Below the letter is a clip about homeless children in America; it comes from '60 minutes' program of our normally horrid propaganda TV... I haven't been watching TV for more than a decade or two, but read about this CBS report on the internet, so I found it for you: watch and weep - too many of our children are falling below the poverty line...
Scott's letter about newest developments here:
DEAR FRIENDS:
LAST THURSDAY NICKELSVILLE DELIVERED A LETTER TO THE OFFICE OF THE
MAYOR. WE REMINDED MAYOR MCGINN AND DEPUTY MAYOR SMITH THAT, PER OUR
CONTRACT, WE'RE GOING TO MOVE ON MAY15,2011. IF HE IS WILLING WE
WOULD MOVE TO THE SUNNY JIM SITE 'AS IS' AND PAY OPERATING COSTS.
IF, IN THE FUTURE, HE DECIDES THAT ANOTHER GROUP SHOULD USE THAT SITE,
WE WOULD LEAVE AT HIS REQUEST.
IF THE SUNNY JIM SITE IS UNAVAILABLE TO US ON MAY 15TH WE WILL MOVE TO
ANOTHER SUITABLE SITE WHERE WE CAN CARRY ON WITH NICKLESVILLES
TRADITION OF ALLOWING FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN,PETS,AND THOSE THINGS
NEEDED FOR A PERSON TO FEEL COMFORTABLE, SAFE, AND SECURE.
WE NICKELODEONS ARE GOING TO STICK TOGETHER AND ACHIEVE OUR DREAM -
A PERMANENT SITE, HOSTING UP TO 1000 MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN WITH
PETS, LIVING IN SMALL SIMPLE STURDY SLEEPING STRUCTURES.
WE'RE GOING TO CONTINUE DISCUSSIONS WITH THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
HOPING TO REACH A SUITABLE AGREEMENT. WE WILL CONTINUE TO STRIVE TO
HAVE A ECO-FRIENDLY COMMUNITY. WE WANT TO WORK TO MAKE THIS A SUCCESS
FOR THE CITY OF SEATTLE, THE RESIDENTS OF NICKLESVILLE, AND TO SET AN
EXAMPLE FOR THE REST OF THE COUNTRY.
IN THE LETTER WE ALSO ASKED MAYOR MCGINN TO ALLOW OUR FRIENDS AT SHARE
AND WHEEL - BEGINNING ON MAY 15TH, 2011 - TO USE THE LAKE CITY
FIREHOUSE AS BOTH A SELF MANAGED SHELTER AND A WET (STAFFED) SHELTER.
THIS WAY THERE WILL BE A LASTING BENEFIT FOR LAKE CITY AND SEATTLE'S
HOMELESS, WHATEVER HAPPENS TO US.
NOW, AT THE BOTTOM OF THE NICKELSVILLE WEBSITE, YOU CAN GET TO BOTH
OUR LETTER TO MAYOR MCGINN ABOUT THESE THINGS, AND ALSO SHARE/WHEEL'S
LETTER.
YESTERDAY (TUESDAY) WE FOUND OUT FROM THE PRESS THAT MAYOR MCGINN HAS
SENT AN ENCAMPMENT PROPOSAL AND DRAFT ORDINANCE TO THE CITY COUNCIL!
WE ARE ALSO PUTTING THEM UP AT THE BOTTOM OF THE WEBSITE, SO YOU CAN
SEE THEM YOURSELF. BELOW ARE THE FIRST THOUGHTS OF THE NICKELSVILLE
CENTRAL COMMITTEE ABOUT THIS NEW DEVELOPMENT:
We appreciate many of the Mayors Actions:
1) He has been working hard, and we appreciate his meeting with
us, and visiting our home.
2) We appreciate the efforts of the Homeless Encampment Panel he
appointed, and support their recommendations
3) We are thankful for the 6 months stay given us in the Old Lake
City Firehouse
4) We appreciate the many occasions when Deputy Mayor Smith has
taken the time to meet with us.
6) We respect his proposal for a City Sponsored Encampment and
know that this is a Big Step for the City of Seattle.
Some of the problems with the Mayor’s Plan for the Sunny Jim Site
1) Children not accepted. People need to be with their families.
2) Term limits – how does it make sense to remove people after a
year when the waiting lists for affordable housing are often longer
than a year?
3) Shut down the Sunny Jim facility after two years? Is there
any guarantee that homelessness will be resolved by then?
4) Timeline –it says the start date is 9/11 but Nickelsville is
moving on 15 May 2011!
5) Efficiency of money spent - its hard to see spending so much
money on high-paid consultants, ($140,000 for “life coaches” at $22/
hr) when we have shown that we can organize and help ourselves for
much less money. Especially when only $15,000 is allocated for
operating costs.
6) Requirement that 'life coaches' monitor our Personal Savings
Accounts and specify what we spend money on. We feel that this is
intrusive, micro-managing and counterproductive if the goal is having
people behave like adults.
7) We object to sending vulnerable people away.
8) A 100 person limit may be arbitrary.
9) The plan seems to be a 'model' or a 'test' for a hundred people
when what we need to do is help thousands of homeless and at danger
Seattle Citizens have a place they can stay together and safe at
TONIGHT.
9) The plan implies most of us in encampments are here because we did
something wrong and we just need fixing. No ones perfect, but there
are thousands and thousands of people homeless in King County due to
no fault of our own. The real problems are the lack of good paying
jobs, the lack of adequate health care, and the lack of housing we can
afford.
11) We are concerned at the hoops required of groups wanting to
apply.
12) It ignores or overrules many of the recommendations that the
Mayors own Blue Ribbon Encampment Panel made, and doesn't explain why.
12) We object to participating in the “Safe Harbors” program. Five
years of experience have shown that the SH program is a waste of
money, and doesn’t tell us anything we don’t already know.
13) In general, requiring people to do things based on bureaucratic
diktats & arbitrary percentages doesn't work. Change is often needed,
and it should be based on individual situations.
Thank you for your support and prayers - we need both!
For further information, we would like you to check out these links,
https://sites.google.com/a/
https://sites.google.com/a/
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https://docs.google.com/
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CBS clip here:
Thank you for posting the video.
ReplyDeleteHere are two more videos (Web extras), related to that 60 minutes segment:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7358651n&tag=related;photovideo
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7358648n&tag=contentBody;housing