity.

So, all three waited all day in a jury room for a trial that did not ever start. They all were happy to have participated and were glad that they made a difference.

Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

An Inspiring Memorial for buddy gray

Cincinnati Activists Honor 10 Year Anniversary of Killing of buddy gray

I was honored to attend the memorial for buddy gray down in the Over the Rhine neighborhood in Cincinnati on Wednesday November 15. Duane Drotar from 2100 Lakeside Shelter and I went down to remember this giant in the United States social justice movement. Here is the text of the description prepared for the memorial:

buddy gray (he preferred his name in lower case letters) was a war resister, carpenter, preservationist, poet, community journalist, baseball coach, and friend to many. And he was known best as a relentless and uncompromising advocate for low income housing and other services for the poor. He came from a small-town, working-class family to live in Over-the-Rhine because he believed in the cause of liberation. He had decided, when he was still a young man, that he could not tolerate the poverty and discrimination he saw in the world around him. So he entered what his brother Jack called "a journey of fearless, selfless service."

Michael Stoops from National Coalition spoke and Barb Anderson from Indiana came to the remember her friend, buddy. Georgine Getty from the Greater Cincinnati Coalition and buddy's close friend Bonnie Neumeier talked about gray's legacy. It was a wonderful service with civil rights activists from the 1960s and 1970s standing witness with college and high school students from Moeller High School and Xavier and Miami University. We got to hear from Donald Whitehead who was the previous director of National Coalition for the Homeless and the Cincy Coalition talk about buddy saying "I'm glad you are here," when he was at a low point in his life.

I was asked to say a few words. I talked about how I missed buddy and Ralph Delaney who was also killed. I talked about all that they could have done over the last decade to help in the struggle. Then I finished with Daniel Thompson's poem about Ralph and by extension buddy called "There are Saints in the City."

There were so many stories and so many programs touched by buddy. His legacy was not extinguished when he was killed by a disturbed man. The Drop Inn Center had expanded and continues to fight against gentrification. Buddy's Place opened and is a beautiful meeting place for activist. It was easy to see potential conflict between the nearly 100 condominiums being developed while homeless people struggle to find affordable housing in the Over The Rhine neighborhood. It was a wonderful event that will keep the fire burning in those that carry the light for social justice.

Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

More Horror Stories from Election Day

My 2006 General Election Poll Observer Experience

During my 17 hours at the polls there was a lot going on. I arrived at Dunbar Elementary at 5:30 am however all of us (including another observer, the nine poll workers, three precinct judges and one equipment technician) stood outside until 6:20 (in the raining cold) waiting for the janitor to let us in the building. The day was off to a rocky start. At least 10 people showed up between 6:30-7:01 a.m. to vote and only 5 people waited to vote, 4 people said they would return (and they did) and one lady said there was no way she could make it back.

The poll workers and judges were appreciative of me being there to insure they were following the updated rules for voting. We had two major issues at the beginning: 1) Can a person vote if their Ohio license did not match the address in the voter roll book. Once I showed the poll workers the rule that they were allowed to vote, we didn't have that issue anymore. 2) Can a person vote provisional ballot at any precinct. We debated about this fact, but once I showed the poll workers in their manual that they could ONLY vote provisional in their precinct or at the Board of Elections, we didn't have that issue anymore.

One precinct judge turned a voter off because of her nasty tone when telling the voter that she couldn't vote, because she didn't have identification. The voter was of Latino background didn't speak English very well. I informed the voter that she could vote a provisional ballot, because her name was in the voter roll book. I also brought over a poll worker who spoke Spanish, however the woman was offended by the nasty poll worker and refused to vote.

Lastly, our polling place was under a federal court order to remain open until 9:00 p.m.. However, our last voter came to the polling place at 7:25 pm and the only action after 7:30 was a poll worker who almost went into a diabetic coma. The poll worker had not taken her second insulin shot because she hadn't eaten for hours. She thought that she would be home by 8:30 p.m.! Overall, I must commend the polling location I was placed because the poll workers and precinct judges were sympathetic and kind to the voters. They were for the most part helpful and they didn't mind my presence during the day.

A couple of suggestions I have would offer: require a back up so that more than one person has a key to open the polling place in the morning and there should be Spanish prompts on the voting machines. At the polling place I observed on the near West Side of Cleveland over half of the voters spoke Spanish and at least 1/3 of those voters needed someone to translate the ballot.

-Teri'­ Horne
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

The Worst Experience in Poll Monitoring

Police Called to the Precinct Featuring Homeless Voters

On the day that Pam Denton appeared on the Editorial pages of the Plain Dealer, it is ironic that poll workers were poised to give her the wrong ballot. I was a poll watcher today at Precinct Cleveland 13D and 13E, and it was the worst experience I have had in a long time. The stressed workers were great, but one worker sent from the Board of Elections, Karen, was an absolute obstruction to voting. She was so mean, angry and put off by the observer process that she banned us from talking to anyone. I could not sit still when Pam Denton, the subject of Joe Frolik article today showed up, and asked me for help. She was given the wrong provisional ballot--from the wrong precinct. This would have invalidated her ballot, and thus disenfranchising her after all the work we did to get her to vote.

Karen, the Poll Worker trainer, who was sent by the Board of Elections when the two precinct judges did not show up in the morning. If she was the model trainer it is no wonder that things went so bad today. She was mean to her own workers, angry and was unclear of the law. Anyway, she called the Board and asked that I be removed from my role as observer. Then she called the police to have me removed. No one from the Board of Elections ever called to tell Karen to chill out and work with the observers. I was placed in the Sterling Rec. Center to make sure that homeless people voted and were not disenfranchised. Karen wanted me to only talk to voters as they left--which means that they would have cast their ballot incorrectly. She did not want me to talk to poll workers even if they were doing activities that would have disenfranchised voters.

I am proud to say that despite Karen the poll worker trainer and her obstructionist behavior all of the voters that showed up at the polls did cast a ballot. Will those provisional ballots be counted is a big question. Since I was not allowed to be near the table, I could not tell if they were filled out properly. I felt bad for the workers who were bullied and pushed around by Karen. I do not understand the mentality of someone who would want to make mistakes instead of quietly trying to resolve these issues before the mistake were cast in stone or in diebold we trust in this case. I was trying to make sure that every voter cast a valid vote. Karen seemed to want to show that she was in charge and she would not accept any input. I did not get arrested or thrown out, but thanks only to the wonderful lawyers from the Election Protection who helped monitor the polling places.

Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

Victory Celebration on Monday Night

Join Us on the Steps of the Board of Elections

On Monday night the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, the team of lawyers who fought the ID rules, and representatives of the Service Employees International Union will celebrate the expanded right to vote in Ohio with a vigil outside of the Board of Elections. On Monday night at 6 p.m. join us and a few of the homeless individuals who fought for the right to vote. The Plain Dealer had a good summary of the rules regarding identification yesterday.

The bottom line is that everyone with a social security number can vote. Go to the correct polling place and cast a ballot. Do not leave until you have cast a regular or provisional ballot. If you have any questions call Ohio Votes at 1-888-886-8364 or the Board of Elections at 216/443-3298.

Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

Everyone that Wants To Vote Will Count

NEOCH and SEIU vs. Blackwell and the State of Ohio Results

Three brave homeless and low income people came to Columbus one week before the November election to fight for the rights of all voters in Ohio. They woke up a 5 a.m. to drive to Columbus and wait for 11 hours while lawyers negotiated. Pam Denton, Micky Trammell and Cornell Bishop all made the trip and sat in a jury room for hours waiting for a hearing to start while the State of Ohio negotiated with our team of lawyers. We got what we came for in that everyone will have the chance to cast a ballot and those that have a social security number will have those votes counted. We will not have a repeat of the 2004 election when many of the provisional ballots were thrown out on technical grounds.

We consider this a huge victory for homeless people and those who have any issues with their identification. The State saved face over this horrible piece of legislation that they passed by keeping the ID provision in place for the regular ballots. Anyone who shows up with either no identification or a problem with their ID will cast a provisional ballot. The big difference is that you will not have to show up within 10 days to prove anything or sign some affidavit that poll workers do not understand. If you have a social security number, you will give the last four digits of that number and sign the book as you normally did and you will get a provisional ballot that will not be challenged later.

The rules for what "other government document" as an acceptable form of ID were clarified. And the absentee ballots that were cast with problems will count. This allows the absentee ballots that were cast during this last confused week to count and those with the wrong driver's license number to count.

Our main named adversary who has not supervised this election very well, Ken Blackwell, was actually willing to compromise throughout this process. The problem was former Clevelander, Jim Petro, who we waited for hours to make up his mind. The Columbus paper identified Petro as leading the negotiations. It was also mentioned in a few newspaper accounts that Jeff Jacobson, the Republican Senate leader, had taken an active interest in defending the law. While not present at the negotiations, Legislative leaders were known to be pushing Petro to defend their confusing law.

There were so many lawyers who helped with this lawsuit and should be thanked. I don't know all of them, but Subodh Chandra, Cleveland's previous Law Director, led the negotiations along with Caroline Gentry from Dayton's Porter Wright Morris and Arthur office. Mark Griffin from Cleveland helped prepare the homeless people who were going to testify. Gino Scarselli, who years ago served as a NEOCH Board member, helped prepare and drive homeless people down to Columbus. He had a long history with representing homeless people and represented the Coalition's interests well. John Gilligan from Columbus prepared the expert witnesses for the case. And the many other attorneys had boxes and boxes of testimony and declarations ready to go for a trial. They all did a ton of work on short notice, and we certainly thank them all.

Since none of us actually got to testify, I will post the stories that our three voters were going to tell the court in the next week. I have to get back to making sure people get to the polling places and our constituents are not disenfranchised. One note about why Cleveland is still better than Columbus. While we were sitting for hours, our car was in a parking garage which tragically CLOSED at 6:30 p.m.!!! My car was stuck in the garage, and we were trapped in Columbus. Luckily my parents opened up their house to the three voting rights activists who came down to testify or we would have all been wandering the rolled up streets of Columbus. Who closes a parking garage at 6:30 p.m?? We must work harder in Cleveland, because most of us are still working at 6:30 p.m. Anyway, thanks to Rosamond and Charles Davis for their hospitality to four very tired recently enfranchised voters.

Brian

Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

Give Us Your Tired and Poor...

Would We Accept the Statue of Liberty Today?

On October 28, 1886, the Statue of Liberty was dedicated in New York City by President Grover Cleveland with these words on the pedestal, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore, send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" There is no possibility that we would ever accept such a brazen symbol of Democracy 120 years after the dedication of the original Ms. Liberty. We would dismantle that Lady and send her back to France on ship carrying a banner "Mission Accomplished."

Here are some of the reasons that our current leaders could never accept a 2006 Statue of Liberty. First, we would be leery of any gift from France. Second, we do not want any more of those "illegals" and so we don't want 151 foot tall billboard advertising immigration. We are now afraid of "your huddled masses," so keep them on your own shores. Third, you can't even walk up the 120 year old Statue anymore. It is a symbol of America and therefore a potential security threat. Close off the symbols and thus you make us all safer--and don't make any new symbols for America and we are all safer. Fourth, we certainly don't want any more homeless people. We are all in our fourth or fifth year in our 10 year plan to "end" homelessness and so we don't need any more from other countries. Finally, the whole statue is too feminine and liberal elite for those in power. Lady Liberty expresses idealistic virtues that are way too advanced for a society looking for easier to understand statues like the simple cowboy in Ft. Worth or the Giant Bull on Wall Street.

Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

Lawsuit to Protect the Right to Vote

NEOCH Files Suit to Assure the Elderly, Students, and Homeless People Participate in Democracy

The Homeless Coalition and the Service Employee International Union in Columbus filed suit on Monday against the current Secretary of State over the requirement for Ohio voters to show identification at the polling place. Many homeless people have problems keeping identification. Because of theft and the constant requirement to move around it is very likely that you will have to get new identification during your stay in the homeless community. Basically, homeless people must carry all of their belongings with them all the time. In talking to local homeless service providers, we find that between 20 to 30 percent of homeless population does not have identification or 800 to 1,200 homeless people on November 7 will not have identification in Cuyahoga County.

This is not a huge number compared to the half million voters, but then when we add in students, elderly, and poor people who may not have the proper ID it starts becoming big numbers. Then when you add the thousands of poll workers who will not understand the law and will disenfranchise voters who have an ID that does not match the address in the poll workers book, we start seeing large numbers who will not be able to vote. Then we find that the 88 counties are interpreting the law in much different ways, we see that Ohio will not have a uniform group of voters. So, if you happen to be poor in Youngstown there are stricter rules than in Cuyahoga County and you may not be able to vote just because you happen to live in one part of the state.

This is why NEOCH signed onto the lawsuit and are spending staff time these last two week to stop this horrible law from disenfranchising thousands of citizens. I have learned that there are many people who love going to the polls on election day. They have a history with the workers and they want to interact with others. They do not trust the mail and they feel they are part of democracy by going somewhere to vote. This will be difficult for many if our lawsuit does not prevail. We thank Subodh Chandra and the attorneys at Porter Wright in Dayton for all their work and the excellent complaint that they filed.

NEOCH testified against this horrible piece of legislation passed in early 2006. The state legislators did not listen to the experts who work on these issues everyday. They "fixed" a troubled system making it more complicated and addressing none of the problems. They did not hear how difficult it is to receive a birth certificate if you were not born in Ohio. The birth certificate is the basis of all ID. They did not listen when experts told them that illegal voters were not the problem. The problems were with training, staffing for election day and the standards for electronic voting. In fact, on the day I went down there was not one elections officer or activist testified in favor of HB 3.

We hope that this lawsuit prevails and we can have a fair and free election on November 7.

Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

A look back at Previous Hate Crimes

A Look Back at the Stun Gun Attack

Remember the Vigil this Saturday at 7 p.m. on Public Square. In 2002, Clevelanders were witness to a brutal hate crime against homeless people. Three males from Youngstown attacked homeless people in the center of Cleveland, near where the vigil will take place, while filming their own attacks. They had tried to attack homeless people in Youngstown, but unsuccessfully.

The homeless in Youngstown were not out in the open but in cars and under bridges. The three guys felt it was unsafe sneaking into the woods to attack homeless people in Youngstown.

They drove to the center of Cleveland and used a stun gun to attack 5 or 6 people on Public Square. Their car broke down, and a former homeless person helped them out. The Youngstown teens bragged about their exploits and the good Samaritan saw the video equipment and the stun guns. The teens also broke down in front of the police headquarters, which made it easy the Samaritan to report the incident to the police.

The one using the camera was over 18, Jared, and the other two were juveniles. The two young teens blamed Jarad as the ringleader. The media could not go into the juvenile court and so focused on the one adult. Every media outlet was in court and the prosecutor refused to offer a deal to the adult. All three were only charged with misdemeanors assault. Jarad got 3-4 months in jail which got him fired and his college career was in jeopardy. He tried for shock probation after a month, but with the media glare the judge turned him down.

The two young people said that they were influenced by the adult. The juvenile court prosecutor did not keep NEOCH in the loop at all. We could not do any advocacy because of the cloak of secrecy. The teens got off with six months of community service to be served only on the weekend. No disruption in school or their jobs. In looking at the video tape it was obvious that the camera person, Jared, was not the ringleader.

Brian

Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

Vigil to Stop Violence Against Homeless People

Homeless Coalition Responds to "Hate Video"

When a select group of people is targeted with violence and brutality, it's usually considered a hate crime except if the victims are homeless.

Today in America homeless people are under attack. They are beaten with baseball bats, pummeled with bottles, shocked with stun guns (which happened in our city a few years ago) and getting videotaped drinking window cleaner and urine on a Hate Video/DVD called Bumfights. Just a few weeks ago in Painesville two teenagers were caught throwing sticks and rocks at homeless people living under a bridge. One of the victims suffered a broken nose.

Youth are preying on this vulnerable population living on the streets of America. These brutal attacks go underreported and few pay attention to this growing problem. This needs to change. A few weeks ago, 60 Minutes educated viewers on this new trend, and now it's time for Cleveland to do the same.

The AmeriCorps*VISTAs at the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless (NEOCH) are holding a vigil on Saturday, October 28 at 7 p.m. in front of the Old Stone Church on Public Square to take a stand against the assault of homeless individuals.

Over the last six years there have been over 500 murders of homeless people in the United States; targeted just for sleeping outside, says Brian Davis, executive director of NEOCH. This is a far larger number than any hate crimes directed against a minority group or individual affiliated with a religious organization.

The AmeriCorps*VISTA (Volunteers In Service To America) program places individuals with community-based organizations to help find long-term solutions to poverty and homelessness. The VISTAs at the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless focus on homeless issues such as civil rights, housing, advocacy, and getting individuals linked with voicemail.

For more information please contact either Charlene Higginbotham, Josh Kanary, Sara Cantrick or Sarah Valek at (216) 432-0540.

Sarah
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

Washington DC: Homelessness Capital

How do Federal Officials Walk Past So Many Homeless People?

Washington DC certainly does not have the most homeless people in the Country that spot is reserved for Los Angeles followed by New York City. They also do not have the largest per capita or most visible long term homeless like San Francisco, but DC has an amazing number of homeless people sleeping outside. I am visiting Washington for the National Coalition for the Homeless Board meeting, and it never ceases to amaze me how many people sleep outside in the nation's capital.

Maybe because our legislators only work part time and rarely stay in the City anymore, so they do not see the real face of the district. The Congress is usually only doing business Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with the other days back in the district raising money. There are men and women sleeping on park benches. There are people in doorways early in the morning, and homeless people everywhere. How do they not get the attention of people that could actually do something? There are people sleeping near the White House (as close as you can get in the pre-9/11 world). There are men and women near the Capital, and yet nothing gets done.

When they drive to work or more likely are driven to work are they on their cell phones and blackberries so they block out the human toll of their decisions? How do they not see the impact of gutting of the HUD budget with the sad faces sleeping on the steam grates? How do they not see that the spending on "security" and war has meant less spending on stability of citizens of the United States? The National Coalition oversees an urban plunge where college students become homeless for a week. This should be a requirement for all freshman congressional representatives and their staffs.

Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

Painsville Attack on Homeless People

Juveniles Caught Beating Homeless People Should Receive Stiff Penalty

It's been less than a week since CBS' "60 Minutes" aired a segment about brutal attacks on homeless men in Florida, of which one attack resulted in the death of a homeless man admittedly "inspired" by the "Bumfights" videos.

Tonight, Cleveland's FOX network affiliate reported an attack on a homeless person living under a bridge in Painesville. One of the homeless men interviewed reported that not only was he beaten and hit but that he saw his attackers had a gun. After he was beaten, the 'thugs' went over to the other side of the river and attacked a group of homeless people there.

Two individuals are being held under $10,000 bond apiece and are under suspicion for two other similar attacks in the area. Considering that the Florida teens who killed the homeless man with a baseball bat were sentenced to prison for thirty-plus years for their night of 'fun' makes me wonder if the creeps responsible for beating and terrorizing the homeless in Painesville intended to use the gun they reportedly had.

Could the reason for having that gun possibly be to commit murder and rid they area of the "detested homeless" people? Or did they have the gun in case they would have had to defend themselves from the very people they came to terrorize. Although Painesville Municipal Court Judge Michael A. Cicconetti is known worldwide for his inventive methods of sentencing, I don't think that His Honor will pass sentence lightly. But if he chooses to 'set an example' to show these creeps how it feels to be homeless I would like to offer him the following suggestion.

In addition to the prison sentence, require these guys to wear ankle monitors and be under constant police surveillance. Set them free for one week in the winter wearing light jackets (and no gloves please!) to survive, as homeless people do. Let them fend for themselves without money! Let them try to find food, shelter and clothing. Let them try to get help from social service agencies.

Chances are that the help they will find during this leg of their sentence will come from those they set out to victimize-HOMELESS PEOPLE!

Cindy
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

Ohio Needs A Homeless Hate Crimes Bill

NEOCH Will Push for a Homeless Hate Crimes Bill in Ohio

Ohio has been listed more than once as one of the most dangerous states in the Union for homeless people. On "60 Minutes" tonight Ed Bradley interviewed one of the kids from Florida who was in jail for beating a homeless person to death. He said that he and the other three kids killed the guy for sport and for "fun." In Ohio, there were people set on fire in Dayton, rocks thrown at homeless people in Columbus and Youngstown, and a serial murderer of homeless people in Toledo. Bradley interviewed the director and producer of "bumfights." This lowlife scum actually attempted to justify his making money off of exploiting those with some behavioral health problems.

NEOCH is working with the new Homeless Congress to meet with a few state representatives after the election to talk about adding homeless people to the existing hate crimes law. This way kids who use a stun gun to attack homeless people will never be charged with mearly misdemeanors and if sentenced will have an extended jail time after conviction. This might put some fear in the minds of young people who decide to "hunt" for homeless people and beat them for "sport." We certainly hope that the homeless individuals featured in bumfights sue into bankruptcy the arrogant kid who came up with this evil idea. We hope that federal officials improve the laws so that the exploitation of people with a mental illness or alcohol and drug problem becomes a crime.

Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

Hate Crimes Directed at Homeless People

Tune into "60 Minutes" this Weekend

In 2003, three teenagers from Youngstown came to Cleveland to use a stun gun on people sleeping outside on Public Square. Their car broke down, and they were helped by a good Samaritan who had previous experience with homelessness. The Good Samaritan caught onto what they were doing and called the police, which was easy since their car broke down in front of the Justice Center. Homeless people were victimized by these young people and then again by the judicial system that charged these evil kids with misdemeanors and let them off with 6 months of weekend only community service.

In Florida in early 2006, three kids beat a homeless individual to death in front of a public building. They used a baseball bat on a number of homeless people which resulted in the death of one of those individuals. Both the Cleveland and Florida attacks were captured on videotape. The news program "60 Minutes" will feature a story by Ed Bradley about these and other attacks on homeless people this weekend. Sunday after football (sometime after 7 p.m.) "60 Minutes" will look at the National Coalition for the Homeless and their work to protect homeless people. Please tune in to the local CBS affiliate at 7 p.m. on Channel 19.

Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

Colorado Voice Mail Criticized

Anyone Can Get on the Radio Today

Although best known for being a carrier of the West Nile Virus, one would be surprised to know Peter Boyles also hosts an AM radio talk show called "The Peter Boyles Show." On this show, he has been complaining about Colorado Community Voice Mail, a program like our own Cleveland Community Voice Mail with which I am affiliated. His complaints are based entirely within the realm of fantasy, much like the works of L. Ron Hubbard (ball's in your court, scientology!).

Boyles, after dealing with whatever mild to severe symptoms associated with his mosquito-spread disease, assumed "Community Voice Mail" meant "free cell phones." From the article referenced above:

BOYLES: "Yeah, and so, how does a homeless person access a voice mail box -- some 4,000 -- unless they are given a phone?"

I included the "Yeah, and so," just to show how inarticulate he is. What he presents here is a logical argument for how he came to the realization that homeless people have cell phones. How else could they have access to a voice mail box? In much the same way one could show no symptoms and still carry the West Nile Virus, a homeless person can have no government funded cellphone and still have a voice mail box. That's how CVM works. It's for people without phones. Again, it's for people WITHOUT PHONES. From the article:

BOYLES: "Well, there's plenty of people, once again -- workaday people, hard workers, family people -- they don't have cellphones. Now how come a homeless guy -- 4,000 of them -- these phones -- were given out, Bob?"

I hate to tell you, Mr. Boyles, but your question in that last quote would give most English teachers a headache not unlike one associated with WNV (West Nile Virus). I hate to just harp on your grammar. Wait, no I don't. I love to harp on your grammar. Why? You're a bully trying to push around people actually trying to make a difference in this world. The idiocy in your inability to drawl out a logical sentence while making an ineffectual argument for a stance mired in your own accidental lies is worthy of a verbal attack not unlike the mockery brought down from the trickster gods of ancient religions.

In closing, I would like to say that next week I will have been serving for the social good for a year, and in that year, every person I have seen is smarter than Mr. Boyles. I know this because not one of them showed up to CCVM demanding a cellphone. Even if one may have thought it might be possible that they could get a cellphone, none were stupid enough to believe in an assumption strong enough to make a fool of themselves over AM radio waves.

Go back to the playground, Mr. Boyles. These are the big leagues. We know our song well before we start singing.

Josh

For more information visit the Cleveland Community Voice Mail website.

Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

CMHA Annual Plan

More Senior Housing For Some Reason

I have been so busy the last few weeks that I have not had time to keep my eye on the Housing Authority. Every year at this time, they send around their Annual Plan for comment to be approved by their board in October. The Annual Plan is mandated by the federal government that every housing authority must complete in order to lay out all policy initiatives and capital projects for the next year. Usually only the Homeless Coalition, the Tenants Organization, and Legal Aid Society make any comment at all. This year, I did not get a chance to be a part of the process until the last day of public comment--Friday.

CMHA actually has a very good public process for gathering comments. They listen to us and make changes based on our input. Sure there a few things that we disagree on, but they still seem to be respectful of their partners and constituents. We believe that this planning process is healthy and we think CMHA does treat us with respect. I really believe that the agency is better because they run things by us before making mistakes.

So, they have put out their plan. Here are the highlights of the changes:

• They clarified the preference for those facing a natural disaster, which was always very confusing.
• They got rid of their confusing policy for those with a voucher that gave a preference to those working.
  
• They have passed along the federal rules making athletic scholarships part of a student's income.
  
• They are designating a building in Garden Valley for seniors (50 years old and older) only.
• They are adopting the federal rules from the Violence Against Women Act.
• They are clarifying the rules regarding recertification.

Some on-going issues that they will not change that we disagree with every year in their Annual Plan include:

• We do not agree that some properties that are privately owned and have a set number of vouchers attached to some of their units, a landlord can go outside the existing 6,000 person voucher waiting list for tenants. After a landlord interviews 5 candidates and they find these 5 from the waiting list not acceptable they can go find their own tenants.
  
• We believe that they need to put more language into protect women who have experienced domestic violence as part of the Violence Against Women Act.
  
• We are always opposed to the designation of some buildings for only those 50 years and older. Sure, those 50 years and older are easier tenants to serve, but the overwhelming need in Cleveland is by tenants under 50 years of age. CMHA has designated over 20% of their total housing units for seniors, but the market is effectively serving this population. I do not understand why the City of Cleveland allows this continued loss of housing for the vast number of single people under 50 years of age looking for housing.
  
• Finally, we always oppose the designation of minimum rents for the agency. To the public this is good to force people to pay some small amount for housing. "No one should get anything for free in our society," and all that welfare reform crap that we keep hearing. The problem is that residents who have no money are entitled to file for a hardship exemption. How do they do that if they are not told or it is difficult to get this information? It is similar to passing a tax on only those smokers who enter the two stadiums to pay for the buildings, but everyone pays the tax upon entry. Then if you do not smoke, you must go fill out a form to be exempt from the tax. What is the reason for charging people if they have a right to be exempt? While reviewing their case every year, just give them the rent that they deserve based on their income.

Some other ideas that we suggest to improve CMHA include:

• Close the public housing waiting list. It makes no sense to keep taking applications for housing when it will take five years for the person filling out an application today who is under 50 to get offered a unit. We suggest taking applications only from those who are over 50 years of age or older.
• Figure out a way to accept public comments via the internet, and have those read into the record and included at the end of the Annual Plan on the website.
  
• Also, since only a few people comment, the CMHA Board should answer the comments and explain why they reject our suggestions.
  
• The agency should figure out a way to support the affordable housing website in the future as a tool for both landlords in the program and tenants.
  
• CMHA needs to gather supporters to demand from HUD a real budget to improve the housing for those with lower incomes in the poorest city in America.
  

Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

Homeless Organizing in Columbus

NEOCH 12 Years Ago

I had the honor to help the Columbus Coalition for the Homeless work through issues at their annual retreat. It was amazing how familiar the problems and issues faced by the Columbus Coalition are so very similar to the obstacles NEOCH faced about a dozen years ago. The Columbus Coalition has a few part time staff and they cannot find their footing in the community. They have board members who must focus on their own agency's survival or their own personal issues of stability and they cannot focus on getting the Coalition on its feet. They have a dominant coordinating body in the city, which makes it hard to raise money or step out from this larger organization's shadow.

NEOCH had all these issues a dozen years ago, after our first five years of funding ran out. We had a period of five years with staff and some programming that the Columbus Coalition never had, but we were facing huge decisions as they are down I-71. We found out that the community would not pay for advocacy. We found out that the service providers, who started our organization, could not afford to pay for our service in the long term. We found that the County entity (that we helped to start in order to coordinate services) confused funders as to what our role was in the community. We also had a divided board as to our basic role within the community and the importance of some of our programs. We figured it out and made some tough decisions to survive.

I hope that the Columbus Coalition will pull together to make some tough decisions. They can move to a full time staff person by putting in place solid programs desired by the community. They seem to have all the ingredients, but they need a strong chef to put it all together.

Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

The Broken Alcohol/Drug System

They Have it All Wrong

I am sitting in a meeting--minding my own business--not bothering anyone--when I am smacked right up side my head by another failed system in our community. I am listening to the presentations of why people sleep at the airport, and the problems with homeless people when a woman from the Alcohol and Drug Addictions Services Board of Cuyahoga County pipes up that she can assure us that she can get an "assessment" of those people sleeping at the airport within three days. She could not tell us how long it would take to get treatment, but at least we would have a confirmed diagnosis of alcohol or drug addiction within 72 hours. Thank you for nothing. What the hell good is that to the community? The smell of alcohol and the unresponsiveness was my first indication that there was a problem beyond the casual after work cocktail, but of course I can't pass out those certifications.

Imagine the riots in the streets if you showed up at MetroHealth with a gun shot wound and they rushed out within three hours to "assess" you with a diagnosis of an lacerated artery that will need surgery. Then the kind nurse informed you that the doctors were not available and there is no time frame when that surgery could actually happen, but at least you can rest easy with your certified diagnosis. Yes, Rest in Peace easy. How could this ever be considered progress? What is the use in telling someone they have a problem if you are not prepared to solve it. "Frank, you have colon cancer, now go out and enjoy the rest of the day because we have no idea when we can do anything else." And for someone with an addiction telling them that they have an addiction, but that you have no idea when or how you will treat them without money is just what they need to hear to keep them from drinking or injecting.

I would quit my job before I would ever brag that a three day assessment is progress. More people in the homeless community have a drug or alcohol problem than a mental health problem and yet the Alcohol Services get a tiny amount of money compared to Mental Health. It is a joke, and they should just close their doors. At this point, I really think that they do more harm then good in our community. Most of the beds were purchased by the courts so basically you have to go to jail to get residential treatment. You really have to way to cure yourself to get help and then they will let you go to volunteer driven AA classes or you have to be near death and they will give you a couple of days of detox. How does this help us?

I don't want people to think that we do not appreciate the work of the alcohol and drug case workers, but the best in the business get burnt out quickly. It is strange because alcohol and drugs hit the wealthy, the middle class and the poor, but we do a pathetic job of treating this health condition. You really have to destroy your life, the life of others around you, burn all your bridges and most of the time commit a crime before someone sends you some help. Then we punish you with a shelter and force you to live by some rules until you have are sufficiently repentant that you no longer have the addiction. At least, we now can assure that you will get assessed within three days.

Brian
Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

Are People Moving Away from High Poverty?

Child Poverty in 2005

Back in the welfare reform debate of the late 1990s, the officials told us that people do not move for benefits. The experts said that it has never been the case that people move from one area especially one state to another in order to get better entitlements. But now living in Cleveland and experiencing decreases in jobs for six straight years, I have to believe that some of our population loss has to do with lower income people looking for better places to live. In looking at the poverty statistics for Ohio, I have to wonder if some are not making calculations about the State of Ohio and the safety of raising their family in this environment.

• How many kids will get a good education with such an unfair system for funding schools?
• How many of my kids will have the opportunity to go to college in Ohio with such high tuition rates? Maybe moving to another state to establish residency would be beneficial?
• If I loose my job will I be able to find another before ruining my family?
• Will I be able to find a job with health care? If I do lose my health care will the state be able to afford to provide any health care beyond the emergency room?
• Will I need to go into bankruptcy or will I be taken advantage of by a mortgage broker?
  
• Will three years of cash assistance be enough when nearly every other state gives five years? If I exhaust my three years, what is the use of staying in Ohio?
• Why not move to another state that has a higher minimum wage?
• What is the use of relatively inexpensive housing if you have no job?
  
• Would rental assistance be more available in another state?

At this point in the recession, these questions have to come up. There must be a great deal of anger over the lack of help by our government. There was assistance for those fleeing Katrina, but what about the home grown poor? There is money for playgrounds like stadiums, but not for people. I would be angry if I went to the election booth and saw a levy on the ballot for the arts, while I struggle to find a job. How do they justify paying for art while my child's school is in bad shape and I can't find a job? How do they justify raising taxes for art, while I can't pay my rent? Anger, frustration, a feeling of hopelessness, and then resignation and moving to a state that cares, would be how I would react.

Here are the statistics from the U.S. Census on poverty by County. By the way, Ohio 's official poverty rate was 13.0% of the population is living below poverty with 18.2% of our children living in poverty in Ohio. These are in order of the Counties around Cleveland and the other big cities in Ohio from poorest to better off.

County % Living Below Poverty % Children Living Below Poverty
1. Lucas County (Toledo) 17.4% 25.3%
2.Cuyahoga (Cleveland) 16.9% 25.1%
3. Columbiana 16.3% 26.4%
4. Ashtabula 16.1% 23.3%
5. Montgomery (Dayton) 14.7% 23.4%
6. Franklin (Columbus) 14.5% 19.8%
7. Erie County 14.0% 21.8%
8. Hamilton (Cincinnati) 13.8% 19%
9.Mahoning (Youngstown) 13.4% 20%
10. Stark (Canton) 12.0% 18.1%
11. Lorain County 11.7% 17.6%
12. Portage County 11.4% 15.5%
13. Summit (Akron) 11.2% 14.4%
14. Trumbull County 10.7% 15.4%
15. Lake County 8.3% 12.9%

Those Counties Doing Best in Ohio
1. Delaware County (near Columbus) 4.6% 5.5%
2. Warren County 5.1% 4.8%
3. Medina County 5.3% 6.6%
4. Geauga County 5.6% ---
5. Tuscarawas County 7.3% 8.1%

Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

Ohio Department of Apartheid

Why the High Number of African Americans in Prison??

Friday September 8, the Urban Institute announced preliminary results from their Justice Policy Center study called "Returning Home: Experiences of Former Prisoners Residing in Cleveland" at the Cleveland Food Bank. This got no coverage in the Plain Dealer today, but was picked up by WKSU and WCPN. NEOCH attended the forum for the release of information. What we found to be the most amazing statistic that was not mentioned in the other media was the high number of African Americans returning from incarceration. This is the most damning statistic on the current state of Ohio with 53% of those leaving prison in Ohio are identified as "Black" while only 11.5% of the population of Ohio are "African American Only" according to the US Census. In Greater Cleveland 74% of those returning from prison are African American while only 28.9% of Cuyahoga County identify themselves as African American.

How can this not be identified as an Apartheid system? Are we enslaving a generation of African Americans through the judiciary instead of the public auction used from 1699 to 1865 in America? I do not understand why this fact is ignored? Why is this huge disparity not the focus of this report or at least mentioned boldly? It is just used as a dry fact in a lengthy report about the current state of our misnamed "Corrections and Rehabilitation" system. It is accepted as a reality that the percentage of those in the prison population contain four times as many African Americans as the population of Ohio. How is their not rioting over the incarceration disparity in Ohio? I do not understand how the large number of African American "Corrections" officers do not see this new form of slavery and speak out? How can the prison work industry not be viewed as the modern cotton field? I am floored by this disparity. How can we demonstrate to caring people that if all 5,300 returning from prison to Cuyahoga County every year were gathered together in one place only 18% or 985 people would have white faces.

Other statistics that are troubling from this report:
**47% of those returning from prison have a violent offense in their background. (Not the one tenth of one percent mentioned by Geoff in the Callahan police shooting discussion.)
**Only 27% of those in prison received any type of counseling which includes mental health counseling.
**Only 31% have lived with a spouse or partner or alone after their release. 4 out of 5 rely on family for housing after release.
**Prior to prison, 84% reported drug use or intoxication with half reporting daily drug or alcohol use. After release, 23% still report drug use or intoxication in last 30 days.
**Only 30% report legal employment upon release with another 23% reporting "under the table employment."
**Only 39% report participation in post-release programming.

Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

County Helping Homeless to Vote

Shelters Now Active in Registration of Homeless People

NEOCH is often criticized for only giving the bad news. We also constantly harp on the lack of accountability within the system. I mean if a corporation had 10 straight years of losses it is unthinkable that the existing leadership would be able to keep their jobs. But in the social service community 10 years of increases in homelessness can be blamed on something else or just plain ignored. We have to go before our constituency every few weeks, so it is easy to see why we are impatient with the slow progress made in addressing poverty. But today we give you some good news undertaken by your government.

We must credit the great job that the County Office of Homeless Services has done in making sure that homeless people are registered to vote. It is funny that now that the state has put huge barriers in the way of homeless people voting is the time that the County steps up their efforts. We certainly appreciate their efforts and have asked for every provider be required to register people upon entry for years. We finally wrote a letter to the Commissioners late last year asking for some intervention in getting every homeless person to vote, and that seems to have happened.

The OHS staff are strongly encouraging every publicly funded facility to assure that they are registering people. They are collaborating with Ohio Votes to make sure that every staff person knows the rules and can encourage their clients to go vote. Each provider needed to put in a plan for how to register and get all their clients to vote. They are regularly updating the providers about new issues regarding voting. So, the Coalition thanks Cuyahoga County for helping to empower homeless people.

NEOCH is supporting this effort with two training sessions in collaboration with Ohio Votes coming up:
**Friday September 15, 2006 at 1:30 pm.
**Tuesday September 19, 2006 at 11:00 a.m.

Both will be at NEOCH and will last one hour. Please call if you would like to attend at 216/432-0540.

Brian Davis
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

Peace Show Next Door to the War Show

A Celebration of Ione Biggs at the Peace Show

Labor Day brings the annual tradition of the Peace Show interrupted frequently by the War Show at Burke Lake Front Airport. This year was a remembrance of Ione Biggs who passed away in December of 2005. Also, 5 Catholic Worker protesters were arrested for praying under the wing of a War Plane at the Air Show. This is not homeless news except that our good friend, Jim Schlecht who does outreach to homeless people, was also arrested and will sit in jail until Tuesday. They stood singing under a war plane to let people know that the entire "Air Show" glorified war and killing people. Imagine, arrested for putting a sobering tone on "entertainment," while we occupy another country and our sons and daughters in Iraq hope and pray every night that the road below them does not blow up.

So, I was asked to say a few words about Ms. Biggs. I know that if Ione were still alive she would be protesting the arrest at the War Show or down talking to those waiting in jail by using her connections in the corrections system. Anyway, I wish Daniel were here because he would know what to say a lot better than most of the rest of us. When Ione got the award from her church, Daniel revised one of his poems to fit the occasion. Poets are the life blood of social justice movements.

"The homeless community lost one of our strongest champions with the passing of Ione Biggs. She was not loud or "in your face" about her passions, but was powerful in a quiet dignified manner. She gave great advice, and knew what would work and what would not. She had that rare quality that has nearly disappeared in our society she actually listened to people including those she did not agree with. We at the Coalition keep her in our thoughts every day, and we try to react to injustice as Ione would react. What would Ione Do? She would be at the Peace Show supporting her friends and fellow activists. She would be at the vigil for peace on the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attack. She would respectfully question the use of excessive force by the police in Cleveland Heights.

She would be organizing petitions, writing letters, and speaking out against this horrible war and the dreadful policies of the current administration which devastate the poor. She would have an answer for the state of fear gripping America, because I certainly do not. Ione would know how to fight the destruction of the current first amendment, and the expanding domestic spying by our own government. She certainly had a unique talent of cornering elected officials to get them to do the right thing, and she would have found a way to force the State of Ohio to get back in the business or reducing poverty. How could anyone turn down the All American Grandmother? She would be volunteering for the Coalition or other peace organizations. Ione had the unique talent of staying in contact with all the peace and justice organizations in the city, but we all felt that she was working exclusively on our issue.

Ione Biggs would find a way to break the racial or gender barriers that continue to exist in our community. She would be leading the charge to implement a real rehabilitation component to our criminal justice system. In a more enlightened time, Ione Biggs would have followed Howard Metzenbaum as Senator Biggs from Ohio. She was one of the strongest women in Cleveland, and we miss her.

I have no better way to express my sorrow than with Daniel's Words:

Those in power always want
Those in poverty to live on poetry
The best things in life are free
They're fond of saying. Of course
If you help yourself to what's
Second best, they lock you up
And if you tell them all you wanted
Was just a little bit more on your plate
They'll hit you with, Man shall not live
By bread alone. They certainly don't
They've got the bread and the gravy
The meat and potatoes, the Army
The Air Force, the Marines and the Navy
And what have we got? Our loneliness
And our need to break bread
For that sound breaks the silence between us
And out of that broken silence tumbles everything
A cornucopia of words to feed the heart
Night words that rise and fall with each breath
Each shadow, words as light as light
Whose wings brush against us
And we are never the same
Words that are famous
With only four letters
Like food, love, home, sing..."

Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

Donate On-Line Now

NEOCH Has Moved into the 21st Century

We have selected "Network for Good" as a secure way that you can support the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless. If you find something useful or something helpful please give a few dollars to support the important work of the Coalition. If you appreciate our advocacy or our programs, we could use your help. If you have a relative who has become homeless or had experience with homelessness, please help the Coalition solve homelessness locally. We also could preserve your legacy with a gift from your estate. We are very good stewards of money from the public and will use your money as efficiently and effectively as possible.

On another note...there is an interesting discussion taking place at Callahan's site. There is a lot of pain on the West Side over the death of the artists in the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood and the death of the police officer in the West 98th neighborhood. Low income advocates are commenting on a proposal made by Bill to hold landlords accountable for their tenants. Check it out.

Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

The Best Judge in Ohio

Federal Judge O'Malley Strikes Down Registration Rules

Federal judge Kathleen O'Malley proves once again why she is one of the best judges in the state of Ohio with her decision to strike down the new Ohio registration rules. O'Malley was the federal judge who sided with the Grapevine in our fight with Mayor Michael White who wanted us to get a city issued license to sell the street newspaper. She was overturned by the conservative 6th Circuit Appeals Court, but she was correct in the Grapevine case and now with the voting rules.

Our friend, Rev. Tony Minor and the NAACP filed suit to overturn this horrible new requirement to suppress voting registration activities. NEOCH had stopped registering people because the rules were so complicated and confusing. We thank O'Malley for throwing out these horrible rules. It raises the question about all the state legislators who should have listened to the League of Women Voters and all the other experts. Earlier this year, groups from all over the state came to Columbus to testify against this horrible piece of legislation (HB 3) to largely empty conference rooms. They should have listened, because we were correct. This law is now under fire for disenfranchising immigrants, the registration rules were thrown out, and Secretary of State is constantly misrepresenting the rules. The ID provision has confused County election boards, and will certainly be challenged after this part of the law messes up the November election. They "fixed" the irregularities and the lack of polling places in 2004 by blowing apart the whole system.

State legislators addressed a problem that did not exist in the face of the real problems with the 2004 election. They messed up the registration and voting regulations so that fewer people will cast a ballot. It is no wonder that most of the population holds politicians in such low regard, and most do not trust government. Voting, as the cornerstone of democracy, needs repair in Ohio. Where are you Jimmy Carter?

Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

Poorest City in the United States Again

We Are #1 in Poverty Again

I still do not understand how we went from #1 poorest city in 2003 to #12 in 2004 then back to #1 for 2005. I have to believe that the data is somehow flawed. Katrina destroyed an entire city and yet Cleveland is the poorest City in the United States? The further that we get away from the actual Census it seems the more suspect the data. I do not question the fact that Cleveland is one of the poorest cities in America just the huge swing out of the Top 10 then back to #1.

Just a simple look at the facts show that we are certainly one of the poorest cities:

• Highest concentration of foreclosures in the country.
• 20 straight years of increases in homelessness.
• An economic recession since 2000.
• Plenty of housing vacancies, but thousands who cannot afford the relatively inexpensive rents compared to other American cities.
• Most of the available jobs in the downtown area are minimum wage if you are lucky.
• Thousands of jobs lost to other states and other countries from Cleveland. Major employers (BP, the Steel Industry, TRW lost with many more coporations downsized.)
  
• Thousands without access to healthcare while we have one of the "best" hospital systems in the world.
  
• There are 25,000 people homeless every year or 4,000 people homeless every night in Cleveland.
  
• We have had a vacuum in local leadership to address poverty for 25 years in Cleveland with traditional business or religious leadership on the sidelines.
  
• For the past 10 years, we have lost fixed affordable housing structures or they were converted to vouchers.
  
• Families are the fastest growing homeless population in the city.
• At least 40% of the male homeless population have jobs, but cannot make enough income to pay the rent.
  

So, what do we do? One thing that we cannot do is to hold Jane Campbell style town hall forums where the usual suspects sit around tables and talk about poverty. There was not one homeless service provider invited to those forums in 2004, and very few actual poor people participated. Homelessness was not even discussed.

My suggestions would be:
1. Immediately release the plan to address the affordable housing crisis. (This has been in the works for around 2 years.) Gather community leaders to implement plan.
2. Create a County trust fund to build (on a large scale) affordable housing.
3. Develop a Public Works Program to create $10 per hour full time jobs to individuals to improve the city with art, clean up, renovation of housing, and improvement of the infrastructure. This could be paid for by a County income tax for those making above $150,000.
4. Universal Health Care within Cuyahoga County. Paid for by the cost savings from health insurance paperwork. So employers would pay into a universal health care fund instead of paying for health insurance. This would be a huge cost saving for most employers.
5. Pass a school levy and set up a financial accountability committee to respond to parents and the community to oversee every dollar. Every school needs to be more accountable to the community with transparent and frequent interaction with the neighborhood.
6. Every public employee within County or City government needs to be responsible for improving the area and reducing poverty. They are on the public payroll and together could make a huge impact on reducing discrimination, disseminating information on resources, and solving problems people have with bureaucracy.

These few steps would make Cuyahoga County a destination point for families, retirees, and those struggling to find housing. Housing, jobs, health care and public education are the most important issues that we face. Too often we have spent the last few years fighting about other issues that really don't make much of a difference. We need unity, leadership and some vision out of this hole that we began digging with the bankruptcy of the City in the 1970s and have yet to stop.

Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

Voting Issues and Disconnect Notices

Voting Town Hall Last Night Raises Issue

The Greater Cleveland Voting Coalition hosted a town hall last night at the AFL-CIO/Laborers Building with two representatives of Cuyahoga County and some activists. Candace Hoke of the Cleveland State Election Integrity Project also presented. The new nanny of the Board of Elections, Tom Hayes was also in attendance. I got to ask the first question and the answer certainly did not inspire confidence in the upcoming election.

I asked if an individual shows up at the correct precinct and is already registered, but his identification does not have that address will the individual be able to vote with a regular ballot? The Board of Election official, Francis Lally, said that the individual would have to vote a provisional ballot. Greater Cleveland Voter Coalition volunteer and Case professor, Norman Robbins, said that the law was explicit that the individual would be entitled to a regular ballot. The guy from the People for the American Way said that the Secretary of State has already said that the person should get a regular ballot. I have read the law and I am sure that the intent of the law was for the ID to establish the person is the actual registered voter they say they are not to verify the address. So, I believe that the new law directs the poll worker to let the person vote a regular ballot, but I fear that there will be 88 different decisions in the State of Ohio.

Later, another member of the audience asked to clarify this identification question and there was a continued dispute. Ms. Hoke said that the SoState has only given guidance not a directive. She predicted that this would most likely be settled in the courts. Some Counties have sided with Blackwell's guidance. Why would Cuyahoga County fall on the side of making it harder for citizens to vote?

The two key outcomes of the town hall for me were: Vote absentee to avoid all the problems that will happen at the polls this year. Cuyahoga County announced that they were, finally, going to pay for the mailing of the ballots into the election. Second, the precinct voting system sucks and should be scrapped. If you want to vote for a County wide ballot anywhere in the County you should have that option. Many do not care who the local dog catcher or councilperson is, and just want to vote for state, national and county elections.

Other thing I learned from the meeting:

• You should be able to check that you are correctly registered to vote in mid September at the Board of Elections website.
• There is supposed to be two technology people at each polling place to help on the Electronic voting machines.
• There is supposed to be a greeter at the door of the polling place to make sure that people are at the correct polling place.
• Provisional ballots are worthless, and you should try as hard as you can not to use a provisional ballot.
  
• League of Women voters is very unhappy with the new disenfranchisement law (HB3).
• Every voter will get a mailing explaining the process in early September including an application for absentee ballot.
  

It is going to be a rough election especially for homeless people--vote absentee.

Amazing Statistic of the Week

Tim Walters of May Dugan Center has been doing some great work on utility monitoring. Cleveland Public Power no longer has the cheap electricity of years ago (see Callahan), and now they are disconnecting people at a rapid clip. Since January 2006, 14,000 families have been disconnected by CPP or around 100 people a day. Yes, 85% are reconnected, but that is amazing how many people are living on the edge with their housing.

Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

Homeless Video Games

Oversimplification of Homelessness

Terry Lavender, a student of interactive arts and technology at Simon Fraser University, has created a video game as part of his master's thesis called Homeless: It's No Game. I have only been working with the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless for a few months now, and often when I publish blogs to this here forum I worry that I am speaking outside my element. I make sure everything I say is solid, but being so new, I often worry I overlooked something small that will make me look quite the fool when the spotlight is turned upon it.

Today is different. Today, thanks to Terry Lavender, the ball is in Josh's court. That ball is homelessness and that court is video games. You see, my fair audience, when I was growing up, my best friends were a pair of Italian plumbers and a green-clad elf with a thing for triangles. Songs whose only melody is "blip bleep blip" make me cry. I have never been more confident in any blog I've ever written than the one I'm about to write for you now for I know the secret of manna.

First, it is important to note what Terry says about the game: "The game is a gross oversimplification of homelessness and the people who are forced into that situation. I have tried not to be condescending or judgmental and if the game comes across that way, I apologize" (from his website). His thesis is to find out if it is possible to entertain someone and encourage social change at the same time. He says, "A lot of organizations are jumping on the so-called serious computer games bandwagon to get their message out. Often their games are poorly made and are just not fun to play.

Given that, I don't want to detract from the importance of what Lavender points out and what he is trying to do. However, I can say straight up full of confidence that this game sucks. It just plain is not fun. It was a chore just to finish it. There seem to be a few bugs in it: I won after amassing only 18 esteem points when you're not supposed to win until you reach 50. The graphics are atrocious. I know it's petty, but the fact that the main character just spun slowly in circles the whole time really bothered me. Also, even though I know Lavender already said the game is a gross oversimplification of homelessness, it bears repeating because it is a really gross oversimplification of homelessness.

Despite all that, what Terry Lavender has said and attempted to do is important and needs to be expanded upon. A work of graphic art can communicate a vital social message, as can a song, movie, play, work of animation, poem, or story. When all of that is put together in a video game, so, too, can the video game communicate a message. Some other than Terry Lavender have tried. The Lord Jesus knows I sat through the hour long rambling about the dangers of nuclear weapons at the end of Metal Gear Solid because he sat next to me the whole time rolling his eyes. Thus far, social messages in video games have failed in their communication because they're either too direct or too forced.

Lavender's game is an example of too forced. It's the video game equivalent of the God-awful short films I was forced to watch in grade school that attempted to make learning fun. It's not really fun because it's not really a game. All you try to do in the game is rack up points. The points are acquired by going to different places. When you go to a place, it is randomly determined whether the outcome is good or bad. If it's bad, you lose points, and if it's good, you get points. It's totally random. There's no real sense of control over anything, and although that may be part of the message Lavender is trying to communicate, having no control isn't fun and appeals to no one. The message is lost because no one will play the game.

But, I believe Lavender's thesis is possible even though his experiment failed. I believe it is possible to entertain someone and encourage social change at the same time, especially in the realm of video games. It hasn't happened yet because no one's done it successfully and therefore it isn't guaranteed to be profitable. There's so many different angles one could take on this idea. A SimCity-esque game could be created in which the player is in charge of conducting the new city's 10-year plan to end homelessness, getting people to begin thinking not only about how to solve homelessness but also about the credibility of a city's 10-year plan to end homelessness. A game could be created in which one plays a cop trying to reduce the sudden rash of hate crimes against homeless people.

These are just a few suggestions and I am by no means the final word on this. I just wanted to get the conversation going and get the minds thinking.

Josh
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

Voting and Homeless People

Disenfranchised from Democracy

There was a good letter to the editor in yesterday's Columbus Dogpatch from Bill Faith regarding the potential problems faced by homeless people in the upcoming election. Bill Faith is the director of the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio and they just started a new project on voting for Ohio. Remember that Bill is coming to Cleveland to speak about state issues on September 11 (see previous post). The new ID law is going to be a disaster for poor people and especially homeless people. It is already a problem to get a migratory population to the right polling place to take part in democracy. Now, we have the complication of mandatory identification or a whole series of other forms of identification tied to housing before a person is entitled to cast a ballot.

The big issue is that each County seems to have their own interpretation of the ID law. Some say that if the ID does match the registration then the person must vote with a provisional ballot. Some say that the ID is just to verify that the person is who they say that they are. Poll workers have different ideas and Boards of Elections are also not consistent. I do not know how Cuyahoga County is going to come down on the issue, but based on the May primary I think that we are in trouble locally.

My Mom who just received an award for working every single election for more than 30 years has decided to sit this election out. She decided that based on the primary where it took hours to close down the new electronic machines and the lack of direction by the State over the new rules, she could not be a part of this pending train wreck. She lives in a suburb of Columbus where today's editorial cartoon suggested that they bring in Jimmy Carter to Ohio to supervise the elections.

The Coalition is going to try to get clarity over the law with the local board of elections over the next month. We will also have observers at some of the polling places that we anticipate problems. If you would like to volunteer, please call Brian at 216/432-0540. Our democracy and this election are both too important to leave an entire population out of the process.

Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

Upcoming Events from the Coalition

Homeless Coalition Plans for the Next Quarter

1. For those members of NEOCH we are sending out the Annual Report and the Quarterly newsletter over the next three weeks so look for that in your mailbox. To become a member go to our website here.

Street Voices Training
2. NEOCH is having a training for possible speakers on Street Voices on September 13, 2006 at 9 a.m. This would be for people who have experienced homelessness and are interested in talking to local religious groups, youth groups or schools about their experiences. The training is from 9 to Noon with lunch provided. Please RSVP to Sara at 216/432-0540.

The State of Affordable Housing in Ohio
3. The September Cuyahoga Affordable Housing Alliance meeting is the annual forum on Housing Issues for this group that meets monthly. We will have Coalition on Homelessness and
Housing in Ohio Executive Director in to speak about the state of affordable housing in Ohio. He will talk about predatory lending and state funding of affordable housing. The event is September 11, 2006 at 1:30 p.m. at 1350 Euclid Ave. in the lower level of the US Bank Building. All are welcome to attend.

Veterans Teach In Set
4. The September Teach In is set for September 20 at 6 p.m. and will focus on the issues of veterans. This Teach In will be a little different in that we will meet at the Volunteers of America Veterans Resource Center at 775 East 152nd St. We will have veterans who will talk about their experiences and groups who provide shelter, housing, and job training to veterans
present to talk about their programs. Please call NEOCH at 432-0540 to RSVP or reserve your space on line at www.neoch.org under programs/Teach In.

Homeless Voting
5. There are two upcoming events for those concerned about the upcoming elections. Thursday August 24, 2006 Town Hall Meeting sponsored by the Greater Cleveland Voting Coalition entitled "Will My Vote Be Counted in November?" at the Laborer's Local 310 Hall at 3250 Euclid Ave. at 5:30 p.m. Ohio Votes staff, Board of Elections staff, Ohio League of Women Voters, CSU Center for Election Integrity and Cleveland Voting Coalition will be on hand to present on the topic of "Restoring Public Confidence in the Election Process." There will also be exhibits on absentee ballots, poll worker recruitment, electronic voting, and joining the voting Coalition.

b. The second event is actually a series of demonstrations of the new electronic voting machines for providers and homeless people. The Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless along with the Bishop Cosgrove Center and West Side Catholic are hosting a series of demonstrations of the new Electronic Voting Machines. Staff of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections will be on hand to demonstrate the new voting machines and answer questions about the new identification requirements. Please plan to send homeless individuals or homeless provider staff over to these locations to practice with the new electronic voting machines.
Wed. August 30, 2006 from 11-1:30 p.m.
@ Bishop Cosgrove Center (1736 Superior Ave.)

Thurs. August 31, 2006 from 11-1:30 p.m.
@ Bishop Cosgrove Center

Friday Sept. 15, 2006 from 10-2 p.m. (Lunch break from 12-1 p.m.)
@ West Side Catholic (3135 Lorain Ave.)

Friday Sept. 22, 2006 from 10-2 p.m. (Lunch break from 12-1 p.m.)
@ West Side Catholic Drop In Center

Future Dates to Mark Down the Date
6. Mark your calendars for two upcoming dates. Friday October 20, 2006 will be the special Stand Down focusing on Housing. The event is at the Bishop Cosgrove Center and is being called "From Homelessness to Housing." There will be a special Training class on housing resources available in the community. The other event is the Annual Homeless Memorial Day on December 21, 2006 to remember those who have passed away. This year the event is at
Franklin Circle Church in the evening.

Brian Davis
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

No More Homeless at Airport

Homeless Evicted from Airport after September 1, 2006

Responding to the yellow journalists at Channel 19 fake news channel, the City is relocating the individuals who sleep at the airport. In a meeting on August 2 with homeless service providers, the city said that homeless people need to leave the airport. The individuals were making a mess and were a security threat and so they must leave. From the perspective of homeless who stay at the airport, this was a clean, safe and secure place to sleep. There was no threat of being beat up or having your stuff stolen at the airport. The federal government is concerned that terrorists could pretend to be homeless and scope out the airport in detail or slip into secure places.

We certainly understand that the airport is not an appropriate place to live, and we hope that this turns into a opportunity and not a black eye for the community. There are many women who stay at the airport because it is a safe place that no one will mess with them. We heard from the police that they want to make sure that there are no arrests. This is a much different police force from the 1990s who supported Mayor White's attempts to make homelessness illegal. The police seem to be more compassionate and learned a lot from these negative encounters in the 1990s. They want a relocation similar to the one at the Convention Center. They are committed to allowing the social service providers take the lead and not law enforcement. Staff at the Coalition certainly hope that all the providers can work together to find alternatives to the people who have found safe haven at the airport. Homeless providers (NEOCH included) have not always been very good partners in solving problems, and we will be measured on how we solve this problem without arrests.

Already we heard Mental Health Services offering housing to some of those who are regularly at the airport. We heard 2100 Lakeside keeping beds available at all hours to make sure that people can be relocated into a bed and will try to break some of the negative impressions of the shelter. The Women's shelter is re-evaluating policies and previous punishments to try to welcome some of the women at the airport back. The Veterans Administration is going to talk to those at the airport to see if any have served in the military. We shall see if this airport move is as smooth as the Convention Center. No matter what happens most of the people at the airport will not go to shelter or housing so they will end up somewhere, and someone else will be complaining about homeless people destroying the peace. Sometime in the near future we will have to deal with the overall problem and not just move people from one side of town to the other.

One other ray of hope is the possibility of a 24 hour drop in center opening. Back in the 1980s Ralph Delaney was taking bread and water to homeless people downtown with a goal of opening a storefront that could be a warm place for those forgotten by society could stay inside, get a cup of coffee, and start the process of rebuilding stability. West Side Catholic Board of Trustees approved the use of their facility on the near West Side of Cleveland to operate 24 hours a day. We need to find $250,000 to $300,000 in order to operate the facility. The heavy lifting is always finding the money. We all have ideas, but finding the money is always a problem.

Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.