More Reasons to Support the ACLU

Homelessness Discussion Available On-Line

Earlier this year, we promoted an event at the American Civil Liberties Union on homelessness. I was privileged to be invited to speak to a surprising large crowd for the middle of the day about homelessness and the 20 years of legal work that we have undertaken to protect the rights of homeless people. It was another good event by one of the premier civil rights groups in the United States. Because of the work of Chris Link, Ray Vasvari, Kevin O'Neill, Gary Daniels, Joan Englund, Gino Scarselli, James Levin, Jason Jaffery, and Carrie Davis (no relation), the ACLU has always been a tremendous partner to protect the rights of very low income and homeless people in Cleveland and Ohio. They have posted the video from the talk on their website here.

There were a number of very good questions from the crowd, and I talked about the long history of working to protect the civil rights of homeless people. Because of NEOCH and the ACLU working together, things are better for homeless people compared to other areas of the country. For example, Cleveland is one of the few communities in the United States with a signed agreement between the police/city and the Coalition that prevents the police from arresting or threatening arrest for purely innocent behavior of sitting, sleeping or standing on the sidewalk. This reduces the number of homeless people who end up in jail for being poor, and reduces conflict between homeless people and city officials. If you want more information go watch the video. Also, make sure you support the ACLU because some group in our community should have the job of protecting and preserving the Bill of Rights and not just paying lip service to "protecting the Constitution."

Brian
Posts reflect the opinion of those who sign the entry.

Another Hate Crime in Cincinnati

Man Beaten Within An Inch of His Life

A man was “beaten within an inch of his life” says Cincinnati Police Lieutenant Mike John after a January 24 incident outside of a local bar/restaurant. Sunday morning at approximately 3:48am Robert Meehan was severely beaten just outside of Bootsy’s Restaurant at 631 Walnut Street. Just moments before he was beat, Meehan was recorded by a surveillance camera walking with a black man who is approximately 30-35 years old, 6'02"-6'03" in height and 225 lbs. He was wearing dark blue/black jeans, orange dress shirt, black jacket and black knit type hat. Three white women were also walking with the man in question along side of Meehan.

Meehan a 56-year old white man, is known to be a local writer, recently working to submit an article for Street Vibes. He gains much of his information from spending time at places such as bars where people socialize. Patrons and employees in the area of Walnut report regularly seeing Meehan. Patrons and neighbors report that Meehan is never disrespectful, never violent and has a calm disposition.

Lieutenant John says that this attack was “brutal and unprovoked.” Surveillance video shows Meehan and the other four people involved in a civil walk and conversation with no altercation. It seems that the attacker, without any cause, suddenly attacked Meehan. Lieutenant John says that really there never is a cause for such violence. The attacker picked up Robert Meehan, body-slammed him to the ground, punched him, beat him and reportedly hit him with a beer bottle. Lieutenant John says that this is “the worst beating [he has] ever seen, in which the victim did not die.” Currently, Meehan is in the ICU at University Hospital of Cincinnati in a medically induced coma. The beating was so bad that there is not enough bone structure left in his face to do surgery.

Meehan spends time staying with friends or spends time on the streets. Meehan is known by those who frequent the area surrounding Bootsy’s Restaurant and other local entertainment venues near Walnut and also Fountain Square. "It is difficult to understand why an individual would commit such a heinous crime against another person, especially a person who did nothing to provoke violence," said Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless director Josh Springs.

It is ironic that the attack occurred in the same week that the Cincinnati Coalition was hosting a forum on Hate Crimes against people who are homeless, and two weeks after an attack near the stadium of a man who was set on fire. Crimes such as these take different forms, but often are the most heinous and vicious. Michael Stoops from the National Coalition for the Homeless attended the forum to call attention to this disturbing national trend and the yearly report produced by NCH. The report details the frivolous attitude of many if the violent young people caught attacking those experiencing homelessness. Many claim an attitude of, “He was just a bum, so he doesn’t matter.”

With this mindset attackers target hate toward those who are vulnerable and just minding their own business or quietly trying to survive from one day to the next. The Cincinnati Coalition will be working with activists from around Ohio to strengthen state laws to punish those who attack homeless people with additional punishments after these two attacks.

Brian Davis
Posts reflect the opinion of those who sign the entry.

Health Care Survey Released Thursday

How Do Homeless People Access the Healthcare System?

NEOCH surveyed 320 homeless people over the last month to solicit input on their experiences with health care. We will release the report on Thursday night December 11 at 6 pm. at Trinity Cathedral. We will have demographic information along with information on the number who became homeless because of chronic health conditions. The report goes into some depth about the last time homeless people in the community used the clinics vs. the hospitals; the last time they had dental care; or the time spent waiting for health care. More than half of the homeless surveyed used Care Alliance or the Free Clinic, and we will have a representative from Care Alliance on hand to receive the report.

Join us at Trinity Cathedral on East 22nd and Euclid in Conference Room A and B to receive a report on the state of health care for homeless people in Cleveland at 6 p.m. We will have a few speakers who have had issues with the current health care delivery system as well as a few leaders in the community. All are invited. If you have questions please call Josh at 216/432-0540.

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

We Need Inspiration

Forum on Homelessness...Not Much News

Last week, the City Club young leaders put together a forum on homelessness with Councilman Joe Cimperman, City of Cleveland Administration Natoya Walker, and Mike Sering from Lutheran Metro Ministry. If you read this blog with any frequency, you could have skipped the forum. There was nothing new announced. The Aviation Shelter will be open through January 2008, and North Point Transitional shelter will open before Aviation closes. I guess that I was looking for inspiration; for someone to step forward and say we are going to solve this problem. Natoya tried with some poetry at the end of her presentation, but it was too late. No one said the words, "I will take on this problem, and will solve it. We will no longer manage this problem. We are going to put time, money and community resources into solving homelessness."

Mike was there to give the real picture of what is happening in Cleveland as part of the 2100 Lakeside Shelter staff. Joe was there because his ward has the largest number of homeless people and the largest number of shelter beds. Natoya brought the position of the City, but she also brings the baggage of the last 20 years of bad public policy. Joe talked about panhandling and the curfew. Both Natoya and Joe mentioned the Mayor saying that he would serve the least of us, and all of the panelists talked about the incredibly expensive supportive housing projects being developed in our community.

Often, you can get a good sense about what is going on in the community from the questions that came up at the forum. There were questions about NIMBYism, the impact of welfare reform, the disdain for poor people by Ohio City Near West Development Corp., are there opportunities now that so many houses are foreclosed on?, there was a follow up question regarding the PD nursing home story, and a question about panhandling. The final two questions were about transportation issues for homeless people and the sad state homeless families find themselves. I wanted to ask a question about supportive housing. I wanted to ask, "With the history of the federal government withdrawing funds from Public Housing, Mental Health facilities, and transitional shelters, have we thought how we are going to fund all these supportive housing projects long-term after the federal government withdraws their funding?

Not much new from the answers, and we even received some confusion. Peggy Cella asked about family homelessness and the answer was about supportive housing which actually does not involve children. Only single adults are eligible for the 220 units of supportive housing that have been developed, and federal rules bar families from participating. As we have said many times, families are suffering more then any other population with the current funding environment from Washington DC. Joe talked about how he preferred the St. Clair Superior Coalition over what was happening on the near west side of Cleveland. This was news to me, because I have not heard any elected official take on the gentrification issues going on in Ohio City before.

We need to cultivate some leaders who will take on these overwhelming issues plaguing our city, and will work for solutions. We don't hear anyone lifting us up with a vision of a time in the near future without homelessness. We are now living with a younger generation that only knows going downtown and seeing homeless people sleeping on the sidewalks. We don't hear big ideas about solutions because we have come to view homelessness as part of the landscape. No one hearkens back to a time without the large number of visibly homeless people. I want a religious figure or elected leader or media personality to take on the problems of poverty with a goal of ending homelessness. Am I asking for too much?

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