1 10 25 https://streetvibesarchive.net/files/original/b435990c9158e8301824bf2d2df46d8a.pdf d72aacbfba979670978264c9e8f84bf3 PDF Text Text D e c e m b e r 1 4 t h - D e c e m b e r 2 8 t h 2 0 1 8 | Vo l . 2 1 I s s u e 2 3 ( N o . 3 9 6 ) advo cating justice | building communit y Any opinions in this issue are of the authors and don't necessarily represent Streetvibes or The Homeless Coalition. Push Back or get Pushed Out Local public art found in Over-The-Rhine Article on page 8 This Issue is sponsored by Cecilia and Tom Kloecker Find previous issues of Streetvibes online at: cincistreetvibes.org Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition 113 E. 12th Street Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 streetvoice | 12 �2 COALITION N o v 14 2 - -NDec. o v 19, 18 | |NNo. o . 393 Dec. 15,2 02018 396 From The Director: E very year at this time we work with our Member Organizations to gather the names of people whose lives were cut short by homelessness throughout the year. This is a very grounding process. It is the ultimate proof of why our Homeless Coalition must exist and why we as a society, must end homelessness. People have immeasurable value. In this human existence you cant get simpler than the sanctity of human life. As we are always proclaiming, homelessness is a systemic problem that can be ended with significant systemic change and replacement of the existing structures that cause and sustain it. We are not finished collecting this year’s list of peoples’ names, but thus far, the average age of people who have passed is fifty-one. How can it be that we have a problem caused by lack of investment in affordable housing, publicly incentivized displacement and gentrification, unjust eviction processes and criminalization that results in the death of people and we haven’t fixed the problems? Greed, prejudice, ethnocentrism, racism and classism sit strongly as pieces of the foundation that continue to uphold this life-stealing problem. And often, people turn a blind eye to oppression, hardship and suffering and are distracted by less important decisions or are afraid to risk their own balance to fight. Sometimes people feel they don’t have enough power to make change. Human Life JOSH SPRING Executive Director Josh Spring Credit: Homeless Coalition Many times when a person dies, it is said that: “it was their time to go”. And certainly, many people have had the opportunity to reach the natural end of their days on earth. But for people whose lives have been shortened by homelessness, for the people on this year’s list, it was not “their time to go”. “Their time to go” whenever that would have been, was stolen. They and those around them were deprived of that time and all the time in between. The general standard when a person steals is that they are prosecuted (even when that isn’t always the right thing to do). When someone directly murders another person, the standard is that they are tried for a crime. What about when it’s a society? What about when it’s systems, run and maintained by people? Shouldn’t we as a people bring these systems to trial, prove their guilt and dismantle them? The immeasurable value of human life dictates that we must do all that is humanly possible to prevent loss of life and instead empower fruitful, joyful lives. Through organizing, advocating, educating each other, demanding, strategizing, and building our peoples’ strength, we can accomplish this. We truly can end homelessness. Just like the death of our people this year at the average age of fifty-one was not inevitable, neither is homelessness. Homelessness ends human life, but the systems that create it are created by humans and can be ended by humansby us! Thank you to all of you who are using your own strengths and experiences to be a part of fighting for processes, interactions and systems that have a foundation of valuing people and stand as a force against injustice. Please join us on Friday, December 21st at 5:30 PM in Washington Park as we join with people across the country on National Homeless Memorial Day. Together we will honor and remember those of us who have left earth early because of homelessness and we will further galvanize our commitment to ending homelessness. Streetvibes is an activist newspaper, advocating justice and building community. Streetvibes reports on economic issues, civil rights, the environment, the peace movement, spirituality and the struggle against homelessness and poverty. Distributed by individuals experiencing homelessness or on the edge of homelessness, in exchange for a $2.00 Donation. Streetvibes is published twice a month by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless (GCCH), a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that works to eradicate homelessness in Cincinnati. 113 East 12th St. Cincinnati OH, 45202 Ph: 513.421.7803 FAX: 513.421.7813 WEB: www.cincihomeless.org EMAIL: streetvibes@cincihomeless.org Editor: Gabriela Godinez Executive Director: Josh Spring Director of Development: Mona Jenkins Director of Education: Dr. Mark Mussman Distributor Program Manager: Sallie Mascus Layout: Gabriela Godinez Reception: Bonita Batton, Larry Johnson Maintenance: Pete Roper ------------------------------------------CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE Writers: Josh Spring, Brian Taylor, Micheal Earl Patton, Bill Woods, Willa Jones, Dr. Mark Mussman, Kim Green, Robert Park, Siqi Cheng, Leah Rutz, Yuliya Milkitin, Kristina McKinley, M.T. ------------------------------------------Photography/ Artwork: Homeless Coalition, Wikipedia (Fair Use), Morgan Mitchell, Gabriela Godinez ---------------------------------------------Thank You For Reading Streetvibes And Supporting Our Mission To Build Community And Advocate Justice. Streetvibes and The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless do not endorse candidates for public office. THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �No. 39 Nov 215, - N2018 o v 19, 2 0 18 Dec. 143-|Dec. | No. 396 3 COALITION The Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition is Awarded Yuliya Mikitin Contributing Writer O n December 6th, 2018 the Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition attended the Tri State of Financial Institutions League Holiday Luncheon. According to their website, “TSL is a community and forum of small community banks, savings and loan associations, savings banks and building loan companies in Northern Kentucky and Southeastern Indiana”. They have generously chosen us as their designated charity for 2018 and for that we are so thankful because without outside donations from our members and from people within the TSL community we wouldn’t be able to do the work that we are doing. In April they provided us with sanitary items to help alleviate the costs of running the office and then this past event we received a $7,500 donation. Lauren Bailey and I were in attendance and Lauren gave an amazing speech on the different areas of work that we focus on such as advocacy, education, and Streetvibes. After the speech, someone attending the event donated a gift card to us that we plan on using at our Annual Dinner on December 13th. We were surprised that so many of the professional bankers attending the event donated their money to our great cause and were able to later make connections from Lauren’s speech and reach out to us and donate the gifts they received in the gift exchange. I cannot stress the importance of our organization members and outside donations that keep us above water. We are proud to not be government funded or funded through organizations that do not support everything that we stand for. The Homeless Coalition and their work is truly for the community and keeping affordable housing affordable while providing some direct services such as the Streetvibes newspaper. Thanksgiving has passed but we are always grateful. Happy Holidays and thank you again to TSL for their hospitality and kindness. Findlay Playground Leah Rutz Contributing Writer T he opening sentence of a Cincinnati Local 12 article published in late October titled, Over-the-Rhine park that's a hotbed for crime closing; new park to be built, reads as follows, “In the hopes of pushing out the bad guys and building a better park, Findlay Playground in Over-the-Rhine will close.” This language immediately registers to me as classist propaganda used to attack the low-income residents of Over the Rhine. The phrase that sticks out the most being, “bad guys.” This playful term is an indication of the glossed over discrimination towards certain race and class demographics in Over the Rhine, the vast majority of Findlay Playground users. Working class people of color. The author of this article must be referring to them, because there’s no way he is referring to criminals. Crime maps have shown that there is no specific “hotbed” in the playground, contrary to the title of the article. I critically perceived this article as an announcement of plans to displace more OTR residents, this time heading north of Liberty, as much of the region south of Liberty has already been touched by the gentrifying hands of private developers. The tactics for reducing crime in a park were left up to the imagination since this and other articles gave no specific information, and I imagined heavy policing, privatization, and inaccessibility. At the very least, closing the park would have an impact on those who use it. I had a lot of questions for the city and the Cincinnati Recreation Commission, the current owners of the property, so I sent some emails. One of my questions was answered: the renovation plans will in fact involve private developers as well as public and faith based organizations. The other questions, like, when will the community input take place? And, what are the demolition and construction plans for the park? What is the timeline? Remained unanswered. I understand that the plans supposedly will not be concrete until proper community engagement has taken place, but it’s also abundantly obvious that a closing wouldn’t have been publicly announced if the CRC didn’t already have at least an idea of what was to become of the park. I was told that safety and design issues were identified through the CPTED process, which stands for Crime Prevention through Environmental Design. Nothing else was specified. Such a lack of transparency for a public space is not appropriate. I also had questions for the people who live near the playground and use it regularly, so I’ve asked them too, in canvassing groups with the Cincinnati Homeless Coalition. Our questions started out vague and broad, and so did the people’s responses. There was a general disposition of somberness or apathy towards the closing. Some people said that they’d really like to see a better playground for the kids, maybe get a bathroom and nicer grills. One individual I spoke to was interested in increased security, but most others were not. Many people spoke of their disdain for greater police presence because they have been subject to stop-and-frisks while walking home from a corner store or leaving work. A stop-and-frisk is the act of a police officer briefly detaining a civilian and searching them for weapons or contraband. These stops are very racially charged, inconvenient and humiliating for those being detained just for walking through a public space. To a lot of the people I talked to living north of Liberty Street, increased police presence does not make them feel safer, it makes them feel paranoia, criminalized, and less safe. Another frequent topic that came up when park users started to share a little bit more about what closing and renovating Findlay would mean to them, was the aftermath of the Washington Park makeover. One individual gestured towards the table where he was playing dominos and pointed out that Washington Park didn’t have any tables anymore for people to sit for extended periods of time. Someone said that it’s clear which population these parks are serving when you stop to recognize that basketball courts were replaced with a dog park. A few people told me that they’d been shooed away from the space near the dog park for loitering without THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED a dog. One person agreed when I asked if it felt like the city cared more about dogs than people. Most of the folks we canvassed felt certain that they’d no longer be welcome in one of the only neutral free public places that existed in OTR after the closing and reconstruction. They felt, to put it frankly, that the park closure and renovation was a plan to attract White middle class Cincinnatians and further displace working or unemployed people of color who could not or prefer not to pay for private amenities. I agree with them. From what I’ve come to understand, criminality is a systemic issue that favors the wealthy and punishes the poor. The crime of carrying an open container, for instance, is illegal in a public place like a park, but conveniently, it is legal when it is sold in said park and money can be made off of it. If you can afford the time and expenses of owning a dog, then you get a VIP pass to Washington Park. But if you don’t, and you perhaps instead need to take a nap on a bench, you are escorted away so that you don’t make the dog owners feel uncomfortable. While public parks are a major player when it comes to the affordability and accessibility of a neighborhood, the issue of displacement goes far deeper than that. Cincinnati in particular has got a lot of soul searching to do when it comes to this sort of displacement. Perhaps we can start by asking ourselves, who are the “bad guys” here? �4 LOCAL THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED N o v 214 - N v 19,15, 2 02018 18 | N| oNo. . 393 Dec. - oDec. 396 �No. 39 ov 2 15, - N o2018 v 19, |2No. 0 18396 Dec. 143 -| N Dec. 5 LOCAL The Hidden Costs of Being a Sexual Assault Survivor Siqi Cheng Contributing Writer O n August 23rd, I went into the University of Cincinnati Medical Center (UCMC) emergency department seeking a sexual assault forensic exam, commonly known as a “rape kit.” After roughly six hours of examination, I was discharged with an after-visit summary which included the names of the antibiotics and blood tests I was given and a two-page attachment on sexual assault. I had a campus-based advocate from Women Helping Women accompany me during the emergency room visit. She informed me that the cost of the emergency room visit, along with the rape kit, would be covered by state funding that serves and supports sexual assault survivors. State funding for these emergency services is crucial because emergency room visits and the forensic exams conducted by specially trained Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE) are expensive. A forensic exam bill alone is anywhere from $900 to $1200 per survivor. According to RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network), the largest anti-sexual violence organization in the US, evidence from sexual assault forensic exams increases the likelihood of identifying the perpetrator, carries significant weight in court, holds perpetrators accountable, and prevents future sexual assaults from occurring. In fact, prosecution of sexual assault is unlikely to proceed without DNA evidence. On October 26th, I received a bill from my insurance company notifying me of the amount of money I owed UCMC for my emergency room visit two months prior. The bill came as a total surprise. The fact that I was charged for my emergency room visit has serious implications. All sexual assault forensic exams take place in a hospital’s emergency unit. If survivors are billed for these visits, it means they need to have the financial means to cover the emergency medical care and forensic exam. This financial barrier deters survivors from seeking care and preserving forensic evidence, decreasing their chances to effectively pursue justice. Making sense of my emergency room bill was incredibly difficult. I called the UC Health patient financial services department five times asking for clarification. First, I wanted to know which services I was being charged for. Second, I wanted to discuss how getting an emergency room bill could be a privacy violation. I wasn’t expecting one to be sent to my home. If the bill was sent to my parents, it would have forced me to disclose the assault to them before I was ready. Third, I wanted to know more about the state funding that supposedly covers sexual assault exams through a program called “SAFE” (Sexual Assault Forensic Examination). Since these exams take place in emergency units, why aren’t the bills covered? And what will it cost for a survivor to have an exam? None of my conversations with all UC Health representatives were helpful. One told me they would draft an email to me and their supervisor. It’s been roughly two weeks and I have yet to receive that email. Most of the representatives I spoke to informed me my bill was flagged for review because of my initial inquiry and that they would get back to me once the review was through. Another rep told me that the state of Ohio only covers the SANE cost and facility fee during the survivor’s emergency room visit; other essential parts of medical care like antibiotics to prevent STIs and physician's fees aren’t covered. That isn’t true. I met with my Women Helping Women advocate to discuss the funding issue. I saw this an opportunity to press for more state funding to cover emergency room costs and alleviate the financial burden for survivors to seek care and preserve crucial evidence. The advocate was surprised to learn that I was billed for my emergency room visit since I only accessed the forensic exam, antibiotics, and blood tests to test for Hepatitis-C and HIV. She reached out to her colleagues inquiring about the situation, and I finally got the answers I needed. The sexual assault exams that are funded through the Ohio Attorney General’s office include emergency room bills. SAFE’s website states that the program “pays for the cost of a forensic examination and the antibiotic prophylaxis to prevent sexually transmitted infections. The program reimburses medical facilities directly in the hopes of reducing the burden of dealing with billing issues for survivors of sexual assault.” I called the SAFE office to ensure that I understood the language correctly. The person I talked to asked which services I received in the emergency room. Then she told me to disregard the bill and that she would contact UC Health about the issue. I researched why UCMC would send the bill to my insurance company despite the fact that they could get reimbursed from the SAFE program. UCMC has been a tax-exempt nonprofit since 1996, meaning that it pays no income taxes and no property taxes. In exchange for the tax break, UCMC is legally mandated to provide a benefit for the community as a safety net hospital by serving a proportionately higher number of uninsured, Medicaid, Medicare and low-income individuals than other non-safety net hospitals. The reimbursement rate from public coverage programs like Medicaid and Medicare is less than the amount billed or the amount that a private insurance company would pay. SAFE funding operates much like a public coverage program. By transferring the cost to my insurance company and me to get a dollar-to-dollar reimbursement, UCMC has prioritized their financial needs with little concern for me as a patient and a sexual assault survivor. Surviving my sexual assault has been a difficult. I’m still trying to understand and process the experience. The emergency room visit was the first step for me to seek care, healing, and justice. So much of the process I went through was laden with barriers due to UCMC’s practices. I was fortunate enough to have the personal network, literacy, and time to look into the funding issue and find a resolution. Not every survivor can say the same. The emergency room bill is only a small part of the immediate cost of surviving sexual assault. According to National Alliance to End Sexual Violence, rape is the most costly of all crimes to its victims, with total estimated costs at $127 billion a year (excluding the cost of child sexual abuse). Research has estimated that each rape costs $151,423. UC Medical Center and UC Health need to take concrete steps to support sexual assault survivors. They need to work with survivors and advocates to develop information about options for hospital billing. If survivors access services not covered by criminal justice reimbursement, UC Health needs to create a clear process implemented with informed consent policies that will maintain the patient’s privacy and address any safety concern. In order to build a supportive community and culture for survivors on campus and beyond, we need to acknowledge survivors’ financial needs and enforce better treatment when we navigate the consequences of obtaining medical care. If there’s a remote possibility that the cost of an emergency room visit would make forensic exams inaccessible for financial reasons, we’re failing survivors. I hope to be the last survivor wronged by UCMC. (If you’re a survivor and you receive an emergency room bill for your forensic exam, please contact SAFE program at 614-466-4797 or email at SAFE@OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov.) The Unhuman Condition Kristina McKinley Contributing Writer A man has never asked me what it is like to go through a menstrual cycle, out of concern or even morbid curiosity. No man has ever asked what happens to me during the week that my body and my brain get hijacked. Hormones make me think the world is out to get me and everything makes me cry. I can put a smile on my face but no one talks to me because I might crack and break into pieces. What I have heard from men is, “It’s just cramps…” like they have ever experienced anything similar. It makes me want to plant a swift kick to their nuts so to explain, “That pain in your belly might come close to what I deal with every month.” I have been conditioned my entire life to think that I should just be able to push through this and function normally while I’m experiencing immense pain that - in an article I read recently - was equated to the pain of a heart attack. A HEART ATTACK. My condition has a name. It starts with a “D” and is long and difficult to pronounce. Kind of like the pain I feel when I’m experiencing cramps – long and difficult to articulate. No one would ever ask this of men. They’ve skipped class and called off work for much less and, “it’s okay, because they’re men.” The functioning world is like one big boys’ club. Medically, I have done everything I can do. Countless conversations with my reproductive health physician, birth control to manage the pain, and Aleve in the biggest doses the bottle says I can have… just to try to go to work and stay upright for 8 hours. Sometimes I can muscle through. Other times, I have to leave early and I have no good excuse except that my body is revolting against me. A male staff member asked me if I was feeling better after having to leave early the day before. “Is it the weather or allergies or…?” His inquiry was lengthy. How do I explain to a man that my period nearly kills me every month when even the word “period” makes men’s eyes peel back in horror THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED and disgust? It’s how they’ve been conditioned, since they were teens. How women and men have been conditioned prevents women from having honest conversations with their partners, co-workers, and friends about things that affect them on a regular basis. If my bosses were men, I would never dream of asking to leave early. A woman is expected to power on through her day; even though, secretly, she has a headache, pain that feels like a heart attack in her uterus, total body tiredness, and her brain can’t focus because all of the emotions are about to boil over and create an all-out sob fest for no reason other than someone smiled in her general direction. �6 LOCAL THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED N o v 214 - N v 19,15, 2 0 2018 18 | N| oNo. . 393 Dec. - oDec. 396 �No. 39 3 |- N ov 2 -15, N o2018 v 19, |2No. 0 18396 Dec. 14 Dec. 7 LOCAL IHN: Living Your Spirituality to Help Others MICHEAL PATTON I Contributing Writer HN, the Interfaith Hospitality Network of Greater Cincinnati and one of the members of the Homeless Coalition, had their Faith in Action Breakfast at Crossroads Oakley this past December 5. About two hundred supporters attended. I was there, both as a long-time supporter of IHN and also because I wanted to hear keynote speaker Jim Wallis. He is a best-selling author and the founder of Sojourners, a Christian magazine that reports on social justice issues. It was time well spent. IHN provides homeless families – dogs and cats included! -- with emergency shelter through its interfaith partners or host congregations who provide hot meals and shelter for the night. Its 2017 Annual Report lists dozens of host, support, and funding congregations, from Catholic parishes to the Tri-State Free Thinkers. During the day the families meet with the IHN staff at the day center to plan what the families need to do to get back into long-term housing. And, of course, those who are employed continue to work at those jobs. IHN follows a “housing first” strategy – first take care of the family’s housing needs and then work on the other issues. This strategy has been endorsed by HUD, the Department of Housing and Urban Development. IHN’s annual report puts some numbers to this: 366 families for a total of 1,290 individuals, 66% of them were children and 28% of the individuals had some kind of disabling condition. And success: after two years 85% of the families served in the IHN shelter stayed in their housing and did not return to homelessness. Keynote speaker Jim Wallis talked about the need for the people of faith to change the world because what is needed to be done will not happen without them. As he put it, people of faith are the ones who stop trains that have to be stopped. Service to others opens our eyes, and not just to people whom we know. As he put it, meeting people whom he was “never supposed to meet” changed his life. And, if we do not learn from people whom we help, we are not really helping. At times Jim Wallis spoke of how seriously wrong some things are with our country. He called racism “America’s Original Sin.” It was not slavery, although that is often given as the answer. One problem with that answer is that since we have gotten rid of slavery, the implication is that we have also cleansed ourselves of original sin even as we ignore racism. American slavery was based on the social construct that one people were inferior to another. Greeks and Romans had slaves but did not base it on this lie. Some of their slaves even taught the children of their owners – which would have been unthinkable in American slavery. He talked about the GI Bill paying for a college education and FHA loans to white soldiers who had served in World War II. With an education and a house you reached middle class. Racism ensured that no black soldiers got those benefits. I asked him about that after his talk because I was pretty certain that the legislation itself was not racially biased. I also felt keenly about this issue since I know my own father benefited from the GI Bill, having served in the Korean War. I became an engineer in large part because my father was one, and that was because of the education he received through the GI Bill. Jim Wallis explained that the problem was the banks and the universities who excluded blacks, not the laws. It is possible that there were exceptions but he did not know of any. He spoke of the different perceptions between blacks and whites while looking at the same events. Most whites, 72%, think that incidents of police brutality and killings of blacks are isolated incidents while 82% of blacks think they are systemic. Because of this there is “The Talk,” which is when black parents instruct their kids how to behave in the presence of a white police officer. Jim Wallis is hopeful. Hope is not optimism since optimism is a mood or feeling. He said this is the winning side but we cannot see the party yet. We are not needed at the party but are needed now. He closed his talk with his definition of hope: Hope is believing in spite of the evidence and watching the evidence change. The closing benedictions were by ministers from congregations of diverse faith that support IHN. Rabbi Ben Chaidell of the Adath Israel Congregation went first and pointed out that at Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism, there is a reading from the prophet Isaiah which states fasting is not enough. We must also practice social justice and help the poor and the oppressed [Isaiah 57:14 – 58:14]. Imam Ihab Mohamed of the Ihsan Community Center pointed out that differences in faith were far less important than the similarities. Other benedictions were by Pastor Chuck Mingo of Crossroads Oakley and Reverend Connie Simon of the First Unitarian Church of Cincinnati. More information about the Interfaith Hospitality Network of Greater Cincinnati is found at their website, www.ihncincinnati.org. -Speaker Jim Wallis (left) and Imam Ihab Mohamed All-in-Cincinnati – A New Policy Agenda and Coalition to Address Poverty in Cincinnati BILL WOODS Contributing Writer C incinnati recently received some bad news from the U.S. Census Bureau. The city experienced a 4.2 percent increase in poverty from 2007 to 2017. This revelation of ten thousand more residents falling below the poverty line comes at time when a major project to reduce child poverty by ten percent, the Child Poverty Collaborative, is now in its third year. Attendees at the November 29th Forum at Christ Church Cathedral heard about a new initiative to address inequity and poverty in this city. "All-In Cincinnati " represents both a diverse coalition and an agenda to tackle these critical issues. Two members of the All-In Cincinnati Core Team, Michael Coffey of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation and Eileen Cooper Reed, former Director of the Children's Defense Fund's Cincinnati office, described AIC's evolution and progress to date. They also spent much of the session fielding questions and listening to the experiences of community activists and social service workers in the audience. What makes All-In Cincinnati unique? Eileen Cooper Reed stressed that this initiative was "all about policy." Unlike many previous undertakings that focus on establishing one or two big programs, All-In Cincinnati emphasizes policy development and implementation as the key elements to bringing about a more equitable community. The local group that started ALL-In Cincinnati was inspired by a conference sponsored by Policy Link several years ago in Los Angles that encouraged cities confronting major inequity issues to take this policy driven, coalition building approach. After returning to Cincinnati, the group decided to work with Policy Link, a national research and action institute that promotes racial and economic equity, to develop a plan and strategy to put such a process in place. Working quietly behind the scenes, a group of community organizations and funders began meeting. It includes the Urban League, LISC, the Child Poverty Collaborative, Project AMOS, the Black United Front, Strive Partnership, the City's Human Relations Commission, Interact For Health, the United Way, and the Greater Cincinnati Foundation. The first public action of this informal coalition, explained Michael Coffey,was the release last month of a report, "All-In Cincinnati: Equity Is The Path To inclusive Prosperity." The report synthesizes all recent data concerning inequity and poverty in Cincinnati, and it presents a policy agenda for forging a more equitable city and county. Recognizing that poor families and individuals do not have access to jobs that pay a living wage or to affordable housing, many of AIC's recommendations deal with these two issues. One section of the report focuses on "increasing the economic security and mobility of vulnerable families and workers, especially women of color who face barriers to employment." Another section calls for increasing access to "high quality, healthy, affordable homes," as well as policies that prevent displacement. Race, noted Coffey and Reed, must be acknowledged as a factor if progress is ever to be made in reducing inequity in Cincinnati. Both the report and the AIC coalition accept this fact, and women of color are spotlighted as the group that needs the greatest attention if we are serious about making progress. "Black and Latina women are the most THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED likely to be working full time," says the report, "and still remain economically insecure." Some of the veteran community activists in attendance agreed with AIC's focus on developing effective policies. Their concern was whether All-In Cincinnati has the will and ability to get such policies enacted and implemented. Several attendees talked about the difficulties in taking on the often indifferent or opposed political and economic establishment, and kept asking the speakers whether funders like the United Way would fund the kind of organizing needed to mount a successful grassroots policy campaign? Michael Coffey stressed the openness of the AIC process, and that anyone could attend its monthly meetings. In fact, he said that it was critical that all groups and individuals working on issues related to poverty and inequity join forces in effective collaboration. He also recognizes the major efforts needed to bring about needed but long overlooked change, and he invited anyone interested at the Forum to attend AIC's meeting that afternoon. �FEATURE 8 N o v 214 - -NDec. o v 19, 2 02018 18 | N o . 393 Dec. 15, | No. 396 Push Back or Get Pushed Out Dr. Mark Mussman Contributing Writer A t the last Over-the-Rhine Community Council meeting, representatives from Urban Sites and the Over-the-Rhine Chamber of Commerce came with updates regarding a proposed Service Improvement District (SID) for the southern section of Over-the-Rhine. Downtown currently has a SID that funds Downtown Cincinnati Inc’s Downtown Ambassador program to physically clean up the sidewalks of downtown, and they wish to extend this type of program into Over-the-Rhine now that the property tax base has theoretically increased to an amount that could sustain the burden. This type of program can be characterized as a form of Neoliberalism, which is not a political ideology as much as an economic ideology. Simply put, neoliberalism can be seen in the privatization of public goods, services, funds, and wealth. We have seen unprecedented neoliberalism in Cincinnati in recent years. From the privatization of the City’s Planning Department in 2005 (now returned to the city), to the privatization of The Banks, Fountain Square, Washington Park, and Ziegler Park, there has been a concerted effort to funnel public money into private hands, such as the private non-profit organization 3CDC. 3CDC currently has “preferred developer” status from the City, which basically puts them in front of any line for public land and services. The designation as “preferred developer” is unclear at best, as there is no formal publicly controlled mechanism for the designation. It may have been the result of a backroom deal, lacking needed transparency. The prefered developer designation makes 3CDC a quasi-governmental organization, and as such, the President and CEO makes more than half a million in compensation each year, dwarfing even the City Manager or Mayor’s salaries. 3CDC has been funding sidewalk sweeping for some years in Over-theRhine, south of Liberty. According to the representatives, 3CDC has been providing about $250,000 each year to provide this service. They claim that there are 13 workers, who are paid a living wage with benefits. There are several questions to what is considered a living wage, and what benefits are received. 3CDC has stated that this program is no longer sustainable, and the proposed SID would generate $500,000 a year to establish and maintain a new non-profit to run the program. The proposed SID would be a shift of the economic burden from 3CDC to property owners in the neighborhood. Property owners would vote on the SID, not residents. The votes are also weighted, in that they need 60% of the linear footage to vote for the SID for it to pass. Once, passed, all property owners would be assessed an additional property tax to pay for the SID. The representative claimed that 3CDC and Urban Sites together own about 30% of the linear footage in the neighborhood, which means their two votes gives them 50% of the votes needed. Adding Over-the-Rhine Community Housing, Model Group, and POAH into the mix, it is unclear how many actual property owners would be needed to pass the SID. Questions as to whether the SID would increase rent in the neighborhood were downplayed at the meeting by the representatives. They said that it would not increase rents, although they did not provide any research to back up this claim. For those of us who live in “organic” affordable housing, we worry that increased taxes will force our rents to increase. Our landlords don’t receive subsidies from the government or promises from 3CDC regarding our tax burden. It is implausible that rents would remain affordable with additional taxes levied on our properties. Taken alone, the SID seems to be eroding naturally occurring Pool fees rose from 4 dollars a year to 4 dollars a day for youth through privatization affordable housing. But it needs to be seen in a much larger context. At the same meeting, there was a discussion of the privatization of the alley behind the Transept, on 12th and Elm Streets. At the meeting in October, it was stated that Model Group has purchased the alley behind Findlay Playground so that they can park their personal vehicles on it. Alleyways that have been granted a private lease for 4-5 years by the City have been found to be illegal closed off after their leases, or closed off without a lease by the organization Spring in Our Steps which strives to preserve public alleys and stairways. We are seeing a loss of alleyways in the West End to privatization, including the FC Cincinnati Stadium, which will also permanently close Central Avenue. The Stadium is displacing Taft High School’s stadium, many small businesses, a church, and many historic buildings, including the State Theater. This is just the beginning of displacement in the West End, where we are already seeing the loss of affordable housing at the Arts Apartment, and threats to Stanley Rowe Tower. Currently, there is a fight for Findlay Playground, which is located near McMicken on Vine Street. Past privatized parks include Washington Park and Ziegler Park. Washington Park is plastered with advertising from Bud Light, Southwest Airlines, Taft’s Ale House, Rhinegeist, 50 West, Christian Moerlein, PNC Bank, UC Health, and CommonBond. The cost to use the park is off the charts, as compared to other Cincinnati Parks. It has private security, with cameras, hostile design throughout, and a liquor license. Results of privatization of Ziegler Park include a swimming pool that went from $4/year to $4/day for the youth. The basketball courts can now be reserved for a fee, and the basketball court is simultaneously a Futsol Court, boasting sponsorship from FC Cincinnati. A representative from the CRC (Cincinnati Recreation Commission) said their goal it to make Findlay Playground “income generating” which may mean a parking garage, a stage area, or something else. Cincinnati Police have made recommendations to remove all seating, whether official or unintended, and put in a fitness course and dog park. The removal of the play area, grills, and basketball court, according to the police, would help remove people from the park. Other public initiatives, like the Liberty Street Pedestrian Safety Plan have been put on hold for private interests (FC Cincinnati), which erodes public control of our resources. Millions of public TIF monies that were earmarked for the Liberty Street improvements were transferred to the FC Cincinnati Stadium project. So in addition to the loss of the pedestrian safety improvements, the money was funneled into a private project. On Liberty and Elm sits a vacant field, which for many years was used to grow produce for Findlay Market. Now, as developers fight with residents as to what they can develop there, the field remains empty, and no produce is being grown for the community. There are parallels between these developments and the Main and Schiller development which is threatening a community garden and basketball courts. Fortunately, community organizations and youth are studying how to do development differently, with a focus on preventing displacement. Unless there is a concerted effort to fight Neoliberalism, we will lose all public spaces, facilities, and services to privatization. Just as there is an effort to privatize the federal Postal Service, there is clearly a increase cost privatization represents. Whether it be a publically funded SID, or the use of a park or swimming pool, the cost to use a private facility increases for the user. These costs will ultimately result in higher rents, as we saw when Ziegler Park was updated and nearby residents had their rents raised significantly. The landlord cited the updated park as the reason why the rents were increased. Ultimately, those residents were priced out of the neighborhood and they were forced to move. Who will be next? Spring in Our Steps fights to retain public spaces. THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �9 FEATURE No. 39 Nov 2 15, - No v 19,| 2 0 18396 Dec. 143 -| Dec. 2018 No. Rent the Courts Notice for Ziegler Park. Alley behind Findlay Playground, being used for private parking. Facing pressure, Peaslee put This Building Not for Sale on their new mural. Central Avenue faces permanent closure for FC Cincinnati stadium, other alleys lost. Alleyway reportedly purchased by Model Group, bordering Findlay Playground. A fenced off Findlay Playground and Park area. Findlay Playground fenced off, displacing park attendees Central Avenue closed for FC Cincinnati Stadium. THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �10 LOCAL THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED N o v 214 - -NDec. o v 19, 2 02018 18 | N o . 393 Dec. 15, | No. 396 �No. 39 Nov 2 15, - No v 19,| 2 0 18396 Dec. 143 -| Dec. 2018 No. 11 LOCAL It’s Time to Heal the Community Robert Brown I Contributing Writer was intrigued by the 2009 health care debate – actually nearly mesmerized. What particularly struck me was the quality of the public discourse or, more precisely, the degradation of the quality of the public dialogue. It was as if fact and truth had left the building and objective reality had become a quaint notion. In a lot of ways it appeared to be the political equivalent of the “dozens”. As quickly as the first “yo mama” was implied or expressed, the conversation veered into the ether where any hope of cobbling a solution to the vexing and challenging issue of providing adequate health care to our population was obliterated. I was prompted to take a closer look. Doubtless, the U.S. has an abundance of health care resources. Our providers are talented, competent and committed. They are among the best trained in the world. Our universities engage in cutting-edge and revolutionary research driving the development and adoption of advanced medical treatment and technology. Our facilities are first-rate and maintain superior capabilities. These institutions strive to establish and promote everhigher levels of quality, patient care and safety. Looking closer though, our abundance of health care resources may in fact be an embarrassment of riches. The quality of any system is measured not only by the inputs but also by the outputs – in this case, our health outcomes. One metric by which health outcomes are assessed is cause-specific mortality rates – for the top causes of death, how many folks perish. Based on this single metric, U.S. health outcomes are mediocre at best. Actually, our outcomes are among the absolute worst compared to those of the balance of developed countries. There are even some third-world countries that have lower mortality rates than ours. While these national results are shockingly dismal, looking further we find that there’s more bad news. Narrowing the focus to metro Cincinnati, the mortality rates for the top ten causes of death are measurably higher than the national results! As we follow this path from merely mediocre to dismal, we find there’s even more. Narrowing the focus again to individual communities, we find particularly higher mortality rates in inner-city urban neighborhoods. There is even one neighborhood in Cincinnati where the mortality rate is nearly twice the rate of metro Cincinnati. Not only are these results abysmal, the disproportionality alone screams for attention and action. And may also reflect a shameful and unacceptable failure of humanity. Why the disparity you ask? The structural inequalities found in the general society are often magnified in inner-city urban communities. We find higher poverty, higher unemployment and higher crime rates. These conditions contribute to the deterioration of the social fabric of the community as well as the erosion of the physical infrastructure. Many in the population have limited capital resources and are denied access to health insurance. With little money and no insurance, it is unlikely that a person would have a regular source of primary medical care. Not only is it an economic burden to go to the doctor, it is an economic burden just to get to the doctor. Once there, the person must pray that the doctor doesn’t prescribe any medication because that too is unaffordable. So the person waits until the condition becomes unbearable and wanders into the emergency room or urgent care center. These institutions are not intended or structured to be primary health care sources. They do what they do in spades – competently and efficiently. But as a source for primary care, they are absolutely inappropriate. What about self-care? If a person eats properly and exercises, the person has the opportunity to maintain a reasonable level of good health. That’s right. Unfortunately, in many innercity communities, access to healthy diet options – fresh produce, low-fat, nutritious selections – are severely limited. The daily walk, jog or bicycle ride is constrained because the sidewalks are a mess. In addition, some residents choose not to be exposed to the risk of catching a stray bullet. Cynical explanations for the health inequities we observe cite free will as the underlying cause for the disparity. Constructed on an “us versus them” framework, “those people” are sicker, poorer than us, are dying more abundantly than us, because of the poor choices they make. They are impulsive, shiftless and lazy. They choose to be where they are – as if suggesting they want to endure misfortune and suffering. I believe this is a dangerous position to take. Not only does it betray a certain contempt for less fortunate people – who knows, maybe even for ourselves – , it ignores the reality that our acceptance of such dystopian conditions has a real effect on all of us and all our communities. Just because “those people” don’t live in your neighborhood doesn’t mean they are not your neighbors. What about points of access for health care? While it appears that many in the inner-city may lack access to “private” docs and caregivers, there are a number of community health centers offering a full range of care options – adult and pediatric clinical, dental, mental health care resources. There are FQHC’s (Federally Qualified Health Centers) specifically established to serve underserved communities, city-funded health centers, faith-based centers and other privately-funded clinics. I know the perception exists that “clinics” are subpar and somehow inferior to “private” medical care. I don’t know how widespread this impression is, but in my experience the quality of these community-based health centers rivals any private source. Not only are the people who staff these institutions as committed, competent, caring and dedicated as any others, in some cases, because of strong partnerships with the major hospitals and teaching institutions, service quality is enhanced. In an attempt to mitigate the economic condition and insurance status of the patients, many of these centers charge on a sliding scale based on income. I come from the day and age where the doc who birthed you was the doc who took you out. Not only did this same doc treat your parents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncle and cousins, the doc would actually show up at your house to treat you. We are well beyond this idealized past. But the idea raises a fundamental question – a question rarely discussed. It centers on the relationship between the patient and the caregiver. I believe this is one of the most important and significant relationships a person can have. Patients need to find a caregiver they trust. They deserve and must demand someone who is accessible and present, sensitive to the nuances and subtleties of the individual patient. Patients must be encouraged and feel free to be completely open and candid and timely. The caregiver carries the additional burden of educating the patient about the parameters of his condition. The caregiver must make the patient understand the relationship between behavior and his condition and teach him to understand what symptoms to expect and how to respond. What we’re talking about here is health literacy and self care. This is a function of the partnership between patient and caregiver. The patient needs to be self aware – must learn to “listen” to his body – and must be able to communicate to a caregiver who is capable of listening and hearing what is going on. This degree of sensitivity is not limited to the primary caregiver, it must infuse the entire health care delivery organization. Why is it important that you know this information? Researching this information, I was thunderstruck by the seriousness of this issue. As I mentioned, my interest was ignited by the 2009 health care debate – and so was my frustration. Whenever this issue is discussed, dissemblance rears its ugly head. It’s kind of like watching a really, really bad magic trick, clumsy misdirection and all. We need to make this a central issue of open, vigorous, honest public discourse. When the PTB’s – Powers That Be – decide on allocation of resources to craft effective solutions to these challenges, we need the information to keep them honest. We need to know that we are waging the battle for ALL of us and we are being effective, efficient and successful. As such, I invite your input and feedback. Boeing’s VW Moment Robert Park Contributing Writer W ell, they didn’t do it on purpose, putting the travelling public at potentially fatal risk the way VW did when they scammed the diesel exhaust emissions regulations. The Boeing aircraft company joined the IT mafia and said let’s program the airplane and dumb-down the pilots so that we don’t have to worry about them putting their plane into a fixed stall (going too slow to stay flying). But we don’t want to make it look like a significant operating change that would require a lot of re-training for airlines buying the new Boeing 737 Max. So the marketing people had their way, the new manuals looked like an easy transition, no biggie. It just so happened that if you needed to switch off the automatic stall preventer in a hurry because it got confused and insisted on flying the plane into the ground, it wasn’t so easy to figure out how to do it. Some of the manuals may have even been defective, not to mention inadequate training requirements. It didn’t help that Lion Airlines, in Indonesia, had some bad habits of its own. The people telling us that selfdriving cars are going to be better than sliced bread ought to be having a few sober moments here, themselves. It’s those darn sensors; why aren’t they as smart as people. All those simulations with perfect streets, weather, signage, painted lines, no construction, predictable drivers, etc. looked really good. But even a million lines of code can’t stand up to the real world. And it would THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED be nice for a lot of us if our car could last 10 years without having multiple brain and nervous system transplants. So here are two morality plays for the corporate decision-makers planning our future. In the VW case, the splash back was a multi-billion dollar hit on Germany’s proudest players and richest thug-families (think Porshe). At Boeing, the liability is still unfolding on the 189 deaths and loss of the 100 million dollar plane. Maybe their lawyers can stick a lot of it on Lion Airlines… but then maybe Lion Air can stick it back on Boeing. �12 STREET VOICE The White House Christmas List Mother Goose The Donald has a Christmas list. At the top of his list is "The Wall." N o v 14 2 --N o v 19, 0 18 | |NNo. o . 393 Dec. Dec. 15,22018 396 Winter Haiku Night falls early now, Cutting short the bounds of day It hardly sends out a message As Winter beckons Of glad tidings to us all. BILL WOODS BRIAN TAYLOR Contributing Writer Contributing Writer About a Good Boy Perked ears, widened eyes Scratched doors, excited whimpers. "Time to go outside." M.T. Contributing Writer Streetvibes Writing Circle If you would like to submit a story for publication in streetvibes, come join Katelyn Lusher and Chris Wilkey for a group writing session! S treetvibes is distributed by individuals who purchase the paper for 75 cents per copy and sell it for a $2.00 donation, keeping the profit they have earned. Becoming a Distributor is a great way for individuals who are financially poor to get back on (or stay on) their feet. This program provides supplemental income for those unable to secure other employment. Money earned helps meet basic housing, food and health care needs. The program is a hand up for people who are often in a place of getting only a hand out, or even no hand at all. All Distributors wear a badge and usually a vest and can be found selling the paper in Downtown Cincinnati, Clifton, Northside, Northern Kentucky and at area churches. THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �No. 39 Nov 215, - N2018 o v 19, 2 0 18 Dec. 143- |Dec. | No. 396 The Struggle STREET VOICE This Xmas Today while watching the news I heard that Santa Claus arrived in a helicopter They also talked about tax cuts and how the politicians were eating out at Red Lobsters What happened to the days when the bells rang for Santa Claus, his reindeer and sled What happened to the belief in miracles and all the little children went to bed Waiting for that glorious morning to open all the presents that Santa left under the tree Asking questions about how he brought all the gifts down the smoke filled chimney Waiting day and night, trying to be good all for Christmas so we'd be granted the ultimate blessing Looking back and understanding that as a child I was tricked, Santa in a helicopter that's a new lesson Without the holiday's Thanksgiving and Christmas Day what else is there to really look forward too Without giving thanks for so many blessings and being thankful for Jesus birth just to name a few So for me Christmas has somehow lost the true spirit and has been misunderstood by all We must always remember God's blessings, don't forget to give thanks and bring back Rudolph the red nose reindeer driving Santa Claus!!!! WILLA D. JONES Streetvibes Distributor Contributing Writer This Xmas Has lots of hope And cheer for the New Year Family, and friends, Have lots of smiles And are near Presents, are here And dinner Will be served Lots of hope And love The promise of hope Seems to be Here on earth So give love And lots of thanks To God above To all families Big and small Merry Xmas to you all KIM GREEN Streetvibes Distributor & Contributing Writer THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED 13 �PUZZLES 14 CROSSWORD PUZZLE NO. 168 Across Down 1. Postage token 1. Celestial body 6. Hit with something flat 2. Melody 10. Line made from twisted 3. At the peak fibers 4. Method 14. Private instructor 5. Deliver a sermon 15. Expect and wish 6. Diffident 16. Finished 7. Rich soil 17. Positively charged 8. Month electrode 9. Writing implement 18. Tall story 10. Adult male swan 19. Flock 11. Open 20. Revoke 12. Variety show 22. Kind of mineral 13. Appliance for 24. Regret removing moisture 25. Sprocket 21. Closed circuits 27. Not as heavy 23. Matured 29. Extreme excess 26. Monetary aid 34. Pasture 28. Annoy continually 35. Former currency of Italy 29. Scale drawing 36. Animal feet 30. Animation 38. Adult male duck 31. Divisions of geological 42. From a great distance time 43. Informal photographs 32. Plaid 45. Desiccated 33. Mindful 46. Bird shelters 37. Mettle 48. Genuine 39. Song for solo voice 49. Make vocal music 40. Chess piece 50. Assistance 41. Boundary 52. Form a mental image 44. Cut 54. Sore 47. Sieve 58. Small cask or barrel 51. Compulsory force or 59. Type of tree threat 60. Clean-cut 53. Tropical lizard 62. Debris 54. Part of a corolla 67. Hints 55. Form of legal defense 69. Give off 56. Urge or force 71. Pointer 57. Restrict or confine 72. Assist in wrongdoing 61. Unit of length 73. Storage tower 63. Food from the husks 74. Inexperienced of cereal grains 75. Plant with pendulous 64. Two-masted sailing vessel flowers 65. Score of zero in squash 76. Cook slowly in liquid 66. Pitcher 77. Ire 68. Pig pen Nov 2 o v 19, 2 02018 18 | N o . 393 Dec. 14- -NDec. 15, | No. 396 SODOKU PUZZLE NO 389 - MEDIUM 70. Drag behind PUZZLE SOLUTIONS CROSSWORD #40 SODOKU PUZZLE NO 383- MEDIUM PUZZLES from puzzlechoice.com and puzzles.ca THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �No. 39 Nov 215, - N 2018 o v 19,| No. 2 0 18396 Dec. 143-| Dec. Central Access Point 381-SAFE Shelter: Women and Children Bethany House 557-2873 RESOURCES St. George Food Pantry 751-8771 2554 Dennis St. 45219 Prince of Peace Lutheran Church 621-7265 1528 Race St. 45202 Churches Active in Northside 1841 Fairmount Ave. 45214 The Esther Marie Hatton Center for Women 2499 Reading Road 562-1980 Grace Place Catholic Worker House 681-2365 4230 Hamilton Ave. 45223 591-2246 FreeStore/FoodBank 241-1064 112 E. Liberty Street 45202 Madisonville Ed & Assistance Center 271-5501 6037 Cary Ave. 45224 Salvation Army 762-5660 4600 Erie Ave. 45227 Serves area codes: 45226, 45227, 45208, 45209 131 E. 12th Street 45202 YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter 872-9259 St. Vincent de Paul 562-8841 1125 Bank Street 45214 Shelter: Men Treatment or Supportive Recovery: Men Shelterhouse 721-0643 Charlie’s 3/4 House 784-1853 411 Gest St. 45203 St. Fran/St. Joe Catholic Work. House 381-4941 2121 Vine Street 45202 1437 Walnut Street 45202 Prospect House 921-1613 1805 Dalton Ave. 45214 Starting Over 961-2256 City Gospel Mission 241-5525 682 Hawthorne Ave. 45205 Parkway Center 661-4620 Treatment or Supportive Recovery: Women Shelter: Youth Sheakley Center for Youth (18-24 y/o) 2522 Highland Ave. 45219 569-9500 Lighthouse Youth Crisis Center (10-17 y/o) 3330 Jefferson Ave 45220 961-4080 Shelter: Family Interfaith Hospitality Network First Step Home 961-4663 2203 Fulton, Cinti, Ohio 45206 Treatment or Supportive Recovery: Both AA Hotline 351-0422 CCAT 381-6672 471-1100 830 Ezzard Charles Dr. 45214 Joseph House (Veterans) Housing: 1522 Republic Street 45202 Caracole (HIV/AIDS) 761-1480 CMHA 721-4580 Excel Development 632-7149 OTR Community Housing 381-1171 114 W. 14th Street 45202 Talbert House 221-HELP Tender Mercies 721-8666 27 W. 12th Street 45202 Tom Geiger House 961-4555 Volunteers of America 381-1954 Anna Louise Inn 421-5211 2401-2411 Reading Rd. 45202 Cincinnati Union Bethel 768-6907 241-2965 Hamilton County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board 946-8000 Recovery Health Access Center 281-7422 Sober Living 681-0324 Talbert House 221-HELP Advocacy Catholic Social Action 421-3131 Community Action Agency 569-1840 Contact Center 381-4242 Franciscan JPIC 721-4700 Gr. Cinti Coalition for the Homeless 421-7803 117 E. 12th Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 VA 977-6800 VA Homeless 859-572-6226 Legal Aid Society 241-9400 Ohio Justice & Policy Center 421-1108 UpSpring 363-3300 Food/Clothing Health 2401 Reading Rd. 45202 First Lutheran Church 421-0065 1208 Race St. Food - Last Monday 12-1 Clothing - second Monday 12-1 Lord’s Pantry 621-5300 OTR/Walnut Hills Kitchen & Pantry 961-1983 OTR: 1620 Vine Street 45202 Walnut Hills: 2631 Gilbert Ave. 45206 Our Daily Bread 621-6364 1730 Race Street 45202 St. Francis Soup Kitchen 535-2719 15 Cincinnati Health Network 2825 Burnet Ave. 45219 McMicken Dental Clinic 352-6363 40 E. McMicken Ave, Cinti Mental Health Access Point 558-8888 NAMI of Hamilton County 351-3500 PATH Outreach 977-4489 Other Resources Center Independent Living Options 241-2600 Peaslee Neighborhood Center 621-5514 215 E. 14th St. 45202 Franciscan Haircuts from the Heart 381-0111 Goodwill Industries 771-4800 Intercommunity Justice & Peace Cr. 579-8547 Mary Magdalen House 721-4811 1223 Main St. 45202 People Working Cooperatively 351-7921 The Caring Place 631-1114 Talbert House 751-7747 United Way 211 Women Helping Women 977-5541 Off The Streets 421-5211 Hamilton County Office of Reentry 946-4304 138 E. Court Street Room # 101 First Floor Cancer Justice Network 404-3882 Hamilton/Middletown St. Raephaels 981-4200 Salvation Army 863-1445 Serenity House Day Center 422-8555 Open Door Pantry 868-3276 Northern Kentucky Brighton Center (11-17 y/o) 859-491-8303 ECHO/Hosea House Fairhaven Resuce Mission Homeward Bound Youth Mathews House Homeless & Housing Coalition Parish Kitchen Pike St. Clinic Transitions, Inc Welcome House of NKY 859-261-5857 859-491-1027 859-581-1111 859-261-8009 859-727-0926 859-581-7745 859-291-9321 859-491-4435 859-431-8717 799 Ann St. Newport, KY 205 West Pike Street, Covington, KY 41011 Women’s Crisis Center 859-491-3335 VA Domiciliary 859-572-6202 Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky 634 Scott St. 41011 859-291-4555 Want to advertise in Streetvibes? You can support our mission and spread the word about your 961-0600 business. For more information contact Gabriela Godinez Feregrino, Center for Respite Care 621-1868 email streetvibes@cincihomeless.org 3550 Washington Ave. 45229 Crossroad Health Center 381-2247 5 E. Liberty St. 45202 Health Resource Center 357-4602 McMicken Integrated Care Clinic and Mobile Medical Van 386-7899 40 E. McMicken Ave, Cinti, Ohio THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �16 N o v 216 - N o v 19, 2 02018 18 | N . 393 Nov. - Nov. 30, | oNo. 394 S treetvibes is distributed by individuals who purchase the paper for 75 cents per copy and sell it for a $2.00 donation, keeping the profit they have earned. Becoming a Distributor is a great way for individuals who are financially poor to get back on (or stay on) their feet. This program provides supplemental income for those unable to secure other employment. Money earned helps meet basic housing, food and health care needs. The program is a hand up for people who are often in a place of getting only a hand out, or even no hand at all. All Distributors wear a badge and usually a vest and can be found selling the paper in Downtown Cincinnati, Clifton, Northside, Northern Kentucky and at area churches. ALFRED WOOLFOLK SINCE 10/2003 ASRES AYENAW SINCE 2012 BERTA LAMBERT SINCE 1997 BETTIE BAILEY SINCE 10/2017 BRANDON NELSON SINCE 4/2008 BRIAN ADAMS SINCE 7/2017 CHARLES WILLIAMS SINCE 7/2017 CHRISTOPHER KAIHATSU SINCE 7/2017 CLEO WOMBLES SINCE 10/2003 CRANDALL COBB SINCE 2004 DARREL ROZIER SINCE 7/2017 DAVID MCCANE SINCE 2017 ERIC VALDEZ SINCE 2/2017 GERALD FRANKLIN SINCE 7/2017 GRADY COOK SINCE 1997 HENRY BRELAND SINCE 7/2017 JAMES BROWN SINCE 3/2009 JAMES DAVIS SINCE 8/2000 JENNY BURTON SINCE 7/2017 JIMMIE GIPSON SINCE 2001 JON DARBY SINCE 2/2006 JOHN HORN JOSEPHINE BASKERVILLE SINCE 9/2008 J’TORI TYMAN SINCE 5/2014 KIM NGUYEN SINCE 7/2017 KENNY BUSSELL SINCE 10/2009 KAREN COLLETTE SINCE 7/2008 LARRY BROWN SINCE 10/2007 LEE MCCOY SINCE 7/2009 LEONARD JACKSON SINCE 2/2005 MARY MUELLER SINCE 5/2005 MARK SHEARS SINCE 4/2012 MAURICE GOLSBY MELISSA MOSBY SINCE 9/2014 MIKE CARANO SINCE 4/2016 RAESHAWN GIPSON SINCE 3/2009 RAYNARD JONES SINCE 10/2008 RICKY WOODS SINCE 4/2015 RICCARDO TAYLOR SINCE 1999 RONNIE PHILLIPS SINCE 10/2009 SAMUEL JACKSON SINCE 10/2006 STACIA HOLLANDER SINCE 2017 STEPHANIE EAKES SINCE 7/2017 SYLVESTER WALKER SINCE 7/2017 TALINA HILL SINCE 2/2011 VICTOR MUMPHRY WILLA JONES SINCE 1/2010 WINNIE RICE SINCE 7/2017 QUEENACELASTINE SINCE 7/2017 TIA CASS SINCE 11/2007 THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED TONY THOMAS SINCE 3/2005 KEITH EUTSEY SINCE 2/2011 VIOLET COLLINS SINCE 2017 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2018 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource December 14-December 28, 2018 Subject The topic of the resource Homelessness Description An account of the resource Pg 1: Cover Page Pg 2: From the Director Pg 3: The Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition is Awarded Findlay Playground Pg 4: GCHC Pg 5: The Hidden Costs of Being a Sexual Assault Survivor The Unhuman Condition Pg 6: Hoe to Respond to Panhandling Pg 7: IHN: Living Your Spirituality of Help Others All-In-Cincinnati Pg 8: Push Back or Get Pushed Out Pg 9: Feature Pg 10: GCHC Pg 11: It’s time to Heal the Community Boeing’s VW Moment Pg 12: Street Voice Pg 13: Street Voice Pg 14: Puzzles Pg 15: Resources Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Streetvibes Archive Project Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Streetvibes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource December 14-December 28, 2018 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Josh Spring Brian Taylor Micheal Earl Patton Bill Woods Willa Jones Dr. Mark Mussman Kim Green Robert Park Siqi Cheng Leah Rutz Yuliya Milkitin Kristina McKinley M.T. Homeless Coalition Wikipedia (Fair Use) Morgan Mitchell Gabriela Godinez Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF 3CDC Bill Woods Brian Taylor Cincinnati Dr. Mark Mussman Findlay Playground Gabriela Godinez GCHC Homeless Coalition IHN Josh Spring Kim Green Kristina McKinley Leah Rutz M.T. Micheal Earl Patton Morgan Mitchell Over-the-Rhine poverty Robert Park Sexual Assault Siqi Cheng Wikipedia (Fair Use) Willa Jones Yuliya Milkitin https://streetvibesarchive.net/files/original/a7e003b7890ae7ec21418bbc5df8ea46.pdf 49131558edcf3e8dbb3c8b35a2e19ab0 PDF Text Text April 20th - M ay 3rd 2018 | Vol. 21 Issue 9 (No. 380) advocating justice | building community Rejecting Hierarchical Divisions, Paul Breidenbach | 8 This Issue is sponsored by Bromwell's Harth Lounge INSIDE THIS ISSUE Issues Abound at the Faith Community Alliance Ceremony | 2 Red Bike Announces Equity Program: Red Bike Go | 5 The Deep State Part II: Tails wagging dogs, big and small | 11 Eisenhower’s Farewell Address | 7 Find previous issues of Streetvibes online at: cincistreetvibes.org Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition 113 E. 12th Street Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 streetvoice | 13 �2 LOCAL From The Director: From the Coalition Against an FC Cincinnati Stadium in West End O n Monday, April 16 Cincinnati City Council voted 5 to 4 to support a deal for FC Cincinnati to construct a stadium in the West End. This total deal includes more than $33 million from taxpayers for infrastructure needed to support the stadium, a property tax abatement for the taxes that would be due to the city, the payment of half the amount that would be due Cincinnati Public Schools without the abatement, exemption from construction sales tax and approximately $15 million in tax dollars from Hamilton County to build a parking garage. We reject this decision to the highest degree for the following reasons: • The development of this stadium would lead to the displacement of people from their homes and neighborhood. • The City has zero legislative protections for people who rent to prevent displacement by the market. • Approximately 20% of our Cincinnati Public School children will experience homelessness this year, last year more than 137 people A p r i l 2 0 - M a y 3, 2 0 18 | N o . 38 0 JOSH SPRING Executive Director died without a home in our city and county, we have a shortage of 40,000 affordable homes in Hamilton County; 28,000 of which are in Cincinnati, of the 50 largest metropolitan areas in this country, we have the tenth highest number of evictions, the housing crisis is so significant that 70% of families with children who seek shelter are turned away and all of our shelters are seeing greater numbers of people than they have ever seen before. It is wrong to invest funds in luxury while so many in our city are living without out access to the needs of basic survival. It is wrong to subsidize the wallets of billionaires. • Both the City and County are predicting tens of millions of dollars in budget deficit next year. • West End Residents and people from throughout the city have come to numerous meetings and have publicly and vehemently opposed the location of such a stadium in the West End. • The West End Community 113 East 12th St. Cincinnati OH, 45202 Josh Spring Credit: Homeless Coalition Council overwhelmingly voted against the stadium and voted to only work on a Community Benefits Agreement if the stadium were forced on the West End neighborhood. Despite this, the president of the West End Community Council, Keith Blake orchestrated work on a Community Benefits Agreement and gave it to FC Cincinnati in opposition to the vote of the Community Council. (Continued on page 3) ISSUES ABOUND AT THE FAITH COMMUNITY ALLIANCE ANNUAL LUNCH AND AWARDS CEREMONY I ssues took center stage at the Faith Community Alliance's annual lunch and awards ceremony at the American Red Cross Building on April 12th. The two invited speakers Catherine Turcer, Executive Director of Common Cause/Ohio, and Todd Portune, President of the Hamilton County Commission, split their time between championing Issue 1, the Congressional redistricting proposal on the May 8th ballot, and depicting upcoming County budget issues. Luncheon emcee Charlie Wallner, longtime leader of this coalition of faith groups and service and community organizations, also discussed the Alliance's current focus on advocating that City Council recommit to allocating 1.5 percent of the general budget to human services. Using a power point presentation to visually display Ohio's extremely gerrymandered Congressional Districts, Turcer explained how Issue BILL WOODS Contributing Writer I, a proposed State Constitutional Amendment, would end this process of one party drawing maps to insure its dominance in the U.S. House Streetvibes is an activist newspaper, advocating justice and building community. Streetvibes reports on economic issues, civil rights, the environment, the peace movement, spirituality and the struggle against homelessness and poverty. Distributed by individuals experiencing homelessness or on the edge of homelessness, in exchange for a $2.00 Donation. Streetvibes is published twice a month by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless (GCCH), a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that works to eradicate homelessness in Cincinnati. Ph: 513.421.7803 FAX: 513.421.7813 WEB: www.cincihomeless.org BLOG: streetvibes.wordpress.com EMAIL: streetvibes@cincihomeless.org Editor: Justin Jeffre Executive Director: Josh Spring Director of Development: Mona Jenkins Director of Education: Dr. Mark Mussman Distributor Program Manager: Justin Jeffre Layout: Key Beck Reception: Larry Johnson, Anne Evans Maintenance: Pete Roper ----------------------------------------------CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE of Representatives for a decade. The perfection of gerrymandering through the utilization of computers, noted Turcer, finally got the (Continued on page 7) Writers: Josh Spring, Bill Woods, Dr. Mark Mussman, Rev. Rich Jones, Justin Jeffre, Michael Earl Patton, Saad Ghosn, Jim Luken, Kim Green, Willa D. Jones ----------------------------------------------Photography/ Artwork: Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition, Dr. Mark Mussman, Jubilee Campaign, Justin Jeffre, White House, Saad Ghosn, Jim Luken, Bill Woods --------------------------------------------------Thank You For Reading Streetvibes And Supporting Our Mission To Build Community And Advocate Justice. Streetvibes and The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless do not endorse candidates for public office. THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �LOCAL Do You Speak Like a Gentrifier? No. 38 0 | A p r i l 2 0 - M a y 3, 2 0 18 D o you hear things that make your skin crawl? Of course, when you hear racial slurs, (including racist mascots and team names), or when you hear someone treated poorly, your ears might perk up and you make note of the words that someone uses. As an educator, it is important to “meet someone where they are” and understand that they may need some clarification or information to make better word choices, because after all, words do matter. I have written many times about the importance of person-first language when talking about people who are experiencing homelessness. This is to ensure that we don’t erase their identities by equating their circumstances with who they are. Person-first language does not diminish the priority of finding housing, but rather operates outside of “deficit culture” which purports weaknesses above strengths. Person-first language also shows that homelessness is a temporary situation, rather than someone’s identity. Straight, cis-gender, white men will have trouble understanding this because their viewpoint isn’t challenged, and they are rarely labeled. This may be where education comes in. The process of gentrification has many tactics, which result in the displacement of residents. We have begun to mete these out in a recent JOSH SPRING (Continued from page 2) • Without the consent of the Membership the West End Community Council Executive Board had no legal ability to sign the “CBA” in question today, therefore the “CBA” is not legally valid. • Today’s meetings were the only time City Council had set aside to publicly discuss this deal. BILL WOODS (Continued from page 2) attention of the news media and the public. Then the grassroots success of the citizen initiative on redistricting that was already underway goaded the Republicans and the Democrats in the Ohio House and Senate to draft the reform proposal that is currently before the voters. Although the proposed Amendment is not without flaws, Turcer argued that it includes enough safeguards to make it 99.9 percent better than the present process. Besides requiring 50-percent of the members of the Legislature of both major parties to adopt the new District maps, it requires public hearings (including the ability of citizens to submit district maps). It also includes DR. MARK MUSSMAN Staff Writer Developers benefit from gentrification Credit: Dr. Mark Mussman 3 contribute to the displacement of low income, typically African-American, residents. Under the guise of “cleaning up the neighborhood” tactics are used to both remove low-income and people of color from the neighborhood. The false narrative, that it’s dangerous and full of criminals, is constantly used to enable property values to drop so that speculators can gobble them up and wait on them until they are ready to develop for luxury housing. As I have written before, this also happens to our public spaces, including parks. This is more than just a war on values or ideas — this is a war on our community, that some call genocide. When people call Over-theRhine “O-T-R” they are using the language of the gentrifier. When 3CDC (Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation) began their assault on Over-the-Rhine, they renamed Vine and 12th the “Gateway Quarter,” which more than clearly demonstrates their goal. First, to rename it provides an avenue by which they can say “it’s not Over-theRhine, it’s the Gateway Quarter — see, it’s safe, and new and shiny!” They attempted to both simultaneously benefit from the gritty, raw, urban landscape, and they allure of wealth. My skin crawls when I hear people call my neighborhood “OTR” as it’s the language of the invaders. Even hastags like #ThisIsOTR were created and maintained by the chamber of commerce, even though they are made to be the voice of brochure at the Homeless Coalition. Concrete things like tax abatements, community development corporations, neighborhood enhancement programs, surveillance, entrepreneurship programs, dog parks, breweries, sidewalk seating, and hostile design denote the displacement of residents in low-income neighborhoods in favor of increased wealth for some at the expense of others. Interpersonal tactics, such as blight determination, favoring businesses over residents, discomfort, criminalization, denial of experience, and the creation and maintenance of a false narrative, also • Some of the land in question is subject to use restrictions pertaining to the end of the federal program, HOPE VI and the City West agreement, thus requiring that this land be used for the construction of affordable housing and therefore the proposed use of this land is not allowable. • This process has been riddled with back-door deals and lies. For these reasons and more, we plan to continue use every method accessible both legally and socially to stop this stadium. We will oppose this stadium at every pertinent zoning hearing, planning commission meeting, county commissioners meeting and city council meeting. We will oppose all liquor permit requests and proposed sales of public land. West End Residents will take the necessary steps to impeach Keith Blake the current president of West End Community Council for his pursuit of an FC Cincinnati stadium in West End in spite of the vote of the West End Community Council. To Don Garber and Major League Soccer and Jeff Berding and FC Cincinnati, it is important that you know, this is not over. We are not done. language calling for compact districts and a minimal splitting up of counties and cities. With both major parties endorsing Issue I, it has a good chance of passing. However, since this is a primary election, less people will go to the polls, and voters often skip or vote against ballot initiatives that catch them by surprise. For this reason, Turcer urged FCA members to inform their friends and neighbor's about the importance of this issue. If we don't take advantage of this opportunity before the 2020 Census, declared Turcer, we will confront the potential of another decade of extremely gerrymandered Congressional Districts. Commissioner Portune used a power point presentation to outline the major issues facing the County as the Commission prepares to tackle drafting the next budget. One of the basic problems confronting Hamilton and other Ohio counties is the loss of state funds. In recent years, these losses have been severe; requiring the Commissioners to find local, resources to try to shore up many departmental budgets. He specifically cited the County's challenge in paying for a number of unfunded state mandates. In his opening remarks to the luncheon attendees, Charlie Wallner spoke with passion about the need for City Council to take seriously its commitment to funding human services. Council, he stated, has sadly regressed from the ordinance put forward over thirty years ago by former Mayor Bobbie Sterne that earmarked 1.5 percent of the budget for these services. Despite giving lip service to increasing funding for services to a level of at least 1.5 percent, the Administration and Council always seem to find budget obstacles that prevent this from happening. With Cincinnati's high poverty rate and the present opioid crisis, noted Wallner, it is a moral imperative that City Government assumes more responsibility for financing critical services. FCA also presented a series of awards to individuals and organizations that have made major contributions to the community. Award winners were Morris Williams, Greg Landsman, Rabbi Miriam Terlinchamp, the Greater Cincinnati Black Nurses Association, and the Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center. THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED (Continued on page 12) --------------------------------------- --------------------------------------- �4 LOCAL THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED A p r i l 2 0 - M a y 3, 2 0 18 | N o . 38 0 �5 JUBILEE CAMPAIGN The “New Parish” in Cincy No. 38 0 | A p r i l 2 0 - M a y 3, 2 0 18 A s I write this, my faith is in the midst of its Holy Week…as a Jesus follower, we celebrate the cycle of life as demonstrated through Jesus, conception, birth, life, death…and then resurrection. The resurrection of the church is happening all around us, even now, as I write. As traditional and even modern or post-modern churches and faith communities either decline, plateau, or stagnate, they are beginning to recognize that they cannot “work harder or smarter” to grow numerically. Faith communities have often become “purveyors of religious goods” and have committed to an attractional model to bring in new members. Often, those “new” members are simply folks that are migrating from one church to the next, searching for the latest or hippest church. It can become a maddening process that eventually burns out those that are seeking and those that are producing the “next” church or faith expression. Faith community members are fine folk, they have done much of the “right things” to survive, yet they have not been able to thrive. Eventually, all things come to an end, and we are witnessing, in most cases, the slow death of church. That resurrection shows itself through churches that realize that the faith story is not about “winning” converts, but, instead, it is about our own conversion as we stop trying to be constantly relevant. Rather, we can follow the practice of Jesus and “move into our neighborhood” (read the 1st chapter of John in the Bible). Jesus’ example is one of being with us in full humanity and living in community with us as a true friend, and, out of T REV. RICH JONES Contributing Writer that friendship, together with anyone willing to be in friendship, working towards knowing and being known locally in the context of where we live. In every neighborhood across Cincinnati, there is a “mega-faith community.” Unlike some of the large mega-churches or other large congregations of faith that are housed in big buildings, this “mega-faith community” is hosted in many houses of worship. It crosses theological boundary lines and dogma and is marked by the sort of radical inclusion that begins with “everyone belonging and contributing” as best as you can. This has been called the “New Parish” by some. It is a movement of folks who may belong to different churches and/or faith communities/ expressions but are realizing that friendships “trump” everything. God’s very expression of God’s self is in community, in relationship… creating, saving, sustaining. Denominational or man-made religious opinions should not get in the way of humans being truly human and connected with one another in deep and meaningful friendships. This is beyond simply being ecumenical, it is living in authentic connection and community together and practicing radical neighborliness while building up the common good of the place in which one lives. The Parish Collective is a part of the movement that is proliferating this practice of being neighborly and faithfully present with yourself, your neighbors, and within your faith community. Other groups like the Economics of Compassion, Oasis, the Common Good, and so many others share this “DNA” of faithful presence and are a part of this movement also. The ethos of “Asset Based Community Development” (ABCD) has been a key part and practice of faith communities becoming more neighborhood engaged. Many would say that they find God at work already in the neighborhood, building connections and relationships together. The concept of abundance of the neighborhood over scarcity has been a beacon of inspiration for faith communities as they struggle to figure out their shifting identity in a changing world. The church that I pastor in my neighborhood, Fleming Road UCC, has been on a journey towards community engagement well before I was called to be their pastor. Together now, we are having dialogue on what it means to listen to one another and to our neighborhood. We are seeing where there is beauty as well as struggle in our Finneytown community. Through our partnerships with Parish Collective, Oasis (www.oasisfinneytown.com), and the UCC we have found friends, encouragers, and collaborators as we work together to live into this new story emerging in our neighborhood and in our church. We will be walking the neighborhood, sitting in restaurants and bars, engaging the local school district and government and listening and building friendships as we move together with other faith communities in the “new parish” in the months and years to come. Together, we are working towards the flourishing of our neighborhood, just as many others are doing across the country and world. And, in so doing, we are seeing faith communities move from being purveyors of religious goods and experiencing decline, towards thriving communities of authentic relationship and a “re-functioning” of what it means to be “church”. For more stories, check out the Parish Collective and Parish Collective Cincinnati. They are at the heart of the groundswell. Faith communities are connecting with each other and attempting to grow the fabric of love and care across parishes throughout Cincinnati and across the world. Parish Collective is currently undertaking valuable new initiatives to help "grow roots" in the neighborhood and "weave links" across places. We collaborate with practitioners, explore stories, and access resources as we seek to build a network of communities working together to support a movement that is changing the meaning of church as it engages with its neighbors. For more info, go to www. parishcollective.org, also, check out an exciting opportunity coming this fall, the Conspire Gathering at www. conspiregathering.com. Rich Jones is the pastor of Fleming Road UCC in the Finneytown neighborhood in Cincinnati. He is on the board for Economics of Compassion and Oasis Cincinnati and is an organizing team member and community connector for The Parish Collective. He also coaches cross country at Finneytown Schools and is an obsessive runner. His spouse, Debbie, is a PTA and they have two teenagers, McKenzie and Brennan. --------------------------------------- Red Bike Announces Equity Program: Red Bike Go he bicycle has been called by some, “The most efficient machine on earth.” That might explain the popularity of Cincinnati’s Red Bike program which opened in September 2014. Now with Red Bike’s new equity program more low-income riders will be able to access them. During Minority Health Month and just before Bike Month, Red Bike launched Red Bike Go, a discounted $5 monthly membership program to ensure everyone has access to the bikeshare system. Red Bike Go provides people with limited income access to the bikeshare network at an affordable price— helping more people go where they want to go—for health and wellness, JUSTIN JEFFRE Contributing Writer transportation and recreation. The Red Bike equity project is funded by a generous grant from Interact for Health. Red Bike Go is available to residents in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, who receive food assistance (SNAP) or energy assistance (HEAP and PIPP) or are clients of partner organizations and agencies. People can sign up online at www.cincyredbike.org/gopass. For $5 a month, Go Pass holders receive a member card and have unlimited 90-minute bike rides for 30 days. They can pay month to month or set their pass to auto-renew every month at the same price. Payment can be made with a credit card, debit or bank card, most prepaid cards, or cash. Payment cannot be made with an EBT card. If paying with a card, Go Pass holders can sign up online or in-person at an Red Bike Go outreach event or class. Cash payments must be made in person, either at an outreach event or at the Red Bike Shop on a weekday by appointment. Cash renewals can be dropped off at Red Bike during weekday business hours and at Red Bike Go events. To schedule an appointment to pay by cash and get signed up, contact Red Bike Go Manager Elese Daniel at elese.daniel@cincyredbike. THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED org or (513) 621-2453. The Red Bike Shop is located at 14 W. 15th Street, 45202 in Over the Rhine— one block west of the Vine Street Kroger. Red Bike is partnering with local organizations to connect their clients to the Go Pass. Initial partners are Ohio Means Jobs, CincinnatiHamilton County Community Action Agency, Greater Cincinnati Urban League, and the Brighton Center in Newport, Kentucky. Red Bike is looking for additional partners. All interested agencies and organizations should contact the Red Bike Go Manager to discuss the opportunity of connecting their clients with Red Bike Go. In addition, Red Bike is working with the Human (Continued on page 6) �6 JUSTIN JEFFRE (Continued from page 5) Services Chamber of Hamilton County to connect the Go Pass to hundreds of clients within their 50 member organizations. There will be a Red Bike Go outreach event at the Ohio Means Jobs Center on Monday, May 7 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Residents can sign up in-person at the event. The Ohio LOCAL A p r i l 2 0 - M a y 3, 2 0 18 | N o . 38 0 Means Job Center is located at 1916 Central Parkway, 45214 on the edge of Over the Rhine and the West End. Additionally, Red Bike is deploying a Street Outreach Team to help spread awareness about Red Bike Go and the benefits of bicycling and bikeshare at events throughout the city. The Red Bike Street Outreach Team kicks off their efforts later this month at the 15th Annual Health Expo on April 28 in Washington Park. Bicycling can be a convenient way to actively commute around the city, get to work or school, run errands, exercise and enjoy time outside with friends and family. The Red Bike Go program hopes to expand that awareness and interest to be more inclusive and representative of the larger community. Concurrently, Red Bike is releasing a new Monthly membership option at $15 a month, with no eligibility requirements. Monthly members will receive a member card and have unlimited 90-minute bike rides for 30 days. Monthly members have 30 additional minutes of ride time compared to the Day Pass and Annual Pass at unlimited 60-minute rides. The new Monthly membership and Red Bike Go complement the existing Day and Annual Passes to offer Red Bike’s diverse mix of riders options and pricing that best accommodates individual needs. The Red Bike network covers two states and four cities—Cincinnati, Covington, Newport and Bellevue— with 57 stations and 440 bikes. Since launching in 2014, Red Bike has had more than 320,000 rides. Seeking landlords who accept Housing Choice (Section 8) Vouchers for efficiency and 1 bedroom apartments. Interested in developing a long-term relationship with ongoing tenant referrals. Please contact Alexis Aghotte at 513.446.7554 or aaghotte@ shelterhousecincy.org THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �LOCAL Eisenhower’s Farewell Address No. 38 0 | A p r i l 2 0 - M a y 3, 2 0 18 R ecent events in the midEast have reminded me of President Eisenhower’s farewell speech that he gave shortly before leaving office in January 1961, to be succeeded by John Kennedy. His warning about the power of the military-industrial complex seems out-of-character for a man who spent almost his entire adult life either in the military or as its commander-in-chief. If the “permanent armaments industry of vast proportions” and its influence are such a concern, then why did Eisenhower wait until the waning days of his presidency to voice his warning? Excerpts of his speech are given below (the full speech is easily found on-line). But first I want to give some context by briefly reviewing a couple events of 1960. Maybe there is a clue as to why Eisenhower gave this speech when he did. During the presidential election campaign of 1960, the Democratic candidate John Kennedy accused the Eisenhower administration of being soft on defense and that there was a “missile gap” between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, with the U.S. being far behind. Kennedy’s opponent was Richard Nixon, then vice-president under Eisenhower. The truth was completely opposite – the U.S. actually had the lead. Nixon knew that, but he could not challenge Kennedy on this without revealing U.S. intelligence capabilities. Eisenhower had Kennedy privately briefed on the true situation, but Kennedy kept on making the erroneous claim. He probably did so because it played well with the media and the public. (This was later one of many things spoofed in Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 dark comedy Doctor Strangelove, where the worry becomes the “mine shaft gap.” The U.S., the film acknowledged, had more missiles but was behind in deep underground places that offered protection from atomic fall-out.) On May 1, 1960, a U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union. The cover story was that the plane was a high-altitude weather research plane operated by NASA over Turkey. The U.S. “speculated” that the pilot may have had oxygen difficulties, became unconscious, and the plane continued to fly over the Soviet Union on autopilot. This was about 2 weeks before the Four Power Paris Summit where the Soviet leader, Khrushchev, and President Eisenhower were to meet. The cover story was exposed when the Soviets announced that the pilot, Francis Gary Powers, had survived. Eisenhower said that he had authorized the flight, but even at the time some blamed the CIA. After all, Eisenhower was certainly aware of the risks involved in such a flight and had wanted the summit to succeed. As for his statement that he had authorized the flight, the alternative 7 MICHAEL EARL PATTON Contributing Writer Dwight D. Eisenhower, official photo portrait, May 29, 1959 Credit: White House would have been to admit that he was not in control of the government. Instead, the summit quickly ended in failure. With that background in mind, here are excerpts from Eisenhower’s farewell address: “My fellow Americans: … This evening I come to you with a message of leave-taking and farewell, and to share a few final thoughts with you, my countrymen … “Crises there will continue to be. In meeting them, whether foreign or domestic, great or small, there is a recurring temptation to feel that some spectacular and costly action could become the miraculous solution to all current difficulties. A huge increase in newer elements of our defense; development of unrealistic programs to cure every ill in agriculture; a dramatic expansion in basic and applied research -- these and many other possibilities, each possibly promising in itself, may be suggested as the only way to the road we wish to travel. “But each proposal must be weighed in the light of a broader consideration: the need to maintain balance in and among national programs -- balance between the private and the public economy, balance between cost and hoped for advantage -- balance between the clearly necessary and the comfortably desirable; balance between our essential requirements as a nation and the duties imposed by the nation upon the individual; balance between actions of the moment and the national welfare of the future. Good judgment seeks balance and progress; lack of it eventually finds imbalance and frustration… “Our military organization today bears little relation to that known by any of my predecessors in peacetime, or indeed by the fighting men of World War II or Korea. Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations. “This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government… In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together… President Eisenhower concludes by stating the need for disarmament “with mutual honor and confidence,” his disappointment in not making more progress [an apparent reference to the failed summit], and for peace with justice. Was he thinking of the next president, John Kennedy, who may have won the election because of an appeal to more armaments when he had been trying to reduce them? Was his summit with Khrushchev torpedoed by the CIA and their fascination with who is ahead in hardware counts? This is speculative weaving, but the result does fit. In the present day, I have been distressed by the unquestioning attitude of the American major media whenever it comes to our military. As for the supposed chemical attacks in Syria and our response, no one seems to be asking what the actual evidence is or whether video or social media can be faked. (By the way, whatever happened to the discussion on fake news?) Instead, I saw a fascination with American, British, and French firepower. This may not be intentional since military hardware in action is far more visually interesting than a discussion as to what our response should be. And apparently more interesting than even Stormy Daniels. But harm allowed by lack of oversight will last much longer than the better ratings. �8 RELIGIOUS PEACEMAKERS Rejecting Hierarchical Divisions, Paul Breidenbach, an Atheist, Uses His Knowledge of Spanish to Help Immigrants Regain Their Equal Rights A p r i l 2 0 - M a y 3, 2 0 18 | N o . 38 0 P SAAD GHOSN aul Breidenbach grew up in a Catholic family, one which had to relocate frequently, mostly in South America, due to his father's employment at the State Department. As a child, he went to church every week and participated in various religious activities. He became, however, quickly disillusioned with religion and rejected the hypocrisy of its followers who did not live according to its teachings, teachings that he, himself, was not ready to adopt. In addition, Breidenbach did not believe in the presence of a God. When he reached college, he decided to cut all his ties with the church and declared himself a convinced atheist. This, however, did not take away his concerns for the other. On the contrary, he developed a strong sense of equality and of respect for everyone's rights. "My principles are simple," he says, "not to do things to others that I do not want done to myself. Also, to fight injustices, protect people, make sure their basic needs are met, and help them improve things in their lives." For college, Breidenbach attended Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT and studied American History, mentored by Henry Abelove, the radical marxist historian who influenced the way he looked at things. He was also introduced to E.P. Thompson's thinking about class formation in capitalism, also Contributing Writer to his concept of moral economy. He ended up graduating with a PhD in US History from the University of California in San Diego. "During these years, I was not a real activist," he says. "I participated in the recycling Coop of the university, helping collect recyclable material all over campus; also joined a rally and was vocal against institutionalized racism; and raised money in solidarity with El Salvador... But this was practically it," he adds. Breidenbach's studies and the fact that he was fluent in Spanish thanks to the many years he had spent abroad in Hispanic countries, affected, however, the future orientation of his life. In 1996, married and with two kids, he relocated to Cincinnati and there, with his egalitarian and progressive values, he connected right away with the increasing Latino immigrant population. He started meeting with refugee individuals, listening to their complaints, interpreting for them, helping them find solutions to their problems. He did it voluntarily and most of the time without compensation. He also taught part time Spanish and History in a local private school. These activities, however, not being financially sustainable, he decided to join the social justiceoriented union side law firm of Kircher,  Suetholz & Grayson, a firm that represented organizations in What is ATHEISM Atheism, in the broadest sense, is the absence of belief in the existence of deities, i.e. gods. The term emerged first in the 16th century; and the French Revolution of 1789, which witnessed the first major political movement in history to advocate for the supremacy of human reason over the notion of gods, was the first time atheism became implemented politically. The difference between atheism and agnosticism is belief of god and knowledge of god. An atheist (a-theist) does not believe god(s) exist and an agnostic (a-gnostic) does not know if god(s) exist. There can be many combinations of atheist, theist, gnostic, and agnostic to describe people's approach to god. There is no one ideology or set of behaviors to which all atheists adhere. Conceptions of atheism also vary and accurate estimations of current numbers of atheists are difficult. In 2015 WIN/Gallup International polled 64,000 individuals and found 11% of them to be "convinced atheists". In 2004, a survey by the British Broadcasting Corporation(BBC), however, recorded atheists as comprising 8% of the world's population. Europe and East Asia are considered the regions with the highest rates of atheism. In 2015, 61% of Chinese reported being atheists; and in 2010, a Eurobarometer survey in the European Union (EU), reported 20% of the population not believing in "any sort of spirit, God or life force".  (From Wikipedia) the labor movement and which tried to empower workers in order to obtain mutual aid and protection in the workplace. Breidenbach served there as an interface with the Spanish speaking workers. A few years later he became the interpreter and office manager of Brennan Grayson, the lawyer who had hired him initially in the firm, and who had since become the president of the Cincinnati Interfaith Workers Center (CIWC, Paul Breidenbach which aims to mobilize, educate, and organize low wage and immigrant workers to achieve positive systemic change) and then the current Executive Director of the Workers Center derived from it. In the meantime, he also worked at United Way for Housing Opportunities Made Equal, a nonprofit organization that deals with inequities and injustices affecting low income renters, addressing the illegalities that arise in rental housing. He served there as the advocate for the Hispanic tenants, representing them face to management, moving forward and officializing their demands, helping them fill out escrow forms that legalized their complaints. Breidenbach got thus associated with The Willow, a 400 unit low income complex apartment in Springdale, mostly inhabited by immigrants from Guatemala and Senegal, also by some African Americans. In response to tenants' complaints of lack of security and of neglected maintenance problems, the management of the place, in a gesture of good will, created and offered an educational space to be used by the tenants and other low-income residents of the neighborhood. Breidenbach has been intimately involved with the operation of the space, now used, among others, by Su Casa and Trihealth. "We can teach English as a Second Language, teach kids music, hold art activities...," he says. "It can be a fertile ground for mutual understanding." At The Willow, and at The Colony, another low income apartment complex also in Credit: Saad Ghosn Springdale, Breidenbach offers tutoring and homework help with English and other assignments to youth living there. He is now helping a 22-year-old immigrant student succeed in passing courses toward his graduation. Breidenbach has also been going to local elementary schools to teach Spanish, encouraging kids to acquire early on a 2nd language. He does it with the hope to facilitate communication and cultural exchange from a young age, away from the rigid stereotypes and prejudices easily developed with age against immigrants. He envisions also achieving the same through the practice of group sports, which have been proven to create bonds in the youth, transcending discrimination. Breidenbach is also working with the Immigrant Dignity Coalition against bullying in the schools, in anticipation of what could happen in the current intimidating political climate. And thanks to his command of Spanish he has always served as a facilitating resource to many union organizations, including the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers (Continued on page 11) Religious Peacemakers is a regular column highlighting Greater Cincinnati individuals who use their faith and religious beliefs for peace and justice. Saad.Ghosn@uc.edu is the founder of SOS (Save Our Souls) Art, an organization that promotes arts as vehicles for peace and justice and for a change. THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �NATIONAL “Is Your Refrigerator Running?” (Just asking) No. 38 0 | A p r i l 2 0 - M a y 3, 2 0 18 I love writing for this little newspaper. Even now, living far away, I'm drawn to being a semi-regular part of something that is doing so much good for so many people. I'm sure you readers look at the back page now and then. Those are the pictures of our distributors who spend hours on the sidewalks and street corners, selling this paper. Obviously, their “job” provides them spending money. They use this money the way you and I do, sometimes for essentials, and sometimes to buy stuff that makes them feel good. I don't begrudge the ones who drink. I drink. Or the ones who might use it now and then to get high. Been there. Done that. Probably will do so again Life is tough, especially for those who live so close to the streets, to the bottom line, to the bone. Selling Streetvibes provides some of these folks with a little extra to make their lives a little easier, a little better. The one thing that sometimes bothers me about this paper (and about the dozens of other “streetsheets” published in cities around the US and the world) is that it is too expensive to be purchased by poor folks, and especially by homeless folks. This means that we contributing writers can seldom, if ever, direct our stories and articles to an audience of the poor, the so-called marginalized. Instead, we write for you, the good people who generously, issue after issue, purchase the paper from our distributors, and hopefully enjoy our non-mainstream insights 9 JIM LUKEN Contributing Writer and perspectives. Our “audience” is primarily you concerned middle class people, generally from the suburbs, who come downtown to work or shop or eat. Now, many of you “upscale” Cincinnatians have chosen to move downtown, but you also choose to support the Homeless Coalition's work and our Streetvibes distributors. On behalf of all the people who work with the poor, or who contribute time to Streetvibes, and on behalf of those who benefit from the services provided, I will take this moment to thank you, sincerely, for being an integral part of what we do as we try to bring an end to the ongoing problem of rampant homelessness. At this point, you readers are probably wondering why this article has so strange a title. As you read on, you may wonder what the refrigerator story has to do with the problems relating to our downtown poor, or to homelessness, here, there and throughout the world. I will try to make some associations at the end, but for now, I'm telling you that I am providing the essay to this (your favorite downtown paper!) in the simple hope that you, my middleclass audience will find it interesting and perhaps enjoyable. I wrote this piece several years ago and entered it in a contest sponsored by Sun Magazine, which perhaps a few of you read regularly. It is a generally a good read, but it did not include my essay among the short pieces it published under the heading of: Refrigerators My entry was titled, “A quick course in refrigeration.” It follows below: Some of us older folks, remember making anonymous phone calls as kids, and asking the person at the other end, “Is your refrigerator running?” If the answer was “Yes,” we responded by saying, “Well, Ma'am, you better go catch it.” Click. I recall it was a scary thing to try, and that the joke seldom worked. If you were to walk into the kitchen and listen to your refrigerator at this moment, the odds are that it would indeed be running. If not, it soon will be. The sounds of its various fans and motors are part of the ambiance of your home, you seldom even notice the noise. Perhaps the most reliable, and vital, household appliance, the refrigerator stands quietly against a wall in the kitchen, and—with no visibly moving parts—keeps our everchanging foodstuffs cold (or frozen) over years, even decades. We take THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED things out and put things in every day of our lives with seldom a thought. I have been in my present apartment for twelve years. I estimate that the fridge is nearly 20 years old. I have yet to replace a single failed component in my own fridge. Ever wonder how this amazing and reliable machine works? As a long-time maintenance technician, I will attempt to explain the process. Of course, you could go to Wikipedia, but my explanation may be easier to grasp. And more fun. In fact, I'm not even going to check. So here goes: A refrigerator (or A/C, or dehumidifier) is a closed, tightlysealed system filled with a gas often referred to as “freon.” Unlike the liquid “gas” (gasoline) that burns off as it powers the engine of your car or lawnmower, freon gas is used over and over and over again to cool that trustworthy insulated box wherein you keep your perishable food. Each refrigerator employs a motorized pump called a compressor. As the heart of the cooling system, the compressor's (Continued on page 11) �10 LOCAL A p r i l 2 0 - M a y 3, 2 0 18 | N o . 38 0 May 18 - June 9, 2018 For tickets please call (513) 381-2273 Purchase tickets online at www.cincyshakes.com AD Donated by Mark and Sue Ann Painter season sponsored by the Otto M. Budig Family Foundation THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �LOCAL The Deep State Part II Tails wagging dogs, big and small No. 38 0 | A p r i l 2 0 - M a y 3, 2 0 18 A few months ago, one of the cartoons in the weekly New Yorker magazine was a drawing of two scruffy-looking guys sitting at a bar. One is angry as he says to the other: “What's the point of having a conspiracy theory if everyone's going to conspire against it?” I cut that cartoon out, and it sits here on my desk, annoying me every time I glance its way. Why? Because I am a true believer in many conspiracies, and I'm in no way ashamed to say so. Some six years ago, I wrote a series of essays for this paper about conspiracies related to a variety of topics, The JFK assassination, of course. Also, about Martin Luther King, the fluoridation of our water, and… The day that changed everything My favorite conspiracy, which I researched for years and wrote a full length play about (as well as a short film script and a radio play) had to do with the events of 11 September, 2001. Yes, dear readers, I remain convinced that what happened that day, “the day that changed everything,” were perpetrated by a cabal of operatives JIM LUKEN (Continued from page9) job is to “squeeze” the gas so hard that it becomes a liquid. This process actually creates heat, which is dispersed out the bottom of your refrigerator. The now-liquid freon then “escapes” through a tiny tube called a capillary, or through a carefully-sized orifice called an expansion valve. The escaping liquid expands into a gas, which is quite cold. (Have you ever felt the chill when using an aerosol can, like hairspray? Same principal. A liquid escapes through a small nozzle on the can, expanding into a gas. Your finger feels the chill. The can is cool after releasing the gas). The cold gas in the fridge then expands into a tight coil of copper pipes usually located under the bottom panel (or behind the rear panel) of the freezer section. The fan that you hear when you open the freezer door pulls air through this SAAD GHOSN (Continued from page 8) (CFT), the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), in their dealing with labor issues pertaining to Latino immigrants. Breidenbach's involvements all along have also remained with 11 JIM LUKEN Contributing Writer by UC police officer Ray Tensing was handled. The same type of conspiracy takes place regarding virtually every murder committed by uniformed police officers across the United States. There is an almost conspiratorial rule: Even in the most obvious of cases, cops will not be convicted of a crime. I have a friend who is a high-ranking officer in the Canadian Mounties. He told me that Mounties who committed such obvious crimes, like the Dubose killing, would be out of a job in short order, and usually convicted and jailed. Canadian deaths at the hands of police are minimal compared to those in the US. 2) I believe that there was a conspiracy involved in the way Western-Southern, and its CEO, John Barrett, gained possession of the Anna Louise Inn, an historic refuge for poor women in Cincinnati for more than 100 years. That landgrabbing crime should never have happened. 3) I believe that there is an ongoing conspiracy as 3CDC continues to manipulate real estate in OTR, so within what is now known as the Deep State of the United States. More on that later. But for now, regarding 9/11, it is manifestly clear that it was an inside job, that we did it. 9/11 happened because an elaborate, ultra-secret element of top-ranking traitors from every level of our national-security state planned and perpetrated it, then—even more elaborately—covered it up. This writer is anything but alone in my convictions about 9/11 “truth.” Thousands of architects, engineers, pilots, ex-CIA people, ex-military, scientists and academicians from all over the world have signed on publicly, officially, forcefully, insisting that what happened that day was “an inside job.” Many did this at the risk of their jobs and reputations. Some paid with their lives. There is even a huge group which names itself “Patriots for 9/11 Truth.” Look it up. [Or, simply go to You Tube and search: [Retired General Stubblebine “Oh, my God.” A true patriot, Stubblebine's credentials are impeccable. His 15 minute video chat will convince almost anyone.] Conspiracy theory 101 But in this piece, I want to discuss “conspiracy theory” more generally. I don't need to tell you that those two words are maligned by politicians and the news media on an all-too regular basis. “Oh, that's another wacky conspiracy theory.” Perhaps as you began reading this piece, you were thinking that the writer must be a nut. I congratulate you for continuing to read. By the end, I hope you see that I am relatively sane and fairly well-informed on the subject. The technical definition of a conspiracy theory is: “a theory that explains an event or set of circumstances as the result of a secret plot by usually powerful conspirators.” That's from Mr. Webster. I like it, because it contains nothing negative about we believers. Nor does it suggest that all conspirators were/are doing something unlawful, or illegal, although that is usually the case. Here let me provide a short list of recent local conspiracies. 1) I believe that there was a conspiracy involved in the way the obvious murder of Sam Dubose finned copper coil (the evaporator). This circulating cold air both freezes the freezer section (to around O degrees) and chills the air in the fresh-food section of your “ice box” (to around 38 degrees). So called “frost free” refrigerators actually do create frost on that finned coil inside the freezer. If your house isn't air conditioned, and the ambient humidity is high, quite a bit of frost will form on the coil. Not to worry. Every twelve hours, a timer turns off the cooling system, and turns on this electric heat element located under, or around, the cooling coil. For a brief time, the element gets red hot, melting the frost away. After about 15 minutes, the timer turns the refrigerator's cooling system back on, and the heater off. The homeowner is seldom, if ever, aware that this defrost cycle is happening, or when. An adjustable thermostat “senses” the temperature inside the refrigerator section and regulates the overall cooling system. Once you set the thermostat to a desired coolness, the compressor and fans are turned on (as the box temperature rises a few degrees) and off (once the compartment returns to the set temperature). The system maintains these levels of coldness day after day, year after year, winter or summer, no matter what the ambient temperature of the kitchen happens to be. Except for having a part replaced now and then, you need do nothing but pay the electric bill. Simple, right? But if you really want to find out if the light bulb goes out inside the fridge when you close the door, you may need to consult an expert. Does anyone remember the character “Vern?” What does this have to do with poverty or homelessness??? Well, nothing, really. But in some ways, it might prove quite relevant. Think about it. If you don't have a home, then you don't have a refrigerator. You don't have the option of going into a room, opening the thick door and grabbing a cartoon or a bottle, then pouring yourself a perfectly chilled glass of milk, or twisting the top on a cold brewski. Or of eating food that has been kept fresh just for you. This appliance, this amazing convenience, which most of us take for granted (unless we lose power during a snowstorm) is NOT part of a homeless person's everyday life. So Reader, in your urban or suburban home, would you miss not having a refrigerator? Of course you would, but probably not quite as much as you would miss not having a toilet at your immediate disposal when nature beckons. Think about it. Everyone should have a toilet. Everyone should have a fridge. Everyone should have a home. Affordable housing for all!!! Now go check if your refrigerator is running. P.S., Once I had written the above essay, I did go to Wikipedia. As I thought, my explanation is much easier to grasp than theirs. Do you trust me? the Workers Center and the Labor Council of the AFL CIO, which represent the interests of working people, promoting safe work places and practices, protecting workers' wages, fighting for their rights, and advocating for social and economic justice for all—regardless of race, color, gender, religion, age, sexual orientation, ethnic or national origin. Commenting on the current times, Breidenbach is quick to state that they are apocalyptic, controlled by greed, power and money. He thinks that we should look for solutions outside the classical norms of the democratic structure, and that we need to take our voice instead to the street. He would like to promote alliances between oppressed people who have a lot in common; and bring together those who face similar problems of inequality in order to impact a change. "We are all human beings and equal," he states. "We all have similar rights and should be given equal opportunities. I do not believe in hierarchy or that some are better than others because of birth. We need to fight injustice wherever it is and empower workers everywhere and whoever they are." THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED (Continued on page 12) --------------------------------------- �12 DR. MARK MUSSMAN (Continued from page 3) the neighborhood. (Rarely do they include people by focusing on street scenes, sunsets, buildings, etc., but that’s another story.) This goes deeper into the development community. 3CDC (Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation) owns hundreds of buildings in the neighborhood now. How many? Well, we don’t know. They refuse to release their property list — they told me it’s proprietary information. What are they hiding? If you look up properties on the county JIM LUKEN (Continued from page 11) that the poor are being systematically displaced from the neighborhood where their families have lived for generations. 4) There was also a conspiracy in the way an entire north wing of the downtown public library was being sold to 3CDC for a proverbial song...without community input. Fortunately, that conspiracy was unraveled in time, because angry citizens found out in time, although a primary whistle-blower lost her job. 5) Here is a Cincy miniconspiracy. But it affects hundreds and hundreds of our city's homeless and poor. When the downtown area was “renewed,” one facet of that renewal involved hundreds of new park benches. Nice. But each of the new park benches contains an “armrest” built in the very middle. This armrest all but prevents tired or homeless people from sleeping on the benches. Is there anyone out there who could be convinced that these “armrests” were simply installed by accident. No, the planners conspired to have the city buy benches like these. Their conspiracy could not be considered a crime, but it nonetheless seems almost criminal. The Proof is in the pudding All the horrible things our “deep state” has done (mostly without being caught) would seem to prove that we are capable of doing anything. Anything to preserve a status quo that “the powers that be” are so comfortable with. The deep state is potentially free to perpetrate the most heinous of crimes, without ever being called to task. Just as the police are never really called to judgment in the deaths of so many African-Americans. I will give you a very recent example of how conspiratorial forces, the forces of collusion, the deep state, might have chosen to work: Poisoning of Russian former spy in England. We all know the story. This former spy and his daughter were poisoned with a deadly nerve agent. They remain very sick. The entire world is convinced that “Russia did it.” Maybe they did. Most likely they did. Hundreds of Russian diplomats STREET VOICE A p r i l 2 0 - M a y 3, 2 0 18 | N o . 38 0 auditor’s site, they are registered under the address, rather than under 3CDC. There are so many LLC’s (limited liability corporations) it’s impossible to tell which buildings are actually owned by 3CDC. 3CDC will say they are “land banking” but when buddy gray was working with the community to acquire buildings for low-income housing, they were accused of “stockpiling” them. Can you spot the difference between the effect of “land banking” vs “stockpiling?” The language that we use has an effect. All of this is to say that we all, especially white people, have an obligation to do the emotional labor and to learn by listening to our neighbors, doing research, and ultimately distancing ourselves from people who wish to erase the history, culture, and people from inner-city neighborhoods. We must resist false narratives and lies like “no one has been displaced from Over-the-Rhine,” “there are more people living in Overthe-Rhine now than 15 years ago,” “more bars will bring opportunity,” “a stadium is going to bring jobs,” “school life won’t be impacted by construction,” “it’s not removing housing,” etc. Just like in everything else in life — if it sounds too good to be true, it most likely is. We must hold our elected officials accountable for the decisions that they make that harm our communities, and we must hold each other accountable when we use hurtful or flagrant language that creates barriers to solutions and the truth. If you’d like to learn more about the Over-the-Rhine People’s Movement, please contact us to schedule a tour or a speaker. You can learn more and conveniently sign up on our website, under Education: cincihomeless.org have been expelled from counties all over the world. 60 from the US. But Russia (Puten) claims they didn't do it. Maybe they didn’t. If the Russkies really didn't do it, who might have perpetrated this nasty act? The fact is, because of the election interference, because of the annexation of Crimea, because of militarization of part of Ukraine, Russia is on the ropes right now. So think about it. Couldn't there be at least a possible scenario in which the US or the British planted the nerve agent of the door of Russian spy's boats, attacked the USS Liberty, a technical research (read “spy”) vessel in the waters off the Sinai Peninsula. The Israelis hoped to pin the attack on Egypt. 34 men died and 172 were injured. Surviving crew members were immediately put under a gag order. To this day, Israel insists that the attack was a freak accident, a case of mistaken identity, that continued for more than an hour despite repeated distress signals from the disabled ship. To this day, many of the surviving crew members of the Liberty are house in England so that Russia would be further vilified? And never forget that the US warehouses the largest supply of chemical agents and nerve agents of any country in the world. Why do we find this necessary if we never plan to use the stuff? Again, look it up. Let me be clear, I'm not saying that this is what happened. I'm not saying that the US (or Brittain) created a “false flag” operation, implicating the Russians. But I am asserting that this is a distinct possibility. This is why people who are hard-core conspiracy theorists suggest government (deep state) collusion in the midst of so many tragedies. We've done it before. We could do it again. The attack on the Liberty: an example I'll make this as short as I can. On June 8, 1967, during the “6-day war” with Egypt, an unmarked Israeli fighter jet, along with several torpedo determined to prove that the attack was premeditated and deliberate. The evidence they have produced is all but insurmountable. But the cover-up continues. Why? Because the murderous raid happened at the hands of Israel. We never mess with the Israelis. The attack on the Liberty provides a glaring example of CONSPIRACY between the US and the Israeli governments, and their militaries. The media as co-conspirators Let's bring this full circle. Conspiracies, small and large, take place anywhere and often. In the case of the grandest conspiracies, the mainstream media participate in covering up, and refusing to properly investigate them, although they are often sometimes treasonous crimes. A personal example: During the US “secret” Contra war in Nicaragua (1981-89), an esteemed journalist for our most prestigious newspaper (the New York Times) told a photographer friend of mine that if he were to send home stories that reflected positively on the Sandinista government, or too negatively about the Contras (whom the CIA was secretly directing and funding), he would be given his walking papers. As bizarre as this may sound coming from an admittedly liberal perspective (mine), Trump has reason to speak, in some instances of the “fake media.” Since the orangehaired President seems to present a clear and present danger to our national interests, he is most likely correct in asserting—in so many words—that “the deep state is out to get him.” The “deep state,” those shadowy actors who control much of what goes on in our foreign and domestic policies can conspire against the right or the left. AND they control much of the mainstream media. They are known to have placed “gate keepers” in the employ of every major newspaper, magazine and news outlet in the US. These CIA or NSA people receive two paychecks for making sure that certain negative stories (about the deep state, for example) remain unreported. So they do a sterling job of keeping the lid on stories that might upset the system. Back to 9/11 Thus, regarding the greatest conspiracy of the 21st century— the 9/11 attacks, which killed three thousand people—the media have steadfastly refused to conduct any independent investigations of that monstrous event, or to probe the various cover-ups that continue to this day. Nor will the media provide any kind of forum for the thousands of patriots who have researched that event and would like to present their research to the public. Any call to reopen an investigation of the “crime of the century” goes unheeded and unmentioned. This should qualify as a “conspiracy of silence.” The truth about what happened on 9/11, cannot be exposed. It could destroy our nation's soul. Or as the New Yorker cartoon stated: What's the point of having a conspiracy if everyone is going to conspire against it? THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED --------------------------------------- --------------------------------------- �STREET VOICE No. 38 0 | A p r i l 2 0 - M a y 3, 2 0 18 SOME EASY CHOICES 13 LIVING BY GOODNESS Each day God gives us life How merciful our creator Would you rather read about Springer Spaniels, He gives us a wonderful start Than Trump's escapades with Stormy Daniels? To live life with breath In our lungs and a beating heart Would you rather read a Shakespeare play, Living by goodness and by grace Than about the horrors of Scott Pruitt's EPA? Thank you God for another day Would you choose to hear real birds tweet, Living by goodness makes one feel good And thankful for Gods good grace Rather than to Trump's social media conceit? Would you rather talk to your neighbor's cat, Than to think about D.C.'s would-be autocrat? If you find these questions pose easy choices, Then you and I better raise our voices. BILL WOODS Contributing Writer KIM GREEN Streetvibes Distributor & Contributing Writer THE PROTESTING HORSE WHO SAID THAT ANIMALS ARE NAIVE TO THINGS WITH THE HUMAN RACE? WHO SAID ANIMALS HAVE TO BE TAUGHT TO OBEY AND STAY IN THEIR PLACE? I SAY THAT THE ONLY DIFFRENCE BETWEEN PEOPLE AND ANIMALS IS WE HAVE A VOICE PEOPLE OFTEN TALK TOO MUCH OR TOO LITTLE WHILE ANIMALS LISTEN WITHOUT A CHOICE I BELIEVE ALL I SEE AND SOME OF WHAT I HEAR SO THEREFORE I KNOW WHAT'S BEST DO YOU BELIEVE I SAW A POLICEMAN SITTING ON TOP OF A HORSE IN THE MIDDLE OF A PROTEST? DO YOU BELIEVE THE POLICE WAS AGAINST THE PROTEST AND THAT MADE THE HORSE MAD? KNOW THE HORSE PASSED HIS BOWELS AT THE DOOR THE OFFICER WENT FROM HAPPY TO SAD SHOCK SWEPT IN THE CROWD AND I HEARD,"GET A PICTURE SEE THE HORSE NO THEY WRONG!” PROTESTERS STOPPED TO LOOK AND SHOUTED THE HORSE KNOWS AND STARTED SINGING A SONG AINT NO STOPPING US NOW, GOD IS ON THE MOVE, AINT NOBODY GONNA TURN US AROUND EVERYBODY HEARD COULD NOT DENY THAT THE HORSE HAD SPOKEN WITH A CLEAR SOUND!!!! WILLA DENISE JONES Streetvibes Distributor & Contributing Writer THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �14 PUZZLES A p r i l 2 0 - M a y 3, 2 0 18 | N o . 38 0 CROSSWORD PUZZLE NO. 149 Across 1. Hobble 5. Assist in wrongdoing 9. Saltwater fish 13. Musical instrument 14. Exists 16. Song 17. Animal hide 18. Decorating material 19. A small room 20. Make a great effort 22. Wild plum 23. In vigorous good health 24. Epoch 26. Fury 28. Dusk 33. Style of glazed earthenware 36. Unit of electrical resistance 37. Kind of fruits with hard rinds 39. Tooth 41. Harvest 43. Outstanding 45. Gown 46. Showing keen interest 48. Claw 50. Beer 51. Religious doctrine 53. Crazy 55. Parts of the Roman calendar 57. Insect 58. Dart 61. Stalk 64. Formerly a European gold coin 68. Parasitic insects 69. Path or track 71. A strong line 72. At a later time 73. Evergreen plant 74. Overt 75. Changed location 76. Melt 77. Following 2. Wild goat Down 1. Smooth gait 67. Collapsible shelter 3. Small burrowing mammal 4. Oceanic bird 5. Any high mountain 6. Prejudice 7. Malevolence 8. Singing voice 9. Unmarried man 10. Region 11. Part of a window 12. Brief occasion for buying at reduced prices 15. Lieu 21. Neat and smart in appearance 25. Highly excited 27. Jewel 28. Ripped 29. Cereal grass 30. Visual representation 31. Pain 32. Trample SODOKU PUZZLE NO 279 - MEDIUM 34. Drift 35. Furniture item 38. Open river valley 40. Tall woody perennial grass 42. Feeling or expressing remorse for misdeeds 44. Burial chamber 47. Color 49. Requirement 52. Fractious 54. Nerve cell 56. Swagger 58. Defect 59. A telephone connection 60. Graphic symbol in computing 62. Apiece 63. Mineral 65. Manage 66. Peak 70. Jurisprudence PUZZLE SOLUTIONS ISSUE 379 CROSSWORD PUZZLE NO. 148 SODOKU PUZZLE NO 278- MEDIUM PUZZLES from puzzlechoice.com and puzzles.ca THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �RESOURCES No. 38 0 | A p r i l 2 0 - M a y 3, 2 0 18 Central Access Point 15 381-SAFE Shelter: Women and Children Bethany House 557-2873 1730 Race Street 45202 St. Francis Soup Kitchen 535-2719 St. George Food Pantry 751-8771 2554 Dennis St. 45219 Prince of Peace Lutheran Church 621-7265 Health Resource Center 357-4602 McMicken Integrated Care Clinic and Mobile Medical Van 386-7899 40 E. McMicken Ave, Cinti, Ohio 6037 Cary Ave. 45224 FreeStore/FoodBank 241-1064 McMicken Dental Clinic 352-6363 40 E. McMicken Ave, Cinti Mental Health Access Point 558-8888 NAMI of Hamilton County 351-3500 PATH Outreach 977-4489 131 E. 12th Street 45202 Madisonville Ed & Assistance Center 271-5501 Other Resources St. Vincent de Paul 562-8841 215 E. 14th St. 45202 1841 Fairmount Ave. 45214 The Esther Marie Hatton Center for Women 2499 Reading Road 562-1980 Grace Place Catholic Worker House 681-2365 1528 Race St. 45202 Churches Active in Northside 591-2246 4230 Hamilton Ave. 45223 Salvation Army 762-5660 112 E. Liberty Street 45202 YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter 872-9259 4600 Erie Ave. 45227 Serves area codes: 45226, 45227, 45208, 45209 Shelter: Men Shelterhouse 721-0643 1125 Bank Street 45214 411 Gest St. 45203 Treatment or Supportive Recovery: Men St. Fran/St. Joe Catholic Work. House 381-4941 Charlie’s 3/4 House 784-1853 1437 Walnut Street 45202 City Gospel Mission 241-5525 2121 Vine Street 45202 Prospect House 921-1613 1805 Dalton Ave. 45214 Parkway Center 661-4620 682 Hawthorne Ave. 45205 Starting Over 961-2256 Shelter: Youth Sheakley Center for Youth (18-24 y/o) 2522 Highland Ave. 45219 569-9500 Lighthouse Youth Crisis Center (10-17 y/o) 3330 Jefferson Ave 45220 961-4080 Treatment or Supportive Recovery: Women Shelter: Family Treatment or Supportive Recovery: Both Interfaith Hospitality Network First Step Home 961-4663 2203 Fulton, Cinti, Ohio 45206 AA Hotline 351-0422 CCAT 381-6672 471-1100 Housing: 830 Ezzard Charles Dr. 45214 Caracole (HIV/AIDS) 761-1480 CMHA 721-4580 Excel Development 632-7149 OTR Community Housing 381-1171 Joseph House (Veterans) 241-2965 1522 Republic Street 45202 114 W. 14th Street 45202 Talbert House 221-HELP Tender Mercies 721-8666 27 W. 12th Street 45202 Hamilton County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board 946-8000 Recovery Health Access Center 281-7422 Sober Living 681-0324 Talbert House 221-HELP Advocacy Tom Geiger House 961-4555 Volunteers of America 381-1954 Anna Louise Inn 421-5211 2401-2411 Reading Rd. 45202 Cincinnati Union Bethel 768-6907 2401 Reading Rd. 45202 VA 977-6800 VA Homeless 859-572-6226 Food/Clothing First Lutheran Church 421-0065 1208 Race St. Food - Last Monday 12-1 Clothing - second Monday 12-1 Lord’s Pantry 621-5300 OTR/Walnut Hills Kitchen & Pantry 961-1983 Catholic Social Action 421-3131 Community Action Agency 569-1840 Contact Center 381-4242 Franciscan JPIC 721-4700 Gr. Cinti Coalition for the Homeless 421-7803 117 E. 12th Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 Legal Aid Society 241-9400 Ohio Justice & Policy Center 421-1108 UpSpring 363-3300 Health 961-0600 Center for Respite Care 621-1868 OTR: 1620 Vine Street 45202 Walnut Hills: 2631 Gilbert Ave. 45206 3550 Washington Ave. 45229 Crossroad Health Center 381-2247 Our Daily Bread 621-6364 Franciscan Haircuts from the Heart 381-0111 Goodwill Industries 771-4800 Intercommunity Justice & Peace Cr. 579-8547 Mary Magdalen House 721-4811 1223 Main St. 45202 People Working Cooperatively 351-7921 The Caring Place 631-1114 Talbert House 751-7747 United Way 211 Women Helping Women 977-5541 Off The Streets 421-5211 Hamilton County Office of Reentry 946-4304 138 E. Court Street Room # 101 First Floor Hamilton/Middletown St. Raephaels 981-4200 Salvation Army 863-1445 Serenity House Day Center 422-8555 Open Door Pantry 868-3276 Northern Kentucky Brighton Center 799 Ann St. Newport, KY ECHO/Hosea House Fairhaven Resuce Mission Homeward Bound Youth Mathews House Homeless & Housing Coalition Parish Kitchen Pike St. Clinic Transitions, Inc Welcome House of NKY 205 West Pike Street, Covington, KY 41011 5 E. Liberty St. 45202 for 26 issues 859-261-5857 859-491-1027 859-581-1111 859-261-8009 859-727-0926 859-581-7745 859-291-9321 859-491-4435 859-431-8717 Women’s Crisis Center 859-491-3335 VA Domiciliary 859-572-6202 Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky 634 Scott St. 41011 859-291-4555 You can support our mission and spread the word about your business. For more information contact Justin Jeffre at 513421-70803 x 12 or email streetvibes@ cincihomeless.org $100 859-491-8303 Want to advertise in Streetvibes? Cincinnati Health Network 2825 Burnet Ave. 45219 Center Independent Living Options 241-2600 Peaslee Neighborhood Center 621-5514 $150 THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED for 26 issues and a $50 donation �16 A p r i l 2 0 - M a y 3, 2 0 18 | N o . 38 0 S treetvibes is distributed by individuals who purchase the paper for 75 cents per copy and sell it for a $2.00 donation, keeping the profit they have earned. Becoming a Distributor is a great way for individuals who are financially poor to get back on (or stay on) their feet. This program provides supplemental income for those unable to secure other employment. Money earned helps meet basic housing, food and health care needs. The program is a hand up for people who are often in a place of getting only a hand out, or even no hand at all. All Distributors wear a badge and usually a vest and can be found selling the paper in Downtown Cincinnati, Clifton, Northside, Northern Kentucky and at area churches. ALFRED WOOLFOLK SINCE 10/2003 ASRES AYENAW SINCE 2012 BERTA LAMBERT SINCE 1997 BETTIE BAILEY SINCE 10/2017 BRANDON NELSON SINCE 4/2008 BRIAN ADAMS SINCE 7/2017 CHARLES WILLIAMS SINCE 7/2017 CHRISTOPHER KAIHATSU SINCE 7/2017 CLEO WOMBLES SINCE 10/2003 CRANDALL COBB SINCE 2004 DARREL ROZIER SINCE 7/2017 DAVID MCCANE SINCE 2017 ERIC VALDEZ SINCE 2/2017 GERALD FRANKLIN SINCE 7/2017 GRADY COOK SINCE 1997 HENRY BRELAND SINCE 7/2017 JAMES BROWN SINCE 3/2009 JAMES DAVIS SINCE 8/2000 JENNY BURTON SINCE 7/2017 JIMMIE GIPSON SINCE 2001 JON DARBY SINCE 2/2006 JOHN HORN JOSEPHINE BASKERVILLE SINCE 9/2008 J’TORI TYMAN SINCE 5/2014 KIM NGUYEN SINCE 7/2017 KENNY BUSSELL SINCE 10/2009 KAREN COLLETTE SINCE 7/2008 LARRY BROWN SINCE 10/2007 LEE MCCOY SINCE 7/2009 LEONARD JACKSON SINCE 2/2005 MARY MUELLER SINCE 5/2005 MARK SHEARS SINCE 4/2012 MAURICE GOLSBY MELISSA MOSBY SINCE 9/2014 MIKE CARANO SINCE 4/2016 RAESHAWN GIPSON SINCE 3/2009 RAYNARD JONES SINCE 10/2008 RICKY WOODS SINCE 4/2015 RICCARDO TAYLOR SINCE 1999 RONNIE PHILLIPS SINCE 10/2009 SAMUEL JACKSON SINCE 10/2006 STACIA HOLLANDER SINCE 2017 STEPHANIE EAKES SINCE 7/2017 SYLVESTER WALKER SINCE 7/2017 TALINA HILL SINCE 2/2011 VICTOR MUMPHRY WILLA JONES SINCE 1/2010 WINNIE RICE SINCE 7/2017 QUEENACELASTINE SINCE 7/2017 TIA CASS SINCE 11/2007 THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED TONY THOMAS SINCE 3/2005 KEITH EUTSEY SINCE 2/2011 VIOLET COLLINS SINCE 2017 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2018 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource April 20-May 3, 2018 Subject The topic of the resource Homelessness Description An account of the resource Pg 1: Cover Page Pg 2: From the Director Issues Abound at the Faith Community alliance Annual Lunch and Awards Ceremony Pg 3: Do You Speak Like a Gentrifier? Pg 4: GCHC Pg 5: The “New Parish” In Cincy Red Bike Announces Equity Program Pg 6: GCHC Pg 7: Eisenhower’s Farewell Address Pg 8: Religious Peacemakers Pg 9: “Is Your Refrigerator Running?” Pg 10: GCHC Pg 11: The Deep State Part II Pg 12: Dr. Mark Mussman Continued Jim Luken Continued Pg 13: Street Voice Pg 14: Puzzles Pg 15: Resources Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Streetvibes Archive Project Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Streetvibes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource April 20-May 3, 2018 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Josh Spring Bill Woods Dr. Mark Mussman Rev. Rich Jones Justin Jeffre Michael Earl Patton Saad Ghosn Jim Luken Kim Green Willa D. Jones Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition Jubilee Campaign White House Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Bill Woods Cincinnati Dr. Mark Mussman Eisenhower FC Gentrification Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition Jim Luken Josh Spring Jubilee Campaign Justin Jeffre Kim Green Michael Earl Patton Red Bike Religion Rev. Rich Jones Saad Ghosn White House Willa D. Jones https://streetvibesarchive.net/files/original/bcdee635a53362987a94bf07c4e515ac.pdf d55ace1450abd31986bce10cd9361f26 PDF Text Text April 6th - April 19th 2018 | Vol. 21 Issue 8 (No. 379) advocating justice | building community Sorry, Not Today | 3 This Issue is sponsored by Bromwell's Harth Lounge INSIDE THIS ISSUE The 2018 Library Levy | 5 Commuity Addicts: Excerpts from a Conversation with Ann Livingston | 7 Religious Peacemakers: Adam Clark | 8 Affordable Housing In Louisville – Can It Work in OTR? | 11 Find previous issues of Streetvibes online at: cincistreetvibes.org Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition 113 E. 12th Street Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 streetvoice | 13 �2 LOCAL From The Director: Jeff Berding, But Wait There’s More… W e have been partnered with many people who live in the West End including Residents of Stanley Rowe, Liberty Street Apartments, Parktown, Richmond Village, City West and more as well as several additional groups which include the NAACP, Cincinnati Educational Justice Coalition, West End Community Church, Black Agenda, Jurisdiction-Wide Resident Advisory Board and the local chapter of National Action Network. Together we have been fighting former city council person and former Bengals employee, Jeff Berding and the organization he is currently president of, Futbol Club Cincinnati (FC Cincinnati) as they have tried to force a $250 million stadium into the West End. We are fighting this because experience tells us that if a $250 million, 25,000 seat soccer stadium is built in the West End, significant gentrification and thus displacement will follow. Displacement, in addition to being wrong in and of itself, leads to homelessness. FC Cincinnati, which is financially backed by Carl Lindner III, has used the same arguments A p r i l 6 - A p r i l 19, 2 0 18 | N o . 37 9 JOSH SPRING Executive Director gentrifying developers always use: we are trying to bring progress and revitalization, we will offer jobs, we care about the community, we will attract more people to come downtown and more people to come to Cincinnati in general, we will work with the neighborhood, this is a civicminded effort, blah, blah, blah. Their supporters have been in turn stating the same kind of pleas that come from the “money=good” book Berding and Lindner stand on. Among those arguments is the old argument that people and groups who are against the stadium are afraid of change and prefer the status quo. In fact, this has also been the argument of Mayor John Cranley. FCC supporters have also referred to this stadium as a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” for the West End and the City as a whole. Have you ever stayed up too late and watched one of those infomercials where they show you some gadget that looks really nice? They explain that there are a variety of tasks you need to be able to complete to have a good life and that this shiny new gadget will expertly Josh Spring Credit: Homeless Coalition accomplish all these tasks with ease, but without it, you will remain troubled. If that were not enough, there’s more, you can get it for what they say is a generous price, if you act now! Sound familiar? If you have watched an infomercial it is familiar. This is also the same argument people like Jeff Berding, John Cranley and other developers use to try to sell us their products. Let’s break it down and look at how the claims of infomercial spokespeople are the (Continued on page 3) Reflections From The Front Lines of Public Education: Building Community At Gamble Montessori High School I n a period of government mandated testing and tragic shooting sprees at schools, how do teachers build communities of trust and a love of learning in their class rooms? At the March 29th Forum at Christ Church Cathedral, Jack M. Jose, Principal of Gamble Montessori High School, and Krista L. Taylor, Intervention Specialist at Gamble, addressed that question. Reflecting on their experiences at the High School, they conveyed the challenges, but they also told success stories of how education can be effective when a spirit of community and an atmosphere of trust exists for students. Jose and Taylor just published a book that focuses on their work at Gamble Montessori High School. "Angels and Superheroes" relates their efforts to provide students with "a compassionate education" in this era of teaching to the test. The Montessori philosophy and method offer a solid foundation for what Jose and Taylor are working to achieve in Gamble's classrooms, but the students that arrive there each year provide a multitude of 113 East 12th St. Cincinnati OH, 45202 Ph: 513.421.7803 FAX: 513.421.7813 WEB: www.cincihomeless.org BLOG: streetvibes.wordpress.com EMAIL: streetvibes@cincihomeless.org Editor: Justin Jeffre Executive Director: Josh Spring Director of Development: Mona Jenkins Director of Education: Dr. Mark Mussman Distributor Program Manager: Justin Jeffre Layout: Key Beck Reception: Larry Johnson, Anne Evans Maintenance: Pete Roper ----------------------------------------------- BILL WOODS Contributing Writer Streetvibes is an activist newspaper, advocating justice and building community. Streetvibes reports on economic issues, civil rights, the environment, the peace movement, spirituality and the struggle against homelessness and poverty. Distributed by individuals experiencing homelessness or on the edge of homelessness, in exchange for a $2.00 Donation. Streetvibes is published twice a month by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless (GCCH), a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that works to eradicate homelessness in Cincinnati. challenges. For instance, a high percentage of students who enroll in the seventh grade come to Gamble with no (Continued on page 7) CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE Writers: Josh Spring, Bill Woods, Dr. Mark Mussman, Michael Earl Patton, Dick Croy, Jason Haap, Trenton Davis, Saad Ghosn, Jim Luken, Steve Sunderland, Stacia Hollander, Kim Green, Willa Denise Jones ----------------------------------------------Photography/ Artwork: Dr. Mark Mussman, Michael Earl Patton, C. Grabowski, Saad Ghosn, Bill Woods, Homeless Coalition --------------------------------------------------Thank You For Reading Streetvibes And Supporting Our Mission To Build Community And Advocate Justice. Streetvibes and The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless do not endorse candidates for public office. THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �3 LOCAL Sorry, Not Today No. 37 9 | A p r i l 6 - A p r i l 19, 2 0 18 W henever you pass someone on the street who is asking for help, what is your response? Do you stop to engage in a conversation? Do you have a quick one-line, like “Sorry, not today” or “God bless!” and keep walking? Do you reach into your pocket and find what change you might have? How we respond to panhandling is an important part of who we are. Our response is also a good indicator of the system of beliefs we hold. We recently did a speaking engagement with a group of adults at a local church. We love speaking at churches because it usually means the congregation is taking homelessness, and the eradication of it, seriously. Typically, we’ll meet after a service on Sunday, and give the speaker some time to tell their story, talk about solutions, and engage in questions. The questions can be very revealing. At this church, the questions were coming one after another, but one question really stood out: “How do you know who is worthy of your donation? I mean - if I see someone panhandling, how do you decide if you’d give them money?” This question is not very unique, but the DR. MARK MUSSMAN Staff Writer follow-up to our answer, was more telling than anything. The speaker, very succinctly, described the process of panhandling, the difficulties, the loss of self-respect, and the role of the passerby. If someone walking by makes eye-contact, and has a conversation, that is worth more than money at times. And the intent that you have, when you give someone a little change, is an intent of doing good… so let that intent be your purpose. Questioning how someone spends the money is actually very problematic. The woman’s response to the speaker was very interesting. She said she goes to Findlay Market with her husband pretty regularly. And almost every time, someone asks them for change. She assured us that she and her husband are willing to give, but they have a test. The husband takes the hand of the person who is asking for money and gives them a firm shake. If the hand is rough, she says, then the husband determines that the individual is willing to work and worthy of the donation, but if it’s soft, he won’t give them a dime. At that point, my heart sunk, and my mind started traveling in many directions: Why would someone do this? Is work a requirement for help? What if this is the first time someone had to ask for money? Whose job is it to judge someone’s worthiness? What is an appropriate response? I quickly gained my composure and asked the speaker, who had panhandled, to give their perspective without attacking the method. Of course, the speaker was able to handle the situation, but it is something that stood out in my head for the past couple of months. What kind of society do we live in that demands that not only people look needy enough to be granted help, but also that calluses on hands are a determinant of someone’s willingness to work? I have heard people say that if someone who is panhandling doesn’t look homeless, then they won’t give them any help. You do realize that most people who experience homelessness don’t “look” homeless? That society’s shame of homelessness creates a system where people work so hard to be not perceived as homeless? This is literally many people’s daily goal — to get through the day without being looked down upon for their circumstance. I guess it’s hard to say what the appropriate response is in this situation. Yes, the husband doesn’t ignore them, but he is still judging them. Being judged, whether you are without a home or not, is always a tough psychological situation to face. Once we break the dominant script around race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or home status, it’s very difficult to get that respect and understanding back. It’s important for us to use our knowledge of homelessness (and the other fights in which we are engaged) to be advocates for all, no matter how society judges them (or us, for that matter). If you’d like to gain more knowledge about Cincinnati’s AntiSolicitation Laws and Panhandling, please consider a Streetvibes Shadow Activity, featuring a Streetvibes Distributor and an opportunity to experience panhandling yourself. Contact me at MarkMussman@ CinciHomeless.org or visit our website http://cincihomeless.org and select Education. CUE Streetvibes Shadow with Lee McCoy, Streetvibes Distributor Credit: Dr. Mark Mussman JOSH SPRING (Continued from page 2) same as FCC spokespeople: • Infomercial says: Your life needs to be better. Jeff Berding says: I care about you and for a long time West End Residents have dealt with poverty, lack of available employment and basic neighborhood necessities. • Infomercial says: We have a brand-new solution: Jeff Berding says: a shiny new stadium • Infomercial says: It will bring you options you don’t have now: jobs, tourists, increased property values, chidren’s soccer programming… • Infomercial says: We will give it to you at a generous price. Jeff Berding says: what we are offering to pay in property taxes to the School Board is more than enough, we even increased what we originally offered. • Infomercial says: We will work with you and guarantee our product. Jeff Berding says: we will agree to a community benefits agreement. • Infomercial says: If you act now you can get this once in a lifetime deal. Jeff Berding says: deadline to the School Board, deadline of time to decide site, deadline, deadline, deadline. Here is the thing, despite all the big talk, people with common sense tend to know they never needed the product the infomercial is offering to THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED begin with and while life may need improvements, the money-grubbing company behind the product isn’t going to bring those improvements but instead will just bring harm with future payments required on the product, etc. FC Cincinnati and Jeff Berding are trying to force the same thing and people of the West End know they never needed a damn soccer stadium! --------------------------------------- �4 LOCAL THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED A p r i l 6 - A p r i l 19, 2 0 18 | N o . 37 9 �5 LOCAL The 2018 Library Levy No. 37 9 | A p r i l 6 - A p r i l 19, 2 0 18 I t’s not your fault if you hadn’t heard about the additional tax levy for the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County on the May ballot. If there are any campaign signs out there on this issue I haven’t seen them. News coverage has been almost nonexistent since the levy was placed on the ballot. Even when I searched on-line for additional information I found almost nothing. So I was very interested when EmpowerU (www. EmpowerUohio.org) announced that it was hosting a forum on the subject with speakers both for and against the levy. The levy would be added to the property tax bill. Currently there is a 1 mil levy that was renewed by the voters in 2013 for 10 years. The proposed levy would be for another mil, also lasting 10 years, and would overlap the present one. The present levy brings in about $17 million for the library and the proposed one would also, thereby doubling the amount that the library gets from the property taxes if it passes. A 1 mil levy translates to about $30 a year for each $100,000 of property value as assessed by the county auditor (I used my latest property tax bill to calculate this). This is, of course, if your property is not in a TIF (Tax Increment Financing) district or does MICHAEL EARL PATTON Contributing Writer not receive an abatement. It is also important to keep in mind that the majority of funding for the library comes from the State of Ohio, that is, it is paid for through state taxes, not local ones. Ohio is almost unique in this regard. Hawaii is the only other state that provides the majority of the funds for local libraries. The first levy for the local library was passed by the voters in 2009 in the wake of reductions in state funding for libraries across Ohio. Elaine Fay and Libby Scott, both library employees, based the case for an additional levy on the widespread usage of the current system and the need to renovate the facilities in Hamilton County – there is a current need for $54 million. Seven of the branch libraries are over a hundred years old and 2 of them have never been renovated. Eight other branches have never been renovated and 6 branches are not handicapped accessible. There are almost half a million cardholders, 41 locations throughout the county, and a circulation of 19.8 million items. This is the second highest circulation of any library system in the country – only the New York Public Library has a higher circulation. The circulation is Public Library - North Building Credit: Michael Earl Patton I up 60% since 2000. The percentage of local funding is the lowest of any system in Ohio. The response was given by Matt Wahlert, a member of the North College Hill Council and a high school teacher. He stressed that he liked the library and think that the system is with the decision to keep the North building, which had been slated for sale to a developer. He questioned why the library could not charge out-of-county residents for library cards, which had been the practice in the past. He also said that the library is being used less and less by Hamilton County residents. While in 2013, 90% of county households had someone with a library card, today only 65% do. Sculpture of books in front of Main Branch Library Credit: Michael Earl Patton important. His argument was mostly based on the fact that the voters are taking the library’s word if they really need the additional levy. Unlike other levies, the library’s request does not go through the Hamilton County Tax Levy Review Committee. This is per the Ohio Revised Code – the county commissioners must place it on the ballot if the library requests a new tax. The review committee would normally go over the books of the institution making the request and determine if they had been spending money appropriately and if they do need the money. With the library they did not do this. There has been no independent review of the books. Mr. Wahlert pointed to building programs and upper management salaries as possible examples where the money might not have been wisely spent. He pointed out that the library built 3 new branch library buildings since 2008, in Clifton, St. Bernard, and Reading. They replaced “storefront” type branches, but were they really needed? He wondered if the levy was connected In the end, the decision on how to vote is based on criteria that are the most important to you. If you like the current library, trust its management, and want to see it upgraded and basically continue, then vote “yes” on May 8. If you think that it is important that there be more accountability for how tax money is spent regardless of how good the library is currently, then vote “no.” EmpowerU is a non-profit organization that offers short seminars on a diverse range of topics. A typical class is about 90 minutes. Many are held at a small studio attached to the FrameUSA warehouse on Northland Boulevard in Springdale. The classes are free and are supported by donations. I have attended several; this is the third one that formed the basis for one of my articles in Streetvibes. See www. empoerUohio.org for a list of classes and seminars. --------------------------------------- AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN LOUISVILLE: CAN IT WORK IN OTR? s there a realistic way to provide additional affordable housing for residents being driven out of OTR by gentrification? My wife Joy and I became more aware of homelessness in Cincinnati after we were introduced by our friend Jim Luken to Josh Spring, DICK CROY Contributing Writer executive director of the Greater Cincinnati Homelessness Coalition. And I was surprised by the number of buildings Josh said are vacant in OTR: currently over 250, according to Cincinnati Dept. of Buildings and Inspections records. Couldn’t some of these be renovated to help alleviate the loss of affordable housing brought about by gentrification? Having been impressed by an article in the Enquirer about a THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED developer in Louisville doing just that, committed to “giving back” in return for a privileged upbringing, I asked to interview him and find out how he was doing it. Gregg Rochman, 51, and I met at the Silver Dollar, a busy (Continued on page 9) �6 I LOCAL Circular logic loops keep going, and going, and going have long been fascinated by the evolution of the Energizer bunny, which represents for me a psychological phenomenon I see happening in other areas of public discourse. The Energizer bunny first appeared on American televisions in the late 1980's. Back then, the bunny was a toy that kept running long after other toys due to the fact it was powered by an Energizer battery. The catchphrase was that the Energizer bunny "kept going, and going, and going..." I remember being in middle school and seeing the commercials. Sometimes, they'd do multiple spots in a row: the first would show the bunny outlasting other battery powered toys, and then it would seem like a new commercial started, only to be interrupted by the bunny, and the never-ending phrase that it "kept going, and going, and going..." Somewhere along the line, however, a flip happened. Probably A p r i l 6 - A p r i l 19, 2 0 18 | N o . 37 9 JASON HAAP Contributing Writer in the 90's, the bunny started being put inside the battery - as if the unstoppable bunny is what gave an Energizer battery its power. This always fascinated me as it was a complete inversion of the original point. The bunny went from being powered by a battery, to powering the battery! A few weeks ago, when getting my haircut at the barber college, one of the younger students was talking about the phrase "type shit." If you don't hang around younger people, "type shit" has become a popular exclamation. It is a way to express sarcasm, or perhaps something derogatory, such as "President Trump is America's greatest president ever. Type shit." Originally, "type shit" was part of longer phrases. So, someone might say a talented person was "on some next level type shit," or that someone with bad body odor was "on some dirty diaper smelling type shit." In each of these phrases, everything before the word "shit" modifies it: in the first, the shit is of the "next level type," and in the second, the shit is of the "dirty diaper smelling type." Somewhere along the line, however, "type shit" became the object of the modification - so now people talk about "type shit" without any other modification. It makes me wonder "What type of shit?" Just like how I wonder what powers the Energizer bunny toy now that it's powering the Energizer batteries. The history of the phrase "fake news" reminds me of these examples, too. Originally, it meant exactly what the words mean - news that is not factually accurate. Now it is used as an insult for any news outlet that has an editorial bias with which we disagree. It seems like every source has a profile of citizens calling it "fake." It makes me feel like everyone is on some Energizer bunny type shit, stuck in a circular logic-loop. The problem is that so many people are stuck in these logic loops, no matter their political persuasions. Right now, there are homeopathy using, anti-GMO liberals who can't believe conservatives deny the science of global warming. There are conservatives talking about states' rights while opposing marijuana legalization. I know this kind of hypocrisy is nothing new, but I guess the example of the Energizer bunny spins it differently for me. Over time, when we lack collective memory, changing trends may bend back onto themselves in illogical ways, but this illogical thinking only manifests in the context of memory. If we forget the Energizer bunny was originally powered by batteries, then it makes sense for batteries to be powered by the bunny. This is how people end up praising the science they like, and opposing the science they don't as a conspiracy by Big Pharma, or something. Absent a long-term timeline, we narrow in on issues of the day through the lens of our ideology. That's some type shit right there. And it just keeps going, and going, and going... You can contact Jason Haap at jasonhaap@gmail.com Seeking landlords who accept Housing Choice (Section 8) Vouchers for efficiency and 1 bedroom apartments. Interested in developing a long-term relationship with ongoing tenant referrals. Please contact Alexis Aghotte at 513.446.7554 or aaghotte@ shelterhousecincy.org. THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �JUBILEE CAMPAIGN Community Addicts: Excerpts from a Conversation with Ann Livingston No. 37 9 | A p r i l 6 - A p r i l 19, 2 0 18 A nn Livingston is a community organizer from Vancouver, Canada. As a leader of “VANDU”, a community made for and by drug addicts, she has helped to galvanize and organize these people that are often labeled “unorganizable”. Ann joined Peter Block and John McKnight recently for a chat about her organizing work, and about how our culture demonizes, punishes, and casts away users of illicit drugs; even though, as a culture, we are users as well. To Ann, addicts cannot be looked at as simply someone to be fixed. She looks at the world in terms of people. Some “…people use drugs or they don't. When you can come to that place, then it allows you to work with people who use drugs and people who don't.” Ms. Livingston continues by saying, “[Drug addiction], it's a chronic, relapsing condition. For anyone who's ever stopped smoking cigarettes, when you are at that party and you have a drink and then you decide to bum a smoke off someone and smoke again, you don't announce to all your friends that you're now back to smoking. You just sneak that cigarette and you get right back to that nonsmoking business. I think that goes on with everyone who deals with addictions. It shouldn't cause shame. The problem we're having now is with Fentanyl in these drugs, they have that one little sneak and now they're dead. They're found dead. We're in a very difficult [situation], and it seems irreversible.” A stark point. I wake up every day with an energy drink infused with tea and caffeine. If I skip my caffeine and start my day, I end up with headaches. I’m an addict and so are most Americans. Abstinence from the activities that stimulate our day is impossible, and probably, unhealthy. In fact, recently, caffeine has been found to stimulate and open veins to allow blood to flow more freely and increase one’s lifespan. BILL WOODS (Continued from page 2) previous Montessori experience. Without this background, they need time and assistance in adjusting to this different but effective method of education. When they arrive with negative attitudes and little confidence in their abilities to learn, trust building and connecting them to a classroom community is essential. Furthermore, approximately 70-percent of Gamble's students qualify for federal lunch assistance, and the High School also provides 7 TRENTON DAVIS Contributing Writer I used to get my caffeine from high sugar drinks like Mountain Dew. In fact, my whole family were users of caffeine. Then, my father was diagnosed with diabetes. Our addictions, when overused and combined with dangerous levels of other chemicals (in our case sugar), could seriously put our health to build an abundant community for addicts too. Instead, we’ve built an empire of reactive, hollow services to treat them. “It's exactly what goes wrong with services if they can't remember what they're doing. It's so important to know that you're saving lives, not building an empire, that you're saving Livingston: It’s getting worse Credit: C. Grabowski at risk. After the diagnosis, for a long while, I was abstinent from caffeine: assured that would solve my problem. However, I would relapse often. Luckily, I found a healthier alternative in tea, and I continue to cope. It’s incredible how similar the lives of caffeine, exercise, nicotine, or even heroin addicts are. For exercise addicts, society builds gym memberships. For alcoholics we have bars or, if you’re young like myself, we simply have ‘college’. Starbucks has made billions constructing the idyllic community environment for caffeine addicts. For drug addicts, what community has society provided? Jail and the alley. Ann Livingston calls for society lives, not making a living, that you're saving lives,” Ann says. She describes the cycle as: "’Come in here, do your drugs, overdose, I stab you with some Naloxone, your life is saved, I call 911, the ambulance comes,’ or whatever. You know, the great heroism of the emergency. Then just basically, you go back to the alley. You have no welfare, no housing, no belonging.” Through VANDU, the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Abusers, addicts can form a structure of belonging. The planning for VANDU started in her home and after a while they created a harm reduction strategy which included a safe and clean drug injection site. As the community grew, Ann people in the these young people with breakfast. This high rate of poverty among the student body presents another series of challenges in terms of making education an important and positive experience in the lives of students who often confront daily hardships. At the Forum, Taylor and Jose presented several stories of young people who turned their lives around after reaching a trust level with teachers and experiencing community in the classroom. Gamble's field trips such as canoeing on the Little Miami River, according to Taylor, further promote team building and developing a love for learning beyond the classroom. Many of their examples of innovative approaches to education can also be found in their book. Both Jose and Taylor expressed frustration with the current public focus on mandated, annual testing of Public School students. Not only do the current tests fail to adequately measure the progress of students over time, but they often stand as road blocks to creating classroom experiences that fosters a love for learning. Accepting the necessity of some testing, Taylor and Jose stress the need for other ways to THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED network started projects to make the area better. Ann “realized people in the network would go from being someone who had no social status at all to a volunteer who was making the community a better place, and that is a very well-respected person, certainly in Canada and in Vancouver... by being connected to a group that accepts you, you just become a citizen who's engaged in the how to care for your neighbors. VANDU members may not even reduce their drug consumption, but, to Ann, that’s not the point: “One of the things that drug users do all day long, every day, is talk about drugs. In VANDU, they don't talk about that. They talk about the next meeting… I would say, if they're consuming the same number of drugs, they're doing it in a much more efficient way, because they have so much other stuff they have to do.” And the number of deaths has been significantly reduced. It is saving lives. Perhaps, in Ohio and in our nation, we need to take a serious look at Ann’s thoughts because: “surely we're not here just to save their lives over and over again while they live in an alley”. As an Ohioan whose friends and family have and do struggle with addiction, surely the alley isn’t the place for people. These are our neighbors. Though some are eventually able to leave the habit, many will not be fixed. For this group, they need to be organized and supported, made to feel powerful. In a recent study, researchers found that when comparing communities, “Ones that have a high amount of community associations and activities are places where people live longer, addicts or not. Communities with the associational activities, people die sooner. In the one where people live longer, it isn't because they improved their health habits; it is because they have overcome their isolation. Perhaps Americans need to be a certain kind of addict: Community addicts. --------------------------------------gage educational success. As to the current debate on arming teachers with guns or using airport safety check procedures to enter schools, the speakers find these proposals to be the antithesis of good educational environments. As one of Gamble's students declared: "We don't want schools to become maximum-security prisons." Jose and Taylor's articulate and passionate presentation left many of the Forum attendees hopeful about public education. "In this troubling and confusing time," noted one person, "that talk was a breath of fresh air." �8 RELIGIOUS PEACEMAKERS For Adam Clark, Professor of Theology, Doing God's Work Is Righting Relationships, Healing Brokenness, and Showing Solidarity with the Poor & Oppressed A p r i l 6 - A p r i l 19, 2 0 18 | N o . 37 9 "O ne candle can light thousands of matches," says Adam Clark, "and we have to let the light grow." Clark, a doctor in divinity and an associate Professor in the Theology Department at Xavier University, uses his Christian faith, along with his teaching and writing, to touch his students' and other peoples' lives; contribute to the Kingdom of God on earth by promoting justice, solidarity with the marginalized, the oppressed and the poor; and keep the light expanding and growing. Clark's influence is mostly through his academic activities, the courses he teaches, the lectures he gives to varying audiences, the books and articles he writes. Born in Newark, NJ, he grew up in Syracuse, NY, in a religious family, and attended regularly, with his parents, a liberal multiracial Episcopalian church. His faith from the start was a quiet one, not the proselytizing type, but one more about character formation. And from a young age, he had already many unanswered questions about the meaning of religion and the significance of life. For college he attended Colgate University, a small liberal art college in Hamilton, NY, where, thanks to his mentors, mostly African American priests, he became increasingly interested and involved in religion. These latter exposed him to Liberation Theology of which he had not heard before, helped him learn historical SAAD GHOSN Contributing Writer criticism, and connected his faith to the liberation of the oppressed, in particular that of black people. It was at a time when many social and political movements and events around the world and in the United States were dealing with the black "Struggle." And the antiapartheid movement in South Africa, the Hip Hop and Afrocentric movements in the United States, and the emergence of prominent black leaders such as Louis Farrakhan and Jessie Jackson on the US national scene, had a great influence on him. "In college, I did not need any more to put my mind at the door in order to believe with my heart," says Clark. "I learned how to synthesize and put a more rational approach to my religious faith. Being black and seeing so many wrong relationships due to race, Liberation Theology provided me with a framework to think, analyze and imagine what right relationships could be and how to get to them," he adds. Clark then started pursuing his spirituality rather then just an institutionalized faith, affirming it in his humanity, aiming at becoming more fully human, in tune with others, and this in the name of Jesus. He got also more involved in his school community, participating in various social justice activities. "I joined the gospel choir, connecting to others; and started a black male reading group, discovering seminal books we were not taught in class," he states. A Spiritual text Adam Clark likes to quote "Do you remember in the Book [Christian Bible] Jesus and his disciples were going through the hills and there appeared in the turn of the road a man who was possessed of devils as they thought. In the full moon when the great tidal waves of energy swept through his organism and he became as ten men . . . screaming through the hills like an animal in pain and then he met Jesus on the road. And Jesus asked him one question: “Who are you; what’s your name?” and for a moment his tilted mind righted itself and he said, “That’s it, I don’t know, there are legions of me. And they riot in my streets. If I only knew, then I would be whole.” So the burden of what I have to say to you is, “What is your name— who are you—and can you find a way to hear the sound of the genuine in yourself?” There are so many noises going on inside of you, so many echoes of all sorts, so many internalizing of the rumble and the traffic, the confusions, the disorders by which your environment is peopled that I wonder if you can get still enough—not quite enough—still enough to hear rumbling up from your unique and essential idiom the sound of the genuine in you. I don’t know if you can. But this is your assignment." Excerpts from "The Sound of the Genuine," Baccalaureate Address of Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman’s at Spelman College, Atlanta, GA, May 4, 1980. The chosen books related primarily to black issues and included, among others, Steven Biko's I Write What I Like, reflecting on the need for South African blacks, in order to be liberated, to unite and break their chains of servitude; The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon, the AfroCaribbean revolutionary psychiatrist, addressing the dehumanizing effects of colonization; and Price of the ticket, James Baldwin's commentaries Adam Clark on race in America. Clark also served as Residential Advisor for an African Americanthemed dormitory, catering for individuals interested in African American history and culture. This required on his part weekly programming and the planning of presentations and discussions relating to black matters. Working at the same time for the college cultural center, he was busy all the time. Clark's religious experience during college was decisive in the orientation of his faith toward social justice. He saw it through the lens of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and through the eyes of people ostracized all over the world. It was also instrumental in his choice of pursuing theological studies at Colgate Divinity School, a small Baptist-orientated seminary, in Rochester, NY. The years Clark spent there were mostly focused on academics, working hard to learn and to earn good grades, both for his graduation with a master’s in divinity degree and for his further enrollment in a doctorate program at the ecumenical Union Theological Seminary (UTC) in NYC. At UTC Clark was taught and mentored by influential and renowned Professors such as James H. Cone, the father of black theology. Cone had formulated a theology of liberation from within the context of the Black experience of oppression, and had interpreted the basic essence of the Gospels as Jesus' identification with the poor and oppressed, and the resurrection as the ultimate act of liberation. This resonated very much with Clark's ongoing understanding of Christianity and he wanted to Credit: Saad Ghosn learn more about the social justice militant movements going on at the time. He joined many Marxist groups, Malcolm X grassroot groups, Hip Hop and other underground movements going on in NYC, and participated in their membership and public activist meetings. Two issues were of particular interest then, the fight against white supremacy and the fight against aggressive capitalism; and how to resist them and come up with alternatives to them. Globalization, having already started, Clark perceived it as a globalization of capitalism and not of the good for everyone, also as suppressing solidarity movements across the globe, such as, for instance, between Palestinians and Blacks who, according to him, had a lot in common. Clark decided to use his divinity degree for the classroom instead of for ministry within the church. He accepted a teaching position in the Theology Department at Xavier University in Cincinnati where he delivers courses on Black Theology, Jesus and Power, Faith and Justice, (Continued on page 11) Religious Peacemakers is a regular column highlighting Greater Cincinnati individuals who use their faith and religious beliefs for peace and justice. Saad.Ghosn@uc.edu is the founder of SOS (Save Our Souls) Art, an organization that promotes arts as vehicles for peace and justice and for a change. THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �No. 37 9 | A p r i l 6 - A p r i l 19, 2 0 18 DICK CROY (Continued from page 5) upscale restaurant and bourbon bar in Louisville’s Clifton neighborhood – his first development, from a former fire station. Affordable housing isn’t the only area of expertise for this father of two teenage sons who grew up in New York, the son of a wealthy surgeon. He and his wife Maria Whitley, who runs a wellness studio offering early childhood music and movement as well as adult fitness, moved to Louisville 10 years ago to be part of a community that they and their sons could be part of. Vital Sites, originally the Louisville Preservation Fund, was established in 2014 as a nonprofit revolving fund focused on undervalued historic properties in Louisville. Its mission was to leverage resources from private developers, private landowners, and other nonprofits to formulate creative solutions for the reuse and preservation of historic structures.  Here’s how Gregg described his widening sphere of influence in Louisville: “All the real estate development I do is a bit of a mixed bag. I was hired for Vital Sites because of my experience doing adaptive reuse in antique buildings and restoring historic structures. Vital Sites’ first project was restoring five Victorian-era warehouse and merchandise buildings on ‘Whiskey Row’ in downtown Louisville which were threatened with imminent demolition.  “We know that reusing rather than demolishing older buildings is a powerful economic catalyst that can help knit our neighborhoods back together. So in another ongoing project, ‘East Broadway Row,’ five 1890 shotgun houses in a very busy neighborhood were essentially donated to Vital Sites by a company developing two large projects surrounding the shotguns. They needed someone to find a banking deal for the houses, work with the architects and the general contractor, get them completed and sold – to families rather than to absentee landlords. And our hope was to get some affordable housing funds so we could offer them to folks who are in that range of affordable housing needs. “Although we did not get funded in our ask, we do expect to have the ability to transfer historic tax credits to the purchasers of these houses. In essence, they will be more affordable than if we did not have that, but we will end up selling them at market rate because of where the neighborhood is. “The idea is to essentially make the funds that Vital Sites has revolve so we can do this again and continue to save some of these beautiful, old, historic structures from being demolished. This will serve as an example of how developers can work cooperatively with property owners and nonprofits. It will give us a basic NATIONAL operating procedure to replicate this model on similar undervalued and at-risk historic structures. Historic preservation allows the story of our community to continue into the future while paying homage to the past.” Despite the best of intentions and a promising business plan, affordable housing is hard to come by. I asked Gregg whether he sees gentrification as a problem in Louisville. “Yes. I wish I understood what the formula for resolving it is better than I do because people ask me this question all the time. They think I should be an expert in it and I don’t think anybody is. Gentrification is definitely a problem for some people while the idea that it’s bad vehicles that will come and say, ‘It can happen.’” I asked Gregg to walk me through how this non-Section 8 project will be structured. (Essentially Section 8 authorizes the payment of rental housing assistance through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to private landlords on behalf of low-income households.) “A small portion of the total amount of the development project is being forgiven. A portion of the development cost is being funded at a very reasonable rate, and then the banks will fill in that gap with a more traditional type of loan. It’s really that simple. It’s those three layers that can make it happen. And we’re building for a community is offensive to other people. I think it’s very difficult to understand, and it has a lot to do with multiples: a smaller neighborhood has a larger fear of gentrification than a neighborhood with multiple acres and thousands of vacant and abandoned and under-utilized structures. “Right now there is a project we are working on in the heart of Portland, probably the largest neighborhood in Louisville, where we are building 24 brand new apartment units. And they will be in the affordable housing sort of range. We are super excited about it. We’ve been working on getting this off the ground for 3 1/2 years. Literally, like bang your head against the ground –that’s what it’s like. Some people in the neighborhood are very concerned that this is not going to be a very good idea. Other folks are very excited that it’s happening. And that dialogue is really important. “I welcome it even though it’s challenging for me to be in the middle of it. I don’t like to be in the middle of these meetings. I actually like to do things. The organization that I am bringing to the table with two partners is called Urban Acupuncture, and we’re in partnership with two other very experienced development firms. The three companies will be the developers who have finally figured out how to make this thing happen. We expect this to be a proof of confidence, if you will, for other developers and other financial as affordably as possible so the units will seem small for folks around here, but I’m originally from New York and they’re large from my experience in city dwelling there. “They’re a little over 1,000 sq. feet, a decent amount of space for two bedrooms. The two- bedrooms will have one bath; three-bedrooms will have two. They’re going to be beautiful, all brick. One concern that the neighborhood had was they wanted to match some of the existing architecture. There will be a lot of green space. Rents will be in the $750 - $820 range.” I asked him how as a developer he evaluates a potential project. “You kind of know a deal is going to be good for a couple of reasons. You can walk into the building and have a sense of its quality and perhaps a sense of what it can be used for. If it’s a single family shotgun house, for example, it’s obvious what the use is going to be. When we did our first one nine years ago – I think we bought it for $19,000 and put $95,000 into it – it’s probably only now that if we were selling, we would actually make a profit on it. “The next couple we did better. We did smarter, took less money to renovate them and get them ready for use by a family or business. I have a pretty good idea how to do it now because I’ve done it a bunch of times and I can walk into a building and see if it’s worth it. What can I not spend money on here and what do I have to spend money on here. Get a gut THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED 9 feeling and calculate on the back of an envelope and then decide whether I want to pursue the project further. If we decide to move forward we have to look at the economics. Most of the time the deal will grow in value over time, not quick profit. You need to be patient.” When East Broadway Row really takes off and it’s not as glamorous as other things he and Vital Sites are doing, would he be willing to do this type of development again? “I expect to do this a lot. This is the first multi-housing project I’ve worked on so I have tons to learn and I’m learning from some of the best people around here how to do it. I’m fortunate, super fortunate to have that opportunity. And, yeah, I would like to be involved in all kinds of different real estate. I’d like to build an office tower some day. I would like to build a bunch of tiny houses on a communal farm in the middle of nowhere where people are completely self-sufficient. There’s nothing I’m not interested in doing and that’s part of my problem: I don’t know when to say no…easily. “I have the good fortune of having a bunch of people I can ask that enjoy working with me and I enjoy working with them, and they will take a look and tell me if I’m crazy or not. Frequently I might be a little bit crazy. If I’m really crazy and it’s an absolute no, they will tell me. But a little crazy is the opportunity. And I don’t mean that from just a financial standpoint but also from a community-growing standpoint, a relationship-building standpoint. Look where we’re sitting now. This was an empty and abandoned building, a historic building. And now this strip of the neighborhood has some of the greatest stuff going on in it because we took a risk, all of us, the whole group of us.” You would-be developers and community leaders might ask whether Gregg Rochman’s experience in Louisville has anything to teach us about how we might help balance the current gentrification of OTR with more affordable housing for current and former residents. Could this possibly improve the quality of life for those living, playing and working there? I’m sure Gregg would be pleased to share what he’s learned and is still learning. Recently featured in the USA Today video series I Am an American to introduce its audience to “an exceptional American who is making a difference to unite, rather than divide, our communities,” he had this to say: “Currently Americans are divided from each other. We cast a blind eye to senseless violence, we do not do everything in our power to house the homeless and feed the hungry, to support each other with the goal of betterment for all, even though it’s always within our reach. We should be ashamed. I am – but I’m trying to make a change, and we all can. We’re capable of anything.” �10 LOCAL A p r i l 6 - A p r i l 19, 2 0 18 | N o . 37 9 May 18 - June 9, 2018 For tickets please call (513) 381-2273 Purchase tickets online at www.cincyshakes.com AD Donated by Mark and Sue Ann Painter season sponsored by the Otto M. Budig Family Foundation THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �LOCAL The Deep State Part I Tails wagging dogs, big and small No. 37 9 | A p r i l 6 - A p r i l 19, 2 0 18 A few months ago, one of the cartoons in the weekly New Yorker magazine was a drawing of two scruffy-looking guys sitting at a bar. One is angry as he says to the other: “What's the point of having a conspiracy theory if everyone's going to conspire against it?” I cut that cartoon out, and it sits here on my desk, annoying me every time I glance its way. Why? Because I am a true believer in many conspiracies, and I'm in no way ashamed to say so. Some six years ago, I wrote a series of essays for this paper about conspiracies related to a variety of topics, The JFK assassination, of course. Also, about Martin Luther King, the fluoridation of our water, and… The day that changed everything My favorite conspiracy, which I researched for years and wrote a full length play about (as well as a short film script and a radio play) had to do with the events of 11 September, 2001. Yes, dear readers, I remain convinced that what happened that day, “the day that changed everything,” were perpetrated by a cabal of operatives within what is now known as the Deep State of the United States. More on that later. But for now, regarding 9/11, it is manifestly clear that it was an inside job, that we did it. 9/11 happened because an elaborate, ultra-secret element of top-ranking traitors from every level of our national-security state planned and perpetrated it, then—even more elaborately—covered it up. This writer is anything but alone in my convictions about 9/11 “truth.” Thousands of architects, engineers, pilots, ex-CIA people, ex-military, scientists and academicians from all over the world have signed on publicly, officially, forcefully, insisting SAAD GHOSN (Continued from page 8) Religion and Hip Hop. His aim is to educate students in both the service of faith and the promotion of justice, and to light up candles wherever he can. This is where he sees his main contributions. "Teaching and doing the work of scholarship takes a lot of time," he says, "and one cannot, at the same time, engage the world by leading movements or being out on the streets, immersed in grassroots..." Clark also tries to introduce spiritual practices in the lives of his students, not only training them into academics. He would like them to discover contemplative traditions, get in touch with what's happening inside 11 JIM LUKEN Contributing Writer that what happened that day was “an inside job.” Many did this at the risk of their jobs and reputations. Some paid with their lives. There is even a huge group which names itself “Patriots for 9/11 Truth.” Look it up. [Or, simply go to You Tube and search: [Retired General Stubblebine “Oh, my God.” A true patriot, Stubblebine's credentials are impeccable. His 15 minute video chat will convince almost anyone.] Here let me provide a short list of recent local conspiracies. 1) I believe that there was a conspiracy involved in the way the obvious murder of Sam Dubose by UC police officer Ray Tensing was handled. The same type of conspiracy takes place regarding virtually every murder committed by uniformed police officers across the United States. There is an almost conspiratorial rule: Even in the most obvious of cases, cops will not be convicted of a crime. I have a friend who is a high-ranking officer in the Canadian Mounties. He told me that Mounties who committed such obvious crimes, like the Dubose killing, would be out of a job in short order, and usually convicted and jailed. Canadian deaths at the hands of police are minimal compared to those in the US. 2) I believe that there was a conspiracy involved in the way Western-Southern, and its CEO, John Barrett, gained possession of the Anna Louise Inn, an historic refuge for poor women in Cincinnati for more than 100 years. That landgrabbing crime should never have happened. 3) I believe that there is an ongoing conspiracy as 3CDC continues to manipulate real estate in OTR, so that the poor are being systematically displaced from the neighborhood where their families have lived for generations. 4) There was also a conspiracy in the way an entire north wing of the downtown public library was being sold to 3CDC for a proverbial song...without community input. Fortunately, that conspiracy was unraveled in time, because angry citizens found out in time, although a primary whistle-blower lost her job. 5) Here is a Cincy miniconspiracy. But it affects hundreds and hundreds of our city's homeless and poor. When the downtown area was “renewed,” one facet of that renewal involved hundreds of new park benches. Nice. But each of the new park benches contains an “armrest” built in the very middle. This armrest all but prevents tired or homeless people from sleeping on the them, develop their whole person and become better human beings. This would help them function more effectively in the world, using not only the intellectual but also the practical dimension of their Christian faith. In the community, Clark has lent his support to social justice movements as they progress. He participated in Black Lives Matter seeing it as a faithful resistance to the unjust powers, and as a means to right the wrong relationships affecting the black community. He directed a 6-week contemplative group at the Hive in Northside (a place where community and contemplation meet), considering the role of the Inner Life in the struggle for freedom, through the writings of civil rights icon Howard Thurman. He also gave presentations at Abundant Community on slavery, poverty, consumerism and on the Jubilee idea and how it brings us to the intersection of the Bible and economics. Being Christian, for Clark, is not only to accept something that happened 2000 years ago on the cross, but more importantly to focus on the entire life and message of Jesus, and to try to establish the kingdom of God on earth, making the conditions on earth reflect those in heaven. "The good news Jesus gave the poor, the marginalized, the oppressed of this world, is that the kingdom of God is at hand, among us, and that we're all invited to participate in it," says Clark. When asked about his religious affiliation he says that he is a Christian Conspiracy theory 101 But in this piece, I want to discuss “conspiracy theory” more generally. I don't need to tell you that those two words are maligned by politicians and the news media on an all-too regular basis. “Oh, that's another wacky conspiracy theory.” Perhaps as you began reading this piece, you were thinking that the writer must be a nut. I congratulate you for continuing to read. By the end, I hope you see that I am relatively sane and fairly well-informed on the subject. The technical definition of a conspiracy theory is: “a theory that explains an event or set of circumstances as the result of a secret plot by usually powerful conspirators.” That's from Mr. Webster. I like it, because it contains nothing negative about we believers. Nor does it suggest that all conspirators were/are doing something unlawful, or illegal, although that is usually the case. THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED benches. Is there anyone out there who could be convinced that these “armrests” were simply installed by accident. No, the planners conspired to have the city buy benches like these. Their conspiracy could not be considered a crime, but it nonetheless seems almost criminal. The Deep State Now let's go back to those larger conspiracies that occur on the national and international playing fields. Frankly, the more we hear Donald Trump say there was “no collusion” (i.e., conspiracy) with the Russians, the more most of us are convinced there was. Trump has also made reference to a term that seems new to most of us: the deep state. Although the term has come to wider and wider use in recent years, the “deep state” has been around for a long time. There is evidence that Russian operatives, and probably the Russian government was involved in ruining Hillary's chances in the 2016 election, and bringing the Donald to power. If so, Russia's “deep state” was involved. It has lately been revealed that another element was involved in unlikely Trump's rise to power, a corporate version of the deep state. A company called Cambridge Analytical secured the personal data related to 50 million Americans and sold it the Trump Election committee. That, my friends, is a huge conspiracy, both evil and illegal. We Americans have such short memories. In the hubbub surrounding Russia's attempt to manipulate the recent election, we seem to have forgotten that the American “deep state” had been undermining elections in countries all over the world for decades, centuries even. (Continued on page 12) with no denominational loyalty. He right now attends the New Prospect Baptist Church in Roselawn where he responds strongly to the ministry of its pastor. Clark sees his future in continuing to develop his intellectual projects and to make a difference by his teachings and writings. He would like also to frame the debate about issues of religion and faith and disseminate his thinking and his message by all possible means. But what remains the most important to him is that he contributes to peace and justice on this earth, because, as he says, for him "Christianity is about healed brokenness and right relationships in God's kingdom." --------------------------------------- �12 STREET VOICE WHY IS CANCER MORTALITY SO HIGH FOR MINORITIES IN CINCINNATI PART 6: FACING CANCER ALONE IS SCARY AND UNNECESSARY I ntroduction: In this series of articles we have maintained that the mortality rate for minorities in Cincinnati is so high largely because minorities are invisible in terms of their health needs, hospitals and physicians are underprepared for treating large numbers of new patients who are poor, and there is a lack of kindness toward those in greatest need. In this article, we explore some of the realities facing low income citizens as they think about their health and especially about cancer treatment. 2. Navigating the Cancer Health System: Thinking that you may be receiving a diagnosis of cancer is often overwhelming. Few people imagine that they can cope with the words coming from a physician that indicate cancer is present. The anticipation of an emotional weight of a cancer diagnoses is very heavy, often drowning out the capacity to think forward to the necessary next steps. People who have a doctor may have the same emotionally paralyzing response as those without a regular relationship with a physician. Facing the reality of cancer can be a lonely and frightening experience, and bring the person a realization that critical decisions, perhaps life enhancing ones, may have to be made rapidly. Often, a person believes that there are more important priorities than their health such as employment challenges, family crisis, or personal safety issues. Our organization, the A p r i l 6 - A p r i l 19, 2 0 18 | N o . 37 9 STEVE SUNDERLAND Contributing Writer Cancer Justice Network, knows that a Navigator can be critical at this stage to assist in the overcoming of the chief obstacles to finding out about cancer: fear of death, terror of unexpected expenses, and horror about expected pain as a result of the cancer. 3. What a Navigator Can Do to Promote Screening for Cancer: Our Navigators are placed at dinners and other meetings like health fairs. Navigators are introduced as a free resource to assist anyone with concerns that they may have cancer. We meet people where they are in their fears. Sitting down over dinner, we discuss a three-step process for finding and treating cancer: Step One: Being accompanied to a screening: The Navigator explains that early detection can result in stopping cancer as it begins to grow. Our Navigators will go with the person to a health center or a screening agency. We will assist in setting up an appointment, overcoming travel obstacles, and sit with the person and their family at the time of the exam. Step Two: The Navigator will assist with obtaining insurance, financial aid, or finding out if all experiences with health care are covered by Medicaid. The Navigator will check these details before the visit for the exam and clarify any financial responsibilities. Usually, most health services are completely covered by Medicaid. Step Three: The Navigator will accompany the person when the results of the test are to be shared. If cancer is present, the Navigator will assist the person, if needed, in understanding the kind of cancer and the alternatives for treatment. The Navigator will also assist the person if a second opinion from another physician is desired. Often, there are many ways of working with the cancer and it is helpful to hear from different physicians abut alternatives. 4. Navigators Insure a Kind Process: Our Navigators are aware of many of the obstacles that block a person from taking the steps to find out about cancer. Too often, people have had little education about preventing cancer or even some real description about how cancer works in the body. Many people do not know what to do or who to ask about taking the important medical steps. Even if some people are aware, they are afraid of moving forward due to their past experience with cancer in their families: a cancer diagnosis has meant a “death sentence.” Other people have been overwhelmed by the healthcare experience: going to the hospital has been humiliating and a largely negative event. Hospitals are big, access is confusing, and there is the sense that there isn’t anyone who can explain the ways to obtain correct care. Our Navigators are oriented to create a kind process, a way of working with a person to gain their trust and confidence so that the experience of going for an exam is a positive one. Together, the person and the Navigator go to the hospital or health center and go through the entry as a team. Navigators, by their presence, reduce some of the fear and increase the confidence of the person that they are in a caring experience. 5. Navigation can be the critical factor in reducing mortality: We have seen the smiles on the faces of people following an exam and finding out that they do not have cancer. Their fears have been removed and many people sense that they can face life knowing their health is free of cancer. Other smiling people we meet are those who have had their cancer caught and stopped. Being a cancer survivor is becoming somewhat common within the low-income population and often people approach us with their stories of gratitude. As Navigators, we work for more people who can be happy as they are assured that they do not have cancer or that they have been lucky to get successful cancer treatment. Yet, we still face a generalized fear of finding out about cancer from many of the people we meet at health fairs, dinners, or clinics. The Cancer Justice Network is looking to meet people who want to take the steps to a happy health result. Please call us at 513.404.3882. Teaching Kids About being Homeless J ust a few weeks ago I had the opportunity to go and speak to kids about being homeless. The kids asked Ms. Mona and I questions about how the people experiencing homelessness are hated in our society. Most of these JIM LUKEN (Continued from page 11) Example: In 1953, the elected prime minister of Iran, Mohammad Mosaddagh was overthrown, permitting the return of the Shah of Iran to power. Those who, for years, insisted that the CIA and other international actors were involved in the coup d'etat were often labeled “conspiracy mongers.” Several years ago, in the face of mountains of evidence, the CIA finally admitted: “Yes, we done it.” And yes, it was all STACIA HOLLANDER Contributing Writer and Streetvibes Contributor questions had me in shock. I didn’t expect kids that young to show such great interest in the homeless. Our homeless rate is 16% and rising. The average age for a child to be homeless is 9 years old. My experience is that it is not easy. It takes a rough toll on me in many ways. I would love to be more involved with the Homeless Coalition. The staff are great. I hope to work there one day. about oil. Political and religious chaos has ensued in Iran. We continue to pay the price for our conspiratorial skullduggery to this day. Additionally, our “deep state” has had no qualms about assassinating left-leaning heads of state who refused to do the bidding of “greatest country in the history of the world.” Some of their names: Allende in Chile, Arbenz in Guatemala, Sandino in Nicaragua. There were many CIA attempts to do in Cuba's Castro. There were others. Probably many of them. Once the “deep state” got away with killing Kennedy, the evil underbelly of our system has felt no compunction about killing those who, like MLK and RFK, were fighting to create a more just system in these United States. I believe that the CIA killed the liberal senator from Minnesota, Paul Wellstone, by downing his plane. The same for the death of JFK's son, John-John, who’s plane went down of a clear night flying off Nantucket in good weather with his new wife. John junior had been making moves toward becoming a politician. He THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED might have used the Kennedy name, and his considerable charisma, to make his way to the top, to the presidency. Do I have proof of this? No. Nor will I involve myself in trying to prove his death was at the hands of the CIA, and the “deep state”. There are others who are working on this. You could look it up. But John Jr.'s suspicious death moves me toward my main argument. To be continued. [Editor’s note: Look for part II in the next issue. Thank you for reading Streetvibes.] STA HOLLA SINCE �No. 37 9 | A p r i l 6 - A p r i l 19, 2 0 18 STREET VOICE CRYING RAIN Looking out the window The rain is falling hard, and fast There are intervals of thunder Slashing ever so often And then it suddenly stops Until the next thunder slash appears It lets you know that God is, near So take heed Listen to his might Because thunder and rain, Will, be coming KIM GREEN Streetvibes Distributor & Contributing Writer THANKS FOR MARCH MADNESS How do you define the word "gladness?" Does it make you think of March Madness? Basketball is an escape for you and me, From the daily news about Trump in D.C. So, for our annual multi-game immersion, Thanks NCAA for this healthy diversion. BILL WOODS Contributing Writer 13 MY FATHERS HOUSE In my father’s house there are many mansions Many mansions, with many rooms to rest and pray in In good times, in bad times, day, night, sleep or wake times All the time I spend in my father’s house cause his house is mines When I was homeless, a drunkard, a drug addict and all alone I found much comfort and peace just praising him in song When I was hungry, hair nappy, dirty and smelling, really bad I held onto my sanity, when my belief in prayer was all I had As in any house with rules, my father has commandments of ten Even though I would make mistakes, I’d always repent of my sins And ask for forgiveness with the understanding to make a change A change for the best so there would be no more fear or pain Taking what each day brings and pray and always believe Having faith to know that my father’s will is best for me While searching for God’s love, wisdom and understanding I came into the realization of just what my heart was demanding I began to go to church to learn more about my father’s house I found peace and my soul was saved I could finally announce I learned that there is a place in my father’s house for everyone The young, the old, the lost and the sick at heart and mind I learned the mistakes I’d made were all of one kind I understand today that we must learn from the mistakes we’ve made And know only by the grace of God can our souls be saved So, won’t you come visit in the house of my father Learn the bible and know that with my father there is no other Take your time and search your soul to truly find yourself An understand that in our father’s house is where we’ll be forever safe with plenty of help WILLA DENISE JONES Streetvibes Distributor & Contributing Writer THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �14 PUZZLES A p r i l 6 - A p r i l 19, 2 0 18 | N o . 37 9 CROSSWORD PUZZLE NO. 148 Across Down 1. Banquet 1. A notable achievement 6. Man or boy 2. Every one considered 9. Theatrical equipment individually 13. Planet 3. Showily imitative 14. Frozen water 4. Tale 15. Throw with great effort 16. Performer 17. Type of fish 18. Avid 19. Gland near the base of the neck 21. Deluge 23. Edible tuber 24. Rural deity (Roman Mythology) 25. Buddy 28. Starchy tuberous root 30. Serving of drink drawn from a keg 35. Turns litmus paper red 37. Percussion instrument 39. Pertaining to hearing or the ear 40. Relatively many 41. Long past 43. Nobleman 44. Attempted 46. Bowling alley 47. A score of zero in tennis 48. Main course 50. Requirement 52. A great distance 53. Hit 55. Flop 57. Taxonomic group 61. Ancient Egyptian tomb 65. Overhang 66. Golfing term 68. Dodge 69. Broker 5. Pharynx 6. Prevaricated 7. Playing card 8. Greek letter 9. Juicy fruit 10. Fury 11. Kitchen appliance 12. Sauce 15. Rupture 20. Adult insect 22. Not at home 24. Candy 25. Adhesive material 26. Fruit of the oak 27. Boundary 29. A list of names SODOKU PUZZLE NO 278 - MEDIUM 31. Draw 32. Factual evidence 33. Immature form prior to metamorphosis 34. Senior 36. Cervid 38. Segment of DNA 42. Impoverished 45. Abstain 49. Female sheep 51. Compulsory force 54. Poplar tree 56. Crane 57. Scorch 58. Part of a book 59. Fifty-fifty 60. Fractional monetary unit 61. Front part of a vessel 70. Self or aircraft 71. Move sideways 62. Constructed 72. Let for money 63. Not in active use 73. At present 64. Abstruse 74. Sharply sloping 67. In the past PUZZLE SOLUTIONS ISSUE 378 CROSSWORD PUZZLE NO. 147 SODOKU PUZZLE NO 277- MEDIUM PUZZLES from puzzlechoice.com and puzzles.ca THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �RESOURCES No. 37 9 | A p r i l 6 - A p r i l 19, 2 0 18 Central Access Point 15 381-SAFE Shelter: Women and Children Bethany House 557-2873 1730 Race Street 45202 St. Francis Soup Kitchen 535-2719 St. George Food Pantry 751-8771 2554 Dennis St. 45219 Prince of Peace Lutheran Church 621-7265 Health Resource Center 357-4602 McMicken Integrated Care Clinic and Mobile Medical Van 386-7899 40 E. McMicken Ave, Cinti, Ohio 6037 Cary Ave. 45224 FreeStore/FoodBank 241-1064 McMicken Dental Clinic 352-6363 40 E. McMicken Ave, Cinti Mental Health Access Point 558-8888 NAMI of Hamilton County 351-3500 PATH Outreach 977-4489 131 E. 12th Street 45202 Madisonville Ed & Assistance Center 271-5501 Other Resources St. Vincent de Paul 562-8841 215 E. 14th St. 45202 1841 Fairmount Ave. 45214 The Esther Marie Hatton Center for Women 2499 Reading Road 562-1980 Grace Place Catholic Worker House 681-2365 1528 Race St. 45202 Churches Active in Northside 591-2246 4230 Hamilton Ave. 45223 Salvation Army 762-5660 112 E. Liberty Street 45202 YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter 872-9259 4600 Erie Ave. 45227 Serves area codes: 45226, 45227, 45208, 45209 Shelter: Men Shelterhouse 721-0643 1125 Bank Street 45214 411 Gest St. 45203 Treatment or Supportive Recovery: Men St. Fran/St. Joe Catholic Work. House 381-4941 Charlie’s 3/4 House 784-1853 1437 Walnut Street 45202 City Gospel Mission 241-5525 2121 Vine Street 45202 Prospect House 921-1613 1805 Dalton Ave. 45214 Parkway Center 661-4620 682 Hawthorne Ave. 45205 Starting Over 961-2256 Shelter: Youth Sheakley Center for Youth (18-24 y/o) 2522 Highland Ave. 45219 569-9500 Lighthouse Youth Crisis Center (10-17 y/o) 3330 Jefferson Ave 45220 961-4080 Treatment or Supportive Recovery: Women Shelter: Family Treatment or Supportive Recovery: Both Interfaith Hospitality Network First Step Home 961-4663 2203 Fulton, Cinti, Ohio 45206 AA Hotline 351-0422 CCAT 381-6672 471-1100 Housing: 830 Ezzard Charles Dr. 45214 Caracole (HIV/AIDS) 761-1480 CMHA 721-4580 Excel Development 632-7149 OTR Community Housing 381-1171 Joseph House (Veterans) 241-2965 1522 Republic Street 45202 114 W. 14th Street 45202 Talbert House 221-HELP Tender Mercies 721-8666 27 W. 12th Street 45202 Hamilton County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board 946-8000 Recovery Health Access Center 281-7422 Sober Living 681-0324 Talbert House 221-HELP Advocacy Tom Geiger House 961-4555 Volunteers of America 381-1954 Anna Louise Inn 421-5211 2401-2411 Reading Rd. 45202 Cincinnati Union Bethel 768-6907 2401 Reading Rd. 45202 VA 977-6800 VA Homeless 859-572-6226 Food/Clothing First Lutheran Church 421-0065 1208 Race St. Food - Last Monday 12-1 Clothing - second Monday 12-1 Lord’s Pantry 621-5300 OTR/Walnut Hills Kitchen & Pantry 961-1983 Catholic Social Action 421-3131 Community Action Agency 569-1840 Contact Center 381-4242 Franciscan JPIC 721-4700 Gr. Cinti Coalition for the Homeless 421-7803 117 E. 12th Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 Legal Aid Society 241-9400 Ohio Justice & Policy Center 421-1108 UpSpring 363-3300 Health 961-0600 Center for Respite Care 621-1868 OTR: 1620 Vine Street 45202 Walnut Hills: 2631 Gilbert Ave. 45206 3550 Washington Ave. 45229 Crossroad Health Center 381-2247 Our Daily Bread 621-6364 Franciscan Haircuts from the Heart 381-0111 Goodwill Industries 771-4800 Intercommunity Justice & Peace Cr. 579-8547 Mary Magdalen House 721-4811 1223 Main St. 45202 People Working Cooperatively 351-7921 The Caring Place 631-1114 Talbert House 751-7747 United Way 211 Women Helping Women 977-5541 Off The Streets 421-5211 Hamilton County Office of Reentry 946-4304 138 E. Court Street Room # 101 First Floor Hamilton/Middletown St. Raephaels 981-4200 Salvation Army 863-1445 Serenity House Day Center 422-8555 Open Door Pantry 868-3276 Northern Kentucky Brighton Center 799 Ann St. Newport, KY ECHO/Hosea House Fairhaven Resuce Mission Homeward Bound Youth Mathews House Homeless & Housing Coalition Parish Kitchen Pike St. Clinic Transitions, Inc Welcome House of NKY 205 West Pike Street, Covington, KY 41011 5 E. Liberty St. 45202 for 26 issues 859-261-5857 859-491-1027 859-581-1111 859-261-8009 859-727-0926 859-581-7745 859-291-9321 859-491-4435 859-431-8717 Women’s Crisis Center 859-491-3335 VA Domiciliary 859-572-6202 Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky 634 Scott St. 41011 859-291-4555 You can support our mission and spread the word about your business. For more information contact Justin Jeffre at 513421-70803 x 12 or email streetvibes@ cincihomeless.org $100 859-491-8303 Want to advertise in Streetvibes? Cincinnati Health Network 2825 Burnet Ave. 45219 Center Independent Living Options 241-2600 Peaslee Neighborhood Center 621-5514 $150 THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED for 26 issues and a $50 donation �16 A p r i l 6 - A p r i l 19, 2 0 18 | N o . 37 9 S treetvibes is distributed by individuals who purchase the paper for 75 cents per copy and sell it for a $2.00 donation, keeping the profit they have earned. Becoming a Distributor is a great way for individuals who are financially poor to get back on (or stay on) their feet. This program provides supplemental income for those unable to secure other employment. Money earned helps meet basic housing, food and health care needs. The program is a hand up for people who are often in a place of getting only a hand out, or even no hand at all. All Distributors wear a badge and usually a vest and can be found selling the paper in Downtown Cincinnati, Clifton, Northside, Northern Kentucky and at area churches. ALFRED WOOLFOLK SINCE 10/2003 ASRES AYENAW SINCE 2012 BERTA LAMBERT SINCE 1997 BETTIE BAILEY SINCE 10/2017 BRANDON NELSON SINCE 4/2008 BRIAN ADAMS SINCE 7/2017 CHARLES WILLIAMS SINCE 7/2017 CHRISTOPHER KAIHATSU SINCE 7/2017 CLEO WOMBLES SINCE 10/2003 CRANDALL COBB SINCE 2004 DARREL ROZIER SINCE 7/2017 DAVID MCCANE SINCE 2017 ERIC VALDEZ SINCE 2/2017 GERALD FRANKLIN SINCE 7/2017 GRADY COOK SINCE 1997 HENRY BRELAND SINCE 7/2017 JAMES BROWN SINCE 3/2009 JAMES DAVIS SINCE 8/2000 JENNY BURTON SINCE 7/2017 JIMMIE GIPSON SINCE 2001 JON DARBY SINCE 2/2006 JOHN HORN JOSEPHINE BASKERVILLE SINCE 9/2008 J’TORI TYMAN SINCE 5/2014 KIM NGUYEN SINCE 7/2017 KENNY BUSSELL SINCE 10/2009 KAREN COLLETTE SINCE 7/2008 LARRY BROWN SINCE 10/2007 LEE MCCOY SINCE 7/2009 LEONARD JACKSON SINCE 2/2005 MARY MUELLER SINCE 5/2005 MARK SHEARS SINCE 4/2012 MAURICE GOLSBY MELISSA MOSBY SINCE 9/2014 MIKE CARANO SINCE 4/2016 RAESHAWN GIPSON SINCE 3/2009 RAYNARD JONES SINCE 10/2008 RICKY WOODS SINCE 4/2015 RICCARDO TAYLOR SINCE 1999 RONNIE PHILLIPS SINCE 10/2009 SAMUEL JACKSON SINCE 10/2006 STACIA HOLLANDER SINCE 2017 STEPHANIE EAKES SINCE 7/2017 SYLVESTER WALKER SINCE 7/2017 TALINA HILL SINCE 2/2011 VICTOR MUMPHRY WILLA JONES SINCE 1/2010 WINNIE RICE SINCE 7/2017 QUEENACELASTINE SINCE 7/2017 TIA CASS SINCE 11/2007 THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED TONY THOMAS SINCE 3/2005 KEITH EUTSEY SINCE 2/2011 VIOLET COLLINS SINCE 2017 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2018 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource April 6-April 19, 2018 Subject The topic of the resource Homelessness Description An account of the resource Pg 1: Cover Page Pg 2: From the Director Reflections from the Front Line of Public Education Pg 3: Sorry, Not Today Pg 4: How to Respond to Panhandling Pg 5: The 2018 Library Levy Pg 6: Circular Logic Loops Keep Going, and Going, and Going Pg 7: Community Addicts Pg 8: Religious Peacemakers Pg 9: Dick Croy Continued Pg 10: GCHC Pg 11: The Deep State Part I Tails Wagging Dogs, Big and Small Pg 12: Why is Mortality so High for Minorites in Cincinnati Part 6 Pg 13: Street Voice Pg 14: Puzzles Pg 15: Resources Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Streetvibes Archive Project Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Streetvibes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource April 6-April 19, 2018 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Josh Spring Bill Woods Dr. Mark Mussman Michael Earl Patton Dick Croy Jason Haap Trenton Davis Saad Ghosn Jim Luken Steve Sunderland Stacia Hollander Kim Green Willa Denise Jones C. Grabowski Saad Ghosn Homeless Coalition Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Bill Woods C. Grabowski Cancer Cincinnati Dick Croy Dr. Mark Mussman education GCHC Homeless Coalition Jason Haap Jim Luken Josh Spring Kim Green Library Louisville Michael Earl Patton Over-the-Rhine Religion Saad Ghosn Stacia Hollander Steve Sunderland Trenton Davis Willa Denise Jones https://streetvibesarchive.net/files/original/f680708ee72cfeda00a704a7244a04ca.pdf 10ae348eac9d27a47b6336101aec7ad1 PDF Text Text August 10th - August 23rd 2018 | Vol. 21 Issue 14 (No. 387) advocating justice | building community For Tala Ali, a Muslim, Spirituality Cannot Be Separated from Her Social Justice Work | 8 This Issue is sponsored by Christ Church Cathedral INSIDE THIS ISSUE The city continues to evict homeless camps | 3 Introducing the Enright Ridge Eco-village in East Price Hill | 4 How We Eradicate Homelessness | 5 The Birds have landed in Cincinnati| 12 Find previous issues of Streetvibes online at: cincistreetvibes.org Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition 113 E. 12th Street Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 streetvoice | 13 �2 LOCAL From The Director: To the People of Cincinnati, From The People Living on 3rd Street I n the midst of an affordable housing shortage at crisis level and as the number of people experiencing homelessness is the highest it has ever been in Cincinnati; the City has decided to put their time and energy into further marginalizing people and forcing people from seeking even the smallest amount of respite on public land. Below is the response of the people who are living on the sidewalk along our 3rd Street: Hello Neighbor, You may have heard about those of us who live outside along 3rd Street.  We want to take a moment to communicate directly. Without this publicly-owned space to lay our heads and protect one-another, we would not have a consistent place to be. It’s not that any of us want to be without a home, but like millions of other people in this country, we are. In Hamilton County we have a shortage of more than 40,000 affordable homes. About 56,000 people are trying to fit into 16,000 affordable homes. Big problems like this one require big solutions. We know that forcing us from the support of the community we have built, and this public land is not a solution. Living outside is already very difficult without the hammer of being forced from even a public sidewalk hanging over our heads. We already have to deal with the weather, lack of privacy, constant noise from traffic, lack of bathroom access, inability to store healthy food and never being able to really relax and have moment to ourselves. We know we are a part of a large and growing number of women, men and children facing homelessness in Cincinnati. We implore the City of Cincinnati and City Council to act toward us in good faith, not only in terms of immediate needs, but to focus on long-term solutions that will create desperately needed access to an adequate quantity of affordable housing. With this said, as Cincinnatians, we release the following list of actions we call for the City of Cincinnati to take with us. (Please visit our Facebook page: The Colony Cincinnati. To get involved contact our partner, the Homeless Coalition: www. cincihomeless.org.) 1. The City of Cincinnati will not engage in the actions of warning, citing, noticing or otherwise telling, forcing or intimidating persons to JOSH SPRING Executive Director vacate public land. 2. In order to sustain a healthy environment for the residents of Third Street, the City will supply and maintain at least three public restrooms with showers, which could A u g 10 - A u g 2 3, 2 0 18 | N o . 38 7 into a permanent housing option that is suitable to them.  The City will partner with local housing-focused organization and the City will follow the basic assistant tenants provided in the Uniform Relocation Act as a minimum standard. 5. The City will provide the necessary funding for a no-barrier Streetvibes is an activist newspaper, advocating justice and building community. Streetvibes reports on economic issues, civil rights, the environment, the peace movement, spirituality and the struggle against homelessness and poverty. Distributed by individuals experiencing homelessness or on the edge of homelessness, in exchange for a $2.00 Donation. Streetvibes is published twice a month by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless (GCCH), a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that works to eradicate homelessness in Cincinnati. 113 East 12th St. Cincinnati OH, 45202 Ph: 513.421.7803 FAX: 513.421.7813 WEB: www.cincihomeless.org BLOG: streetvibes.wordpress.com EMAIL: streetvibes@cincihomeless.org Editor: Justin Jeffre Executive Director: Josh Spring Director of Development: Mona Jenkins Director of Education: Dr. Mark Mussman Distributor Program Manager: Justin Jeffre Layout: Key Beck Josh Spring Credit: Homeless Coalition be in the form of port-o-lets that are accessible to people with handicaps and are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  These facilities will be regularly cleaned, and supplied with adequate quantities of toilet paper and hand sanitizer.  The city will provide such restrooms in other areas as deemed necessary for health safety.  All people will have the right to access all restroom sin city-owned facilities with an indoor entrance during the regular business hours of that facility and all restroom in cityowned structures with an outdoor entrance at all times.  3. The City will furnish garbage and recycle vestibules on each block of Third Street in such a quantity necessary to contain all garbage items produced along these blocks (at least four city garbage cans per block) with an adequate rate of pickup; at least weekly.  The city will provide such vestibules in other areas as deemed necessary for health safety and sanitation. 4. Any person residing on public land will have access to reasonable opportunity to relocate Reception: Larry Johnson, Anne Evans Maintenance: Pete Roper shelter that is open and available all year-round. 6. The City will increase the Human Services budget to ensure that social service agencies can adequately provide the following services which are necessary for some people: a. Access to IDs b. Reduce barriers to employment c. Mental healthcare/ addiction recovery d. Transportation assistance 7. The city will approve a motion necessary to re-start the Afford able Housing Working Group staffed by the Department of Community and Economic Development, with the task of bringing forth legislation for City Council to pass in order to establish and adequately fund an Affordable Housing Trust Fund. 8. City Council will begin discussion of proposed legislative protections for people who rent and legislation in the form of a Homeless Bill of Rights. Sincerely with Hope, Residents of The Colony on Third Street THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED ----------------------------------------------CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE Writers: Josh Spring, People living on 3rd Street, Bill Woods, Jake Dingler, Dick Croy, Dr. Mark Mussman, Trenton Davis, Michael Earl Patton, Saad Ghosn, Laura Domet, Steve Sunderland, Justin Jeffre, Kim Green, Willa Denise Jones ----------------------------------------------Photography/ Artwork: Homeless Coalition, Justin Jeffre, Dick Croy, Dr. Mark Mussman, Michael Earl Patton, Saad Ghosn, Laura Domet --------------------------------------------------Thank You For Reading Streetvibes And Supporting Our Mission To Build Community And Advocate Justice. Streetvibes and The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless do not endorse candidates for public office. �LOCAL Homelessness Then and Now - 1986-2018 3 No. 38 7 | A u g 10 - A u g 2 3, 2 0 18 T BILL WOODS he plight of the people on Third Street jolted me to question how much or how little things have changed since homelessness emerged as a major issue in Cincinnati and other cities across the U.S. in the 1980s. When Applied Information Resources was hired by the City in 1986 to conduct a homeless study, activists and social service providers were still organizing new and already existing shelters and services to assist the greater number of individuals and families who found themselves without resources or places to live. Although shelters and services in 2018 have become more professional and better able to assist their clients, homeless numbers remain tragically high today. One common factor causing homelessness both then and now that has actually worsened today is the lack of affordable housing. The City Administrators that asked AIR to assess homelessness in 1986 doubted the big numbers cited by buddy gray, the leading advocate for the homeless in that era, and they hoped that our study would debunk this crisis. The recent commentary by the Acting City Manager and the Mayor about the Third Street encampment seem to imply that the people involved are a nuisance and a health hazard who need to be quickly swept out of sight. This rather callous one-dimensional approach to Third Street once again shows local government's failure to understand the systemic and long term nature of homelessness and the need to take more responsibility for assisting the many residents who are homeless. Our study findings completed in early 1987 confirmed rather than E Contributing Writer refuted buddy gray's high numbers. In fact, the study's estimated yearly figure of people experiencing homelessness in Greater Cincinnati (9,526-11,454) probably topped gray's figures. The new revelation that gained the headlines was the number of families with children that were experiencing homelessness. Families comprised 37.5-percent of the region's homeless, and of the were named as the two primary causes by homeless clients. The lack of suitable, affordable housing was emerging as a crisis in 1986, and it has simply grown over time. Since the 1930s, one of the keys to having affordable housing has been federal funding. As an outgrowth of the Great Depression and the New Deal, Public Housing and housing assistance programs grew up as responses to the economic crisis that confronted so many Bill Woods accepting buddy gray Lifetime Achievement Award Credit: Homeless Coalition 1,800 people counted in the onemonth shelter survey, 320 were children and 130 were single parent women. The study shattered the stereotype of the aging wino or the bag lady, and although alcohol and drugs were certainly given as one of the reasons for homelessness, housing and income related factors Americans. Over the years, Congress and various Administrations accepted housing assistance as an ongoing responsibility that needed to continue. This mandate began to diminish by the 1980s, and the Reagan Administration took the position that the poor were primarily to blame for their plight. Federal The City Continues to Evict Homeless Camps arly in the morning of August 3rd, Attorney Bennett Allen filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Cincinnati, as well as a request for a temporary restraining order. Who, you may ask, was Allen seeking protection for? Individuals without homes who have taken up residence in tents along Third Street who refer to themselves as The Colony. On Tuesday, July 31, signs appeared along the Third Street camp informing the residents they had 72 hours to vacate the area “indefinitely” in order to allow city workers to clean the area. These signs looked like something anyone could make on a basic laptop, displayed no official seal or insignia, and cited no city statute. Anyone could've put up these funding for housing began to decline during this period. It is no coincidence that the rise of homelessness in Cincinnati and other cities occurred during this initial phase of major cuts in federal housing assistance. In 1981, the federal outlay for various housing programs was $24.9-billion. By the 1987 budget, federal housing funds were reduced to $7.8-billion, and money for any new construction was miniscule. Waiting lists for Public Housing in Cincinnati, especially for family units, grew both in numbers and in long waits for any openings. This trend of shrinking federal resources for affordable housing and other safety net programs has continued from the 1980s to today. Consequently, the long-term chances for reducing homelessness and poverty seem quite small if we continue to wait for a major change in the funding priorities of Congress or the White House. The recent LISC study that showed us to be in need of 40,000 units to address the local affordable housing need is a stark reminder of a crisis that has evolved over the last thirty-eight years. What this really means is that Cincinnati City Government and Hamilton County need to step up to the plate and provide more funding for affordable housing initiatives. Initiatives such as the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which is being negotiated between the City and housing advocates, must be adequately funded in order to make a difference. Further, the need to change local government priorities may require activists to promote raising taxes. The mantra of no new taxes must be questioned if an adequate response to reducing poverty is ever to be mounted. Meanwhile, a first step for activists should be to tell the City that sweeping people off of Third Street fails to meet the test of a humane response to homelessness. remove. And now, to top it all off, the (Continued on page 9) JAKE DINGLER Contributing Writer signs- hateful people that demonize the poor, ill-behaved children that enjoy the suffering of others, devilish miscreants with complete disregard for their fellow human beings; turns out it was all three. The City of Cincinnati ushered in their goons (CPD) to intimidate the residents of this camp, hoping they would leave before their arbitrary deadline, and in fact, some did. But those who stayed decided to fight. A coalition was formed between The Colony, the Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition, Mass Action for Black Liberation, The Ohio Poor People's Campaign, United We Stand, Tiiibe, Peaslee Neighborhood Center, Democratic Socialists of America, Cincinnati Interfaith Workers Center, and Cincinnati Socialist Alternative. With the help of Bennett Allen, a lawsuit was filed, and it was requested that a restraining order be put on the city in order to stop the evacuation until the lawsuit was settled. In court Friday morning, it was decided that, while the restraining order would not be granted, the camp would only have to move for 2 hours to allow cleaning crews access; The tents would be removed for cleaning at 2pm and returned no later than 4pm. As there was no mess to clean up, save a few cigarette butts, the whole ordeal took just over an hour. City workers wore protective coveralls and masks, an obvious attempt at theater on the part of the city, as there was no actual mess to THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED Bennett Allen speaking to press Credit: Justin Jeffre �4 LOCAL Introducing the Enright Ridge Ecovillage in East Price Hill W hile a lot of fuss has been made over its new professional soccer team, Cincinnati boasts something much rarer for a city of any size: an eco-village within its borders. Eco-villages, whose inhabitants seek to live according to ecological principles with as little impact on the environment as possible, have been springing up around the world but there are only a handful within a metropolitan area. Cincinnati’s is the Enright Ridge Urban Eco-village in East Price Hill. Beginning in 2004 on Enright Avenue and expanding to include Terry Street, McPherson Avenue and more recently Wells St., this “intentional community” is now home to more than a hundred families. But cofounder Jim Schenk numbers its residents in the thousands, only 250 of whom are human. “We really are connected with this earth,” he emphasizes, “and we’ve got to change the way we’re thinking about things. So Enright Eco-village is more than just the people living here. That’s really critical for me.” Schenk favors eco-villages within city limits for two reasons. For one thing, instead of “starting from scratch and building from the ground up,” which is one of the main reasons only about 10% of intentional communities succeed, he and his wife Eileen began Enright Ridge in an existing residential neighborhood. More importantly, he sees these ecological communities as an essential evolutionary step in helping to save our cities. “Our whole idea was we have to rejuvenate our cities and remain in our cities. If we don’t, we spread out and we destroy our planet’s ability to support us and other species.” As the Enquirer reported several years ago, Enright Ridge “is kind of a cooperative and sort of a farm project. There are members, a board and elected representatives, but it is really just a string of old houses connected by a sense of belonging and a desire to eat well. This blend of an urban environment with access to jobs, technology and transportation with classic agrarian principles of simplicity and sustainability looks to be an interesting part of the city's future “ Enright resident Jeffrey Stec put it this way: "This is New Urbanism. We are just leveraging a different set of assets than they are in Over-theRhine. Bars, restaurants, living in close proximity, that's what they have in OTR. This is different. We never have a house that stays for sale. Ever. It’s gone." “I think in our culture the whole concept of individualism is just a crazy notion, said Schenk. “We’re a tribal animal. Living in community A u g 10 - A u g 2 3, 2 0 18 | N o . 38 7 DICK CROY Contributing Writer is part of who we are. You’ve got to have a community of people who are supporting you. We share potluck dinners once a week and work together on many projects.” So how did Enright Ridge come about? Jim and Eileen met (we actually met at Catholic Social Service Bureau in Covington in 1968. (when) From 1974 to 1977, he was Director of the (County) Covington Community Center and she was teaching at Northern Kentucky University.) “One of the things that dawned on us was that most people in this culture aren’t happy, and we started asking why. Our conclusion is there is a real dichotomy between the values of this culture, which says if you have lots of money and stuff you’ll be happy; and and spirituality from 1978 to 2008,” Schenk said. Their first attempt at starting an eco-village didn’t succeed. “We didn’t have a support system there, and it was the most depressed area in Price Hill. But one morning in 2004 I woke up and said, ‘hmm, Enright Avenue (where the Schenks still live). We’re not too big; we have a support system and we don’t have a depressed area. Why don’t we start an eco-village here? So in June we invited 25 people who lived on Enright and 17 showed up. We asked some questions, did some brainstorming and it started that night.” How have residents converted their existing neighborhoods into sustainable places to live? “Right now, about a third of the people are involved, a third are open to the idea and a third are indifferent. Jim Shenk, Enright Ridge Urban Eco-village co-founder Credit: Dick Croy our reality, which is once you get the basic necessities of life, what really counts is relationship. We became aware of the fact that people aren’t just disconnected from each other but from this whole amazing planet. So we started looking for a model of how we would live if we were to help the earth and her people, with people being sacred and our most important priority.” The Schenks’ first model was Imago, an ecological educational organization with the mission to foster a deeper harmony with Earth by providing educational experiences, creating opportunities for discussion and community building, and conserving natural areas. “We did a lot of education programs and held eight conferences around ecology We don’t have any strong opposition because it has significantly improved the neighborhood. There are about 90 households on Enright, five or six on Terry St. and about 14 on McPherson. We just recently moved onto Wells and now have our own pub, Common Roots, and a Zen center. We have a lot of new young families here now. “In 2009 we started a CSA: community supported agriculture. We have a lot of big back yards with really rich soil, goats and chickens. When a local greenhouse came up for sale, we got a grant from the Greater Cincinnati Foundation to purchase it and fix it up. That’s where we start most of our plants now. We also have several acres of woods with walking trails, where people spend time. THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED Some have started forest gardens for both humans and animals. “After we started the eco-village we purchased some 25 houses in the neighborhood that we renovated and put on the market. For the first house we borrowed money from Imago’s members, back in about 1978. We raised about $62,000 and rehabbed it and when we sold it we paid everyone back at whatever interest they wanted. Half of them chose no interest and the rest chose somewhere between 2-7%. So that was our first house and then we came across the Hubert Foundation. Ed Hubert was really into preserving housing so he started granting us money. He asked us to return the money when we sold the house along with 3% interest. We had a really good relationship. There were times we didn’t end up in the black or really close and he wouldn’t expect any interest.” What happens to Enright if the grid goes down? “It depends on what part of the grid. We’ve done some talking about it; it’s really not so much what are we are going to do exactly, but the fact that we are a community. The people involved would work together to figure out what we’re going to do. We need to be aware of who has access to, let’s say, wood burning stoves, or what homes could provide heat if we need it. Eileen and I have a little gas stove in the living room so if just the electric went down, the gas would keep us warm. We have 20 photovoltaic cells and an inverter, which if the sun is out will run our furnace and our refrigerator. We don’t have batteries yet but I’m waiting for the batteries to improve. It’s interesting; we put in 10 photovoltaic cells and they provided 1/3 of our electricity. I waited like 4 years, put in 10 more and (now) they provided 100%. It’s a great time to do solar.” “Water can’t be pumped if the grid goes down. We have people with a lot of water tanks which they use for gardening so we do have some water around. I want to put in a cistern with a hand pump on top so if something happens, water can be shared.” What do Enright Ridge residents have to say? This is what “Erinjo” has to say about living in Enright Village on the community’s website: “Living in our eco-village means being part of a community and having an immediate, daily connection to people that are working to live more sustainably and with more awareness of the earth. It means working together to plant gardens or rehab housing and having fun together at community dinners and seasonal parties. It means living on a ridge surrounded by acres of woods and yet just a short walk from a major bus line. It means something different to each resident who lives in the Village. Meet Suellyn, one of our residents:” “I moved to Enright Ridge in (Continued on page 11) �LOCAL How We Eradicate Homelessness 5 No. 38 7 | A u g 10 - A u g 2 3, 2 0 18 DR. MARK MUSSMAN Sometimes people ask really loaded questions like “Well, if the Homeless Coalition has been around for 35 years, why is there still homelessness?” I usually have a good response about how things have changed over 35 years, the face of homelessness has gotten much younger, and how families are more likely to experience homelessness now, than ever before. If I was more astute, I might say something like: “How long as the American Cancer society been around? Is cancer still a problem?” Obviously, it is, and so is homelessness. The real answer falls into the category of “I told you so!” where the city, county, state, and country, have been getting warnings about the growth of homelessness, yet fail to act in accordance with the many solutions that we have provided over the years. There has been a major shift over the past few decades, where people actually recognize that homelessness is a real thing, and that affects more people than just those our society deems worthless. Unfortunately, however, there is still much educating to be done, from person-first language, to breaking down stereotypes, to responding to panhandling, to structural violence. First and foremost, the issue is a lack of affordable housing. We know that we are more than 40,000 units short of affordable housing in Hamilton County, just for people at the lowest end of the economic measure. (I chose to not call it the “economic ladder” because upward mobility doesn’t exist for most of Cincinnati.) Affordable housing is simply a guarantee that no one pay more than 30% of their income on housing, including utilities. With utility prices going up $250/year for each customer in Ohio (thanks to Ohio Legislature), these costs are really difficult to get under control. To put the need in perspective, Staff Writer one great affordable housing organization, Over-the-Rhine Community Housing has about 420 units of affordable housing in the neighborhood. We would need allow people who have no reason to be evicted to fight for their home. Other protections, including helping elderly neighbors stay in their homes amidst rising energy costs and property taxes, will go a long way to How We Eradicate Homelessness Housing Protections Tenant Organizing Policy Development and Oversight Know Your Rights Affordable Housing Affordable Housing Trust Fund Coordinate Services Education and Training Livable Wages Employment Pipeline Entrepreneurship Opportunities Legal Protection To join us or to learn more about any of our programs, including our Homeless Experience Speaker’s Bureau, Tenant and Community Organizing, Streetvibes, or Operations, please visit us at www.cincihomeless.org two such organizations in each of Cincinnati’s 52 neighborhoods, just to make up the gap at the lowest end of the measure. Secondly, we need better laws to protect people who already have housing. It could be a “changing neighborhood” or slumlord who pushes someone out of their home. Or it could simply be a matter of personality conflicts. There are many reasons people are removed from their homes, but having something called “Just Cause Eviction” would ensure that people who have made their home over the past decades, would be able to age in place. Finally, we must develop a better minimum wage. When the minimum wage was conceived after the Great Depression, with the idea that it would be enough for someone to purchase their own home. This is not possible today. Even fighting for $15 minimum wage may not be enough. Most Americans make under $20/ hour, and some states like Kentucky, use the federal minimum wage of Opportunity Zones: Battleground America TRENTON DAVIS From new, trendy bars in Over-theRhine to the FC Cincinnati stadium deal, economic development has spurred painful political conflict in our city. The issue of “gentrification” is far more well-known than in the past. Even with our recognition of unjust eviction rates among minorities, overburdened renting families, and the sky-rocketing population of people experiencing homelessness, our public debate continues to fall short of the needed progress. The Recession of 2009 altered the real estate landscape, and now, many of our neighbors are struggling to find one of the most fundamental $7.25/hour. At roughly $15,000 each year (before taxes) most minimum wage earners are women in their mid30’s, not high school students, like many believe. This is exploitation, pure and simple. It’s important that we focus on each of these aspects in order to eradicate homelessness. You may have noticed that I didn’t mention shelters, because they are not a Contributing Writer requisites of life, an affordable place to live. A home provides a structure of security and safety for children and families to prosper. As part of the new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed by Congress earlier this year, a bipartisan tool was added to the repertoire of “community development” advocates. The idea is to encourage private investment in struggling neighborhoods by designating specific census tracts as “Opportunity Zones”. Basically, the program offers investors the chance to receive either lower taxes or no taxes on gains from funds that are primarily invested in these Opportunity Zones. In fact, to keep the money local, the longer the money stays in that census tract, the less tax the investor must pay. After 10 years, an investor does not have to pay any capital gains tax on their investment. For our struggling communities, this could provide relief. On the West Coast, there are organizing groups that push for lower regulations and increased tax incentives for investments in housing to help make homes more affordable. Logically, the more homes we have, the cheaper the overall price will be. So, are THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED solution, but rather a temporary stage of homelessness. Also, I didn’t mention drug recovery, because again, this is a symptom of homelessness, very rarely a cause. I didn’t mention mental health treatment, because while everyone could use some mental health treatment, it is rarely a cause, but often a result of homelessness. If we could structurally end homelessness, these issues may disappear, but until then, we’ll keep organizing, educating and advocating to end homelessness. opportunity zones the long-awaited savior for our distressed families that pay upwards of 50% of their monthly income to rent? This is a bit more nuanced than the traditional market myth can explain. As we’ve seen in OTR, when capital can gain significant advantage through tax incentives, people are more willing to invest it. Therefore, we’ve witnessed incredible development of the business district. Property values have risen by double digits in some parts. One could argue that OTR is far more vibrant because of the deployment of private and public capital. But in who’s interest? The residents? Investors? The city? The suburbs? The West End was recently named an Opportunity Zone after their (Continued on page 11) �6 LOCAL THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED A u g 10 - A u g 2 3, 2 0 18 | N o . 38 7 �LOCAL Lots of Gas, But Not Enough No. 38 7 | A u g 10 - A u g 2 3, 2 0 18 T MICHAEL EARL PATTON here is a lot of natural gas in this country, more than enough is being produced to meet our needs – at least as of President Obama’s 2012 State of the Union when he said that there was enough to last almost a hundred years. The reason for his optimism was the improvement in techniques for producing “tight” gas, that is, natural gas that is tightly trapped in shale rock formations. Because it is relatively clean-burning, inexpensive, and produces far less carbon dioxide when burned compared to coal, it started to replace coal for the generation of electricity. There seemed to be so much that the United States now even allows it to be liquefied and shipped overseas. But the amount of gas left over from these uses and put into storage, which is then burned during the following winter, is hurting. The amount in storage is extremely low for this time of year, especially taking into account the increased use for electrical generation. As I wrote in my article Natural Gas Shortage Coming in the March 24 – April 6, 2017 issue of Streetvibes, there may not be enough to get us through this coming winter. This chart shows the changes in sources of energy for the U.S. from 1776 through 2017. It comes from the Energy Information Agency (www. eia.gov), as do the other graphs in this article. Note the rapid decline in the use of coal in the past few years, mostly offset by the rise in use of natural gas. There is also some increase in renewables, including biomass (mostly wood), and some increase in petroleum, but the largest increase is with natural gas. The EIA reports that in 2014, 39% of the electricity generated in this country came from burning coal and 30% from natural gas; for 2018 they estimate almost the reverse – just 30% will come from coal and 37% from natural gas. Gas Production in the United States has been up somewhat, but still not by enough. It is the next graph that concerns me. Every week the EIA reports on the amount of natural gas in storage. Supplies need to build up during the summer so they can be drawn down during the winter. Neither Contributing Writer production nor pipeline capacity are large enough to supply the amount of gas that is needed during the winter heating season. The shaded area shows the 5-year It has also been a hot summer, especially in the Southwest where 100+ degrees are common. This means more electricity is needed for air conditioning (and more burning Gas Production 2018 May Credit: US Energy Information Administration Natural Gas Stores 20180727 Credit: US Energy Information Administration range. Some years there is more, some less. Note the draw downs during winter. The lowest level in the 5-year range was reached at the end of the 2013/14 winter, which was colder than average. The next three winters were warmer than normal. Last winter, which was somewhat normal overall, we did not quite reach that low of a level and for a while it looked as if we would build up stocks nicely. But now we are below the 5-year range. Take into account the increased use of natural gas for electrical generation and we are in new territory. A cold winter and the prices will skyrocket, certainly double or more. Energy Consumption in US 1776-2017 Credit: US Energy Information Administration of natural gas). That is the main reason the supplies have not been building up. When the U.S. burned mostly coal for generation a hot summer did not affect the build-up of supplies nearly this much. As for exports, the U.S. is now a net exporter of natural gas and our government has a goal of supplying enough to Europe so that they do not have to depend on Russia for supplies. So far the amounts involved have not made a major difference but I would be opposed to exporting more as that THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED 7 would make our supply situation worse. I understand the concern about Russia. NATO has tanks, planes, arms, and soldiers (so does Russia), but if Russia were to cut the supply of natural gas, Europe would be seriously hurting – and without the use of any armed force. Russia has the upper hand here and the U.S. and NATO have to rethink their strategy. A cynic might conclude that the shutdown of coal plants was planned with the knowledge that a shortage would develop and drive up the price of natural gas and profits for the producers. I can’t argue against this. Near Cincinnati the J.M. Stuart and Killen coal-fired power plants in Adams County closed this summer. I know President Trump has spoken against the “War on Coal” but I do not know if this is politically driven or how much effort he made to keep the plants open. More pipelines are under construction but from what I can find out they are primarily intended to increase supplies for export. In any event they probably will not be ready until 2020. Myself, I am in favor of radical energy conservation and a greatly increased pace for transitioning to renewable sources of energy, but that is not going to happen in time. Even a normal winter might mean trouble at this rate. Since I wrote the article last year there have been a couple others who have sounded notes of concern but there has been amazingly little in the mainstream media. I do not know why this is. I would have thought that if there was no need for concern then at least there would be a brief explanation as to why the last chart looks so troubling – not just the same assertions on how innovative and great our industry is. As for what to do, I admit substantial energy conservation takes time and money. I have been working on my house for years and there is still much more that I want to do. But I do not see another way forward for us 99 percenters. The U.S. Department of Energy (www.energy.gov) has lots of good information. Go to their home page and click on “Save Energy, Save Money.” Best to do what you can and if you haven’t started yet, get going. --------------------------------------- �8 RELIGIOUS PEACEMAKERS For Tala Ali, a Muslim, Spirituality Cannot Be Separated from Her Social Justice Work A u g 10 - A u g 2 3, 2 0 18 | N o . 38 7 SAAD GHOSN Growing up in the US, Tala Ali, Muslim Chaplain at the Dorothy Day Center for Faith and Justice, Xavier University, Cincinnati, OH, experienced what many immigrants currently face in the country. She and her family, undocumented for a few years, lived in fear and need, trying to survive day by day, and her mother was once arrested by an immigration raid at her work place but luckily not deported. This increased Ali's sensitivity to the suffering of others and forged her determination to fight for everyone’s rights. Ali was born in the United Arab Emirates to a Jordanian father and a Palestinian mother and came to the US at the age of 2, initially to Tennessee for her father's master's degree, then to Cincinnati for his PhD in American Literature at UC. After her father's graduation, the family remained in the States with no legal documents, until he was sponsored for a work visa which, eventually, led to permanent residency and naturalization. Ali's family was not religious. Her father almost never spoke of religion to her, but rather of political activism, especially of the Palestinian Liberation struggle in which he was involved on campus. As a kid she would accompany him to demonstrations and protests, she idealized him and his friends that were activists, and wanted to be like Contributing Writer them. Her mother was culturally a Muslim, but not a practicing one, and would occasionally tell her children stories about Islam. Ali attended the Academy of World Languages, part of CPS, where she learned Arabic; then Walnut Hills High School (HS) from which she graduated in 2000. It is in HS that she became curious about Islam and started learning about its faith and its practices. "I would pick up books relating to it from the school's library," she says. "I also started visiting the Clifton Mosque and the Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati in West Chester, participating in their classes and services and learning how to pray." Thus, Ali became familiar with the bases of Islam, discovered its traditions and its feasts, and joined in its Ramadan Fasting. While growing up she had already repeatedly questioned her parents about why, as Muslims, they were celebrating Christmas and not Ramadan, and she had assumed that it was in order to blend and not feel different. "But I was on the contrary increasingly asking myself: Who am I? What is my identity? Where do I belong?" she says. Discovering and affirming her religious background was, in addition, an issue of identity for Ali. In HS and following the influence of her father, Quotes from the Quran and Hadith (Prophet's saying) about Peace and Justice “Allah commands justice, the doing of good, and liberality to kith and kin, and He forbids all shameful deeds, and injustice...” (Quran 15:90) “In the wealth of a rich person, there is a portion which belongs to the poor…” (Quran 51:19) “Have you thought of him that denies the Last Judgment? It is he who turns away the orphan and has no urge to feed the destitute.” (Quran 107:1) “Worship Allah..., and be good to the parents and to the relatives, the orphans, the needy, the neighbor who is your relative, the neighbor who is not your relative, the fellow traveler, the wayfarer and the slave.” (Quran 4:36) “Oh you who have believed, be persistently standing firm for Allah, witnesses in justice, and do not let the hatred of a people prevent you from being just. Be just; that is nearer to righteousness." (Quran 5:8) “On the Day of Judgment, God will ask a person, ‘Oh my servant, I was hungry, but you did not give me food.’ The servant will say, ‘Oh my Lord, how can I feed You, you are the One who feeds the whole of mankind’. God will say, ‘Didn’t you know such a servant of mine in your neighborhood was hungry. If you had served him food, you would have found me there.’ Then God will ask, ‘Oh my servant, I had no clothes, but you did not clothe me.’ The servant will answer, ‘Oh my Lord, how can I clothe you, you provide clothes to everyone.’ God will say, ‘Didn’t you know my such and such servant needed clothes? If you had provided his clothing, you would have found me there…” (Hadith) “Whoever removes a worldly grief from a believer, God will remove from him one of the grieves on the Day of Resurrection. And whoever alleviates the need of a needy person; God will alleviate his needs in this world and the in Hereafter... And God will aid His slave so long as he aids his brother." (Hadith) she also pursued her activism for the Palestinian cause, reading books and writing papers about it, attending conferences relating to it, also being active in Al Awda (i.e. The Return), the student Palestinian activist group of her school. In the fall of 2000 Ali registered at UC to study International Relations. A couple of months later, inspired by other women on campus wearing the hijab (the head-covering scarf worn by certain Muslim women), she decided to also wear it as a sign Tala Ali of intimate relationship with God and of servitude to Him. She has been donning it ever since. At UC Ali joined the Muslim Student Association but was disappointed, finding the Association mostly political and judgmental, foreign to the Islam that she got to know, the Islam that focuses on bettering oneself, on fighting one's ego, on serving God and taking care of other people. Less than a year later, following the terrorist attacks of 9/11, and due to her looks, Ali was exposed to repeated physical and verbal attacks. "I was waiting once at a bus stop, downtown Cincinnati, and a passerby threw scalding coffee at me," she says. "I was also verbally abused by many customers at the Goldstar Chili where I was working at the time." By then she had joined the UC antiwar group actively protesting Bush's new policies regarding the War on Terrorism, also his preparation for the invasion of Iraq. In 2003 Ali's application for a permanent visa was denied twice, for no clear reasons, and in 2004 she found a tracking device hidden in her car. She was also bullied by one of her UC Professors who repeatedly refused to acknowledge her and her questions in class and who bluntly admitted it to her when she confronted him. By then disillusioned and disheartened Ali dropped her studies and took a few months break to visit her father's relatives in Jordan and backpack through Syria. Upon her return to the US, she spent more time at the mosque and decided to resume her college studies but this time at Cincinnati State for an Associate degree in Liberal Arts and International Relations, then at Credit: Saad Ghosn Xavier University for a BA in Postcolonial International Studies and Political Science (2011). Ali's years spent at Xavier University (XU) were life changing to her. She resonated very well with the holistic spiritual approach the school espoused, its focus on the entire person, its high moral values and the support it provided its students. She also discovered right away the on-campus Dorothy Day Center for Faith and Justice (CFJ) which helped her grow in her faith and strengthen its link to social justice. While in her Junior year, she served on XU Interfaith Executive Cabinet. The following year she chaired the Lecture series for the University, helping identify and invite significant individuals to come and speak on campus. She was thus able to feature Franklin McCain, the American civil rights activist and member of the Greensboro Four who staged a sit-in protest at the Woolworth lunch counters in Greensboro, NC; also, to show Howard Zinn's documentary "The People Speak" that gives voice to (Continued on page 11) Religious Peacemakers is a regular column highlighting Greater Cincinnati individuals who use their faith and religious beliefs for peace and justice. Saad.Ghosn@uc.edu is the founder of SOS (Save Our Souls) Art, an organization that promotes arts as vehicles for peace and justice and for a change. THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �9 LOCAL Review: The Cincinnati Opera’s Another Brick in the Wall No. 38 7 | A u g 10 - A u g 2 3, 2 0 18 Symphony Orchestra. This exciting performance reminded me of when the Cincinnati Ballet teamed up with rock legend Peter Frampton several years ago in the way it incorporated popular rock music with a more classical art form, drawing new fans into the ballet. LAURA DOMET Contributing Writer A s someone who enjoys music and the arts, I had never been to the opera. Quite frankly, although I was curious, I always feared that I would find myself bored. Images of an insufferably long, stuffy, tiresome performance of high pitched trilling that I wouldn’t understand is how I pictured the opera in my mind. Watching the Cincinnati Opera’s As a fan of Pink Floyd, I consider them one of my essential musical influences. I listened to them often in my formative years, and have many of their albums on tape, cd, and vinyl. When I had the opportunity to see Another Brick in the Wall—The Opera, I figured it’s now or never. If I was ever going to enjoy and appreciate the opera, this was my chance. If I saw this performance, U.S. premiere of Another Brick in the Wall was like watching two classics colliding into something new and refreshing. Another Brick in The Wall—The Opera, is based on Pink Floyd’s iconic 1979 album The Wall. The music was done in an operatic style using the lyrics and story - which was also turned into a must-see movie for classic rock aficionados. A friend growing up once described The Wall as the most anti-establishment classic rock album of all times. So, it was a pleasant surprise to see it adapted into an operatic version at Music Hall. and still didn’t like the opera, I would never ever like the opera. From the very first scene of a rock concert attended by many adoring fans gushing about the stage to see their idol Pink perform, I knew I was in for a real treat. The set was very high tech, it was similar at times to being at an actual rock concert, yet still maintained the grandness one might expect at an Opera. The cacophony of voices singing beautifully paired with a psychedelic backdrop which served to help weave a story of a rock star who continues to rise and fall as he spirals out of control while facing his JAKE DINGLER (Continued from page 3) Diminutive Mayor Cranley has publicly threatened to target yet another camp for removal and threatened to file suit against the residents of the Third Street camp. A tent community in the gateway to Cincinnati's business district should serve as a daily gob smack to those that control this city. Every day, a walk down Third Street should be a reminder that there is a housing biggest fears and the inner demons of his past. The words and lyrics by Roger Waters were wonderfully and hauntingly interpreted in a new way that simultaneously preserved the originality and brilliance of the album. The opera featured an international cast of soloists, the Cincinnati Opera Chorus, and the renowned Cincinnati crisis in this city- that conservative estimates say we are 40,000 units short of affordable housing, and more disappear constantly due to gentrification. It's sad to see the fervor in which these communities in greatest need of help are scornfully As the average age of Opera goer is likely getting older, it's nice to see the Cincinnati Opera trying bold new things to expand upon their fan base and draw more people into the opera. As a newly converted opera fan, I'm excited to see what's next for the Cincinnati Opera. This was a night to remember. pushed into the shadows by politicians on both sides of the isle. Politicians that smile and offer you your own disenfranchisement as a solution to this brutal, institutional issue. Cleaners clean up encampment Heavy machinery was brought out to assist the workers Credit: Justin Jeffre Credit: Justin Jeffre THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �10 LOCAL Why is Cancer Mortality So High in Cincinnati Minorities and People of Low Income: Part 10: Imagining a Welcoming Health Care Story For All 1 . Introduction. Consider this Tale of Three Cincinnati’s. The people are real, like you and me. Their names have been changed but no less like yours and mine. Rachel Freeman, a 64-year-old African American woman, with no job and without health insurance, was bothered by recurrent back aches. She had no long-time physician to consult with, so she was puzzled, frightened, and confused about where to go for health care. Living on little income, she attended a dinner at a church where she met Felecia, a Navigator from the Cancer Justice Network. Rachel had never heard about Navigators. Over dinner she shared with Felecia about her pain. Felecia listened and suggested that Rachel visit a health center and get a screening to see what was happening. Felecia offered to accompany Rachel, arrange transportation, help with signing up for Medicaid, and stay with her throughout the process. Rachel agreed and set a time for the screening. The results were early detection of kidney cancer. Within a month, Rachel and Felecia had A u g 10 - A u g 2 3, 2 0 18 | N o . 38 7 STEVE SUNDERLAND Contributing Writer found a cancer surgeon, had a second opinion, and decided on an operation. The surgery was successful, and Rachel was grateful to have met a Navigator. Robert Jackson is a 76-yearold African American who began to notice blood repeatedly appearing in his stool. Without a regular physician or health insurance, he did not know what to do except try to ignore the blood. After several months, pain accompanied the blood. Robert felt he had no choice but to go to the emergency room at the hospital closest to where he lived. That hospital said they didn’t take people without insurance and urged him to go to the emergency room at the University Hospital. Discouraged and confused, Robert returned home and waited another three weeks before he went to the University Hospital emergency room. Upon examination, he was told that the cancer had invaded his colon and liver and that he was “too far along” to expect a positive result from any treatment. In prior articles we have described the loss of life from cancer in minorities and people of low income. Both Rachel and Robert are part of this high-risk population. They live with reduced access to healthcare and little knowledge of the warning signs of cancer. Robert’s cancer will likely reduce his life by twenty years in comparison to people with health insurance and in neighborhoods that have hospitals that accept patients with insurance. Death from cancer thrives in places where people live in poverty. Rachel and Robert are Cincinnati citizens with limited chances of detecting cancer soon enough to give them hope. Their experience of hospitals is not welcoming. Their stories conflict with the story hospitals tell themselves of who they are as healers of suffering and beacons of hope ‑‑ a story they indeed make happen for countless numbers of people who fortunately can presume professional medical care is available for them. For Rachel and Robert, that same THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED hospital is there, but they presume it’s not for them. It’s one of the lessons systemic poverty teaches: To die from cancer is part of who Rachel and Robert are. It’s part of their story. And it becomes the story we all tell about “the way things are” and “who we are” in our society. How do we change that public narrative we keep telling over and over? Where might we start? What if the story each hospital told were reinvented, retold to be intentional, to presume our kinship, welcoming of all? Imagine a hospital with representatives who visit churches, schools, and community centers to listen and respond to the questions and concerns of people for whom poor health goes with the territory and medical care is a last resort. Imagine the people who represent the hospital being a team, a Navigator, Felecia, and a nurse, Patricia, or physician, Dr. Nancy. They dine at a church dinner and talk about the warning signs of cancer and why early detection is so important. Imagine that team returning for a (Continued on page 12) �No. 38 7 | A u g 10 - A u g 2 3, 2 0 18 DICK CROY (Continued from page 4) 2008, purchasing my little house when I reached ‘retirement’ age. I was looking for a community where I could own my own place, know my neighbors and reduce my ecological footprint after a number of years living in the suburbs. I love my 1300 sq. ft. almost 100 year old house where the land offers me a challenging opportunity to practice permaculture. “My 5-year-old grandson enjoys TRENTON DAVIS (Continued from page 5) CBA with FC Cincinnati. If similar development occurs in the West End as in OTR, will the people that live in the West End be better off? Will the residents retain possession of their neighborhood, their roots, their childhood? The answer is uncertain. In contrast, surely as a private investor, I want to get in on the development. If I invest my money in the West End, not only will I receive gains of- if all goes like OTR- double digit percentages, I will also be able to do it tax free. I know that as a private investor I will be better off. If capital comes flooding into these SAAD GHOSN (Continued from page 8) everyday Americans who, by insisting on equality and justice, spoke up for social change throughout US history. Ali was also all along involved with the Holy Land club facilitating films and teachings for justice in Palestine. In 2011 and in her last student year at XU, Ali founded, along with other women and men friends converts to Islam she had met at the Mosque, Salaam (i.e. Peace) Community, a safe third space for Muslims who had felt rejected, for converts who had had a traumatic experience, a spiritually enriching space, also a cultural one. "The Mosque was intimidating to some," says Ali. "In many instances the leadership had kept the mentality of Islam vs the West, and for many of us who were American we did not feel at ease." The space, based on a model the STEVE SUNDERLAND (Continued from page 4) series of visits and really getting to know the Rachels and Roberts gathering there and, where possible, leaving their contact numbers with a church representative. The church community soon begins to know and trust in Felecia, Patricia, and Dr. Nancy as people who care. Soon the hospital team can feel the pulse of poverty’s effect on people’s health and attitude toward healthcare, and provide otherwise reluctant people with an experience of the hospital’s story of hopeful healthcare service. 2, The Importance of a Positive LOCAL 11 visiting and playing with the many children who live on the block. He also attends the Imago day camps up the street in the summer and hikes with me on the surrounding trails maintained by Imago. “The permaculture design I’m developing includes a small amount of water catchment, fruiting shrubs, an apple tree, shitake mushroom logs, and many plants that enhance the land by attracting wildlife, reducing erosion, and improving soil fertility.  “A great difference I’ve found from living in the suburbs is that so many of my needs for service can be met very close to home. Within walking distance I’ve found a supermarket, bakery, post office, local bank, hardware store and auto mechanic. The public library and a good barber shop/salon are only slightly farther. I’ve also found a medical practice that fits my needs in Price Hill. “The first year, I took advantage of community garden beds at Imago to grow some of my own veggies, and now there is a CSA program that supplies fresh veggies all summer. I walk to the Cincinnati Zen Center weekly to sit in meditation with that community. My social life is rich with community activities and casual arrangements with friends and neighbors, and this is a warm welcoming place to invite friends and family. It’s great that several recent newcomers to the village are young married couples and young singles who bring new energy to the place.” neighborhoods, the fact is, property values are going to rise. With many renters already struggling to pay rent, rising property values will make it even harder for struggling families to continue to pay. The market will tell them to leave. However, there are ways for advocates of the common good to utilize Opportunity Zones to benefit all. Remember how property values are going to rise? This presents opportunities to investors that are willing to take some profit, say 3%, and use their excess dividends to keep their housing units affordable. Models like land banking, dividend housing, or homesteading can help us design communities that are inclusive and affordable. If we come together and think like inclusive capitalists, we can design agreements that make social and economic return. This can only take place, however, with concerted and intentional efforts. We must confront the market myth so that we can repurpose the market to serve the common good. These new Opportunity Zones could help lock down neighborhoods as affordable, inclusive, mixed-income communities. Or, capital could come in, make its profit, and leave in ten years with added tax benefit. We must raise awareness of the humanity of capital, and purpose it to serve humanity- not the other way around. Millennials holding public student loan debt, the elderly on fixedincome, and low-income, minority Americans are going to be the groups that are most affected by this aftermath of the Great Recession. We must find innovations that encourage community and affordable ways of living. Otherwise, we will continue to find it difficult to find shelter and safety, and our economy and democracy will continue to suffer. If anyone has any innovative knowledge of how to purpose this new tool towards the common good, feel free to reach out to me at trentondavis2@ gmail.com. Ta'leef Collective from the Bay area had established, is located in the Starfire locale in Oakley. It welcomes everyone and has been functioning like a support center for Muslims, also like a cultural center with monthly meetings learning from a book, a movie night, a gay night, a social meeting place. Ali also attended and graduated from a mentorship program offered by the Ta'leef Collective in Fremont, CA, which qualified her to become a chaplain. When in 2016 XU decided to hire a Muslim chaplain to tend to its increasing number of Muslim students, also to do social justice coaching work, they invited her to join their team. She has been since affiliated to the CFJ, providing spiritual support and guidance to students, taking them on immersion and discovery trips to rough areas, such as for instance South Chicago, opening their eyes and increasing their sensitivity to various social problems. In the summer she also leads an internship program connecting the students with local, mostly nonprofit, Cincinnati agencies, exposing them to the social work these agencies do, teaching them how to identify systemic forms of oppression, how to become aware of privileges, how to give voices to the people without monopolizing their space... When the Dakota Access Pipeline protests started at Standing Rock in the summer of 2016, Ali decided on the spot to go there and provide her solidarity and support. She spent 7 months there on and off, a transformative experience for her, one that merged social justice with her spirituality. "At Standing Rock, we were defending the sacred," she says. "We were asked to leave our "isms" behind, and to not judge the Natives by our western colonial standards, rather support them in their spiritual and justice quest. This resonated very much with me as a Muslim living in the West." Standing Rock actually strengthened Ali's faith, connecting her with the Great Spirit, with God, and giving a spiritual sense to her social justice activism. Ali remains an active member of the Clifton Mosque and participates in its many services and social justice activities. She is a supporter and collaborator of Black Lives Matter and of the Palestine Solidarity Coalition that she would like to see become a sustainable organization. "I always ask God to be gentle with me," says Ali, "to guide me, to help me do the right thing and not get short of my responsibility for others." Ali does not know where she will go from there, but she knows that her faith will show her the way and that her spirituality will always be an intrinsic part of her social justice work against oppression. Health Message. When an individual and community come to expect outstanding health outcomes from a hospital, they are supporting an institution that encourages health for all citizens, both in its neighborhood and city-wide. Health for all communicates the importance of a partnership between citizens and healthcare in which each partner brings strengths and concerns to examine and acknowledge. A positive health message signals that difficult health issues are not being ignored or trivialized. Rachel felt this positive message of health being her right and, having a Navigator, she took steps that likely saved her life. She expected a positive outcome from visiting a doctor and other relevant specialists because she was convinced that the Navigator knew the significance of linking the health center with the hospital. She had experienced being treated with respect, having her symptoms taken seriously, and being seen in a timely way. Robert, a person with few economic resources had both a different set of expectations and a very different result. Not confident of the signals of cancer, he waited until the pain was greatest. Seeking help without a physician, Navigator or a knowledge of hospitals raised his fears and frustration. When he did go to his neighborhood hospital, he was sent to another hospital. He had expected the hospital, of all places, to show interest in his condition, reduce his fears, invite him for diagnosis and treatment. Robert naturally felt rejected. How different would have been the outcome if the hospital related to the neighborhood as a partner in health development for both Rachel and Robert? Cancer care especially needs this approach, as the hospital learns about what it can do to strengthen the neighborhood’s awareness of the danger signals in THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED (Continued on page 12) �12 STREET VOICE The Birds have landed in Cincinnati R ecently an unknown number of electric scooters landed on the sidewalks of Cincinnati. It seemed as if City Hall was completely unaware of their arrival. The startup company, Bird electric scooters, probably kept the news quiet because the reaction to their electric scooters has been different in cities across the country. How does it work? It’s kind of similar to Uber only you have to find them with your app. You download the app, enter your credit card number, scan the bar code on your scooter and on your driver’s license. You have to agree to the company’s terms which say you must wear a helmet, you won’t ride on the sidewalk, only one person can ride it at a time and that you are 18 or older etc. Then you can unlock the scooter. You push it three times with your foot STEVE SUNDERLAND (Continued from page 4) both the insured and uninsured patients. Such a positive message can help connect Robert to a Navigator and hospital at a time when he is in a state of mind to learn more about his health. A compassionate attitude raises the possibility that Robert, like Rachel, will stop the cancer in its earliest stage. 3. The Importance of a Welcoming Health Story. Feeling welcomed into a partnership with a hospital sends a message that all people, whatever the illness, can work for a positive outcome. Preventing cancer requires people to know its early signs and to move quickly for timely treatment. When people who already feel hopeless also feel less than welcome by a hospital, they hesitate to get the help they need. Robert felt like he was in the wrong place, asking the wrong questions, until, finally, he felt rejected. His experience at the hospital contributed to a dangerous delay in seeking treatment. This experience is part of a collective story told by many minorities, people of low income, seniors, and people with disabilities. Cancer finds a breeding ground in people whose lives are A u g 10 - A u g 2 3, 2 0 18 | N o . 38 7 JUSTIN JEFFRE Contributing Writer as if it wasn’t a motorized scooter and push the thumb throttle down, then the electric engine kicks in. There’s a handbrake, a kickstand and a bell (that doesn’t work very well). It costs $1 to start your ride and 15 cents each additional minute. First hour is about $10 and the second hour would be around $9. I’ve worn a helmet while riding it before, but most people I’ve seen riding them weren’t. I’ve heard reports of some serious head trauma from accidents involving them. It’s not the cheapest way to get around downtown and OTR, but it is fun and convenient to hop on them and leave them at your destination. If you’re going to try them I recommend your wear a helmet, obey traffic laws and be very careful out there. already filled with uncertainties. Rachel was welcomed by a Navigator, rapidly involved in testing, and had a timely set of treatments. Why not this approach for all? 4. The Navigator Role in a Hopeful Health Care Story. In the past four years, the Cancer Justice Network has sent Navigators into the community to visit at churches, senior centers, schools, and community centers to welcome everyone to learn about cancer and ways to control it. We tell a story of how people, Rachel and Robert, have overcome their cancer by going for screening as soon as possible and, if necessary, accompanied to treatment. Again, and again, we hear how grateful people are when we take time to listen to their stories of cancer and hospital care. Regrettably, few are hopeful. Variations of Robert’s story dominate our conversations. We listen to horror stories of waiting and waiting to see a physician, inadequate time to share physical and emotional stress with physicians, and with outright rudeness in how some physicians communicate. We want to create a hopeful future, a new story. We want to see that no one need face cancer alone and without an ally. The Navigator Bird Scooters are dockless electric scooter Credit: Justin Jeffre is trained to accompany a person through the person’s entire process of finding out about having cancer and being treated. We welcome everyone to participate, to share their stories of fear and hope, and work with us to develop trust in our companionship. People who live in a culture suspicious of healthcare services, tend not to believe we are committed to walk with them through the entire process. Many people, after building trust with us, remain suspicious about how they will be treated by healthcare staff during screening and treatments. Thankfully, growing numbers of physicians, nurses, and social workers are deeply committed to making a new story of welcome and compassion spread across the community. 5. How Hospitals are Making a Welcoming Story Happen to Control and Defeat Cancer. Hospitals around the country are changing their approach to cancer and high mortality for minorities and people with low incomes, seniors, and people with disabilities. A key player in each story is a Navigator guiding people through rapid and reliable cancer care. Methodist Hospital in Memphis, TN has made dramatic reductions in mortality. Hospitals in Columbus, OH, Philadelphia, PA, New York City, Denver, CO, Houston, TX, Detroit, MI, and many others have lowered mortality for the highest risk populations by creating a story of compassionate navigation. These hospitals have realized the power of listening to the stories people tell about who they are and about their experience with health care providers and institutions. These hospitals have seen how the health care story they tell about themselves has not been welcoming to people who live in poverty. And they have seen the need to reshape the story in which they live so that it includes those who feel left out. Navigators play a key role in making these hospitals new story happen, just as Navigators help change the stories of helpless people to bring them hope. Robert’s story can offer hope with a Navigator who helps to access the hospitals and find the right treatments. His story is one of many unheard cries for help. Cincinnati’s hospitals can help shape a new public narrative that turns a “Tale of Three Cincinnatis” into a caring community for all. But it will take all of us to make it happen. Will we? --------------------------------------- Streetvibes Writing Circle THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �No. 38 7 | A u g 10 - A u g 2 3, 2 0 18 STREET VOICE BILLS Here comes another one, Just like the other one, Bills Work hard today Pay a bill tomorrow It’s tiresome, and you still have to borrow Can’t save anything for tomorrow Bills, everyone has them Some, live on the streets, to do without them The rich, the poor Everyone, needs a little bit more Rent, phone, electric bills, and miscellaneous, It’s all so strenuous Bill collectors call and say, Are you gonna make a payment today? Don’t you wish your bills would go away? Then we could all have a happier day 13 A WITCH HUNT UPDATE "End 'the witch hunt,'" snarls Prez Trump, Both in his tweets and out on the stump. Trump declares he has bigger fish to fry, Like making immigrant children cry. BILL WOODS Contributing Writer A THEFT IN THE ECONOMY It takes a thief to steal the people of the country’s belief KIM GREEN Streetvibes Distributor & Contributing Writer It takes a thief to have the people have to change their lives, now that’s deep It takes a thief to double the price of football stadiums and fields It takes a thief to convince the county the police deserve a Las Vegas deal It takes a thief to steal channels from our children, scanning for the T.V. Whether it be for the Converter Box, Cable Box or Direct T.V. Do you understand me? For me to steal anything or to be classified as a political thief Would for me never to have believed in the Constitution and damn Democracy So now where do we go as a people in order to regain the stability we so freely lost In the future we must read every dotted line, keep the faith and let God alone be the boss! WILLA DENISE JONES Streetvibes Distributor & Contributing Writer THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �PUZZLES 14 CROSSWORD PUZZLE NO. 155 Across Down 1. Conifer 1. Endure 6. Dull pain 2. A great distance 10. Possess 3. Rend 14. Aflame 4. Harvest 15. Literary composition 16. Translucent mineral 17. Relish 18. Snare 19. Jamboree 20. Surgical instrument 22. Run or flow slowly 24. Monotonous routine 25. Hawaiian garland 27. Legal guardian 29. Vociferous 34. Australian flightless bird 35. Starch resembling sago 36. Lifeless 38. Perform without preparation 42. Hobble 43. Divide or separate 45. Information 46. Subject matter 48. Worn in ancient Rome 49. Level 50. Darn 52. Sobriquet 54. Part of the inner ear 58. Metallic element 59. Lyric poem 60. Transparent optical device 62. Leotards 67. Small stream 69. Small mouselike rodent 71. Several members considered as a unit 72. Whimper 73. Object of worship 74. Reddish brown dye 75. Air pollution 76. Bulbous plant related to onions 77. Chirping sound A u g 10 - A u g 2 3, 2 0 18 | N o . 38 7 5. Harbinger 6. Pertinent 7. Line made from twisted fibers or threads 8. The courage to carry on 9. Eating apple 10. Domestic swine 11. Separated 12. Relative duration of a musical note 13. Uplift 21. Requirements 23. Large American feline 26. Feckless 28. Happening without warning 29. Sodium chloride 30. Group of three SODOKU PUZZLE NO 285 - MEDIUM 31. Cut of beef 32. Mischievous 33. Claw 37. Dactyl 39. Molten rock 40. Detail 41. Nemesis 44. Implied or silent 47. Cubicle 51. Beetle 53. Chess piece 54. Army unit 55. Abhorrence 56. Stringed instrument 57. Positively charged electrode 61. Wild plum 63. Developed 64. Sharpen 65. Melody 66. Tiff 68. Section of a journey 70. Moose PUZZLE SOLUTIONS ISSUE 386 CROSSWORD PUZZLE NO. 154 SODOKU PUZZLE NO 284- MEDIUM PUZZLES from puzzlechoice.com and puzzles.ca THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �RESOURCES No. 38 7 | A u g 10 - A u g 2 3, 2 0 18 Central Access Point 381-SAFE Shelter: Women and Children Bethany House 1841 Fairmount Ave. 45214 557-2873 St. George Food Pantry 2554 Dennis St. 45219 Prince of Peace Lutheran Church 751-8771 Churches Active in Northside 591-2246 McMicken Dental Clinic 352-6363 40 E. McMicken Ave, Cinti Mental Health Access Point 558-8888 NAMI of Hamilton County 351-3500 PATH Outreach 977-4489 FreeStore/FoodBank 241-1064 Other Resources Madisonville Ed & Assistance Center 271-5501 562-8841 621-7265 1528 Race St. 45202 The Esther Marie Hatton Center for Women 2499 Reading Road 562-1980 Grace Place Catholic Worker House 681-2365 6037 Cary Ave. 45224 4230 Hamilton Ave. 45223 112 E. Liberty Street 45202 Salvation Army 762-5660 YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter 872-9259 St. Vincent de Paul 721-0643 Treatment or Supportive Recovery: Men 131 E. 12th Street 45202 Shelter: Men Shelterhouse 411 Gest St. 45203 4600 Erie Ave. 45227 Serves area codes: 45226, 45227, 45208, 45209 1125 Bank Street 45214 St. Fran/St. Joe Catholic Work. House 381-4941 1437 Walnut Street 45202 City Gospel Mission 241-5525 Parkway Center 661-4620 1805 Dalton Ave. 45214 Housing: 471-1100 Cincinnati Union Bethel 768-6907 Food/Clothing First Lutheran Church 1208 Race St. Food - Last Monday 12-1 Clothing - second Monday 12-1 Lord’s Pantry OTR/Walnut Hills Kitchen & Pantry 421-0065 Our Daily Bread 621-6364 St. Francis Soup Kitchen 535-2719 OTR: 1620 Vine Street 45202 Walnut Hills: 2631 Gilbert Ave. 45206 1730 Race Street 45202 Hamilton/Middletown AA Hotline CCAT 351-0422 381-6672 Joseph House (Veterans) 241-2965 Northern Kentucky Brighton Center Hamilton County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board 946-8000 Recovery Health Access Center 281-7422 Sober Living 681-0324 Talbert House 221-HELP Advocacy Catholic Social Action Community Action Agency Contact Center Franciscan JPIC Gr. Cinti Coalition for the Homeless 421-3131 569-1840 381-4242 721-4700 421-7803 Legal Aid Society Ohio Justice & Policy Center UpSpring 241-9400 421-1108 363-3300 117 E. 12th Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 977-6800 859-572-6226 799 Ann St. Newport, KY 205 West Pike Street, Covington, KY 41011 961-0600 Center for Respite Care 621-1868 Crossroad Health Center 381-2247 3550 Washington Ave. 45229 5 E. Liberty St. 45202 859-261-5857 859-491-1027 859-581-1111 859-261-8009 859-727-0926 859-581-7745 859-291-9321 859-491-4435 859-431-8717 You can support our mission and spread the word about your business. For more information contact Justin Jeffre at 513-421-70803 x 12 or email streetvibes@cincihomeless.org 40 E. McMicken Ave, Cinti, Ohio for 26 issues 859-491-8303 Women’s Crisis Center 859-491-3335 VA Domiciliary 859-572-6202 Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky 634 Scott St. 41011 859-291-4555 Health Resource Center 357-4602 McMicken Integrated Care Clinic and Mobile Medical Van 386-7899 $100 981-4200 863-1445 422-8555 868-3276 Want to advertise in Streetvibes? Cincinnati Health Network 2825 Burnet Ave. 45219 ECHO/Hosea House Fairhaven Resuce Mission Homeward Bound Youth Mathews House Homeless & Housing Coalition Parish Kitchen Pike St. Clinic Transitions, Inc Welcome House of NKY Health 621-5300 961-1983 381-0111 771-4800 579-8547 721-4811 St. Raephaels Salvation Army Serenity House Day Center Open Door Pantry 1522 Republic Street 45202 961-4555 381-1954 421-5211 Franciscan Haircuts from the Heart Goodwill Industries Intercommunity Justice & Peace Cr. Mary Magdalen House 1223 Main St. 45202 961-4663 830 Ezzard Charles Dr. 45214 Tom Geiger House Volunteers of America Anna Louise Inn VA VA Homeless 961-2256 241-2600 621-5514 People Working Cooperatively 351-7921 The Caring Place 631-1114 Talbert House 751-7747 United Way 211 Women Helping Women 977-5541 Off The Streets 421-5211 Hamilton County Office of Reentry 946-4304 138 E. Court Street Room # 101 First Floor Treatment or Supportive Recovery: Both 221-HELP 721-8666 2401 Reading Rd. 45202 Starting Over 2203 Fulton, Cinti, Ohio 45206 Talbert House Tender Mercies 2401-2411 Reading Rd. 45202 921-1613 First Step Home 761-1480 721-4580 632-7149 381-1171 27 W. 12th Street 45202 Prospect House Center Independent Living Options Peaslee Neighborhood Center 215 E. 14th St. 45202 Treatment or Supportive Recovery: Women Caracole (HIV/AIDS) CMHA Excel Development OTR Community Housing 114 W. 14th Street 45202 784-1853 682 Hawthorne Ave. 45205 Sheakley Center for Youth (18-24 y/o) 2522 Highland Ave. 45219 569-9500 Lighthouse Youth Crisis Center (10-17 y/o) 3330 Jefferson Ave 45220 961-4080 Interfaith Hospitality Network Charlie’s 3/4 House 2121 Vine Street 45202 Shelter: Youth Shelter: Family 15 $150 THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED for 26 issues and a $50 donation �16 A u g 10 - A u g 2 3, 2 0 18 | N o . 38 7 S treetvibes is distributed by individuals who purchase the paper for 75 cents per copy and sell it for a $2.00 donation, keeping the profit they have earned. Becoming a Distributor is a great way for individuals who are financially poor to get back on (or stay on) their feet. This program provides supplemental income for those unable to secure other employment. Money earned helps meet basic housing, food and health care needs. The program is a hand up for people who are often in a place of getting only a hand out, or even no hand at all. All Distributors wear a badge and usually a vest and can be found selling the paper in Downtown Cincinnati, Clifton, Northside, Northern Kentucky and at area churches. 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For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2018 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource August 10-August 23, 2018 Subject The topic of the resource Homelessness Description An account of the resource Pg 1: Cover Page Pg 2: From the Director Pg 3: Homelessness Then and Now Pg 4: Introducing the Enright Ridge Ecovillage in East Price Hill Pg 5: How We Eradicate Homelessness Pg 6: How to Respond to Panhandling Pg 7: Lots of Gas, but Not Enough Pg 8: Religious Peacemakers Pg 9: Review Pg 10: Why is Cancer Mortality so high in Cincinnati Minorities and People of Low Income Pg 11: Dick Croy Continued Trenton Davis Continued Saad Ghosn Continued Steve Sunderland Continued Pg 12: The Birds Have Landed in Cincinnati Pg 13: Street Voice Pg 14: Puzzles Pg 15: Resources Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Streetvibes Archive Project Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Streetvibes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource August 10-August 23, 2018 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Josh Spring People living on 3rd Street Bill Woods Jake Dingler Dick Croy Dr. Mark Mussman Trenton Davis Michael Earl Patton Saad Ghosn Laura Domet Steve Sunderland Justin Jeffre Kim Green Willa Denise Jones Homeless Coalition Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Bill Woods Birds Cancer Cincinnati Dick Croy Dr. Mark Mussman Ecovillage Homeless Coalition Jake Dingler Josh Spring Justin Jeffre Kim Green Laura Domet Michael Earl Patton People living on 3rd Street Price Hill Religion Saad Ghosn Steve Sunderland The Cincinnati Opera Trenton Davis Willa Denise Jones https://streetvibesarchive.net/files/original/7afde6c29cedf56075f782bdbd9e76c7.pdf 3ac9e75f143fc19777752db55308f02a PDF Text Text August 24th - September 6th 2018 | Vol. 21 Issue 15 (No. 388) advocating justice | building community Duke Energy's Dangerous Pipeline Proposal | 8 This Issue is sponsored by Cecilia and Tom Kloecker INSIDE THIS ISSUE Cruel and Unusual Punishment | 3 The Mystery of Fort Ancient | 5 Religious Peacemakers: Reverend Daniel Hughes | 8 Sorta Aborta | 7 Find previous issues of Streetvibes online at: cincistreetvibes.org Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition 113 E. 12th Street Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 streetvoice | 13 �2 LOCAL From The Director: It’s Not A Movie W hat would you think if a law was proposed that would make it illegal to sleep, rest, use the bathroom and protect your belongings? I assume you would think this would be terrible, a breach of basic rights, a breach of the constitution and just plain wrong. Perhaps you would think the chance of this coming to pass would be farfetched and only possible in a movie. Well, it has happened here. The actions of Mayor John Cranley, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters and Common Pleas Judge Robert Ruehlman have made it an arrestable offense to camp or live outside in Hamilton County on both public and private land. So now people without homes who desperately want their own home but are stuck living outside are now in hiding. A police officer or sheriff’s deputy could at any point decide that you have sat too long on a bench or that it wasn’t okay for you to fall asleep at a bus stop or that your neighbor doesn’t have the right to allow you and your child to pitch a A u g 2 4 - S e p t 6, 2 0 18 | N o . 38 8 JOSH SPRING Executive Director Josh Spring Credit: Homeless Coalition tent for a night in their yard or that you have a couple bags with you and it looks like you are seeking domicile or that you laid down for rest on public or private land or any other mix of thoughts that could come into an individual police officer’s mind and then they could demand that you leave the location or be arrested. To make this happen it only took for Mayor Cranley to ask Prosecutor Deters to assist him and sue the City of Cincinnati. Deters submitted a proposed order to Judge Ruehlman that it be required that people be cleared from public land at risk of arrest. The judge granted this order. The judge then granted this order two additional times as Deters continued to expand the geographical boundaries of the order. The third time it was expanded to include private land in addition to public land and instead of the City fighting this lawsuit and unconstitutional order, the city attorneys signed it saying they would comply. This has all happened without a single hearing and without anybody living outside having a chance to defend themselves. This is not how laws are supposed to be created. It is necessary for the general public to continue to stand up, speak out and fight back. This is about basic human rights and the right to not have your attempts to live and survive threatened by the government. Instead as a city and county we should be pursuing the creation of affordable housing, the saving of existing housing and an end to the criminalization of homelessness. From the Editor: Six years at the Homeless Coalition and Streetvibes M y how time flies. It’s hard to believe that I’ve been working here at the Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition as the editor of Streetvibes for over six years now. I started in mid-July in 2012 soon after the opening of the newly renovated and very gentrified Washington Park. It all started when I received a call from my friend, Josh Spring, the executive director of the Homeless Coalition. He said that their former editor, Jason Dean, was moving on and they thought I’d be a good fit for the position. I told him I didn’t think I would be, but I agreed to come to the office to talk about it. (It turns out, I was right for once Josh, but I do appreciate all the support you’ve given me along the way my friend.) I first learned of the Homeless Coalition’s great work back in 2005 after meeting one of the cofounders and current board members, Alice Skirtz. Alice is a retired social worker and tireless advocate for affordable housing and people experiencing homelessness. Alice gave me a real history lesson about homelessness in general and specifically here in Cincinnati. JUSTIN JEFFRE Contributing Writer (Spoiler alert: The primary causes of homelessness are a lack of affordable housing and jobs that pay living wages, btw.) She’s still an inspiration over a decade later and I highly recommend her book, Econocide: Elimination of the Urban Poor. It couldn’t be timelier with the city and county’s ramped up – and I think illegal - efforts to push poor people out of downtown, Over-the-Rhine and now even all of Hamilton County. It’s a must read for anyone interested in reducing and eliminating homelessness - which we believe is (Continued on page 11) Streetvibes is an activist newspaper, advocating justice and building community. Streetvibes reports on economic issues, civil rights, the environment, the peace movement, spirituality and the struggle against homelessness and poverty. Distributed by individuals experiencing homelessness or on the edge of homelessness, in exchange for a $2.00 Donation. Streetvibes is published twice a month by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless (GCCH), a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that works to eradicate homelessness in Cincinnati. 113 East 12th St. Cincinnati OH, 45202 Ph: 513.421.7803 FAX: 513.421.7813 WEB: www.cincihomeless.org BLOG: streetvibes.wordpress.com EMAIL: streetvibes@cincihomeless.org Editor: Justin Jeffre Executive Director: Josh Spring Director of Development: Mona Jenkins Director of Education: Dr. Mark Mussman Distributor Program Manager: Justin Jeffre Layout: Key Beck Reception: Larry Johnson, Anne Evans Maintenance: Pete Roper ----------------------------------------------CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE Writers: Josh Spring, Justin Jeffre, Dr. Mark Mussman, Dick Croy, Michael Earl Patton, Robert Park, Saad Ghosn, Jim Luken, Bill Woods, Stacia Hollander, Kim Green, Willa D. Jones ----------------------------------------------Photography/ Artwork: Homeless Coalition, Laura Domet, Dr. Mark Mussman, The Telegraph, Michael Earl Patton, Cam Hardy, Saad Ghosn, Justin Jeffre, Google images, Bill Woods --------------------------------------------------Thank You For Reading Streetvibes And Supporting Our Mission To Build Community And Advocate Justice. Justin Jeffre served as Streetvibes Editor for over six years Credit: Laura Domet THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED Streetvibes and The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless do not endorse candidates for public office. �3 LOCAL Cruel and Unusual Punishment No. 38 8 | A u g 2 4 - S e p t 6, 2 0 18 DR. MARK MUSSMAN W hen Common Pleas Court Judge, Robert P. Ruehlman, signed the motion filed by Hamilton County Prosecutor, Joe Deters, in agreement with the City of Cincinnati, at the behest of Mayor John Cranley, he effectively legalized cruel and unusual punishment for people who are experiencing homelessness. Building upon the already dubious, potentially illegal, restraining order which demanded that Cincinnati Police remove persons homeless from the public eye, the new motion expanded the reach into private property, including the encampment at the corner of 13th and Republic, in Over-the-Rhine. Today, the encampment has been moved, most persons dispersed to secluded areas, without a community to support them. Throughout this entire ordeal, the City has maintained that there Staff Writer able to talk to an operator, I was told that there were only 4 beds available (at the time, more than 40 people were in the encampment), 2 beds for youth, and 2 for men who have a job, or who are willing to work. By the time we made it to the men’s shelter, the 2 beds were already taken. This gave the 62-year-old man I was working with little hope, and he is still out on the street today. Even as the police closed in on the camp, they expressed their frustration with the system, noting that they too could not get through, or if they had gotten through, there wasn’t any available space. Then there became another frustration, when people in the camp would be fast-tracked into housing, yet hundreds of people are languishing in the shelters already. People who heard they could get housing faster by staying at the camp began to show up, and while this is a good thing that people are having options, it also became frustrating when people who criminalization of homelessness at the State level, members of the camp had entered into a legal case at the Federal level, regarding the unconstitutionality of camp sweeps. It is seen as a Freedom of Speech issue, where tents represent the speech of persons who cannot access shelter or housing. The crux of the issue, as with the cruel and unusual punishment Public Service Employees remove remnants of an encampment Credit: Dr. Mark Mussman Sheriff and Police worked together to remove people from the camps Credit: Dr. Mark Mussman is “plenty of room” in the shelters to accommodate everyone at the site; however, City documents and personal accounts, including my own, have shown that there are not enough beds, and in fact, only overflow mats on the floor (sometimes on the laundry room floor) are available to select individuals. What seemed like a PR / funding move, the shelters bent over backwards to try to accommodate as many people as possible, sacrificing quality over quantity, and questioning whether the situation will be getting better or worse, during the upcoming winter months. The shelters are open 24 hours per day, 365 days a year, and work their hardest to not turn anyone away; however, some statistics show that more than 70% of people seeking shelter are turned away simply because there is not enough room. Spending time on the streets, at the encampments, I was able to see firsthand how difficult it truly is to get shelter. I personally called 381SAFE, the central access point line in Cincinnati, and sat on hold for over 25 minutes. After finally being had moved four times with the camp, were still not getting connected to housing. We have been working with our member organizations, such as Lighthouse Youth Services and Overthe-Rhine Community Housing, to secure housing for as many people as possible. Every member of the Homeless Coalition staff has been actively involved in the housing process, and we’ve been actively trying to improve the process from the beginning. Before the City and the County colluded to push forward the claim, is that there is not shelter or housing, and therefore, persons cannot be removed without a proper alternative. County Prosecutor, Joe Deters, admitted that the jail is also over-capacity, but said that people arrested for homelessness could “sleep on the gym floor,” but did not elaborate on which gym, and if that would create more issues, rather than solving them. In this whole debate, Cranley and Deters have been using stereotypes, (Continued on page 7) Document provided by Councilmember Jeff Pastor showing there is no room for adult men in shelter Credit: Dr. Mark Mussman THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �4 O LOCAL Duke Energy’s Dangerous Pipeline Proposal n September 10, 2010, as families in the Crestmoor neighborhood of San Bruno, California, sat down to dinner, a blast so strong it hurled a 3,000-lb. section of steel pipe a hundred feet through the air changed life in the San Francisco suburb forever. The fireball that erupted a thousand feet into the sky that evening burned several people alive, leaving eight dead and 51 injured. Thirty-eight homes were destroyed, 70 others heavily damaged. First responders and the media believed at first that a large jetliner had crashed. Fire fighters were held at bay for an hour by the intense heat. It took them nearly an hour to discover that a high-pressure natural gas transmission line had exploded. After dashing from their homes in the chaos that followed, first to see what had happened, then to run for their lives, residents returning when all the fires had finally been put out found almost three city blocks of houseless chimneys towering over a sea of ash. A recent Wall Street Journal review found that there were 1,400 pipeline spills and accidents in the U.S. from 2010 to 2013 alone. Four in every five pipeline accidents were discovered by local residents, not the companies owning the lines. From 1994 through 2013, the U.S. had 855 serious incidents involving natural gas transmission and distribution, causing 319 fatalities and 1254 injuries, with more than half a billion dollars in property damage. None, thankfully, has been as serious as the San Bruno disaster. That’s a DICK CROY Contributing Writer catastrophe waiting to happen. Pacific Gas and Electric, the utility company that owned the gas line, was indicted on 27 federal criminal counts for repeatedly violating the federal Pipeline Safety Act; fined $1.6 billion by the California Public Utilities Commission, the largest penalty ever levied against a California utility; and A u g 2 4 - S e p t 6, 2 0 18 | N o . 38 8 it was there. That colossal error in judgment, lack of concern for public safety, or flagrant act of corporate greed is the brainchild of another public utility, our good friends Duke Energy, the $120 billion company headquartered in Charlotte, NC. The company operates 250 miles of high pressure natural gas pipelines in Ohio and Kentucky, and wants to add a new line right through the center of Hamilton County. Chart Map from Duke Energy's application Credit: Duke Energy Proposal inundated with hundreds of lawsuits filed by blast victims who suffered injuries and lost family members or homes. Yet despite this litany of criminal and ethical wrongdoing, one thing PG&E cannot be blamed for is laying this extremely dangerous, ultimately lethal pipeline through an existing residential community. The line was laid before most homes in the area were built, and most residents didn’t even know On Friday April 13th – a particularly inauspicious Friday the 13th – Duke submitted supplemental documents to the Ohio Power Siting Board in Columbus to their original application in 2016 for a highpressure 20-inch natural gas pipeline in greater Cincinnati through 19 communities and Cincinnati neighborhoods, with a combined population of over 700,000 people. Duke was requesting the OPSB to resume approval proceedings that San Bruno explosion and fire Credit: The Telegraph THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED have dragged out at least partly due to discovery of a Super Fund site near one of the two proposed routes. (The original application was for a 30-inch transmission line; it was reduced in size after an initial public outcry that Duke may or may not have anticipated. Some local residents believe the “concession” was planned from the beginning.) The suburban neighborhoods affected by Duke’s two proposed routes (reduced from three initially) include: • More than 40 public and private schools plus the University of Cincinnati, Blue Ash • 8 hospitals and 5 nursing homes • More than 40 churches and synagogues • The premier shopping mall in greater Cincinnati • As well as many businesses, with well over 100,000 employees, including GE Aviation and a Ford Motor Co. transmission plant. If the proposal is approved as it stands, it would be the largest pipeline project ever approved at the state level, according to Matt Butler, public outreach manager for the Siting Board, which has final approval. Laying a high-pressure gas pipeline through existing communities like this has never been done before. This is not just another gas main or service line distributing gas to homes and businesses. Most mains are anywhere from two to six inches in diameter while a typical service line from main to meter ranges from one-half to two inches at less than 50 psi. What Duke calls the Central Corridor Extension is a highpressure 500 psi pipeline 20 inches in diameter – similar to the 30-inch line that destroyed nearly three city blocks in San Bruno. In other words, it’s a transmission line, part of a nationwide high-pressure, highcapacity system for transporting natural gas thousands of miles across the country from processing facilities to local distribution networks. Extremely high pressure must be used to keep the gas flowing. Although local and county governments have no authority in the matter, Duke’s proposal has been formally opposed by the city councils of Cincinnati and many of the communities involved; by Hamilton County commissioners; by State Representative Jonathan Dever; and by residents, business owners and school boards and administrations all along the route. Duke will seek property easements requiring land to be completely cleared of all trees and landscaping for up to 100 feet, with pipe laid three to four feet underground. Duke’s claim that the routes it has proposed to the Siting Board are the best among 200 originally considered is very hard to believe. And if it is true, what in the world were their criteria? Public safety and human lives couldn’t have been their (Continued on page 7) �5 LOCAL The Mystery of Fort Ancient No. 38 8 | A u g 2 4 - S e p t 6, 2 0 18 Spangled Banner is sung. In my view the painting could be showing a scene similar to the lighting of the Olympic torch. Of course, the true answer might be something else entirely. I MICHAEL EARL PATTON F ort Ancient is the name the first settlers of European ancestry gave to the 3 miles of ancient Indian earthworks high on a bluff above the Little Miami River, north-east of Cincinnati. What the Indians called it and what they used it for, we do not know. To the early settlers the earthen walled enclosure looked like a fort, and why wouldn’t it? Not long before, in 1793 – 94, General Anthony Wayne had marched from Fort Washington in Cincinnati and on to Fort Hamilton, Fort St. Clair (present day Eaton), Fort Greenville, and Fort Recovery on his way to fight the Indians at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. Other forts connected with his campaign were Fort Jefferson, Fort Defiance, and Fort Wayne (Indiana). Near present day Toledo the British had erected Fort Miamis. Forts were something the early settlers expected and this, at first glance, sure looked like one. Contributing Writer permanent settlement that would have supported such a work force. So the thinking is that people must have gathered there at a certain time of year to work on the structure. What could be such a motivation? Many think that it was some kind of religious site, and this is the view that is given at the museum at Fort Ancient. Some of the gaps in the walls line up with astronomical events when seen from one of four limestone-covered mounds within the enclosure. We know there were fires lit on the mounds because the limestone covering them has been burned. A painting in the museum imagines what such a ceremony marking the winter solstice may have looked like. Sunrise at Winter Solstice. Was This Only a Religious Ceremony or the Opening Ceremony of a Larger (Continued on page 11) The "Great Gateway" Which Divides the Northern and Southern Parts of the Complex Credit: Michael Earl Patton Inside Pond Next to Earthen Wall Credit: Michael Earl Patton Adopted from the Brochure for Fort Ancient Earthworks and Nature Preserve State Park Credit: Michael Earl Patton The enclosed area is about 125 acres. We know it was not a fort because there is no evidence of enough people living in the vicinity to defend such a large area, an area with numerous gaps in the walls besides. The construction time took centuries, from about 100 B.C. to 300 A.D. The amount of soil that was moved to fill 3 ravines and build the walls was astounding considering that it was done all by manual labor – there were no suitable draft animals at that time in North America. In modern terms think of 400 miles of bumperto-bumper dump trucks, each full of soil. On average, each year’s worth of work represented filling up a mile of dump trucks. Even with modern machinery that is a lot of work. But there is no evidence of a Another feature that argues against this being used as a fort is a series of moat-like ponds that were on the inside of the earthen walls, not the outside as in a European castle. Some of these hold water even today. Were these just incidental to the construction – formed because it was easiest to take dirt from close to the wall – or were they an intentional feature? As for the purpose of Fort Ancient, my guess is that it was some kind of games arena. I do not see why such a large area would have been needed for religious ceremonies. Even in the painting most of the area is empty. There probably was some kind of ceremony at the beginning of the games, just as there is with American baseball and football when the Star Sunrise at Winter Solstice. Was This Only a Religious Ceremony or the Opening Ceremony of a Larger Event? THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED Credit: Michael Earl Patton �6 LOCAL THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED A u g 2 4 - S e p t 6, 2 0 18 | N o . 38 8 �LOCAL SORTA Aborta No. 38 8 | A u g 2 4 - S e p t 6, 2 0 18 T he Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA) is the tax-supported public transportation system that runs the buses serving the greater Cincinnati area. It is a failing system. Even employers complain about it: the workers can’t get to work on it. It is sinking financially and as a consequence its service structure is imploding – routes are being cut or pared even thinner.  It’s a hub and spokes design that inflicts hours on many riders’ daily commute. So the SORTA Board in consultation with Hamilton County and the City came up with a plan for a big infusion of funds to keep the system on life-support and begin to craft a real public transportation system. How to pay for it? Did the County Commissioners decide it’s time for business to help pay the freight? Time to wean downtown employers off metastasizing parking structures, time to stop adding lanes to freeways? Time to take back our city’s future from 3CDC? No. SORTA said maybe let’s do a sales tax, make the bottom end of the wealth distribution DR. MARK MUSSMAN (Continued from page 3) rather than fact-finding to demonize people experiencing homelessness. They claim that everyone experiencing homelessness is a public health issue, that they are all drug abusers, and that they all have hepatitis A. However, other than one visit from DICK CROY (Continued from page 4) primary consideration. In fact, as absurd as it may seem to the blissfully ignorant, safety to human lives is not one of the criteria the OTSB has to consider. Another Duke claim that strains credulity is that the pipeline is “being designed in order to increase the reliability and dependability of the natural gas delivery system in the area.” But a 20-inch diameter pipeline supplying natural gas at 400 psi is enough for two million homes, while Duke has only 500,000 customer accounts in Ohio and Kentucky combined. Those opposed to the pipeline are skeptical of Duke’s less than transparent long-range plans. Some think it will ultimately be part of some non-local network such as an interstate transmission system to transport gas from northeast Ohio fracking operations all the way to the Gulf Coast. Duke’s proposed 12-mile line is an extension of a pipeline constructed in 2003 to provide gas transmission from cross country pipelines to northern Hamilton County. As planned, it would connect with an ROBERT PARK Contributing Writer pay the biggest percentage of their income for the public good compared to the middle and top tier wealthers. Oops, but the people didn’t go for it and it was looking bad for the careers of some candidates for public office so what did they do? They decided to do nothing. A minimally sufficient public transportation system was a reach too far. To be fair, County Commissioner Todd Portune has a People sitting on a crowded bus Credit: Cam Hardy 7 reasonable vision of a regional transit system which the other counties would not only benefit from but help pay for. This plan isn’t even off the drawing board. Recently, Nashville had its own transit meltdown. A heavily promoted, comprehensive project to bring that city into the 21st transportation century got soundly defeated by the voters. Businesses, real estate and the Chamber of Commerce figured out that if Nashville doesn’t get with the program on urban transit, they’re going to lose-out bigtime down the road. They developed a detailed plan including modern bus routes, light rail and even subway travel beneath the city center. Businesses contributed most of the money to design and sell the proposed plan. There was just one problem: they wanted everyone else to pay most of the more than $5 billion to actually make it happen, much of it from the sales tax which would top out at a whopping 9.75% and later increase further to 10.25%. Sound familiar? The people aren’t stupid. Why is it that every time the corporate bosses want important changes for their own benefit, they expect the rest of us to pick up the tab? Whether football (Continued on page 11) the Health Department on 3rd Street, there has been no other health related outreach. People in the encampment said they were vaccinated against hepatitis with a single shot, but most vaccinations require multiple shots. They were unsure if they needed follow-up shots to complete their vaccination, and they were unsure if there would be any issues if they didn’t receive follow-up shots. The funding for addiction services has also been called into question, as the CAT House receives very little City funding, and what they do receive we have to fight for each year. If the City wanted to end homelessness, they could with affordable housing, livable wages, and housing protections. If they want to cite health issues, then they could provide more health outreach, like mobile nurses, and easier access to health and addiction services. If this was a true health crisis, they would provide testing first, rather than blindly offer vaccinations. The issues that arise from homelessness should not be minimized, but they shouldn’t be used as an excuse to punish people who are already suffering. existing regulator station just north of the county and run through 19 heavily populated northern suburbs of Cincinnati to an existing pipeline at the south end of the line. Arguments against the pipeline have ranged from the obvious public safety problems if there were an explosion, to the loss of property values and damage to the environment and the local economy. For example, Reading, one of the communities affected, expressed concern about losing a major development grant because of the hazard the pipeline would entail. Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune, one of many government officials against the pipeline, is pushing for Duke to inform any property owner within 2,000 feet, almost half a mile, from the pipeline. This is roughly the "blast zone" for a pipe of this size, outlined by a nonprofit organization known as the Pipeline Association for Public Awareness. The blast zone is also termed an “incineration zone.” When a 30-inch pipeline exploded in rural Salem, PA, in April it sparked a fire that left a man whose home was 500 yards from the explosion, critically burned over much of his body – not from flames but from radiant heat alone. “The heat was so intense it was burning him as he was running away,” said Bob Rosatti, chief of the Forbes Road Fire Department. “I parked a quarter mile away and I couldn’t get out of my truck because it was that hot.” “This is not a 'not in my backyard' issue,” declares Elizabeth RueveMiller, one of the founders of NOPE, a local grassroots organization, Neighborhoods Opposing Pipeline Extension. “This is a 'not in anyone's backyard' issue.” The local Sierra Club agrees. At an informal open house held by Duke in June 2016, club members passed out a flyer likening the pipeline to “a continuous oil train moving huge quantities with potentially catastrophic consequences.” Duke has already been cited by OSHA for not following workplace safety regulations and fined for a gas explosion in Lebanon, OH. North Carolina has  fined Duke for spilling waste into waterways.  “This is not about demonizing Duke,” said Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld, who authored the resolution of opposition signed by the Cincinnati City Council to fight Duke’s current options in any way possible. “We appreciate them as a major employer and business in our community. But we have a higher expectation of them that has not yet been met.” The community, he said, has let Duke “know that they are trying to fit a square peg into a round hole – or rather, trying to force a massive and potentially dangerous pipeline onto densely populated residential neighborhoods.” Blue Ash resident Glenn Rosen, a founder of NOPE, said, "It’s too big. It’s got way too much pressure. It’s intended to transmit gas, not distribute gas to anybody nearby here." He began organizing his neighbors in February 2016 to fight Duke’s proposal. "This belongs in a rural area where there are not a lot of people." Another Blue Ash resident, agreed. "What I'm saying is, circumvent. Why go through Hamilton County? Why go through the city center when we can go around? Go into rural counties where we won't have to train a massive amount of first responders. Accidents happen, 20-30 years from now. These pipelines have life expectancies." THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED --------------------------------------- --------------------------------------- �8 RELIGIOUS PEACEMAKERS For Reverend Daniel Hughes "Leaving Egypt" Takes Courage but Leads to a "Promised Land" Where There Is No Oppression & Where Justice Prevails R A u g 2 4 - S e p t 6, 2 0 18 | N o . 38 8 SAAD GHOSN everend Daniel Hughes' personal faith was engrained in his family. Both his parents were ministers in the same nondenominational church they had established in a predominantly black neighborhood of Lima, OH. Even though growing up in a rural setting, on farmland 20 minutes away from the city, Hughes spent a lot of time, at least 3 days a week, at his parents' church, attending services and participating in religious teachings. "I grew up in a cross-cultural world," he says, "navigating very early on cultural differences." "I was black in an all-white middle class rural community, but connected with many urban African Americans whom I did not talk or act like. I felt like someone with no place, someone who did not belong in the social arena," he adds. Organized religion also did not resonate with Hughes. He got, however, from his parents and the church, his spirituality and his deep faith which informed his identity. He became aware of social justice issues at home, his family always helping the poor and the oppressed, and constantly reminding him that Contributing Writer everyone is called to be free and to also set others free. "I always had an aversion to see people mistreated," he says. "At school I would protect kids being picked on, and in the school bus I will leave an empty seat next to me for them." Growing up, Hughes also witnessed the gender discrimination his mother experienced as a female minister, churches then not being in favor of women in religious leadership positions. After graduating from high school, Hughes left home and got a job in California. In 1998, and 8 years later, he returned to Ohio to be next to his dying father. His parents’ church was then closed but, fulfilling his father's wishes, Hughes helped reopen its doors, getting it back into operation and serving as its new pastor. "I felt I was called to lead the community and serve its people," says Hughes, "and they selected me as their new minister. I was reading at the time Paul's letters to Timothy, his letters regarding the work of a pastor caring for his community, and I felt as if they were addressed to me." This was the fall of 1998. A few months later, January 1999, Hughes joined the Mennonite's Bluffton University, in Bluffton, OH, 20 miles north of Lima. He spent 4 years there, graduating with a Bachelor's degree in Communication, and pursuing at the same time his pastoral work at his church in nearby Lima. "Studying at the Mennonite University raised my awakening to social justice, to pacifism and side of the oppressed," says Hughes. "And I was bringing that experience to my church community in Lima." After graduating from Bluffton University, Hughes went to the University of Bowling Green to complete a Master's degree in Communication, and then returned to Bluffton U. to teach. "But I felt the need and the call for something more," he says. Continuing his teaching, he accepted the position of Assistant Director at the Lima Housing Authority. What is the UNITED METHODIST CHURCH  The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a mainline Protestant denomination and a major part of Methodism. It was founded in 1968 in Dallas, TX by union of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church. The UMC traces its roots back to the revival movement of John and Charles Wesley in England as well as the Great Awakening in the United States.  The basic beliefs of The United Methodist Church are: • God is one God in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. • The Bible is the inspired word of God. • All humans are sinners and Sin estranges people from God and corrupts human nature so that we cannot heal or save ourselves. • Salvation is through Jesus Christ. • The grace of Sanctification draws one toward the gift of Christian perfection. • People, while corrupted by Sin, are free to make their own choices because of God's divine grace enabling them; they are truly accountable before God for their choices. • The church opposes social injustice and evils such as slavery, inhumane prison conditions, capital punishment, economic injustice, child labor, racism, and inequality. The UMC recognizes two sacraments: Holy Baptism (by sprinkling, pouring, or immersion) and Holy Communion. Confirmation, Ordination, Holy Matrimony, Funerals, and Anointing of the Sick are performed but are not considered sacraments. The UMC, with at least 12 million members (7.5 million in the US and 4.5 million in Africa, Asia and Europe) as of 2014, is the largest denomination within the wider Methodist movement of approximately 80 million people across the world. In the US, it ranks as the largest mainline Protestant denomination and the largest Protestant church after the Southern Baptist Convention. The Pew Research Center's 2014 US Religious Landscape Study concluded that the political preferences of UMC members was 54% Republican, 35% Democrat, and 11% Independent/other. Rev. Daniel Hughes to community," says Hughes. "My religious upbringing was predominantly spiritual, but my 4 years at Bluffton connected in a direct and inseparable way my faith to social justice." At the same time as being a student, Hughes worked as a staff member custodian cleaning the student union; he got to hang out with other staff members, custodians, cooks, etc. listening to their stories and resonating with their social problems. He served also on a university team called "Damascus Road" which had goal to address, identify and offer solutions to the systemic racism prevalent in the American culture, "a racism that robbed both white and people of color of dignity, equality and mutual respect," he says. Hughes also joined many peace and social justice clubs on campus, participating in their vigils and marches for various causes, such as, for instance, against t capital punishment. "During my college years and thanks to the Mennonite's influence, I was living liberation theology, knowing that God is a liberator on the Credit: Saad Ghosn "I thought it would be a good way for me to help and impact the lives of average poor people. I found out quickly, however, that I was not meant for politics and decided to quit." Hughes' experience working for the Housing Authority, nevertheless, exposed him further to the prevailing injustices of the system and to the unequal privileges many white individuals blindly live. It determined his deeper involvement in the community. A police shooting that killed for no reason Tereka Wilson, a young African American mother, at her home in Lima, presented him with a good opportunity. The police officer responsible for the killing not being indicted, the city erupted into riots, and Hughes, as one of the religious leaders, was pulled in the center of it. He started working with other black and white religious denominations and groups, with schools, with the mayor, trying to find common ground and bring real healing and change to the city. "When Tereka was shot I felt as if my apathy and selfishness had (Continued on page 11) Religious Peacemakers is a regular column highlighting Greater Cincinnati individuals who use their faith and religious beliefs for peace and justice. Saad.Ghosn@uc.edu is the founder of SOS (Save Our Souls) Art, an organization that promotes arts as vehicles for peace and justice and for a change. THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �LOCAL The Worst Day of My Life No. 38 8 | A u g 2 4 - S e p t 6, 2 0 18 JIM LUKEN [I am sending this to Streetvibes from my new home in Rhode Island at the request of—and to acknowledge— the paper’s retiring, long-time editor, Justin Jeffre. He has done a fabulous job for many years, and will be greatly missed by present and former contributors.] O f course, everyone has had his or her share of really bad days, sometimes (often?) they are relational. And sometimes they occur within the context of our everyday lives. Hassles, losses, troubles of many kinds. They are real and should be respected, even honored perhaps. For many years (before and during the “revival”) I lived and worked in Over-the-Rhine. I wrote many “Meet Up” articles for this newspaper wherein I interviewed neighborhood people whose painful life stories made my own troubles pale by comparison. During the “druggie” days, I ran across Race Street during a hail of gunfire just down the street. Moments after one of the many shootings, I found myself standing over a dead body, a human being’s life-blood running over the curb and into a storm sewer. As the gentrification continues, no one needs to be told that “our beloved community,” as we often Contributing Writer from a book I self-published (The Strangest Dream) in early 2002. The book recounts my life as a father-of-four, peace activist who found himself in no doubt too many war zones as a journalist for the international Franciscan Order (OFM). Perhaps this story might help readers contextualize the travails and problems in their own lives. I begin it with a quote: On their foreheads and breasts are the little holes where death came in as thunder/ while they were playing their important summer games./ Do not weep for them, Madre, they are gone forever, the little ones, / straight to heaven with the saints/ and God will fill the bullet holes with candy. Norman Rosten, “In Guernica” Father Anto, another Bosnian priest and I make our way by car to the edge of the town of Vitez (Bosnia) to an area near a row of neat, modern stucco houses. As we drive up I notice that the wall of the first house in the row is pockmarked from shrapnel. We park beside what remains of a little playground. I am told that two Two girls' grave Credit: Google Images called OTR, continues to be the locus of suffering and displacement for many of its long-time residents. But I have also been witness to the pain that exists elsewhere on this beautiful planet. I have had the privilege—on numerous occasions— to spend time in places where war and terrorism were taking place. The deepest passion of my life has been an attempt to help Americans see And understand the horrors that people in other places endure (often at the hands of the US military and CIA), this on an all too regular basis. The following is an excerpt us. Cleary, they are still in a state of terrible shock that seems not yet to have yielded to tears. Father Anto tells me that one of the men lost his only two children in the blast. “He had to take small pieces of them from the branches of the tree,” Anto days earlier, on the afternoon of June 10, 1993 (my wedding anniversary), a Muslim artillery shell had exploded here, killing the seven children whose new graves I had just visited, and wounding seven others. A basketball hoop, net-less, hangs from a pole. A wooden picnic table is planted near a ragged, lonely tree. One of the priests explains that this makeshift playground had been set up by the neighborhood parents in order to keep their kids hidden from the sight line of Muslim snipers who often perched in the nearby hills. Zombie-like, three men, fathers of four of the dead children drift out from their nearby homes to join Jim Luken Credit: Justin Jeffre says. The man looks at me and nods. He speaks no English, I think. But he knows exactly what Anto has described. Then how could he not? “This was an accident, right?” I say. “A shell gone astray.” This shelling was not an accident, Anto tells me. The playground had been deliberately targeted. The man looks at me again. I must be registering my utter disbelief that anyone would (or even could) target a playground full of children, from so far away. The same man begins speaking in short bursts. Father Anto translates each line. It was deliberate (the man insists). The Muslim children who always played with the Croat kids (he says) were not there that day. Not one Muslim child (he shouts)! The day before the shelling (he says), one of the Croat children (he doesn’t say which one) had carved a faint Croat flag (he points to it) into the surface of the picnic table. He jabs at the flag again and again. This little checkerboard flag (he declares, weeping now) is why the playground was targeted by the Muslim artillerymen. He pauses, “That flag,” he says, “is why my children are dead.” The Muslim kids (he says, still sobbing, between phrases) had told their parents about that flag. Anto explains that the parents had taken the information to the Muslim soldiers. “They killed seven of our children for that flag,” (he screams). I stare at the silly checkerboard of the almost-childlike Croatian flag. Then the father speaks directly at me. He is asking me something THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED 9 in Serbo-Croatian. Why is he asking me? What the hell do I know...about anything? I hear Anto translate the question as if he were calling out to me from another planet. “He is asking you, 'Where were the Muslim children that day?'' I stare into the man’s eyes, into a universe of grief. Those eyes plead for an answer he knows I cannot give. Without accusing me, those eyes indict me. Why can’t you explain for me, Amerikanka, the unfathomable, the absurd, the bottomless pit of inhuman behavior by humans? The translated story continues, spilling from the well of sadness inside each of these fathers. At one point in the telling, a huge explosion takes place at a distance that I cannot exactly calculate but seems frighteningly close to us. A football field's distance, or less. Boom!!! Louder than the loudest “Boom” I'd ever heard during fireworks displays. My head jerks back, my body lurches. A moment later, I look around at the five others. No one is running for shelter. As far as I can see, no one has even reacted...except for me. They all stand planted there, like gravestones. I can’t believe what I have heard. Moments after the most disturbing story I have ever heard another artillery shell blows up a short block away from where we are standing, and no one runs, no one seeks shelter. No one even reacts. I gather myself. I get it: everyone here is accustomed to this. The way we Americans get used to the occasional blast of a nearby cherry bomb, as the 4th of July approaches. Nobody seems to care in the least that the reality behind the ear-splitting noise we had heard might have been deadly. No one seems worried about where the next shell might explode? Obviously, not one among these fathers really cares if he is the next to die. They, we, can do nothing about it. This is the ongoing reality here in Vitez. There is no safe hiding place. This, I recognize once again, is the unspeakably evil face of war, a reality endured night and day, day after bloody day, by civilians living in the numerous war zones, which dot the face of the globe. Reader, I’m sure you see why the scenes at the playground and at the children's grave site are carved forever in my memory, more permanently, no doubt, than that weathered little flag is etched into the picnic table. The whole scene (touching upon my own fear of losing a child, and bringing me to tears once again as I describe it) is the reason I am writing this anti-war tract for you. When they come for the children, without first crossing over your body, cursed be your religion and your life.—Anonymous. [Editor's note: Jim Luken was a work horse for this paper going back to before I became editor. Thanks Jim!] �10 A LOCAL MONEY AND POLITICS AT THE LOCAL LEVEL s reformers know, addressing the problem of "big money's" role in political campaigns has become harder and harder. Citizens United and other rulings by the Supreme Court have given freedom to big donors and Super PACs to flood money into the political process. Meanwhile, an opportunity has arisen in Cincinnati to make a small step toward lessening the influence of "fat cat" dollars in Council and Mayoral elections. Back in 2001, Cincinnati voters passed a City Charter Amendment that put in place a series of reforms that dealt with contributions and spending in municipal campaigns. Since that election, this Amendment has been greatly weakened. Although the elimination of the public financing of campaigns remains the biggest loss from the initial reform package, the approval of a new funding source to campaigns also changed the contribution limits rules. The contribution's section of the Charter Amendment set specific limits on the amount of money individuals, groups, and parties can give to a Council or mayoral candidate. Parties could allocate $10,000 to A u g 2 4 - S e p t 6, 2 0 18 | N o . 38 8 BILL WOODS Contributing Writer a candidate, while political action committees were limited to $2,500. Meanwhile, an individual could contribute $1,000 to a Council or mayoral campaign (now $1,100). These figures can periodically be raised slightly to adjust to inflation and the cost of living. The question of how to deal with local campaign contributions of LLCs (Limited Liability Corporations) emerged more than a decade ago. In 2005, the Cranley for Council Committee asked the City whether a $1,000 gift from an LLC would be regarded as the individual limit that would be allowed the person who established the corporation. The volunteer Elections Commission established under the Charter Amendment then over stepped its authority by determining that LLC's had lives of their own, and that a person could contribute $1,000 to a campaign, and then turn around and have his or her LLC write another check to the same candidate. This decision led to people setting up multiple LLCs that each gave $1,000 gifts to a candidate. Thus, an individual who controlled six LLCs could contribute $7,000 to a candidate for Council or for Mayor. This 2005 decision about LLCs was never published and was not widely known by the public. Nevertheless, candidates such as John Cranley took full advantage and several Council candidates also garnered LLC support. Last year, former Judge Mark Painter, Councilman Wendell Young, civic leader Don Mooney, and several people who were leaders in the 2001 Charter Amendment campaign challenged the City's determination concerning the legal status of LLC contributions. This finally led to a law suit against the Elections Commission and Mayor Cranley that stated the Commission had exceeded its authority when it gave Bill Woods accepting last year's buddy gray award Credit: Homeless Coalition of this contribution loophole. In his recent primary and fall campaigns, the Mayor collected an estimated $500,000 from seventy-five LLCs. His opponent Yvette Simpson LLCs individual rights to contribute to Council and Mayoral candidates. A settlement was reached when the (Continued on page 11) September 7 - 29, 2018 For tickets please call (513) 381-2273 Purchase tickets online at www.cincyshakes.com AD Donated by Mark and Sue Ann Painter season sponsored by the Otto M. Budig Family Foundation THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �LOCAL No. 38 8 | A u g 2 4 - S e p t 6, 2 0 18 JUSTIN JEFFRE (Continued from page 2) possible - as well as those wishing to understand how we’ve gotten to where we are as a community, with a growing housing crisis. I’ll have more to say about my journey here at the Homeless Coalition and Streetvibes in the next issue. I’m writing this article now though to inform you, our faith readers, that in the coming weeks I’ll be moving on from the Homeless Coalition and this mighty little paper, to focus more on my work with my MICHAEL EARL PATTON (Continued from page 5) admit this is quite speculative, but it is fun – something like figuring out the clues in a mystery novel. Unfortunately, we will have to wait ROBERT PARK (Continued from page 7) stadiums, storm sewer upgrades, tax breaks or whatever. It used to be they could usually get their way on things like this; maybe times are changing. The system is rigged. The project would have been great for business: their workers can get to work, they SAAD GHOSN (Continued from page 8) allowed it to happen," states Hughes. "Her blood, like the blood of Jesus, saved me and gave me the courage, like the Jews in the Old Testament, to "leave my Egypt", i.e. the comfortable and secure system i was living in, for a promised land where there would be justice and no oppression." This is also when Hughes was introduced to the United Methodist Church (UMC) through a white pastor from one of Lima’s suburban churches who reached out to him. Finding similarity between them they decided to work together to fight injustice in the city. Few years later, he was offered the pastorship of Shiloh UMC at Price Hill. He has been there now for four years. Hughes' church in Price Hill is diverse in its membership and very involved in its neighborhood. It works, for instance, with the local Recreation BILL WOODS (Continued from page 10) City agreed to pursue placing a new Charter Amendment on the ballot that would allow the voters to decide the fate of LLCs as campaign contributors. 11 music group. As some of you may or may not know, I’m a member of the vocal group, 98 Degrees, and fortunately for us we’ve become more active in the past few years. Music has always been my first passion. 98 Degrees started getting back together after a long hiatus at the same time my journey began here at the Homeless Coalition. It’s been a pretty tough balance throughout these years, but now it’s time for the next chapter for all us. So, while I’m moving on, I will still remain an active supporter of the great work this organization does and this program/ mighty paper, Streetvibes. I sincerely hope that you all will as well. Through the years I’ve been fortunate enough to work alongside a lot of wonderful people. Far too many to mention here now individually though in this issue. I’d like to thank all of my coworkers both current and past, our volunteer writers and photographers, our hard-working distributors, our interns, board members, donors (big, medium and small, we’ve depended on and are grateful for you all.) I’d like to thank all of the people in our member organizations – which all do such amazing work. And to the people that they serve, we want you to know that we value you all very much as well. It’s been quite an honor and a pleasure to have been a part of an organization and program for which I have had so much respect. Thank you all for reading and supporting Streetvibes! In the back you will see a listing for this position. If you or anyone you know are interested, please contact Josh Spring. Onward! decades to converge on the right answer as more investigation is done, if researchers ever do agree. From April through November Fort Ancient is open Tuesday – Saturday from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm and Sunday from noon – 5:00 pm, closed Mondays. From December through March it is open only during the weekends. Admission is $7 for adults; $6 for seniors (60+) and students (6 – 17). If you want to just visit the outside park and skip the excellent museum the charge is $8 per carload. The recommended route is exit 36 / Wilmington Road off of I-71, then south on Middleboro Road and then west on State Route 350. See www.FortAncient.org for more information. can recruit employees to an attractive city environment, they could operate in a robust networking economy. In Nashville, maybe if the Chamber had proposed that all businesses (not just hotels and car rentals.) would shoulder a substantial part of the cost, people would have been more easily persuaded to join in. Some innovation in urban progressive tax strategies on income and business would help a lot. There are some lessons here from our southern neighbors. Like advice for the Cincinnati ruling class and its Business Committee: your greed is actually eroding your fundamental interests; to move forward, you have to give some back. For the rest of us, we need to reject regressive funding alternatives like a sales tax or even contributions from a flat income tax, and demand that our elected officials come up with ways to mine private and corporate wealth for public infrastructure. We need the tax lawyers working for us, not them. Center offering social programs and events, services, also free meals to the community there. It also partners with Shiloh Sober Living providing financial support to returning citizens who suffer from substance abuse and who have opted to live drug free. In collaboration with the nonprofit LIT (Living In Testimony), housing and a supportive community will soon be offered to men coming out from prison. The church also provides mentors for young juveniles with felony, part of the Block ministry, and offers its facility for narcotics and alcoholic anonymous, and to various Santa Maria activities. Hughes visits the jail at the Justice Center downtown Cincinnati every week. He provides faith and other support to the inmates and is planning a Returning Equity program which will offer them an alternative economy when released and ready to reinsert society. "When freed, these individuals do not feel they belong and are not being accepted," he says. "They are 'the others', a feeling at the heart of their many problems." Hughes also leads the Price Hill Faith Alliance, trying to create relationships between the various local Christian churches; and participates in the Faith Alliance citywide. With other faith leaders of the City he started a year ago the JustLove movement, a movement based on bringing people together to share their experiences, connect by love, and work for justice. Last April, Hughes' Shiloh Price Hill UMC separated from its Delhi sister church and changed its name to the Incline Missional Community. Its new goal is to love people the way they are, liberate them, lead them, and help them realize who they are. The Sunday service has changed as a result and with the parishioners' input is now based on a monthly theme which, in addition to the religious service, progresses with various activities and teachings throughout the month, ending up with an active community service in the neighborhood. "This helps us address important issues we face in our culture and our life, examine them deeply and plan our faith response to them," says Hughes. " Our members own the process and it gives all of us practical tools to apply." Going from there Hughes would like to create spaces for people to belong and be vulnerable. For him who studied Communication, communication is all about connections that these spaces will facilitate, letting people thrive and flourish. They will break isolation, foster acceptance and attract people to the Jesus who is both in them and in "the other". "They will incubate love and hopefully will help change the world," he says. That is where this issue stands today. At its first meeting in September, City Council is poised to place on the November ballot a Charter Amendment proposal that would remove the ability of an individual and that same individual 's LLC to make $1,100 contributions. It would also disallow multiple contributions by LLCs established by the same individual. Although a small step when looking at the overall situation of "big money" in campaigns, it is a step in the right direction. Remembering the dictum that "all politics is local," it is refreshing to be able to pass this reform in Cincinnati. Furthermore, it will reestablish the integrity of the contribution limits that were passed by the voters in 2001. “Breakdown Stereotypes” --------------------------------------- --------------------------------------- “Eradicate Misinformation” The Coalition for the Homeless provides Education and Service Programs that help to portray a more accurate and holistic picture of homelessness in Cincinnati. We believe an educated public can be a more compassionate public, willing to dedicate time and effort towards creating solutions to homelessness. The “Voice of the Homeless Speaker’s Bureau” program is made up of individuals currently experiencing homelessness or who have experienced homelessness, who share their experiences. The program is designed to put a face on homelessness and raise awareness about those struggling in our community. To schedule a speaker, contact Mark Mussman at MarkMussman@cincihomeless.org. THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �12 O STREET VOICE Tired of being tired A u g 2 4 - S e p t 6, 2 0 18 | N o . 38 8 STACIA HOLLANDER ver the two years that I’ve been homeless it has put a whole new outlook on my life. Being homeless is not a laughing matter. It’s a very serious problem in our society. Today there are so many people experiencing Streetvibes Distributor &Contributing Writer homelessness on our streets. The hatred I’ve seen and that has been directed at me. Just last month a woman was fired from Dunkin Doughnuts at the East Court Street location for writing on my cup, “Stop standing in front of our store beggin’ when you get a full time job, Thanks Management”. I am so hurt and embarrassed. My feelings are in a million directions right now. They think this issue is Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition Steetvibes Editor Summary of Organization: The Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition is a unified social action agency, fully committed to its ultimate goal: the eradication of homelessness with respect for the dignity and diversity of its membership, people experiencing homelessness and the community. Our Coalition works towards this goal by coordinating services, educating the public, and engaging in grassroots organizing and advocacy. Summary of Program: Streetvibes is an entrepreneurship program that advocates for justice and builds community through excellent, award-winning reporting. Streetvibes reports on topics related to economics, civil rights, race, religion, gender, LGBTQIA, immigration, the environment, and the struggle to end homelessness and poverty. The printed newspaper version is published bi-weekly by the Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition and primarily distributed by people who are, or once were without a home in exchange for a $2 donation. Summary of Position: The Streetvibes Editor will produce a quality 16-page bi-weekly paper, maintain the Streetvibes website, cultivate a social media presence, strengthen the relationships among the Distributors within the community and the organization, and provide guidance to enhance distributor productivity and Job Description Part-Time development. This is a part-time position. Duties and Responsibilities: 1. Produce a 16-page, bi-weekly newspaper a. Strategic planning of articles b. Compose independentlywritten, thought-provoking, and original articles c. Story and photography assignments to volunteers d. Story assessment and editing e. Highlight member organizations, their events, work, staff, job openings, and volunteer opportunities f. Maintain an updated resource page, and other paper assets g. Adhere to a set production format and schedule h. Work directly with layout manager to coordinate distribution to printer 2. Create and post a local events calendar for Distributors 3. Assist Director of Education with Streetvibes Shadow Activities 4. Maintain database records of sales, Distributors, writers, supporters, articles, archives 5. Solicit and supervise freelance writers, volunteers, and field-related interns 6. Work with community members and member organizations to develop stories, ensure a diversity of voices, increase advertising, and improve sales 7. Raise funds for operation of Streetvibes through working with other staff to seek and secure grants, donations, sponsorships, and paid advertisements 8. Market paper to increase distribution 9. Manage Streetvibes website and social media, answer inquiries 10. Attend community events and newsworthy actions 11. Submit timely quarterly and annual reports 12. Plan annual Streetvibes fundraiser with assistance from staff and Board 13. All other duties as assigned Qualifications: • Degree in Journalism or related field preferred (not required) or equivalent writing experience • Photography experience preferred • Writing and Editing Skills • Proficiency with Adobe InDesign, Wordpress, and Photoshop • Ability to delegate, organize, and hold others accountable • Ability to challenge through writing • Familiarity and passion for social justice especially the eradication of homelessness and poverty • Comfortable speaking in public, and with controversial issues and stances • Good interpersonal skills, over and it’s not. I’m not going to let this go. I can’t, and I won’t. All of the (sorry)’s in the world aren’t good enough for me. I deserve more than that. I want Dunkin Doughnuts to be humiliated and embarrassed. Just like they done me. I’ll never forget this at all. People experiencing homelessness are human. Have feelings and stop the harassment of people experiencing homelessness. ability to communicate with a wide range of individuals • Ability to convert document file types and use Microsoft Office • Understanding of layout, design conventions, and image requirements for print Working Conditions: • Supervised by Executive Director • Ability to work with and collaborate strategically with other staff in a busy work environment and multi-task • Ability to adhere to strict deadlines • Flexible schedule; some work on nights and weekends Starting Wage: $16.84/hr To apply: Send resume, cover letter, and 3 references to: Josh Spring, LSW Executive Director 117 E. 12th Street Cincinnati, OH 45202 joshspring@cincihomeless.org The Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The Homeless Coalition does not discriminate based on race, color, gender, national origin, age, religion, creed, ability, veteran’s status, homelessness or housing status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. Streetvibes Writing Circle THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �13 STREET VOICE No. 38 8 | A u g 2 4 - S e p t 6, 2 0 18 NO ONE ASKED RUSSIAN MEDDLING - PART II No one asked. Meet Boris, Ivan, and Fyodor, How are you today? No one asked, Because no one cared Maybe because everyone is too busy Members of Putin's spy-corps, Who make the cyber connections. Their goals and focus are steady. Someone went home today These wily Russians are ready Feeling, sad and empty To hack our midterm elections. No one asked, No one cared BILL WOODS Contributing Writer Sometimes no one should have to ask. HOME ALONE When was the last time you asked someone could you help them? It’s so sad when no one cares enough to ask! KIM GREEN Streetvibes Distributor & Contributing Writer I feel so blessed that being homeless for me has ceased Ceased meaning yesterday looking at today I still pray for peace I just knew being home alone, finally after living in the street with a slide That I could finally rest with my memories and let my spirit glide I've learned that being home alone doesn't always make one happy Especially to wake up to the reality that the world you live in actually is crappy I hear a security guard involved in the death of a young man I hear for double murder you get twenty-five years in this land! I find myself after all is said and done. I'm lonely, bored, behind the time or missing people I need to be able to talk, enjoy, laugh, respecting history with loud chimes on the steeples I've learned in order to a make a change is some serious work and a lot of effort for me I've learned that I cannot change people I must take the challenge to change myself you see I 've learned to keep my spirit clean for only God knows the truth there is NO DOUBT I'm learning to be honest with myself and living my life is what it's all about For everyone needs to be aware rather it be now or later that the CONSCIENCE KILLS Whether you be good or bad to live in denial, just listen, your conscience will get you. YOU JUST BE STILL! WILLA DENISE JONES Streetvibes Distributor & Contributing Writer THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �PUZZLES 14 CROSSWORD PUZZLE NO. 156 Across 1. Travel through water 5. Large African antelope 8. Journey 12. Giant 14. Lubricant 15. Letting agreement 16. Part of a Roman amphitheater 17. Appropriate 18. Expel from a country 19. Dismissal from office 21. Pit viper 23. Dream state, initially 24. A quick run 25. Tantrum 28. Acidic fruit 30. Harry 35. Exam by word of mouth 37. Suspiration 39. Door or gate fastener 40. Lawsuit 41. Homeless cat 43. Floating mass of ice 44. Express audibly 46. Story 47. Counterweight used to obtain net weight 48. Ride on a plank 50. Lacking hearing 52. Unit of play in squash 53. Cut into cubes 55. Place seeds in the ground 57. Lean back 61. Straight section of a racetrack 65. Assumed name 66. Lair 68. Jewelled headdress 69. A drawback not immediately obvious 70. In the past 71. Mistake 72. Leg joint 73. Angry dispute 74. Simpleton Down 1. Celestial body 2. Finishing line 3. Part of a list or collection 4. Landed estate of a lord 5. Successful scoring attempt 6. Pinch 7. Radical 8. Written matter 9. Complain bitterly 10. Small island 11. Look searchingly 13. Umbilicus 15. Deadly 20. Awry 22. Residue from burning 24. Demean 25. Concentrate 26. Very angry 27. One of the senses 29. Baseball glove 31. A flat float 32. Mythological Titan 33. Set of twenty 34. Bed linen 36. Sediment from fermentation of an alcoholic beverage 38. Showing vigorous good health 42. Leavening agent used to raise bread 45. Pungent edible root 49. Be victorious 51. With great loudness (music) 54. Durable aromatic wood 56. Uncanny 57. Cut of meat 58. Zeal 59. Make reference to 60. Delicate woven fabric 61. Form of precipitation 62. Starchy tuberous root 63. Harvest 64. Leporid mammal 67. Self PUZZLE SOLUTIONS ISSUE 387 CROSSWORD PUZZLE NO. 155 A u g 2 4 - S e p t 6, 2 0 18 | N o . 38 8 SODOKU PUZZLE NO 286 - MEDIUM SODOKU PUZZLE NO 285- MEDIUM PUZZLES from puzzlechoice.com and puzzles.ca THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �RESOURCES No. 38 8 | A u g 2 4 - S e p t 6, 2 0 18 Central Access Point 381-SAFE Shelter: Women and Children Bethany House 1841 Fairmount Ave. 45214 557-2873 Salvation Army 762-5660 YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter 872-9259 131 E. 12th Street 45202 241-5525 682 Hawthorne Ave. 45205 Starting Over 1223 Main St. 45202 People Working Cooperatively 351-7921 The Caring Place 631-1114 Talbert House 751-7747 United Way 211 Women Helping Women 977-5541 Off The Streets 421-5211 Hamilton County Office of Reentry 946-4304 138 E. Court Street Room # 101 First Floor 961-2256 First Step Home 961-4663 Hamilton/Middletown 2203 Fulton, Cinti, Ohio 45206 AA Hotline 351-0422 CCAT 381-6672 St. Raephaels 981-4200 Salvation Army 863-1445 Serenity House Day Center 422-8555 Open Door Pantry 868-3276 Joseph House (Veterans) Northern Kentucky Treatment or Supportive Recovery: Both 471-1100 830 Ezzard Charles Dr. 45214 241-2965 1522 Republic Street 45202 114 W. 14th Street 45202 Talbert House 221-HELP Tender Mercies 721-8666 961-4555 381-1954 421-5211 Cincinnati Union Bethel 768-6907 Hamilton County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board 946-8000 Recovery Health Access Center 281-7422 Sober Living 681-0324 Talbert House 221-HELP Catholic Social Action 421-3131 Community Action Agency 569-1840 Contact Center 381-4242 Franciscan JPIC 721-4700 Gr. Cinti Coalition for the Homeless 421-7803 Food/Clothing Health First Lutheran Church 421-0065 1208 Race St. Food - Last Monday 12-1 Clothing - second Monday 12-1 Lord’s Pantry 621-5300 OTR/Walnut Hills Kitchen & Pantry 961-1983 ECHO/Hosea House Fairhaven Resuce Mission Homeward Bound Youth Mathews House Homeless & Housing Coalition Parish Kitchen Pike St. Clinic Transitions, Inc Welcome House of NKY 859-261-5857 859-491-1027 859-581-1111 859-261-8009 859-727-0926 859-581-7745 859-291-9321 859-491-4435 859-431-8717 205 West Pike Street, Covington, KY 41011 Want to advertise in Streetvibes? Cincinnati Health Network 2825 Burnet Ave. 45219 859-491-8303 Women’s Crisis Center 859-491-3335 VA Domiciliary 859-572-6202 Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky 634 Scott St. 41011 859-291-4555 117 E. 12th Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 VA 977-6800 VA Homeless 859-572-6226 Brighton Center (11-17 y/o) 799 Ann St. Newport, KY Advocacy Legal Aid Society 241-9400 Ohio Justice & Policy Center 421-1108 UpSpring 363-3300 2401 Reading Rd. 45202 961-0600 Center for Respite Care 621-1868 3550 Washington Ave. 45229 You can support our mission and spread the word about your business. For more information contact Justin Jeffre at 513-421-70803 x 12 or email streetvibes@cincihomeless.org Crossroad Health Center 381-2247 OTR: 1620 Vine Street 45202 Walnut Hills: 2631 Gilbert Ave. 45206 5 E. Liberty St. 45202 Health Resource Center 357-4602 McMicken Integrated Care Clinic and Mobile Medical Van 386-7899 Our Daily Bread 621-6364 1730 Race Street 45202 Franciscan Haircuts from the Heart 381-0111 Goodwill Industries 771-4800 Intercommunity Justice & Peace Cr. 579-8547 Mary Magdalen House 721-4811 Treatment or Supportive Recovery: Women Caracole (HIV/AIDS) 761-1480 CMHA 721-4580 Excel Development 632-7149 OTR Community Housing 381-1171 St. Francis Soup Kitchen 215 E. 14th St. 45202 784-1853 2121 Vine Street 45202 535-2719 40 E. McMicken Ave, Cinti, Ohio $100 558-8888 351-3500 977-4489 Center Independent Living Options 241-2600 Peaslee Neighborhood Center 621-5514 Prospect House 921-1613 Housing: 2401-2411 Reading Rd. 45202 562-8841 Charlie’s 3/4 House Sheakley Center for Youth (18-24 y/o) 2522 Highland Ave. 45219 569-9500 Lighthouse Youth Crisis Center (10-17 y/o) 3330 Jefferson Ave 45220 961-4080 Tom Geiger House Volunteers of America Anna Louise Inn St. Vincent de Paul 352-6363 Other Resources Treatment or Supportive Recovery: Men Shelter: Youth 27 W. 12th Street 45202 271-5501 1125 Bank Street 45214 Parkway Center 661-4620 Interfaith Hospitality Network Madisonville Ed & Assistance Center 4600 Erie Ave. 45227 Serves area codes: 45226, 45227, 45208, 45209 St. Fran/St. Joe Catholic Work. House 381-4941 Shelter: Family 591-2246 621-7265 112 E. Liberty Street 45202 411 Gest St. 45203 1805 Dalton Ave. 45214 Churches Active in Northside McMicken Dental Clinic 40 E. McMicken Ave, Cinti Mental Health Access Point NAMI of Hamilton County PATH Outreach FreeStore/FoodBank 241-1064 Shelterhouse 721-0643 City Gospel Mission 751-8771 4230 Hamilton Ave. 45223 Shelter: Men 1437 Walnut Street 45202 St. George Food Pantry 2554 Dennis St. 45219 Prince of Peace Lutheran Church 1528 Race St. 45202 The Esther Marie Hatton Center for Women 2499 Reading Road 562-1980 Grace Place Catholic Worker House 681-2365 6037 Cary Ave. 45224 15 for 26 issues $150 THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED for 26 issues and a $50 donation �16 A u g 2 4 - S e p t 6, 2 0 18 | N o . 38 8 S treetvibes is distributed by individuals who purchase the paper for 75 cents per copy and sell it for a $2.00 donation, keeping the profit they have earned. Becoming a Distributor is a great way for individuals who are financially poor to get back on (or stay on) their feet. This program provides supplemental income for those unable to secure other employment. Money earned helps meet basic housing, food and health care needs. The program is a hand up for people who are often in a place of getting only a hand out, or even no hand at all. All Distributors wear a badge and usually a vest and can be found selling the paper in Downtown Cincinnati, Clifton, Northside, Northern Kentucky and at area churches. ALFRED WOOLFOLK SINCE 10/2003 ASRES AYENAW SINCE 2012 BERTA LAMBERT SINCE 1997 BETTIE BAILEY SINCE 10/2017 BRANDON NELSON SINCE 4/2008 BRIAN ADAMS SINCE 7/2017 CHARLES WILLIAMS SINCE 7/2017 CHRISTOPHER KAIHATSU SINCE 7/2017 CLEO WOMBLES SINCE 10/2003 CRANDALL COBB SINCE 2004 DARREL ROZIER SINCE 7/2017 DAVID MCCANE SINCE 2017 ERIC VALDEZ SINCE 2/2017 GERALD FRANKLIN SINCE 7/2017 GRADY COOK SINCE 1997 HENRY BRELAND SINCE 7/2017 JAMES BROWN SINCE 3/2009 JAMES DAVIS SINCE 8/2000 JENNY BURTON SINCE 7/2017 JIMMIE GIPSON SINCE 2001 JON DARBY SINCE 2/2006 JOHN HORN JOSEPHINE BASKERVILLE SINCE 9/2008 J’TORI TYMAN SINCE 5/2014 KIM NGUYEN SINCE 7/2017 KENNY BUSSELL SINCE 10/2009 KAREN COLLETTE SINCE 7/2008 LARRY BROWN SINCE 10/2007 LEE MCCOY SINCE 7/2009 LEONARD JACKSON SINCE 2/2005 MARY MUELLER SINCE 5/2005 MARK SHEARS SINCE 4/2012 MAURICE GOLSBY MELISSA MOSBY SINCE 9/2014 MIKE CARANO SINCE 4/2016 RAESHAWN GIPSON SINCE 3/2009 RAYNARD JONES SINCE 10/2008 RICKY WOODS SINCE 4/2015 RICCARDO TAYLOR SINCE 1999 RONNIE PHILLIPS SINCE 10/2009 SAMUEL JACKSON SINCE 10/2006 STACIA HOLLANDER SINCE 2017 STEPHANIE EAKES SINCE 7/2017 SYLVESTER WALKER SINCE 7/2017 TALINA HILL SINCE 2/2011 VICTOR MUMPHRY WILLA JONES SINCE 1/2010 WINNIE RICE SINCE 7/2017 QUEENACELASTINE SINCE 7/2017 TIA CASS SINCE 11/2007 THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED TONY THOMAS SINCE 3/2005 KEITH EUTSEY SINCE 2/2011 VIOLET COLLINS SINCE 2017 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2018 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource August 24-September 6, 2018 Subject The topic of the resource Homelessness Description An account of the resource Pg 1: Cover Page Pg 2: From the Director Where are we Headed as a Nation? Pg 3: Cruel and Unusual Punishment Pg 4: Duke Energy’s Dangerous Pipeline Proposal Pg 5: The Mystery of Fort Ancient Pg 6: How to Respond to Panhandling Pg 7: Sorta Aborta Pg 8: Religious Peacemakers Pg 9: The Worst Day of My Life Pg 10: Money and Politics at the Local Level Pg 11: Justin Jeffre Continued Michael Earl Patton Continued Robert Park Continued Saad Ghosn Continued Bill Woods Continued Pg 12: Tired of Being Tired Pg 13: Street Voice Pg 14: Puzzles Pg 15: Resources Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Streetvibes Archive Project Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Streetvibes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource August 24-September 6, 2018 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Josh Spring Justin Jeffre Dr. Mark Mussman Dick Croy Michael Earl Patton Robert Park Saad Ghosn Jim Luken Bill Woods Stacia Hollander Kim Green Willa D. Jones Homeless Coalition Laura Domet The Telegraph Cam Hardy Google Images Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Bill Woods Cam Hardy Dick Croy Dr. Mark Mussman Duke Energy Fort Ancient GCHC Google Images Homeless Coalition Jim Luken Josh Spring Justin Jeffre Kim Green Laura Domet Michael Earl Patton Pipeline politics Religion Robert Park Saad Ghosn SORTA Stacia Hollander The Telegraph Willa D. Jones https://streetvibesarchive.net/files/original/1cecee01aa159fe0b73e807478553bdf.pdf a4235cec3bb8261d3de16a63cabaa0df PDF Text Text D e c e m b e r 2 8 t h - J a n u a r y 1 1 t h 2 0 1 8 | Vo l . 2 1 I s s u e 2 4 ( N o . 3 9 7 ) advo cating justice | building communit y Any opinions in this issue are of the authors and don't necessarily represent Streetvibes or The Homeless Coalition. Article on page 5 This Issue is sponsored by Cecilia and Tom Kloecker Find previous issues of Streetvibes online at: cincistreetvibes.org Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition 113 E. 12th Street Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 streetvoice | 12 �2 COALITION Nov 2 o v 19, 0 18 | |NNo. o . 393 Dec. 28- -NJan. 11,22018 397 From The Director: 2018 In Summary And 2019 Plans T he human and financial support you add to our Coalition allows us to remain a vocal, active organization focused on organizing, advocating, educating and coordinating for systemic changes to end homelessness in Greater Cincinnati. In Cincinnati and Hamilton County more people are experiencing homelessness now than ever before. This includes single adults, couples, families with children and youth. Through research, we know that on an average day in 2018 the easily identifiable need for shelter is nearly double the capacity and 88% of families with children who sought shelter were turned away because there was no room. Our member organizations are constantly working and successfully assisting individuals and families in reaching sustainable housing. People are getting housed and receiving needed supports. Street-outreach workers are getting people into shelter. Food, employment assistance, medical and mental health care, detox and spiritual care are being provided. However, if we used all of the currently available resources perfectly, it would not be enough. In Hamilton County, we are short 40,019 affordable homes. 55,601 households or about 150,000 people are trying to fit into 15,581 affordable homes. In the last 15 years more than $2 billion in public and private funds have been invested in housing and yet we are in the throes of a housing and homelessness crisis. As a city, county and community we have spent funds on luxury housing for people who have homes, instead of investing in desperately needed housing for people without homes and on the edge. Currently the City puts almost no local funds into affordable housing, but we give tens of millions of dollars in property tax abatements to large market rate developers and the city doesn’t even asked if they plan to displace people from their homes or if they will include any affordable housing. Developers who displace and provoke homelessness get tax abatements. Of the 50 largest metropolitan areas, we have the tenth highest number of evictions. A person who rents can offer their rent to the landlord, who can refuse to accept it and then get the JOSH SPRING Executive Director Josh Spring Credit: Homeless Coalition court to evict for not paying rent. In addition to the trauma of homelessness, the housing crisis gives bad landlords the opportunity to exploit need by not maintaining properties and providing housing in horrible condition. Over the year we have worked with families who sleep in the living room because the rats or cockroaches in the bedrooms bite, people who can’t use rooms of their homes because of leaks, people with unsafe drinking water because it moves through heating pipes, ceilings that have fallen on children, living without a toilet, tub or stove, living without electricity because of landlord retaliation and on and on. If all of this were not terrible enough, this summer, the City and County decided to invest in criminalizing people living outside. It is now an arrestable offense in Hamilton County to experience homelessness outside on both public and private land. Solving problems like these require a Homeless Coalition that is able to act with the focus always on people experiencing and on the edge of homelessness, and our many wonderful member organizations. We are organizing with Tenants in buildings with approximately 3,656 threatened homes, housing approximately 10,968 people. In the last year this work in partnership with Tenants and our Member Organizations resulted in 823 homes saved for approximately 2,469 people. We successfully convinced city council to continue the restoration of Human Services funding and to increase funding to the Winter Shelter. When a women experiencing homelessness was harassed and discriminated against by an employee of a local Dunkin Donuts, we were able to proactively partner with the owners of this franchise and several others in the area to provide education about homelessness and empathy to all of their management staff through our Speakers’ Bureau program. We have led people experiencing homelessness outside to federally sue both the City and County for infringing upon their basic constitutionally protected human rights. This effort has the potential to not only change how things work here, but to assist people in other cities, states and regions. After much advocacy, city council voted to create an Affordable Housing Trust Fund and with our partners we started a significant effort to establish legislated protections for people who rent. In 2019 we plan to secure significant, permanent funding sources for the currently unfunded Affordable Housing Trust Fund. We will pursue the passage of protections from unjust evictions and the requirement that developers receiving tax abatements do not displace people and instead include affordable housing. We will continue to organize with hundreds of people living in threatened housing. We will fight for the end of the legalized criminalization of homelessness which only serves to deepen the trauma of homelessness. We will focus on joining with our Member Organizations and other partners to figure out what needs to be done on an immediate daily basis for people who currently can’t access shelter. If you are able, please invest in these systemic efforts to end and prevent homelessness. We need your investment. THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED Streetvibes is an activist newspaper, advocating justice and building community. Streetvibes reports on economic issues, civil rights, the environment, the peace movement, spirituality and the struggle against homelessness and poverty. Distributed by individuals experiencing homelessness or on the edge of homelessness, in exchange for a $2.00 Donation. Streetvibes is published twice a month by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless (GCCH), a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that works to eradicate homelessness in Cincinnati. 113 East 12th St. Cincinnati OH, 45202 Ph: 513.421.7803 FAX: 513.421.7813 WEB: www.cincihomeless.org EMAIL: streetvibes@cincihomeless.org Editor: Gabriela Godinez Executive Director: Josh Spring Director of Development: Mona Jenkins Director of Education: Dr. Mark Mussman Distributor Program Manager: Sallie Mascus Layout: Gabriela Godinez Reception: Bonita Batton, Larry Johnson Maintenance: Pete Roper ------------------------------------------CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE Writers: Josh Spring, Brian Taylor, Micheal Earl Patton, Bill Woods, Willa Jones, Dr. Mark Mussman, Kim Green, Robert Park, Siqi Cheng, Leah Rutz, Yuliya Milkitin, Kristina McKinley, M.T. ------------------------------------------Photography/ Artwork: Homeless Coalition, pngtree. com, Gabriela Godinez, iStockphoto, pexels.com, ---------------------------------------------Thank You For Reading Streetvibes And Supporting Our Mission To Build Community And Advocate Justice. Streetvibes and The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless do not endorse candidates for public office. �No. 39 Nov 211, - N2018 o v 19, 2 0 18 Dec. 283-| Jan. | No. 397 COALITION 3 A Turbulent Year DR. MARK MUSSMAN Staff Writer A s we continue to fight for affordable housing, livable wages, and housing protections, there are powerful forces who oppose fairness, equality, and equity. Although 2018 has been a difficult year, it has been a time to remember that anything that comes easy is generally not very valuable. From our Education program, our Membership coordination, our Advocacy team, to Streetvibes, we have been working every day to ensure that our mission will be fulfilled: The Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition is a unified social action agency, fully committed to its ultimate goal: the eradication of homelessness with respect for the dignity and diversity of its membership, people experiencing homelessness and the community. Our Coalition works towards this goal by coordinating services, educating the public, and engaging in grassroots organizing and advocacy. Over the course of the year, the Education program has been focused on quality programming that leads to action. We started off the year in Community Council Meetings, and we are ending the year embedded in student projects from middle school to graduate studies. The year included the first corporate training, which resulted in managers becoming trained from four local stores. The year also saw new faces for the CUE trips, from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and also from Baldwin Wallace College. We are already booking new schools for Spring Break, and we are continuing the tradition with other schools that come frequently. We did two educational events, Left in the Cold and Know Your Rights!, at the public library in concert with all of the Homeless Coalition staff. We did this to help the public understand the complexities of homelessness in Cincinnati. Throughout the year, we engaged with many communities through our speaking engagements, social justice walking tours, and Streetvibes shadow activities. We worked with many schools and churches to provide top-notch experiences which give participants a solid foundation, both experiential and the vocabulary, to confront harmful stereotypes and misconceptions about poverty and social services in Cincinnati. We worked closely with one local high school to provide opportunities through their Service Week to learn about the history and struggle in Over-the-Rhine. Following an intense week of speakers and tours, one of the chaperone, a school counselor, gave us this unsolicited feedback: “I just wanted to say thank you so much for working with our students this week. I think this week with the Homeless Coalition was a big eye-opener — I hope that it generates some fierce community advocates. I am so grateful to have community partners like you that make this project work. You have definitely planted a seed with many of our students by giving them the opportunity to see their world through a different lens.” Our advocacy team has been working non-stop to ensure that people are able to stay in their homes. We help organize tenant organizations to create a unified voice to fight back against displacement. Over the year, hundreds of homes have been saved, while the strength of the tenants organizations has increased in private and public housing through the work of our organizers and the tenacity of the residents. When housing was threatened by the FC Cincinnati stadium project, the advocacy team stepped up to help illuminate the issues that were looming. Although FC Cincinnati received CPS and Cincinnati City Council’s unwavering support, the voices of the residents of the West End were heard more loudly. Meeting after meeting, our team worked with residents to craft their message and make sure that it was heard. The solidarity that we were able to create has bolstered our efforts, and will lead to stronger organizing in the future. As the Third Street encampment was threatened, the advocacy team stood up to the business, city, county, and law enforcement officials who schemed to remove people from public sight. The efforts to remove people from the underpass and Third Street were not informed by data, but rather by the whims of powerful people in the city. The leaders made unfounded claims of health issues, yet provided no evidence to back up their claims. While they worked together to skirt existing laws protecting people experiencing homelessness, our entire organization threw ourselves into making sure that people were not mistreated. We collected stories, coordinated services, advocated for housing and shelter, secured a lawyer, wrote legal documents, filed claims, and more. During this time, countless hours were needed to observe the police and city officials, who employed tactics meant to confuse residents of the encampment. Waking them up at 6am, telling them to vacate, but giving them no options, the Cincinnati Police Officers themselves expressed that they were just doing their jobs, and that they understood that there is no room in the shelter. The conditions of the court order required them to follow the order, or they themselves would be arrested. This condition applied to all city employees, including City Council. While we are still embattled in the legal suit to ensure that people have their federally protected Constitutional rights, we continue to aid our member organizations in negotiations, fundraising, coordination of services, and other support. Through membership we are able to take donations to the right location, help them improve their services, herald their accomplishments, get volunteers, and improve their funding. We are able to act as the political voice to our 65+ member organizations, who may have their lips sealed due to funding realities. This year, we were able to secure an increase in the Human Services Fund, including direct city funding to the THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED Winter Shelter. Advocacy around a Affordable Housing Trust Fund, including writing the motion and legislation to support the fund, was successful in getting a fund established this year. The goal of the fund is to create and sustain affordable housing in Cincinnati, yet it is not funded yet. This year also saw a monumental change with Streetvibes, which gives people an opportunity to become an entrepreneur, by distributing this paper. Our long-term Editor was replaced by a new Editor-in-chief, who has employed new design and content techniques. The process in finding the new Editorin-chief was long and arduous, but has already yielded many benefits. We strive to include new voices, voices that are typically underrepresented in media, and the last few editions of the paper have done just that. The new graphical nature of the paper is eye-catching, and has elicited many positive responses. I am excited to see Streetvibes grow. The Homeless Coalition, and our staff, have quietly received many awards this year. The reward for the work we do is often non-tangible — knowing that we helped educate thousands of people about homelessness, affordable housing, and displacement; knowing that we were able to ensure that people are able to stay in their homes; knowing that our member organizations have the support they need; knowing that people who are just trying to survive aren’t swept under the rug; knowing that the opportunity to earn money through entrepreneurship — these rewards can not be quantified, but each piece helps us to stay engaged in the struggle to eradicate homelessness. Please consider joining the Homeless Coalition, as an organization, or an individual, because you will make our coalition stronger. �4 COALITION N o v 228 - N- oJan. v 19, 2 02018 18 | N o . 393 Dec. 11, | No. 397 How To Respond To Panhandling Hello, I am not able to give money, but I hope you have a great day. I have to keep walking but thanks for saying hello. Seeking Compassion Hi, how are you? Sure, here is a little bit. Have a good day. * Make eye contact * Smile * Have compassion When you meet a fellow human who is asking for help, it may make you feel uncomfortable.This does not mean that person does not deserve the same rights as you. Cities are increasingly criminalizing people who are financially poor with laws, such as making it illegal to sit on sidewalks.This works to remove people from sight, but is not a humane or sustainable solution. To learn more about the lack of affordable housing and inadequacy of services that contributes to panhandling, contact the Homeless Coalition at (513) 421 2701. THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �No. 3928 3 |-N ov 2 11, - No v 19,| 2 0 18397 Dec. Jan. 2018 No. 5 COALITION The Tired, The Poor, and The Huddled Masses GABRIELA GODINEZ Editor-in-chief 7 year old Jakelin Caal Maquin was detained by border patrol on December 8th, 2018 along with “163 migrants, including 50 unaccompanied children” according to the Associated Press. There were apparently only 4 border patrol agents holding all these people in one bus on route to a station about 94 miles away. On this trip, Jakelin started to feel ill, vomiting, causing her father to notify the agents that she needed medical attention. According to NBC News, she would receive this medical attention 90 minutes later once they arrived at the station “but by then she had stopped breathing.” At this point in the news cycle we all know what happened. After being transported to El Paso, Texas she died. Still even almost a month later after her death we aren’t completely sure what happened. The general consensus seems to be that she died of septic shock, the third and final stage in infection resulting in sepsis. We still don’t have all the information and most likely never will because of a combination of medical privacy and lack of border patrol communication. Though many were surprised to hear such news, Washington Post reporters Scott Allen and Pamela McPherson, were not. They had sent a letter raising their concerns to the Senate Whistleblowing Caucus. The letter, sent to Chairman Charles E. Grassley and Vice Chairman Ron Wyden, read: “We have conducted ten investigations of family detention facilities, the Karnes and Dilley detention centers in Texas, the Berks detention center in Pennsylvania, and the one closed facility, Artesia in New Mexico, over the past four years. Those investigations, usually prompted by complaints, frequently revealed serious compliance issues resulting in harm to children, which we have documented in submitted reports to CRCL. Our close familiarity with past problems inform our belief that the current immigration policy poses the likely risk of noncompliance with existing family detention center standards that will directly result in harm to children.” In their article, Allen and McPherson include the original letter and describe their lack of surprise of this death. Jakelin Caal Maquin’s death was not a surprise to anyone keeping up with immigration conditions and policies in this country. To this administration, undocumented immigrants are seen as nothing more than disposable dangerous criminals, even the 7-year-olds. This level of dehumanization can be seen time and time again in. We saw it with the detention centers in Texas where underage children were forced to live outside in over 100-degree weather with nothing other than tents to cover them from the elements. Though it’s easy to blame Trump and his administration for the current climate of dehumanization, in reality this is rooted in America’s DNA. America was birthed from murder and colonization as a result of European migration. Europeans looking for a better life and fleeing religious persecution, might I add. Later in the 19th century America loathed the Irish refugee crisis, and wanted nothing to do with Italian immigrants. And don’t forget the 1911 Dillingham Commission Report that said, “certain kinds of criminality are inherent in the Italian race. In the popular mind, crimes of personal violence, robbery, blackmail and extortion are peculiar to the people of Italy.” Sound familiar? Coming back to the modern era, many want to romanticize the Obama Administration. We shouldn’t. It is important to realize and remember that deportation rates were higher under Obama than they are now, and death in detention centers was not unheard of. In 2015, José de Jesús Deniz Sahagun died under suspicious circumstances while being held in a detention center. NPR’s Latino USA reported on this story noting that he had been distraught in the days before his death, having run to the Arizona boarder patrol checkpoint “saying he feared for his life and needed help.” NPR reported that José de Jesús while was chocking, video showed the staff doing nothing to help him. While he asphyxiated, his family member called the detention center to talk to him; the staff told the family member that he was fine. His death was ruled a suicide after an orange sock was found logged in José’s throat. NPR said that ICE released a report saying that in José’s death “the detention center failed to meet several agency standards.” That’s not to say that this administration has done anything to better the “othering” mentality set in motion at the genesis of America. In May of 2018, Claudia Patricia Gomez Gonzalez was shot to death by border patrol agents. In an article published by The Guardian, it is reported “Gómez died in circumstances that remain unclear, in an overgrown lot framed by ramshackle homes.” Originally the agents had said Claudia was a part of a group of “assailants” that attacked with “blunt objects” in an attempt to resist arrest. However, after a neighbor released a video of the incident, a new statement was drafter where according The Guardian Claudia was referenced as “a member of the group” instead of “an assailant”. They report the statement had “some details [that] were changed and there was no reference to ‘blunt objects.’” I could go on forever writing about all the times u nd o c u me nte d immigrants were seen as rabid dogs rather than people in need of help. Migrants are being pepper-sprayed and gunned down at the boarder. Children are being separated from their parents and permanently mentally scarred. There is no humanity at this militarized boarder. There is no compassion. There is no empathy. Yet, the hopeful still come with the American dream in their hearts and perseverance in their hands. We should be outraged by this administration and their dehumanization of migrants. We should be disgusted by these practices. While writing this article in an attempt to remind the public of these other unjust events, another child died. On Christmas Eve 2018, while in US c usto dy, 8-yearold Felipe AlonzoGomez died in THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED circumstances not yet known to the public, though we do know he was diagnosed with the common cold. We need to decide what kind of America we want to live in and unite to have it come to fruition. I implore you to donate to those at the boarder trying to work on this issue. I ask you to raise awareness and not let this lack of humanity go unnoticed. Though change seems like an enormous challenge, you can help by putting pressure on your political representatives to change immigration policies. Finally, I ask you to remember José, Claudia, Jakelin, and Felipe. I ask you to remember all of those who suffered and died in the pursuit of happiness. �GLOBAL 6 N o v 2 28 - N-oJan. v 19, 2 02018 18 | N . 393 Dec. 11, | oNo. 397 A Migrant Turned Saviour of Others Armand Laughy is a migrant from Cameroon. Her own experiences pushed her to campaign on migration issues, shifting from being a regugee herself to becoming an activist. Photo Credit: El Mahdi Hannane/IPS El Mahdi Hannane Inter Press Service S even years ago, when Cameroon began experiencing inter-regional conflict, Armand Loughy, a 55-year old Cameroonian psychiatrist, strapped her youngest child on her back and with her five other children embarked on the dangerous Journey from Cameroon towards Rabat, Morocco’s capital. They fled the deteriorating security situation in Cameroon, looking for a better life. Loughy, who is now also a migrant activist based in Morocco, listened attentively to the on-going discussions during the opening ceremony of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) in Marrakech. Her own experiences pushed her to campaign on migration issues, shifting from being a refugee herself to becoming an activist—one of the most vocal personalities in the Moroccan civil so- ciety space. “We went through the desert and where the fear consumed us. Many of my fellow migrants got hurt by bandits and died—in the most horrible way with their bodies dumped in the desert,” Loughy recalls. After arriving in Morocco, she faced many difficulties in finding a job before finally securing work at a psychiatric clinic in Rabat. With a well-paying job, Loughy could easily have forgotten her traumatic journey and suffering and moved on. But she chose not to—her decision to start helping migrants came at the right time as Morocco was also establishing favourable policies on how to handle migrants. This policy shift, according to Loughy, enabled her to become “a candle that would light up the darkness of migrants.” In 2014, she founded the Association of Women Migrants in Morocco, working to attract other migrants. Gradually, her association gained respect in the civil society space. “In the beginning, the children of the poor neighbourhood where I was active threw stones at me,” Loughy says. “But after many months of continuous work, I became familiar and respected by locals and migrants.” Her organisation is active in the Sidi Musa district of Salé—about 330 kilometres north of Marrakech— where hundreds of migrants occupy small rooms, either working or begging on the streets, and then returning to the ghetto in the evening. The children of these migrants, some of whom were born in Morocco, until recently had nothing to do. Some accompanied mothers to beg, others played in the neighbourhood all day without any clear future—a painful reality that Loughy and her organisation acted upon. She presented a proposal to Salé’s Regional Directorate of Education and Training, and her ideas were welcomed. Classrooms were allocated within the public educational institutions for migrants’ children. These have now become independent departments with their own teaching staff, and now even teach local Moroccan students. “We are trying to use education THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED as a tool for integration,” Loughy says, adding the association is making a big drive to inform migrants about the importance of education to ensure as many children as possible are enrolled into school. Many migrants, especially those who do not have residence documents, remain sceptical of these types of initiatives, Loughy says. But the hope is that better educated children of migrants can inspire change at home and between communities. Loughy dreams of a united African continent and believes that the best way to achieve coexistence among the continent’s peoples is through education and knowledge. After listening to discussions at the GCM about the tools and partnerships needed to give that dream a chance, she will leave Marrakech to return to spreading education among the children of Morocco’s migrants “We have learnt that when students start living together, then parents can also learn how to coexist,” Loughy says. Courtesy of Inter Press Service / INSP.ngo �N o. 3928 3 |-NJan. ov 2 11, - N o2018 v 19,| 2 0 18397 Dec. No. GLOBAL 7 Former Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi: “We must not fear diversity” DANIELA PALUMBO Scarp de’tenis W hile visiting the boys and girls of the Manzoni Liceo Classico in Milan, Shirin Ebadi urged them to “Never be afraid to follow your dreams, even at the cost of sacrifices or one’s own life, because it is always worth the effort if they are dreams of rights and justice.” At 71 years of age, Ebadi – who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 – was the eleventh woman to be awarded the prize. She was also the first Iranian woman and the first Muslim woman to be recognized by the Swedish Academy. Ebadi was awarded the Nobel Prize for her work in defense of human rights and democracy. In September, the Iranian lawyer was invited to speak by the ACLI [Christian Associations of Italian Workers] in Milan, who were hosting a day of insight and study on the themes of democracy and active citizenship, promoted by the ACLI and Coordination Milanese under the title of “Peace in the City”. Ebadi has lived in London since 2009 and lives in voluntary exile in a secret location. However, she continues to fight for freedom and human rights in her home country. “Democracy has a cost,” Ebadi told us, “and the cost is high. One may pay for freedom with one’s life, but you must never cease to fight. In Italy, you owe your freedom and democracy to the sacrifice of your fathers and grandfathers. And we have to do the same. If people are not ready to pay for the price of democracy, they will never be free. In my country as well, we will have to pay that price.” Her words reflect a thought which Ebadi has always held to since before receiving the Nobel Prize: the Iranian lawyer sees no conflict between Islam and fundamental human rights and has always declared that she does not want foreigners to impose human rights in Iran. Rather, it must be the Iranian people who must lead the fight for freedom, but they must do this peacefully through resistance and the democratic process. Shirin Ebadi was the first female judge in her country before the Islamic Revolution of Khomeini in 1979 eliminated the laws of equality which had been laboriously achieved via the reforms of the White Revolution [series of social and economic reforms carried out by the Shah before the Islamic Revolution] of Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. Close to 40 years since 16 January, 1979, the day on which Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi left Iran for exile, the country still does not recognize equality among men and women. Even if it has been to simply put an end to imposed economic sanctions which sent the country into a state of severe crisis, the current president Hassan Rouhani has sought to come to terms with the West by resolving the nuclear controversy and promising minor reforms. Ebadi, however, is in no doubt. “There is a statistic which has led me to understand how far we still are from justice on the international level,” she says. “Currently half of all the arms produced in the word are sold and used in the Middle East. Today, Iran is still an Islamic Republic where women are harshly discriminated [against]. More she thinks of the walls that Europe continues to build in order to repel those fleeing from war and famine. “I am grief stricken by the walls that rise between people,” she admits. “Migrants could be an opportunity for development in Europe. If you teach them your language and a trade, then these people can be of use to you as workers. The population of Europe is aging, and too much water over the plant, thinking that it will make it grow as fast as it would in a year: we know that it would die [of overwatering]. A democracy is the same: if it is not watched over by the citizens, it dies.” Short Biography Shirin Ebadi was born in 1947 in Hamadan and, in 1948, her family Iranian Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi poses during a news conference to launch a commission to draft before the "International Declaration on Information and Democracy" hold by Human rights group Reporters Without Borders in Paris, France, September 11, 2018. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes than 60 per cent of the students in university are women, but the rate of unemployment among women is three times that among men. In Iran, many discriminatory laws against women have been passed after the revolution of 1979. We are fighting to change these laws. We succeeded, only in part, with the custody law for minors which was changed in 2004 in favor of the mother. However, today a man in Iran can have 4 wives at the same time. Without warning or reason, he can renounce his marriage, but, for women, divorce remains very difficult.” This coincides with the recent killing of the so-called child bride, Zeinab Sekaanvand, who was condemned to death for having killed her husband (in self-defence and as a result of the violence she had been subjected to), despite still being a minor. The appeals of Amnesty International were futile. According to the organization, which is dedicated to the protection of human rights, there have been at around 90 executions since 2005, of which at least 5 occurred in 2018. In jails around the country there are another 80 people awaiting execution who were minors at the time that they committed their crimes. We also asked Shirin Ebadi what you should take advantage of this opportunity. This way, you will avoid further betraying your own principles of justice and democracy upon which Europe is founded. Today, Europe is betraying those virtues.” Ebadi added, moreover, that she did not agree with the common perception that violence against woman is increasing. “Before, women did not have the courage to speak; now, they have become aware of their rights. The violence is the result of a patriarchal society and sometimes the law is wrong. I witnessed courts and judges affirm that violent practices are ingrained in tradition and, as such, must be accepted. It’s not right! When one accepts violence as a part of the tradition of the society in which one lives it perpetuates it.” An issue close to Ebadi’s heart, and one which gives her hope, is young people. “We must watch over children at school. We have to teach them the meaning of democracy,” she reasons. “We need to teach children that the duty of every citizen is not simply to go and vote, but that a citizen must also check the actions of the government. If you have a nice plant, you have to water it every day and check whether it is getting enough sunlight. You can’t pour THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED moved to Tehran. There, she studied jurisprudence in order to become a magistrate. From 1975 to 1979 she fulfilled the role of president for a section of the court of Tehran; however, after the Islamic Revolution of 1979, Shirin was forced to abandon the magistracy. After many struggles she was recognized as a “legal expert” and the only possible way for her to continue in her work was to be an advisor to the court. She refused. In 1992, she obtained authorization to operate as a lawyer and opened her own practice. As a lawyer, she continues to deal with cases of dissidents in conflict with the Iranian legal system. She is often part of civil cases in the midst of trials against the Iranian secret service. In 1994, she founded the Society for Protecting the Child’s Rights, a nongovernmental organization whose aim is the defence of childhood and of which she is still the manager today. On October 10 2003, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Her book, Until We Are Free (Bompiani) was published in 2016. Translated from Italian by Daniel Carroll Courtesy of Scarp de’ tenis / INSP. ngo �FEATURE 8 N o v 228 - N v 19, 18 | |NNo. o . 393 Dec. - oJan. 11,2 02018 397 As smoke clears, capturing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Above) Palestinian demonstrators shout during clashes with Israeli troops at a protest demanding the right to return to their homeland, at the Israel-Gaza border east of Gaza City, April 6, 2018. REUTERS/ Mohammed Salem. (Below) Palestinian demonstrators run for cover from Israeli fire and tear gas during a protest against U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of Nakba, at the Israel-Gaza border in the southern Gaza Strip, May 14, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa MOHAMMED SALEM Reuters T he Israeli-Palestinian conflict is often framed in black and white, an outlook captured by this image of Palestinian youths shrouded by clouds of smoke that block out everything except an isolated moment of protest and defiance. Reuters photographer Mohammed Salem's photograph of a handful of demonstrators in a field of dying flowers and charred grass recorded a new phenomenon in an old war – the weekly Palestinian protests that began in the spring of 2018 along the GazaIsraeli border. The protests pitted thousands of Palestinian demonstrators against heavily armed Israeli soldiers on the other side of the fortified border fence intent on stopping the protesters from crossing or approaching the frontier. What became known as the "Great March of Return" dominated the headlines for months, evolving into a compelling but deadly form of attritional public spectacle, all covered by photojournalists risking their lives to document it. Taking place in a handful of accessible locations at prearranged times, the protests became battlegrounds of image and spin for both sides. The Israeli military published video footage, pictures and social media posts in Hebrew, English and Arabic to support its message that its forces were engaged in "riot dispersal". Hamas, the militant Islamist group that controls Gaza, televised images of the Palestinian dead and wounded, and Palestinian protesters posted images from the front lines on social media. The primary stated purpose of the protests was to revive a demand by refugees for the right to return to lands that Palestinians were driven from or fled when Israel was founded in 1948. Israel has ruled out any such right, concerned that the country would lose its Jewish majority. But the immediate factor was Palestinian anger at U.S. President Donald Trump's decisions on 6 December last year to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to begin preparations to move its embassy to the city that is sacred to three of the great monotheistic faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Trump's move delighted Israel's government, which regards Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish people, but infuriated Palestinians, who claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a state they hope to establish in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and in Gaza. The deadliest day of the protests was 14 May, when the new embassy held its opening ceremony. It fell on a THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED symbolic date for both sides - the 70th anniversary of the creation of Israel. That is a joyous day for Israelis, but an event regarded by Palestinians as their "Nakba" or Catastrophe when they lost their homeland. The Jerusalem-Gaza juxtaposition made headlines at home and abroad, and produced a worldwide split-screen television moment as Trump's daughter Ivanka attended the embassy ceremony, even as Israeli troops killed around 60 Palestinian protesters just over 70 kilometres (43 miles) away. The border protests continued and morphed into other forms. Israelis were angered by another new phenomenon first seen in 2018 the Palestinian 'fire kites' and balloons loaded with petrol bombs by Gaza militants and sent flying over the border. Palestinians continued to call for an end to an Israeli-led blockade on Gaza. The conflict switched to the skies in November when a bungled Israeli commando mission inside Gaza erupted into a deadly gunfight and then the fiercest Palestinian rocket salvoes and Israeli air strikes since the 2014 war. The skies fell quiet again as the year drew to a close, giving way to ceasefires and mediation efforts, as all sides waited for the Trump administration to unveil its long-expected Middle East peace plan. Courtesy of Reuters / INSP.ngo �No. 39 ov 211, - N2018 o v 19,| No. 2 0 18 Dec. 283 -| NJan. 397 FEATURE 9 (Above) A Palestinian demonstrator hurls stones at Israeli troops during a protest where Palestinians demand the right to return to their homeland, at the border fence between Israel and Gaza, east of Gaza City August 31, 2018. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (Below) Mourners carry the body of Palestinian Mosab al-Tamimi, 17, who was killed during a confrontation between Israeli troops and Palestinian stonethrowing protesters, during his funeral near the West Bank city of Ramallah January 4, 2018. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �10 ADVERTISMENT THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED N o v 228 - N v 19, 18 | |NNo. o . 393 Dec. - oJan. 11,2 02018 397 �No. 39 ov 211, - N2018 o v 19,| No. 2 0 18 Dec. 283 -| NJan. 397 11 GLOBAL Where Does Democracy Stand: A Year End Status Report BILL WOODS Contributing Writer A s 2018 comes to a close, what is the status of political reform in the U.S., Ohio, and locally? The end of the year offers a good time to evaluate achievements and failures, and 2018 brought both ups and downs for activists and groups working to restore the health of democracy in this country. With so much of the news media focused on the horrors of the White House, there is a tendency to emphasize gloom when writing about politics. A closer examination, however, reveals some positive results that reformers can celebrate. In Ohio, Congressional redistricting reform won a big victory in May. As 2018 started, the League of Women Voters, Common Cause, and the other organizations that comprised the Fair Districts/Fair Elections Coalition were preparing their final signature gathering in order to qualify their Congressional Redistricting Constitutional Amendment proposal for the ballot. Suddenly, members of both Houses of the Ohio General Assembly began talking about putting their own proposed Amendment on the May ballot. The citizen Coalition let members of the House and Senate know that they were prepared to attack and to campaign vigorously against any proposal that failed to adequately eliminate gerrymandering. To the reformers' surprise, the Republican majority in both chambers worked with their Democratic colleagues to produce Amendment language that the Fair Districts Coalition could support. Although not perfect, the proposal included enough stipulations to insure that one party gerrymandering would end if the voters approved it. In the proposed new redistricting process, half the members of the two major parties in both Houses must approve the newly drawn Congressional districts. The process also requires public input, and besides public hearings, citizens are invited to submit district map plans to the drafting committee. Further, the proposal calls for compact districts that keep the splitting of counties and large cities to a minimum. With both major parties supporting this genuine reform proposal, reform groups viewed this as a win/win situation, and actively got behind what became know as Issue I in the brief campaign that ensued. Locally, the League of Women Voters, Common Cause, and Applied Information Resources held forums, wrote newsletters and letters to the editor, and sought organizational endorsements. Examples of religious community involvement can be seen in the informal support of the Faith Community Alliance, and the formal endorsement of Issue I by Christ Church Cathedral. On May 8th, Issue I won a lopsided victory at the polls. This major reform win in Ohio, plus some positive court rulings on redistricting in several other states constitute the most tangible successes for political reform in 2018. Voting rights is another issue that received a lot of attention both national and locally. With the midterm elections taking place, protecting voting rights and helping people know the stumbling blocks that could prevent them from voting ranked high on the agendas of traditional reform organizations. Furthermore, some non-traditional groups also got involved in attempting to reach populations that tend not to vote in non-presidential election years. Locally, an informal coalition emerged last fall with a focus on voting rights and reaching out to those groups that often have difficulties with the whole voting process. The Ohio Poor People's Campaign, the Faith Community Alliance, the NAACP, For Our Future Fund, Project AMOS, and Applied Information Resources were part of this grassroots effort. Voting certainly was up in the midterms, but too little statistical data is available to measure the impact on reaching those vulnerable voter populations. The last and most disturbing problem confronting reformers is the warping impact of "big money" on our elections. The 2018 midterms provided a dismal example of this impact by ending up as the most expensive non- presidential election in U.S. history. When election costs at all levels were added up, this election cost 5.2-billion dollars. Locally, this provided reformers with a lot of data that showed the desperate need for change. Applied Information Resources, Common, Cause, and the League of Women Voters organized a Halloween event entitled "The Horrors of Money In Politics" to call attention to all the "dark money" that was flowing into Ohio and Cincinnati. Cincinnati took a small but significant step in terms of dealing with money in politics this November. By a large margin, local voters passed a Cincinnati Charter Amendment that restored individual contribution limits to Council and Mayoral elections. Such small steps, however, need to be celebrated in order to take on the bigger battles that must still be waged. Everyone has the right to reproduce Katharina Wasmeier Strassenkreuzer S imone Hartmann is a 57-year old social worker who has been working at the German NGO Pro Familia since 2000. The organisation gives people – and those with disabilities in particular – advice about everything concerning sexuality and pregnancy. Referring to people with either physical or sensory impairments, Hartmann says that “anyone living independently and self-sufficiently will, by and large, make decisions by themselves and will usually have the children they want to have.” But it’s a different story for those with severe or mental disabilities. “They are excluded from the whole topic from the very beginning,” Hartmann explains. Many people with mental illnesses have a legal carer, who is quite often also a parent. This is where the first issue crops up: how can concerned parents support their child objectively and neutrally, instead of making decisions for their child? Hartmann admits that this is “a difficult task for parents”, who often act unlawfully despite having their child’s best interests at heart. It’s a sensitive issue located between power and dependency; a fine line between assistance and freedom. A related sensitive topic is that of forced sterilisation, which was practised until just a few decades ago before it was “superseded by discouragement”, according to psychologist Ursula PixaKettner in one of her studies on the topic. Bullied into using contraception The criteria in Germany for those with mental illnesses looking to have a child are far from optimal. “As far as I’m aware, there is no permanent residential facility in the whole of Bavaria for disabled people with their children,” Simone Hartmann says. She laments the fact that the higher assistance needs are simply unaffordable. That’s why the criteria to get into this type of housing is to have three-month-injections administered, as these act as a guarantee of contraception. Hartmann calls this “a scandal”. “Every institution has the legal obligation to allow a person to have a child, but they’re not carrying through with this obligation,” Hartmann explains. Those who are “relatively happy with the idea of living and having a partner and receiving no assistance” find it most difficult to receive help. In addition to that, they are seen by some as a failure. “Just because it might be difficult having a child is no reason not to have a child,” Hartmann says. While non-disabled people are rarely questioned about starting a family, people are usually more critical when it comes to those with disabilities, and tend to “see what they cannot do, rather than what they can,” Hartmann reasons. The result, says Hartmann, is “discouragement and contraception [being given] without [the individual] having been adequately informed”. While sterilisation is now a thing of the past, healthcare workers will still knowingly or unknowingly exceed their authority and uninformed doctors will still supposedly act above board. So how can the individuals affected defend themselves? “It takes support and courage,” says Hartmann, who is one of the experts who restore such individual’s faith, find support for them and offer comprehensive advice. “I look at the couple’s living situation and then provide them with information,” THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED Simone Hartmann, Photo Credit: Anika Maaß she says. “The couple’s finances, applications, abilities, assistance needs and possible changes in the relationship are all factors that will affect a child’s welfare and they also indicate areas where problems may arise. Rather than discouraging or encouraging them, I just look at things realistically with my clients, without allowing myself to judge their ability to be parents. No-one can judge that.” Translated from German by Heather Davies Courtesy of Strassenkreuzer / INSP.ngo �12 The Squirrel Was there But It wasn't known Until The sound Of the Leaves Were Crunching And his long Thick Floppy tail Was spotted And then In a blink Of an eye He Was gone Proceeding with Perfect balance Running STREET VOICE Up the Branches Of the tree Taking a peek At me Every now And then With His Little bitty eyes But the squirrel Was on a Mission To accomplish Its goal To get the acorn At the top of the tree The little squirrel That looked Back at me He got the acorn From the top Of the tree And gracefully KIM GREEN Streetvibes Distributor & Contributing Writer N o v 28 2 - -NJan. o v 19, 0 18 || N o . 393 Dec. 11,22018 No. 397 No Title Still had connects Same areas went safe Labels cast in them Energy things isn’t what it seems to be. Equitable resources. Not too happy with this Not feelings sense of community Missed old time neighborhood store Keen to reach our destination Leaning on others for their help Respecting each other Listening is a job sometimes CLEO WOMBLES Streetvibes Distributor Contributing Writer Streetvibes Writing Circle If you would like to submit a story for publication in streetvibes, come join Katelyn Lusher and Chris Wilkey for a group writing session! S treetvibes is distributed by individuals who purchase the paper for 75 cents per copy and sell it for a $2.00 donation, keeping the profit they have earned. Becoming a Distributor is a great way for individuals who are financially poor to get back on (or stay on) their feet. This program provides supplemental income for those unable to secure other employment. Money earned helps meet basic housing, food and health care needs. The program is a hand up for people who are often in a place of getting only a hand out, or even no hand at all. All Distributors wear a badge and usually a vest and can be found selling the paper in Downtown Cincinnati, Clifton, Northside, Northern Kentucky and at area churches. THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �STREET VOICE No. 39 Nov 2 - N o v 19, 2 0 18 Dec. 283-|Jan. 11, 2018 | No. 397 The Haunted White House Mother Goose "It's just a witch hunt, " says Prez Trump, 13 Peaslee Neighborhood Center has a continued partnership with Rothenberg Preparatory Academy, conducing the Girls Writing Circle in the after school program. Both in his tweets and out on the stump. Our circle creates an open and safe space To us it's becoming more and more clear, for girls to express themselves, and be heard As all the scary witches begin to appear. and validated by their peers. Our hope is to give our girls an opportunity to discover and This White House should be living in fear display their creativity, opinions, and voices From major haunting in the coming year. through a process that is grounded in respect and an appreciation for each girl's unique BILL WOODS Contributing Writer gifts. The Joy You Gave Me Thank you For everything you did. You have gave me joy, In my heart. When I’m sad, You have been there. When I needed your help, You have been listening to me, When all the boys Got on my nerves. So you have taught me a lot of things Like--Joy Hope Courage Respect And you have taught me to be patient! MAYA HILL Junior Contributing Writer THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �PUZZLES 14 CROSSWORD PUZZLE NO. 188 Across 1. Aquatic bird 5. Leporid mammal 9. Project 13. Judicious 14. Fragrance 16. Musical instrument 17. Song for solo voice 18. Ermine 19. Depend 20. Lustrous jewel 22. Spike heel 24. Fish 26. Spline 27. Ranch 30. Abrasion 35. Spoil 36. Slops 39. Conceals 40. Succulent 42. Slumber 44. Secret look 45. Tusk 47. River embankment 49. Travel a route regularly 50. Bear the expenses of 52. Luxury crafts 54. Wealthy 57. Definite article 58. Roamed 62. Desert haven 66. Edible root 67. Fragrant flower 69. Bad-mannered 70. Report or maintain 71. Greek letter 72. Woody plant 73. Ray 74. Rise rapidly 75. Time period PUZZLE SOLUTIONS CROSSWORD #168 Down 1. Exchange 2. Finishing line on a racetrack 3. Continent 4. Closer 5. Possesses 6. Humanities 7. Origin 8. Electronic communication 9. Civil wrong 10. Assist in wrongdoing 11. Unaccompanied 12. Tonality 15. Book of maps 21. Residue from fermentation 23. Engrave 25. Rules enforced by authority 27. Unguent 28. Measure of alcoholic strength 29. Aromatic herb 31. Strech of turbulent water 32. Proficient 33. Removes the outer skin 34. Catch sight of 35. Female domestic 37. On the sheltered side 38. Impose and collect 41. Make a mistake 43. Kind of humate 46. Unit of length 48. Reverberation 51. Output 53. Cordial 55. Weeps 56. Greeting 58. Breaker 59. Length by width 60. Average 61. Information 63. Certain 64. Notion 65. Oracle 66. Restaurant bill 68. Caboose N o v 228 - N o v 19, 18 | |NNo. o . 393 Dec. - Jan. 11,2 02018 397 SODOKU PUZZLE NO 390 - MEDIUM SODOKU PUZZLE NO 389- MEDIUM PUZZLES from puzzlechoice.com and puzzles.ca THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �No. 39 ov 211, - N2018 o v 19, 2 0 18 Dec. 283 -| N Jan. | No. 397 Central Access Point 381-SAFE Shelter: Women and Children Bethany House 557-2873 RESOURCES St. George Food Pantry 751-8771 2554 Dennis St. 45219 Prince of Peace Lutheran Church 621-7265 1528 Race St. 45202 Churches Active in Northside 1841 Fairmount Ave. 45214 The Esther Marie Hatton Center for Women 2499 Reading Road 562-1980 Grace Place Catholic Worker House 681-2365 4230 Hamilton Ave. 45223 591-2246 FreeStore/FoodBank 241-1064 112 E. Liberty Street 45202 Madisonville Ed & Assistance Center 271-5501 6037 Cary Ave. 45224 Salvation Army 762-5660 4600 Erie Ave. 45227 Serves area codes: 45226, 45227, 45208, 45209 131 E. 12th Street 45202 YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter 872-9259 St. Vincent de Paul 562-8841 1125 Bank Street 45214 Shelter: Men Treatment or Supportive Recovery: Men Shelterhouse 721-0643 Charlie’s 3/4 House 784-1853 411 Gest St. 45203 St. Fran/St. Joe Catholic Work. House 381-4941 2121 Vine Street 45202 1437 Walnut Street 45202 Prospect House 921-1613 1805 Dalton Ave. 45214 Starting Over 961-2256 City Gospel Mission 241-5525 682 Hawthorne Ave. 45205 Parkway Center 661-4620 Treatment or Supportive Recovery: Women Shelter: Youth Sheakley Center for Youth (18-24 y/o) 2522 Highland Ave. 45219 569-9500 Lighthouse Youth Crisis Center (10-17 y/o) 3330 Jefferson Ave 45220 961-4080 Shelter: Family Interfaith Hospitality Network First Step Home 961-4663 2203 Fulton, Cinti, Ohio 45206 Treatment or Supportive Recovery: Both AA Hotline 351-0422 CCAT 381-6672 471-1100 830 Ezzard Charles Dr. 45214 Joseph House (Veterans) Housing: 1522 Republic Street 45202 Caracole (HIV/AIDS) 761-1480 CMHA 721-4580 Excel Development 632-7149 OTR Community Housing 381-1171 114 W. 14th Street 45202 Talbert House 221-HELP Tender Mercies 721-8666 27 W. 12th Street 45202 Tom Geiger House 961-4555 Volunteers of America 381-1954 Anna Louise Inn 421-5211 2401-2411 Reading Rd. 45202 Cincinnati Union Bethel 768-6907 241-2965 Hamilton County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board 946-8000 Recovery Health Access Center 281-7422 Sober Living 681-0324 Talbert House 221-HELP Advocacy Catholic Social Action 421-3131 Community Action Agency 569-1840 Contact Center 381-4242 Franciscan JPIC 721-4700 Gr. Cinti Coalition for the Homeless 421-7803 117 E. 12th Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 VA 977-6800 VA Homeless 859-572-6226 Legal Aid Society 241-9400 Ohio Justice & Policy Center 421-1108 UpSpring 363-3300 Food/Clothing Health 2401 Reading Rd. 45202 First Lutheran Church 421-0065 1208 Race St. Food - Last Monday 12-1 Clothing - second Monday 12-1 Lord’s Pantry 621-5300 OTR/Walnut Hills Kitchen & Pantry 961-1983 OTR: 1620 Vine Street 45202 Walnut Hills: 2631 Gilbert Ave. 45206 Our Daily Bread 621-6364 1730 Race Street 45202 St. Francis Soup Kitchen 535-2719 15 Cincinnati Health Network 2825 Burnet Ave. 45219 McMicken Dental Clinic 352-6363 40 E. McMicken Ave, Cinti Mental Health Access Point 558-8888 NAMI of Hamilton County 351-3500 PATH Outreach 977-4489 Other Resources Center Independent Living Options 241-2600 Peaslee Neighborhood Center 621-5514 215 E. 14th St. 45202 Franciscan Haircuts from the Heart 381-0111 Goodwill Industries 771-4800 Intercommunity Justice & Peace Cr. 579-8547 Mary Magdalen House 721-4811 1223 Main St. 45202 People Working Cooperatively 351-7921 The Caring Place 631-1114 Talbert House 751-7747 United Way 211 Women Helping Women 977-5541 Off The Streets 421-5211 Hamilton County Office of Reentry 946-4304 138 E. Court Street Room # 101 First Floor Cancer Justice Network 404-3882 Hamilton/Middletown St. Raephaels 981-4200 Salvation Army 863-1445 Serenity House Day Center 422-8555 Open Door Pantry 868-3276 Northern Kentucky Brighton Center (11-17 y/o) 859-491-8303 ECHO/Hosea House Fairhaven Resuce Mission Homeward Bound Youth Mathews House Homeless & Housing Coalition Parish Kitchen Pike St. Clinic Transitions, Inc Welcome House of NKY 859-261-5857 859-491-1027 859-581-1111 859-261-8009 859-727-0926 859-581-7745 859-291-9321 859-491-4435 859-431-8717 799 Ann St. Newport, KY 205 West Pike Street, Covington, KY 41011 Women’s Crisis Center 859-491-3335 VA Domiciliary 859-572-6202 Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky 634 Scott St. 41011 859-291-4555 Want to advertise in Streetvibes? You can support our mission and spread the word about your 961-0600 business. For more information contact Gabriela Godinez Feregrino, Center for Respite Care 621-1868 email streetvibes@cincihomeless.org 3550 Washington Ave. 45229 Crossroad Health Center 381-2247 5 E. Liberty St. 45202 Health Resource Center 357-4602 McMicken Integrated Care Clinic and Mobile Medical Van 386-7899 40 E. McMicken Ave, Cinti, Ohio THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �16 N o v 228 - N v 19, 2 02018 18 | N o . 393 Dec. - oJan. 11, | No. 397 S treetvibes is distributed by individuals who purchase the paper for 75 cents per copy and sell it for a $2.00 donation, keeping the profit they have earned. Becoming a Distributor is a great way for individuals who are financially poor to get back on (or stay on) their feet. This program provides supplemental income for those unable to secure other employment. Money earned helps meet basic housing, food and health care needs. The program is a hand up for people who are often in a place of getting only a hand out, or even no hand at all. All Distributors wear a badge and usually a vest and can be found selling the paper in Downtown Cincinnati, Clifton, Northside, Northern Kentucky and at area churches. ALFRED WOOLFOLK SINCE 10/2003 ASRES AYENAW SINCE 2012 BERTA LAMBERT SINCE 1997 BETTIE BAILEY SINCE 10/2017 BRANDON NELSON SINCE 4/2008 BRIAN ADAMS SINCE 7/2017 CHARLES WILLIAMS SINCE 7/2017 CHRISTOPHER KAIHATSU SINCE 7/2017 CLEO WOMBLES SINCE 10/2003 CRANDALL COBB SINCE 2004 DARREL ROZIER SINCE 7/2017 DAVID MCCANE SINCE 2017 ERIC VALDEZ SINCE 2/2017 GERALD FRANKLIN SINCE 7/2017 GRADY COOK SINCE 1997 HENRY BRELAND SINCE 7/2017 JAMES BROWN SINCE 3/2009 JAMES DAVIS SINCE 8/2000 JENNY BURTON SINCE 7/2017 JIMMIE GIPSON SINCE 2001 JON DARBY SINCE 2/2006 JOHN HORN JOSEPHINE BASKERVILLE SINCE 9/2008 J’TORI TYMAN SINCE 5/2014 KIM NGUYEN SINCE 7/2017 KENNY BUSSELL SINCE 10/2009 KAREN COLLETTE SINCE 7/2008 LARRY BROWN SINCE 10/2007 LEE MCCOY SINCE 7/2009 LEONARD JACKSON SINCE 2/2005 MARY MUELLER SINCE 5/2005 MARK SHEARS SINCE 4/2012 MAURICE GOLSBY MELISSA MOSBY SINCE 9/2014 MIKE CARANO SINCE 4/2016 RAESHAWN GIPSON SINCE 3/2009 RAYNARD JONES SINCE 10/2008 RICKY WOODS SINCE 4/2015 RICCARDO TAYLOR SINCE 1999 RONNIE PHILLIPS SINCE 10/2009 SAMUEL JACKSON SINCE 10/2006 STACIA HOLLANDER SINCE 2017 STEPHANIE EAKES SINCE 7/2017 SYLVESTER WALKER SINCE 7/2017 TALINA HILL SINCE 2/2011 VICTOR MUMPHRY WILLA JONES SINCE 1/2010 WINNIE RICE SINCE 7/2017 QUEENACELASTINE SINCE 7/2017 TIA CASS SINCE 11/2007 THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED TONY THOMAS SINCE 3/2005 KEITH EUTSEY SINCE 2/2011 VIOLET COLLINS SINCE 2017 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2018 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource December 28, 2017-January 11, 2018 Subject The topic of the resource Homelessness Description An account of the resource Pg 1: Cover Page Pg 2: From the Director Pg 3: A Turbulent Year Pg 4: How to Respond to Panhandling Pg 5: The Tired, The Poor, and the Huddled Masses Pg 6: A Migrant Turned Saviour of Others Pg 7: Former Nobel Peace Prize Winner Shirin Ebadi Pg 8: As Smoke clears, Capturing the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Pg 9: As Smoke clears, Capturing the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Continued Pg 10: GCHC Pg 11: Where Does Democracy Stand Everyone Has the Right to Reproduce Pg 12: Street Voice Pg 13: Street Voice Pg 14: Puzzles Pg 15: Resources Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Streetvibes Archive Project Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Streetvibes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource December 28, 2017-January 11, 2018 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Josh Spring Brian Taylor Michael Earl Patton Bill Woods Willa Jones Dr. Mark Mussman Kim Green Robert Park Siqi Cheng Leah Rutz Yuliya Milkitin Kristina McKinley M.T. Homeless Coalition Pngtree.com Gabriela Godinez iStockphoto Pexels.com Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Bill Woods Brian Taylor Dr. Mark Mussman FC Gabriela Godinez Homeless Coalition Israel iStockphoto Josh Spring Kim Green Kristina McKinley Leah Rutz M.T. Michael Earl Patton Migrant Nobel Peace Prize Palestine Pexels.com Pngtree.com protest Robert Park Shirin Ebadi Siqi Cheng Willa Jones Yuliya Milkitin https://streetvibesarchive.net/files/original/31712c1c3389e454555c81cf6582185e.pdf 34f5c5f3fef850a6f29f43aa5b099858 PDF Text Text December 29th - January 11th 2018 | Vol. 21 Issue 1 (No. 372) advocating justice | building community Photo Essay: Homeless Memorial | 9 This Issue is sponsored by Christ Church Cathedral INSIDE THIS ISSUE At Least 135 People Are Dead | 2 A Christmas Truce | 5 A Brand New Day | 3 "Regionalism" is a Buzzword Designed to Delay Transit Levy | 2 Find previous issues of Streetvibes online at: cincistreetvibes.org Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition 113 E. 12th Street Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 streetvoice | 13 �2 D LOCAL From The Director: At Least 135 People Dead ecember 21st was National Homeless Memorial Day. We gathered with about ninety people in Washington Park to honor those who died while without a home and because of homelessness in Cincinnati and Hamilton County in 2017. We honor those we know have passed and those whom we do not know about. This year we know of at least 133 people who died because of solvable systematic problems. The number of people dying because of homelessness in Cincinnati and Hamilton County is rising. In 2016 we knew of 72 people. This year that number has increased to at least 133 people. Homelessness is a systematic problem that shortens the lives of people. The average age of persons on our list was 51 years old. People shared memories, sadness, frustration and a commitment to fight homelessness. We lit candles and each person called out the name of someone who passed. Even with a larger turnout many people had to read multiple names. With enough affordable housing and full opportunity to meet basic needs these 135 important people and the people we don't know about would still be alive. These many people in our city and county have died because as a society, as a local government, and as a community we have not made the necessary D e c 2 9 - J a n 11, 2 0 18 | N o . 37 2 JOSH SPRING Executive Director Josh Spring Credit: Homeless Coalition systematic changes to prevent death from homelessness. Can there be a stronger call to do what it takes to end homelessness than people dying from it? 135 people. 135 hurting families, sets of friends and service providers. This was not some predestined ordained time for these folks. It was not " their time to go". The time they died was established by our society, the way we govern, the way we conduct business, and our community's priorities. This is not exaggeration. It’s the truth. We and these organizations and people with us are working to change this and prevent the loss of life from homelessness. As we enter 2018 our Coalition will continue its work to create a Local Affordable Housing Trust Fund to legislatively generate funds to build and maintain affordable housing. We will continue to work for development practices that promote affordable housing instead of eliminating it. We will fight for increases in Human Services spending, decriminalization of homelessness, fund the Winter Shelter, put an end to the "not in my backyard" attitude of many of our neighborhoods, and for the (Continued on page 6) W 113 East 12th St. Cincinnati OH, 45202 Ph: 513.421.7803 FAX: 513.421.7813 WEB: www.cincihomeless.org BLOG: streetvibes.wordpress.com EMAIL: streetvibes@cincihomeless.org Editor: Justin Jeffre Executive Director: Josh Spring Director of Development: Mona Jenkins Director of Education: Dr. Mark Mussman Distributor Program Manager: Justin Jeffre Layout: Key Beck Reception: Larry Johnson, Anne Evans Ken Martin Credit: WCPO Maintenance: Pete Roper "Regionalism" is a Buzzword Designed to Delay Transit Levy e know that Metro is in dire straits. If the bus system does not change its local funding source, 20-30% of service will have to be cut in 2019. Fares will have to increase to pay for less service. The system is already running at bare bones as it is. In 2009, on the heels of falling earnings tax revenues from the Great Recession, Metro cut service by 20% and raised fares by 75%. The administration was gutted and open positions were eliminated. Metro’s CEO and other administrators make considerably less than their counterparts in the transit agencies of our peer cities. Over 100 buses are past their lifespan, causing frequent breakdowns and delaying service system-wide. Streetvibes is an activist newspaper, advocating justice and building community. Streetvibes reports on economic issues, civil rights, the environment, the peace movement, spirituality and the struggle against homelessness and poverty. Distributed by individuals experiencing homelessness or on the edge of homelessness, in exchange for a $2.00 Donation. Streetvibes is published twice a month by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless (GCCH), a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that works to eradicate homelessness in Cincinnati. BETTER BUS COALITION Contributing Writer When asked what should be done with Metro, many of our leaders give the same answer but worded differently: Regionalism! The idea is that bringing in more communities to Metro’s service area will allow for better service to places where it is needed and will connect outlying job centers to the rest of the region. This is certainly a great idea; however, dig a little deeper and the idea falls apart given Metro’s immediate needs. One idea put forth is to seek the formation of a regional, 3-state, 8-county transit organization to serve the Greater Cincinnati region starting in 2020. Each county would chip in funding relative to the amount of service provided and we would finally have transit in our entire metropolitan area. “People will be able to have a one-seat ride from Mason to CVG.” Sounds good, right? Wrong. I can’t even get from Clifton to CVG without transferring, and it takes over an hour. Hamilton County has enough pressing transit needs to address before providing new service in other counties. Less than three years is not enough time to form a regional commission crossing 3 state lines. No suburban county will vote to raise their taxes to fund a system that is currently on its knees as it would clearly be a bailout. Pittsburgh’s transit agency, the Port Authority, has embarked on a push for a regional transit system with the 10-counties making up (Continued on page 6) THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED ----------------------------------------------CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE Writers: Josh Spring, Better Bus Coalition, Dr. Mark Mussman, Michael Earl Patton, Mike Brown, Trenton Davis, Jason Haap, Saad Ghosn, Ras Tafari, Kim Green, Bill Woods ----------------------------------------------Photography/ Artwork: Bill Woods, Ras Tafari, Cam Hardy, Casey Sault, Trenton Davis, Saad Ghosn, Dr. Mark Mussman --------------------------------------------------Thank You For Reading Streetvibes And Supporting Our Mission To Build Community And Advocate Justice. Streetvibes and The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless do not endorse candidates for public office. �No. 37 2 3 LOCAL A Brand New Day | D e c 2 9- J a n 11, 2 0 18 DR. MARK MUSSMAN O ver the course of a year, we have many opportunities to engage students in the struggle for affordable housing, livable wages, and housing protections. These are the three pillars that hold up the fight to eradicate homelessness – without one, we will never move to an equitable and just society. We are always fortunate when a group of students comes from outside of Cincinnati to see what we are doing here, and take back what they learn to their own community. This helps raise the status of the city (here we are, fighting endlessly to Staff Writer These organizations include: First Lutheran Church, St. Francis/ St. John Catholic Worker House, Peaslee Neighborhood Center, Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center, Interfaith Workers’ Center, St. Francis Seraph, Power Inspires Progress (Venice on Vine), Overthe-Rhine Community Housing, Streetvibes, and Lighthouse Youth Services. While this is just a small number of our member organizations, the topics that we cover range from food insecurity, housing loss, affordable housing, gentrification, their week-long visit to a city gave them new experiences. Some of the experiences were uncomfortable – like when kids called us a bunch of “… crackers… whiter than a house!” But there was really something special about this group – they were able to take that experience and go deep with it. They immediately began to talk about how the kids must have been hurt by white people, that they see the development in the community and know they are being pushed out, excluded. The students came from a space of empathy and critical to Ohio Avenue. The leadership of the group was phenomenal: they listened; they built everyone up; they helped community members; they addressed issues as they occurred (as appropriate); they worked the entire time to ensure that the other students understood the purpose of the trip. I am always impressed and relieved with the youth leaders that show so many great talents and skills – it gives me hope for the future. Before they leave, I ask them to fill out a quick survey about their experience. Two of the biggest injustices that the students recognized were gentrification and hostile design. They saw how privatization of public spaces was pushing people further from CUE students reflect on the city from Fairview Park Credit: Casey Sault end injustice) as well as, and gives students a different perspective that they may have never seen before. For the most recent Cincinnati Urban Experience (CUE) alternative break, 10 students from Keene State College, New Hampshire, spent the week before Christmas learning the ins and out of community organizing, social service, hospitality, and advocacy. I’ve written about this experience before, but I feel that there was something different about this group – whether it be their passion, their hopefulness, their willingness – they helped me learn a thing or two myself. And for that, I am grateful. Before their arrival, I spend time contacting our member organizations that help expand the students’ horizons while here. CUE students learn about the Homeless Coalition from Mona, Director of Development drug abuse, prison reform, solitary confinement, the death penalty, wage-theft, immigration rights, supportive housing, shelter, day programs, and entrepreneur opportunities. At times, I wish I was recording our activities because I feel that there is so much knowledge to be learned during the week – knowledge from which we can all benefit. I feel this group was different because they were fired up when they got here. Most of them knew very little about Cincinnati, but after I gave them the Over-the-Rhine People’s Movement Walking Tour, they were intensely set on understanding the history and contemporary issues we face in Cincinnati. Most of them were from small towns and rural areas, so Credit: Casey Sault thinking – which made my job a lot easier – thank you! From the first day, they began to develop relationships with people in the community – whether it be local pastors, Homeless Coalition staff, Streetvibes Distributors, or people experiencing homelessness. The Keene State students were never timid – they continuously jumped right into any task that was needed. They never asked for thanks. They didn’t complain one time. We even walked up to Belleview Hill Park, and they encouraged each other as we ascended the stairs up connections in their communities. But they also recognized racism and racial profiling as an issue. They saw this through interactions they had with people in the community as well as seeing people of color moved out of Over-the-Rhine (over the years and during their visit). They began to understand the central role of redlining in our current housing crisis. After they understood the historical context, they began to take to heart their abilities to make a difference in (Continued on page 5) CUE students volunteered their time with local agencies CUE students learn about wage theft and ways to disrupt its effects Credit: Casey Sault Credit: Casey Sault THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �4 LOCAL THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED D e c 2 9 - J a n 11, 2 0 18 | N o . 37 2 �No. 37 2 5 LOCAL The Christmas Truce | D e c 2 9- J a n 11, 2 0 18 I MICHAEL EARL PATTON thought of the almost legendary 1914 Christmas Truce after reading Jim Luken’s recent Streetvibes article on the change from Armistice Day – celebrating the end of active combat in World War One on November 11, 1918 -- to Veterans’ Day. While there are many thousands of monuments to those who have fought in wars, there are virtually none to the peace and end of a war. (The World Peace Bell in Newport is one of several similar bells dedicated to peace in general, not the ending of any particular war. Further, it was funded by a private organization and not by a government with the power to wage war.) It is right to honor veterans, but let’s not lose sight of the fact that to have veterans there has to be war, or at least the threat of war. Wars are conducted by governments and continue until the governments directing the troops agree to stop. The one major exception of which I am aware was the 1914 Christmas Truce. This took place along most of the Western Front during the First World War. For literally hundreds of miles fighting stopped from a couple days to several. It was not arranged Contributing Writer home, many of which were published in the local newspapers on both sides. Some accounts were censored, but many slipped through and can still be seen in newspaper archives. The war started in August 1914 and by December the German offensive towards Paris had been repulsed. Both sides dug trenches for protection, which were close enough that one could shout to soldiers on the other side. Pope Benedict XV had called for a Christmas truce, an appeal that was turned down by officialdom on both sides. They thought that killing was far too serious of a business to even pause during the commemoration of Jesus’s birth, who most of the soldiers believed was the Son of God. Even before Christmas most of those in the trenches could see that the fighting was pointless and there were isolated incidents of “live and let live,” that is, not always trying to kill the other guy if he is exposed just because you can. Come Christmas Eve, though, and “live and let live” became open fraternization and even enjoying one another’s DR. MARK MUSSMAN (Continued from page 3) Farm Ruins company. Sometimes it started with an informal exchange of songs and carols, other times with a joint effort to gather and bury the dead which had been lying in no-man’s-land for weeks. Sometimes there were joint services with prayers in English and German. Groups would exchange items, such as food stuffs and gifts from Christmas packages. Photos were taken of the opposing soldiers together, and there were letters written home about soccer games being played with the Germans on one side and the British or French on the other. And there was more of the such actions were not fitting for Germans and refused to participate. And the generals did their best to turn things around and get back to the killing. They ordered the troops to fire, which they generally did but often only after warning the other side first that they had no choice but to resume fighting. Many troops were rotated out and replaced with fresh troops who had not experienced the weeks of pointless fighting over small tracts of mud. In the movie Wonder Woman Mars, the god of war, is defeated, but that was Hollywood. In actuality those who wanted war got their way and fighting resumed. And resumed again in 1939 when that sulking corporal who had wanted to keep fighting had become the dictator of Germany and invaded Poland. History would have been very different if in 1914 the leaders had worked on negotiating an honorable peace instead of how to resume the war. A friend whose great-grandfather had been part of the American forces and had served in the trenches told me a story that has been in his family for a hundred years. This would have happened in 1917 or ‘18. His great-grandfather was patrolling the trenches when he came across a German soldier doing the same thing. Apparently the Allied and German trenches were connected. This is not surprising given how extensive the network of trenches were and that the front line would occasionally shift a little after an offensive and their own communities. I am proud of the work that we do in Cincinnati. Our social service providers and community members who are working to eradicate homelessness are facing an uphill battle, but the possibility of ending homelessness was echoed throughout the week and, Ammo Trains going to the fort or agreed to by any government but by the troops themselves, on both side of the front. A few months ago I read the book Silent Night: The World War I Christmas Truce by Stanley Weintraub. I had heard about the truce but had thought it was small, local, and that there was almost no evidence for it except stories by a few soldiers. I was very wrong. It extended along most of the Western Front, from the North Sea to the Swiss border. Roughly a hundred thousand soldiers experienced the suspension of the fighting. And it was very well documented through letters same the next day. Not all partook, but most did. The future leader of Germany, Adolph Hitler, was there on the front but just a corporal at the time. He thought take over part of the trenches of the opposing side. These offensives were major in terms of lives lost but extremely minor in terms of territory gained. Anyways, the two soldiers could not see any point in trying to kill each other so they exchanged some chocolate and other items and each went back to their comrades. I told this story to an older friend THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED who had grown up in Germany and he told me that he had heard dozens, probably well over a hundred, of similar stories from former soldiers from both the First and Second World Wars. Live and let live. Here, at least, it was not the soldiers who wanted to kill each other (with some exceptions such as Corporal A. Hitler) but the politicians who had ordered them to do so. There were other, small and short informal truces during the war, but nothing with the breadth of the 1914 Christmas Truce. I will close this look back at the Christmas Truce with a stanza from the 1967 song Snoopy’s Christmas, which sadly I no longer hear at Christmas time. In this sequel to the hit song Snoopy versus the Red Baron by the Royal Guardsmen, Snoopy encounters the Red Baron again, on Christmas Eve. This time his wings ice up and he’s forced to land. Instead of being shot or captured, the Red Baron also lands and greets him, “Merry Christmas, mein friend!” The song continues: The Baron then offered a holiday toast, And Snoopy, our hero, saluted his host, And then with a roar they were both on their way, Each knowing they’d meet on some other day. I know this may be a little late and that not all of you who read this believe as I do, but please accept this knowing that I intend only the best when I say, Merry Christmas, and all the best for you in 2018. I hope, it will be forever emblazoned upon their minds. --------------------------------------- �6 I LOCAL ICE rounds up 50 undocumented immigrants in Northern Kentucky CE agents are no longer handcuffed by Obama’s restrictive guidelines, and undocumented immigrants should be worried, says ICE official. Agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 22 people as part of a two-day enforcement action on Dec. 6 and 7 in Northern Kentucky, according to ICE. Of the 22 arrests, 12 were immigration fugitives, according to Florence-based attorney Alexandria Lubans-Otto, who is a liaison to ICE for the American Immigration Lawyers Association of Kentucky. Immigration fugitives either JOSH SPRING (Continued from page 2) preservation of existing affordable housing as well as implement the most strategic use of the limited funds currently available to fight homelessness. BETTER BUS COALITION (Continued from page 2) Metro Pittsburgh. Talks have been ongoing for years. Additionally, Pittsburgh already has a strongly funded transit system that carries nearly 5 times as many people per day than Cincinnati’s. Their regionalism talks are going well because they are not doing so in order to save the system from collapse. They are inviting their suburban peers to join their already strong network. Our current system in Cincinnati is, at best, embarrassing. Additionally, these 10-counties are all in the state of Pennsylvania, eliminating the need to take into account multiple state laws governing transit. We only have 1 year before Metro goes broke. Unless we can magically find an extra $20 million a year until the regional commission is created, this is a nonstarter. Regional commissions take time to create precisely because of the nature of politics: no one wants to give up or share power, yet a regional commission only works with significant cooperation and compromise from all involved. Many, many years will be needed before this commission is ready to go, if it is ever ready, not including the extra time it will take to pass transit levies in the 7 suburban counties. In the future this will be great to have; in the short and medium-term, putting a Hamilton County transit levy on hold to seek this regional solution will be destructive to Metro and its current riders. Unless the goal is to gut Metro, we must focus on Hamilton County before reaching out to the suburban counties. D e c 2 9 - J a n 11, 2 0 18 | N o . 37 2 MIKE BROWN Contributing Writer re-entered the country after being deported or failed to leave the country after being issued a final order of removal. They are not eligible for an immigration bond or an immigration hearing. The 12 immigration fugitives were transferred to Chicago on Dec. 11 where a judge was to sign off on their orders of deportation, according to Lubans-Otto. After processing in Chicago, they will be transferred to a staging area near the border, then deported, she said. Of the remaining 10 detainees, four were subject to detention without bond and six were eligible for release on bond, averaging $10,000 for each detainee. The bonds must be paid in full by money order or cashier’s check. There is an opportunity for detainees to request a custody or bond redetermination by an immigration judge. ICE agents also made about 30 arrests of “removable aliens” whom agents encountered in Northern Kentucky during the lead-up to the targeted enforcement action on Dec. 6 and 7, according to Lubans-Otto. Removable aliens include undocumented immigrants–foreign We will do all of this in partnership with our 60 Member-Organizations who will continue to provide shelter to as many people as seam-bursting space will allow, to provide healthy meals and hospitality, healthcare, showers, fill every limited recovery bed, defending legal rights, to operate and work to open affordable housing, assist people in finding employment and accessing income, to treat mental illness, to keep families together and so much more. But we know that all of our Member-Organizations ultimately envision a day when they are no longer needed because there In Ohio, does anyone seriously believe that the residents of Butler, Warren, and Clermont counties will vote to raise their taxes to support a dying bus system in Cincinnati? I grew up in Cincinnati and I can tell you, 100%, that such a levy will go down in flames. No matter what new service these counties receive from a regional transit agency, they will not support a plan that is subsidizing Cincinnati’s bus system. Period. And that’s just in Ohio! Campbell, Kenton, and Boone counties will also have to approve a levy, likely a sales tax, to contribute to the new agency. Their current arrangement of each county distributing millions from their general funds in the form of grants every year is not enough. The amount can vary year to year and there is no permanence which prevents long-term planning. Dearborn County, Indiana? That county currently has zero bus service. What makes you think they will support paying for a regional system when they have no existing interest in transit? The fact is that bringing up “Regionalism” in the debate over fixing Metro is nothing but a stalling tactic. Creating a regional agency will take many years, but we cannot wait. In pushing for regional transit immediately, we run the risk of delaying a Hamilton County transit levy while we try to hammer out a ‘perfect’ solution. Should Metro be forced to make large service cuts as we wait for our political leaders to ‘try’ to create a regional transit agency, those who rely on the bus will face disaster and we will further poison the perception of public transit in the public’s eyes. nationals who may or may not have committed a criminal offense, but are unlawfully present in the United States. Removable aliens also include “green card” holders and visa holders who are lawfully present in the country, but have committed a removable criminal offense. President Obama, starting in November 2014, enforced immigration laws based on priorities of risk to public safety. In Fiscal Year 2016, 13 percent of the country’s 11 million undocumented immigrants were an enforcement priority, 87 percent were not, according to the Migration Policy Institute. (Continued on page 12) is adequate affordable housing and opportunity available to all. This is our ultimate goal: a day when a person dying without a home is an impossible thought because homelessness is dead. Please join with us. Transit Levy could aid overcrowded buses Credit: Cam Hardy We do not know why some politicians want to delay the levy even further by talking about regionalism, despite delaying it every year since the start of this decade. There will be no more waiting. We need to act now, not later, not next year, not in a little bit, but now. I look forward to voting on countywide transit in November 2018, and I hope Hamilton County will get the choice to decide before it is too late. Email your elected officials and demand that SORTA act to place a bus levy on the ballot for 2018: THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED County Commissioner Todd Portune Todd.Portune@hamilton-co.org County Commissioner Denise Driehaus Denise.Driehaus@hamilton-co.org County Commissioner Chris Monzel Chris.Monzel@hamilton-co.org Mayor John Cranley mayor.cranley@cincinnati-oh.gov Cincinnati City Council CityCouncil@cincinnati-oh.gov �No. 37 2 JUBILEE CAMPAIGN A Case for Empathy 7 | D e c 2 9- J a n 11, 2 0 18 M y family is originally from Bedford, Michigan. My parents are high school sweethearts and grew up a few miles from each other, so all our extended family lives in the same small town. The people of Bedford drive pickup trucks. They hunt. My uncle Rich has a stuffed 5-point buck in his living room that he personally shot. They drive a little differently up there: there’s less people speeding. Less police on the roads. The town is designed in squares with exactly a mile in between each road. People tell me it’s impossible to get lost in Bedford- but I still manage to. The quickest route to Bedford involves driving directly through Toledo, getting off just outside the city, and then taking backroads to arrive at my grandparents on Dean Road. The roads outside Toledo lead past plant after plant. There is a steel factory. There’s a GM factory. Before the crash of 2008, we passed malls and typical little box houses. I remember one specific little strip mall on the way into Bedford across from a BP; it never really stuck out to me until after the crash, however. Now, the drive to Bedford makes my parents disheartened. Many of the houses are boarded up. The streets are poorly kempt- Michigan roads are typically cracked from all their cold weather- but now the infrastructure is frail and waning. The malls and shops are gone. That strip mall across from BP, it’s now a Platinum Show Girls. The BP across the street no longer offers gas- just liquor. I’ve never passed more gentlemen’s clubs than on the way into Bedford. Over the years we’ve driven to Michigan hundreds of times for holidays, birthdays, and to see family- unintentionally we became witness to the changes that have occurred in America these past ten years. My uncle used to work for Fordit’s where his father worked. We got a discount on our first American-made van from his plant. However, during the crisis the plant shut down and now he works at Chrysler. He was one of the lucky ones. He was able to adapt when machines came to the car industry and now works on the machines on the line. My aunt is a realtor. During the crisis, as well as recently, she TRENTON DAVIS Contributing Writer has nearly lost her home. Her livelihood depends on the market. During the crisis, housing prices in neighborhoods like the one I live in went up. In Bedford and many other neighborhoods in the US, they plummeted. Many of my relatives to the north struggle with alcoholism. It’s an unspoken issue in our family. We keep it from the children, and we make sure to watch them during the holidays. It’s a difficult reality. When the plants close up and the jobs move away, the stores and shops follow. The laundromat at the corner and the ice cream shop on Dean are boarded up until a liquor store moves in and sets up shop to fill the real estate void. The community as we knew it disappears with divestment. We saw it first with town populated by houses with pools and hot tubs out back. My parents both possess doctorates, so their jobs never seemed to be in question. My family’s education gave us privilege, and we didn’t have to deal with the divestment in our community that was occurring back home in Michigan. For us, the recession never really hit. Privilege made me oblivious to what was in front of my eyes. During the last election, because of my liberal nature, I marginalized the voice of Trump supporters. It caused rifts in my family. We would speak in hushed tones about which aunts and uncles were supporting that movement. My aunt threatened to divorce her husband if he voted for Trump. That movement was bigotry. That movement was foolish. There Youth in the villageare supported through intentional work Credit: Trenton Davis urban plight, and now we’re seeing it in forgotten rural communities. Per numerous studies on the Great Recession, while the lower half of the income ladder’s wealth was drastically falling, the wealthy were getting wealthier. I was ten at the time, and my family was purchasing a new, bigger house in a subdivision of our was job growth. We were coming out of the recession. America was fine. I possessed animosity towards my family from the north. This animosity reveals something vital. Empiricism is a beautiful version of reality. We can experiment and measure things objectively. It’s a way of thinking that has sprouted so much knowledge. We only examine our own lived experiences, and when presented with facts, we select only the facts that back our version of reality. This creates a divide. Instead of asking my uncle why he was drinking so much, I assumed it was because he was working a lot. Our current way of thinking lacks empathy for those that are experiencing something different than the general “trend”. Empiricism doesn’t have feelings, it is by nature, objective. We need more empathy in our society. We need to care about our neighbors and our families. This way of thinking helps the wealthy and privileged distance themselves from those that are feeling the effects of disasters. We often think of charity as giving money to an organization that does good, and thus, we have created an industry of do-gooders. We call these non-profit organizations. Corporations, when wages rise, can simply divest and take their money to find other sources of labor- whether that be through technology or through a global labor market. We can’t fault the wealthy or the corporations. They are doing what they believe is best. Through empiricism, they can easily justify that they are doing what is right for society. After all, both the wealthy and the corporations offer us jobs that feed our families. However, this gap that our way of thinking leaves behind is ravaging our communities and dividing our society. The Jubilee Campaign believes we need to build an empathetic empiricism. We need to teach methodologies that will help us understand the human costs of innovation and globalism. Our business and urban planning schools should focus on instilling community and equity building. We need resilience. Rise with Jubilee in creating a new economy and a new way of thinking. We need a compassionate, local economy that cares about the people living there. Join the conversation and bring it to people that it matters to, so that we can get investments in our community. If we build strong communities, we will be able to withstand anything together. Homeless: Technology Leveling the Playing Field W hen the Housing bubble burst some time back, I lost my home, wife, and children. Day to day living became my new lifestyle; being homeless was not a part of my plan at this stage in RAS TAFARI Contributing Writer life but as we all know, life happens, and all I had left was my car and my one piece of equipment: my laptop P.C. Out in the Field The going got tough, so I got going, going where? I had to have a game plan, so I could eat, sleep and earn a living, so poof! I turned my car into a mobile office/mobile home/entertainment center. How? I purchased, at a flea market, a THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED car inverter that converted my car battery into A.C. (alternating) current. It plugged right into my cigarette lighter; boom Power. My laptop had Wi-Fi capabilities, a DVD player and a disc burner. My car (Continued on page 12) �RELIGIOUS PEACEMAKERS Moved by His Faith, Randy Bruins, an Environmentalist, Tries to Always Add Beauty and Justice to the World 8 "S D e c 2 9 - J a n 11, 2 0 18 | N o . 37 2 SAAD GHOSN ocial justice is now linked to my understanding of religion," says Randy Bruins. "Growing up I was very skeptical about God and religion, and I was all the time searching for truth. In college I discovered Jesus and the Bible through a friend's church, and later the connection to social justice through a pastor in my church. Since then it has been an ongoing spiritual and engaged fulfilling journey." Bruins' parents were not particularly religious; his father was even an atheist, but one who would quote Jesus Christ when teaching forgiveness to his son. To provide him with a religious education, they enrolled him, nevertheless, in Sunday school at the local Methodist church. Not convinced, Bruins walked away at the age of 13. "I did not think that God existed, and nothing was supernatural to me," he says. "It may have been linked to the sudden accidental death of my father when I was just 11, and to the deep feeling of loneliness I experienced afterwards," he adds. These were the 1960's, the prevailing talks of transcendence; the search for a just, truthful, genuine society; the existential questions raised by the Vietnam war... All still translated to some degree, for Bruins, in a religious question, one, however, that he did not know how to solve. In 1972, Bruins joined Miami University, Oxford, OH and, inspired by the movies of Jacques Cousteau he had been watching, decided to study environmental sciences. Miami University, a predominantly white college, triggered then his awareness Contributing Writer of racism, and reminded him of his own concerns about disparity, having grown up in a separate, wealthy, privileged white Chicago suburb. "I became very conscious of institutional racism," he says. "I realized it was systemic, continuous and not willingly recognized, and I decided to do something about it." Bruins made up a sandwich board sign, front and back, on which he simply wrote "White Racism Lives". He carried it on his shoulders around campus and meant it to be provocative. But doing it alone and with no group support, he quickly felt isolated, and gave it up. He was not good then at creating connections, at forming coalitions; he was just a loner still searching for his convictions and how to express them. A couple of years later, and thanks to a Christian former friend who invited him to join his Christian fellowship, Bruins discovered them through religion and through his new belonging to a church community. "I met people who were pious worshipers, who were living a true and genuine relation with God, one not imposed on them but just motivated by their faith," he states. "It opened my eyes; inspired me to discover and learn the Bible and the Gospels; helped me, after deep and serious searching, find truth; and got me convinced to follow Jesus. I was 24, and it was the beginning of a new phase in my life." Bruins joined then officially the non-denominational and independent Christian fellowship church that his friend had introduced him to, and thus became a welcome What Is the UNIVERSITY CHRISTIAN CHURCH The University Christian Church (UCC) is a nondenominational Protestant church which has for Core Beliefs Jesus and the authority of scripture. The essentials of its beliefs are in the identity and meaning of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. It sees in everything else room for dialogue, with each other, our culture, the scripture. UCC's Mission is to share the love of Jesus with everyone and to encourage and equip its community members to share it in their home, their work, their life. UCC's Core Practices are: Ritual and Rythm of Life, where a commitment to a lifestyle of faithfulness (within the congregation, the community, home), teaches the faithfulness of God Submission to the Process, where spiritual, personal, relational growth are an ongoing process, God being the one shaping us a little at a time. Generosity, where by giving ourselves wholly, we're following Jesus' example and trusting God's abundance and generosity. Hospitality, where by opening ourselves and our lives to each other, we’re understanding the welcome that Christ extended to us. Patience and commitment in sharing love and developing relationships with each other. and active member of its family. After graduating with a Master's degree from Miami University, he moved to Cincinnati, took a job at the EPA, got married and started a family. He found locally a church, similar to his previous one in Oxford, and joined it. He is now, and for the past 15 years, a member of the University Christian church, also a nondenominational protestant city church which started as an outreach to the University of Cincinnati and Randy Bruin more recently also to the broader community in the same area. Ten years or so ago, Bruins added social justice activism to his own religious mission. "Our previous pastor, Troy Jackson, had begun a PhD in history, focusing on the publication of Martin Luther King's papers," he says. "Through his teachings, he introduced us to MLK, to his stands against injustice, and helped us understand and realize the Bible's general calling for social justice." Jackson also provided Bruins a venue for growing his social consciousness through the Amos Project, a federation of faith congregations in Greater Cincinnati, dedicated to promoting justice and improving the quality of life for all residents. The Project focuses on community issues that impact the poor and working families; it organizes and mobilizes with the most vulnerable, proposing and implementing solutions to their problems. Bruins has participated since in many of its actions: he has helped, for instance, previously incarcerated individuals integrate back society; campaigned actively for issue 44 in order to provide affordable quality preschool education to all kids, in particular those in poverty; worked to pass a levy benefiting senior citizens; protested to bring attention and justice to the case of Sam Dubose, an unarmed African American man, fatally shot by a University of Cincinnati white police officer, during a traffic stop. Bruins is also now part of the Cincinnati Community Coalition which consists mainly of interfaith get together dinners started right after the latest presidential election by Ismaeel Chartier, Imam of the Clifton Credit: Saad Ghosn Mosque, and David Meredith, pastor of the Clifton United Methodist church. Last year he hosted one such dinner at his church using as focus the work of an invited Moslem artist. For many years he has also been working with youth through City Gospel Mission. He reaches out to kids in the transient community of Winton Place, picks them up every Sunday and provides them with a teaching program to help them with their studies. Last summer he invited the youth of a Moslem organization to join the community garden where he lives, giving them plots to plant, and offering them educational programs linking gardening, the environment and spirituality. "Gardening has an inherent spiritual value," he says. "Looking at plants and getting in touch with nature connects one directly with what God has created." In his church, Bruins is actively involved in its interfaith engagement program, reaching out to other religious communities and coordinating the exchange between (Continued on page 11) Religious Peacemakers is a regular column highlighting Greater Cincinnati individuals who use their faith and religious beliefs for peace and justice. Saad.Ghosn@uc.edu is the founder of SOS (Save Our Souls) Art, an organization that promotes arts as vehicles for peace and justice and for a change. THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �No. 37 2 PHOTO ESSAY Homeless Memorial December 21, 2017 Washington Park, Cincinnati, Ohio | D e c 2 9- J a n 11, 2 0 18 O n this night, we recognize all those who we have lost due to issues of homelessness. The names of 135 people whose lives were taken by homelessness were read. The memorial takes place as the tree celebrating the life of Joann Burton, who was murdered while sleeping in the park on July 27, 2010. THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED 9 �10 LOCAL D e c 2 9 - J a n 11, 2 0 18 | N o . 37 2 January 26 - February 17, 2018 For tickets please call (513) 381-2273 Purchase tickets online at www.cincyshakes.com AD Donated by Mark and Sue Ann Painter season sponsored by the Otto M. Budig Family Foundation THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �11 LOCAL Living in a world with news that some perceive as fake and others see as real No. 37 2 | D e c 2 9- J a n 11, 2 0 18 JASON HAAP A couple weeks ago, I shared a media challenge I decided to accept - reading nothing but right-winged news sources for one month. After a couple weeks, I feel like I'm learning some interesting perspectives. For example, I had heard that Breitbart is a haven for white supremacist and Nazi thinking. In fact, when I have shared links to Breitbart on my Facebook page, I've been told that I have just linked to a white supremacist organization. But check out this recent headline: "Steve Bannon Touts Access to Capital, Economic Nationalism at Address to Black Small Business Leaders." That's a weird headline to advance if you are an organization filled with white supremacist Nazis. The article includes details like this: “The central part of economic nationalism depends upon you,” Bannon told the crowd of approximately 200 minority business owners. “It depends upon us empowering the black and Hispanic entrepreneurial community with one thing: access to capital.” Why would a bunch of racists want to encourage minority businesses to have access to capital? Another friend told me that Breitbart has recently taken to "cleaning up its image" so it could go more mainstream. He gave me a link that led to headlines like this: "Blackon-Black Crime: Blame It On The System and Ignore The Evidence." This seemed promising in terms of offering a "smoking gun" about the site's racism. But then I read excerpts like this: Refusal to come to grips with SAAD GHOSN (Continued from page 8) them. He is also part of a justice team which meets monthly to read and discuss books about peace and justice and educate the rest of the congregation about the issues. Their focus recently was racism, also the "other" and immigration. Bruins' church is actually a part of the Sanctuary movement, providing solidarity and support to threatened immigrants. Bruins is also involved in the Rohs Street Cafe that his church started within the building of its Contributing Writer the racial aspects of crime, and instead to accuse the criminal justice system of being racist is to sentence a great many black victims to the consequences of violence. Why should racists be concerned with black victims of violence? Certainly, the position here might not be one I share, but does that make it racist? I'm not convinced. My social media right now is full of people outraged that Trump wants to steal restaurant servers' tips, giving them instead to the owners. Check out this excerpt from a Newsweek item titled "Trump wants you to tip restaurant owners, not servers" (December 7, 2017): This week, Trump’s Labor Department proposed rescinding an Obama-era rule that made the logical point that tips are the property of the servers and cannot be taken by the restaurant owner. The administration’s proposal would allow restaurant owners who pay their wait staff as little as $7.25 per hour to collect all the tips left by patrons and do whatever they want with them—regardless of what diners intended. Restaurant owners could even keep all the tips for themselves, without telling diners. Coming on the heels of the massive tax bills recently passed by the House and Senate, this “reverse Robin Hood” scheme—which will take money out of the pockets of lowwage workers and give it to business owners–is just one more example of “trickle-down” economic policy masquerading as pro-worker reform. Sounds pretty terrible, right? (I only found this piece from Newsweek when researching for this item. Otherwise, I wouldn't have read it. I really am trying only to consume right-winged news!) But I can't help but notice something in the first paragraph: Trump's decision would rescind an Obama-era rule. Why do I not remember how, for most of my life, restaurant owners were stealing tips from servers? And why does the article reference owners "who pay their wait staff as little as $7.25 per hour"? That's the federal minimum wage. I'm not saying I support the wage being that low, but certainly that is more per hour than many servers make. The whole reason we have a tipping system is because most don't even make the minimum wage. Anyway, how does this issue get discussed on the right? Here is an excerpt from a recent Fox News item titled "Trump's Labor Department aims to make tip-pooling legal again" (October 31, 2017): The pending rule change would only “rescind the current restrictions on tip pooling by employers that pay tipped employees the full minimum wage directly.” Meaning restaurants that pay servers the full $7.25 minimum wage, instead of the $2.13 tipped wage, can pool tips. ... The co-founder of ROC United, one of the groups fighting for a $15 wage, said, “It says it’s possible for employers to walk away with the tips and not give them to anybody.” The National Restaurant Association lobby told CBS that removing the restrictions on tip pooling alleviates the “disparity sanctuary in order to create a place for the community to meet, also to encourage fair trade coffee. The church in fact supports a coffee-growing community in Guatemala, and has helped it establish a cooperative to improve the production and the marketing of its coffee and facilitate its sale in the US. Bruins visited that community, participated in the harvest of its coffee and in educational programs targeted to its growth. Every year the church also sends their students to help in different ways, such as digging wells for water, implementing sanitation projects, etc. Working for Social Justice is now an integral part of Bruins' Christian faith. He adds his voice and his hand to fight injustice wherever he sees it, addressing its causes, attempting to right its wrong for a better world. He does it, empowered and enlightened by daily prayer and by Bible studies, alone or in group, always asking himself what he can do to put in practice the teachings of Christ. "We live in a fascinating world," says Bruins. "God created it and infused it with love. As an environmentalist I always try to share with others the beauty of nature, plants, animals... that connect us to God; but also as a humanitarian, the beauty of world cultures and places." “Breakdown Stereotypes” between the ‘front of the house’ and the ‘back of the house,’” since the back of the house employees are not tipped. It seems there might be more to the story than I thought - this rule would not take tips from people earning $2.13 an hour. Instead, it would be an opportunity to distribute them evenly between front- and backof-the-house employees. If both sets are already making the same wage, that does not seem entirely unfair. Also, did you notice that the Fox News item acknowledged the possibility of an owner keeping the tips? Does this make the Fox piece more balanced? Here is the bottom line: for those of us who read the news, our emotional realities are exploited and manipulated by media - and that fact is independent of how accurate our sources are. If you can find it in yourself not to blame news consumers if they read something you believe fake (regardless whether it is or not), then all of us are being played, in a drama the vast majority of us can or will do nothing about in any meaningful way. Instead, we will just feel stress and anger and suspicion, mixed with self-important indignation, and we will target it at one another. This probably drives more business to the news we already read, and the parties we already support. We foster these divisions between ourselves, and feel good about alienating those who disagree with us (or at least feel superior to them), but I still can't figure out the end game... --------------------------------------"We need to preserve that beauty and always add justice to it," he states. Now retired, this is what Bruins would like to continue doing with his wife when she soon retires, and possibly in different places of the world. --------------------------------------- “Eradicate Misinformation” The Coalition for the Homeless provides Education and Service Programs that help to portray a more accurate and holistic picture of homelessness in Cincinnati. We believe an educated public can be a more compassionate public, willing to dedicate time and effort towards creating solutions to homelessness. The “Voice of the Homeless Speaker’s Bureau” program is made up of individuals currently experiencing homelessness or who have experienced homelessness, who share their experiences. The program is designed to put a face on homelessness and raise awareness about those struggling in our community. To schedule a speaker, contact Mark Mussman at (513) 421.7803 x14 THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �12 MIKE BROWN (Continued from page 6) For the Obama administration, the highest priority group included removable aliens who were convicted of felonies or aggravated felonies, gang members, and national security threats. In FY 2016, 94 percent of all deportations came from this highest priority group, according to the Migration Policy Institute. On Jan. 25, just days after his inauguration, President Trump issued an executive order saying that “faithful execution” of immigration law “against all removable aliens” is the policy of the United States. “Under the current administration, everyone is a priority,” says Lubans-Otto. Unless specifically exempted, the executive order appears to target all 11 million undocumented immigrants for deportation, according to the Migration Policy Institute. The recipients of DACA–Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals– were exempted from the executive order under the implementing memo from the Department of Homeland Security. However, the administration subsequently terminated the DACA program in September. Without new legislation to authorize it, about 800,000 DACA recipients, who had entered the country as minors, will eventually RAS TAFARI (Continued from page 7) had air conditioning and heated seats that let lay flat at night like a Futon and a Bose sound system. First and goal to go. Logistics Armed with a Mississippihandmade-old-school quilt and skullcap for those knee-knocker nights, a plug-in fan if need be to catch the summer breeze, and his rod and his staff to comfort me (prayer and a pistol), I slept in the valley of the shadow. Morning brought on the day and the game began. I had some key places to park; my best spot was on Ridge Road where I used to live. A friend of mine who had a R.V. pulled my coat to the fact that the WalMart/Home Depot allows Campers, Truckers, and R. V’s to park on the lot all day. No hassles; hell, I would get some movies from street vendors get some popcorn and watch a flick or two to pass time and plan the next day. On the lot was a White Castle and across the street was a Mickey D 's. In the mornings, I would decide which bathrooms to use- Mickey D’s or the Castle (the best coffee in town)- to get the crumbs out my eyes, pop the trunk, grab my kit containing soap, lotion, wash towel, tooth paste, etc. and saunter in and handle my business. Had to get cool with the morning staff so they can be cool with what I was doing. After LOCAL D e c 2 9 - J a n 11, 2 0 18 | N o . 37 2 become subject to deportation like other removable aliens. About 12,000 DACA recipients who missed an Oct. 5 deadline, are already subject to deportation. That number is increasing by nearly 100 each day as other DACA permits expire. The stated focus of the administration’s executive order is criminal aliens, but the term “criminal” is broadly defined. It covers not just removable aliens convicted of a felony, but also those who have been convicted of a misdemeanor, charged with a criminal offense, or have committed a chargeable criminal offense, or, in the judgment of an immigration officer, pose a risk to public safety or national security. Also, the “criminal” activity may have occurred at any time in a person’s past. Based on ICE enforcement, there appears to be no statute of limitations. President Trump has “taken the handcuffs off of law enforcement officers who are charged with enforcing immigration laws,” said then-acting ICE director Thomas D. Homan in May. “If you are in this country illegally, you need to be worried,” said Homan. In the US, more than 8 million citizens live with at least one family member who is undocumented. Most of these U.S. citizens are children– almost six million–under the age of 18 who live with an undocumented parent or family member. Edgar is one of the four detainees being held without bond in the Boone County Jail, although his only offense is one citation for driving without a license, says his attorney LubansOtto. For her, Edgar is a typical detainee: young, hardworking, the family’s sole breadwinner, and the father of two children born in the United States, who are cared for by their stay-at-home mother. One child, who is just four years old, has “serious medical issues,” she says. Edgar’s case, including a request for release on bond, will be heard in immigration court in Chicago. But Lubans-Otto is unable to schedule a court date. She has been advised that the earliest date will be sometime in January. Fear of deportation can have significantly adverse effects on the long-term health and development of children. Detention or deportation of the breadwinner, usually the man of the house, can deprive families of the basic necessities of food, shelter, and utilities. Parents subject to deportation may face the difficult issue of whether to take their children with them or risk the possibility of losing custody to child protective services. The organization Supporting Latino Families in Northern Kentucky is organizing resources to address the needs of families affected by the ICE raids. Donations for basic needs can be made here and donations for legal assistance here. Meanwhile, immigration lawyers and activists are trying to better understand what happened in Northern Kentucky–who was arrested, why, and under what circumstances. Preliminary reports indicate that ICE did not notify local law enforcement agencies or seek their cooperation. There are also preliminary reports of pretextual traffic stops, searches without warrants or probable cause, using false pretense and force to gain entry to apartments, assault, a workplace raid, brief detention of a U.S. citizen, and the arrest of a long-term legal permanent resident. The agency responsible for the Northern Kentucky raids was the field office of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations based in Chicago, which covers a six-state region including Kentucky and Indiana, but not Ohio. ICE ERO agents from the Chicago office were supported by one or more ICE Fugitive Operations Teams, which are managed from a national office. [This article first appeared at https://c4ad.wordpress.com/ If you have information about the NKY ICE arrests, please contact the reporter: mbrown.c4ad@gmail.com] that I would go to my car and get my trusted P.C., order coffee and get the paper that would always be there. I liked Mickey D’s because they had free wi-fi, so I would check my emails and the internet to search for jobs and respond to inquiries. I had, at the time, some PC certifications and I had a business card I used to meet potential clients to consult on computer issues. This worked out great and hardly anyone knew I was homeless. I had a garment bag in the trunk so if I needed to suit up I couldlike batman. Room to Grow Using the technology at my disposal (mainly Microsoft Office), Word made letters, resumes, flyers, and folks never knew that I was sleeping in my car. Acrobat Pro turned me into the man on the flying trapeze of business where I communicated with contacts who could not in any way judge me based on the color of my skin or the wrinkles in my clothes. I just kept telling myself to cross my T’s and dot my I’s; spellcheck in word was my secretary and had my back. None was wiser. And email gave me an international address. I used my contacts from Outlook to query people on resources for the homeless. I went online and put in an application for Public Housing and got an Apartment. I connected with a friend of mine who was a professor at a community college and he said re-invent yourself, so now I have two Associate degrees in Networking and Information Technology Security. I hacked a lot of Wi-Fi when I was on the streets to get that info. I currently have a service contract with J-RAB Inc., a public housing advocacy agency for C.M.H.A. residents. J-RAB, Inc. has been able to help me grow my business through training, self-determination and empowerment; which I, in turn, give back to my community. Being homeless sucks and is stressful, but it gave me a new insight to living and surviving a very humbling situation. But it also brought the best out of me and motivated me to change my status. I started from the bottom now we are here! And I bought my whole team with me, I love this tune cause it’s the theme song of my life. THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED Ras Tafari --------------------------------------- �No. 37 2 | D e c 2 9- J a n 11, 2 0 18 CRYING RAIN 13 STREET VOICE WAKE UP YE COWARDLY CONGRESSMEN (Sung to the tune of Looking out the window "God Rest YE Merry Gentlemen") The rain is falling hard, and fast Wake up ye cowardly Congressmen. There are intervals of thunder Your voters show dismay. Slashing ever so often And then it suddenly stops Until the next thunder slash appears They wanted Trump's impeachment To get started yesterday. To save us all from nasty tweets And government decay. Oh tidings of glumness and woe - It lets you know that God is, near Glumness and woe. So take heed Oh tidings of glumness and woe. Listen to his might BILL WOODS Contributing Writer Because thunder and rain, Will, be coming SANTA CLAUS Today while watching the news I heard that Santa Claus arrived in a helicopter KIM GREEN Streetvibes Distributor & Contributing Writer They also talked about tax cuts and how the politicians were eating out at Red Lobsters What happened to the days when the bells rang for Santa Claus, his reindeer and sled What happened to the belief in miracles and all the little children went to bed Waiting for that glorious morning to open all the presents that Santa left under the tree Asking questions about how he brought all the gifts down the smoke-filled chimney Waiting day and night, trying to be good all for Christmas so we'd be granted the ultimate blessing Looking back and understanding that as a child I was tricked, Santa in a helicopter that's a new lesson Without the holiday's Thanksgiving and Christmas Day what else is there to really look forward too Without giving thanks for so many blessings and being thankful for Jesus’ birth just to name a few So, for me Christmas has somehow lost the true spirit and has been misunderstood by all We must always remember God's blessings, don't forget to give thanks and bring back Rudolph the red nosed reindeer driving Santa Claus!!!! WILLA DENISE JONES Streetvibes Distributor & Contributing Writer THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �14 PUZZLES CROSSWORD PUZZLE NO. 141 Across 1. Part of the neck 5. Database 9. Visual display of information 14. Zeal 15. Reverberate 16. Wimble 17. Birdcall 18. Glows red in a vacuum tube 19. Indigent 20. A physiological need to drink 22. Air current 24. Type of spiny tree or shrub 26. Variety of kale 31. Relative duration of a musical note 33. Large semiaquatic rodent 34. Baffling question or problem 37. Clock face 39. A flock of quail 40. Appropriate 41. Move sideways 42. Regret 43. Approach 45. Bard 46. Provide food or sustenance 48. Misprints 50. Repulse 52. Ornamental framework 54. Clone 57. Orderly 59. Two-channel 61. Mixed food consisting of greens 65. A flat float 67. Cereal grain husks 68. Form of quartz 69. Group of three 70. List of names 71. Cringe 72. Musical instrument 73. Ground forces Down 1. Bird shelter 2. Hawaiian greeting 3. Overwhelming fear and anxiety 4. Carve 5. Edible round flat seed 6. Frozen water 7. Display 8. Restorative 9. Taper 10. Chromaticity 11. Historic period 12. Mississippi tributary, ___ river 13. Attempt 21. Evidence of past injury 23. Baronial 25. Sound 27. Research workplace, in short 28. Obviate 29. Variety show 30. Machine for extracting moisture 32. Type of duck 34. Dialog box 35. Drama set to music 36. Commence 38. Modify 41. A blank area 44. Rodent 46. Fractional monetary unit 47. Form of math 49. Material for starting a fire 51. Mechanical device 53. Underground den of a fox 55. Mistake 56. Domain 58. Edible tuberous root 60. Merely 61. Pouch 62. In the past 63. Jurisprudence 64. Consumed 66. Evergreen tree PUZZLE SOLUTIONS ISSUE 371 CROSSWORD PUZZLE NO. 140 D e c 2 9 - J a n 11, 2 0 18 | N o . 37 2 SODOKU PUZZLE NO 271 - MEDIUM SODOKU PUZZLE NO 270- MEDIUM PUZZLES from puzzlechoice.com and puzzles.ca THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �No. 37 2 RESOURCES | D e c 2 9- J a n 11, 2 0 18 Central Access Point 15 381-SAFE Shelter: Women and Children Bethany House 557-2873 1730 Race Street 45202 St. Francis Soup Kitchen 535-2719 St. George Food Pantry 751-8771 2554 Dennis St. 45219 Prince of Peace Lutheran Church 621-7265 1528 Race St. 45202 Churches Active in Northside 591-2246 Health Resource Center 357-4602 McMicken Integrated Care Clinic and Mobile Medical Van 386-7899 40 E. McMicken Ave, Cinti, Ohio 6037 Cary Ave. 45224 FreeStore/FoodBank 241-1064 McMicken Dental Clinic 352-6363 40 E. McMicken Ave, Cinti Mental Health Access Point 558-8888 NAMI of Hamilton County 351-3500 PATH Outreach 977-4489 131 E. 12th Street 45202 Madisonville Ed & Assistance Center 271-5501 Other Resources St. Vincent de Paul 562-8841 215 E. 14th St. 45202 1841 Fairmount Ave. 45214 The Esther Marie Hatton Center for Women 2499 Reading Road 562-1980 Grace Place Catholic Worker House 681-2365 4230 Hamilton Ave. 45223 Salvation Army 762-5660 112 E. Liberty Street 45202 YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter 872-9259 4600 Erie Ave. 45227 Serves area codes: 45226, 45227, 45208, 45209 Shelter: Men Shelterhouse 721-0643 1125 Bank Street 45214 411 Gest St. 45203 Treatment or Supportive Recovery: Men St. Fran/St. Joe Catholic Work. House 381-4941 Charlie’s 3/4 House 784-1853 1437 Walnut Street 45202 City Gospel Mission 241-5525 2121 Vine Street 45202 Prospect House 921-1613 1805 Dalton Ave. 45214 Parkway Center 661-4620 682 Hawthorne Ave. 45205 Starting Over 961-2256 Shelter: Youth Sheakley Center for Youth (18-24 y/o) 2522 Highland Ave. 45219 569-9500 Lighthouse Youth Crisis Center (10-17 y/o) 3330 Jefferson Ave 45220 961-4080 Treatment or Supportive Recovery: Women Shelter: Family Treatment or Supportive Recovery: Both Interfaith Hospitality Network First Step Home 961-4663 2203 Fulton, Cinti, Ohio 45206 AA Hotline 351-0422 CCAT 381-6672 471-1100 Housing: 830 Ezzard Charles Dr. 45214 Caracole (HIV/AIDS) 761-1480 CMHA 721-4580 Excel Development 632-7149 OTR Community Housing 381-1171 Joseph House (Veterans) 241-2965 1522 Republic Street 45202 114 W. 14th Street 45202 Talbert House 221-HELP Tender Mercies 721-8666 27 W. 12th Street 45202 Hamilton County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board 946-8000 Recovery Health Access Center 281-7422 Sober Living 681-0324 Talbert House 221-HELP Advocacy Tom Geiger House 961-4555 Volunteers of America 381-1954 Anna Louise Inn 421-5211 2401-2411 Reading Rd. 45202 Cincinnati Union Bethel 768-6907 2401 Reading Rd. 45202 VA 977-6800 VA Homeless 859-572-6226 Food/Clothing First Lutheran Church 421-0065 1208 Race St. Food - Last Monday 12-1 Clothing - second Monday 12-1 Lord’s Pantry 621-5300 OTR/Walnut Hills Kitchen & Pantry 961-1983 Catholic Social Action 421-3131 Community Action Agency 569-1840 Contact Center 381-4242 Franciscan JPIC 721-4700 Gr. Cinti Coalition for the Homeless 421-7803 117 E. 12th Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 Legal Aid Society 241-9400 Ohio Justice & Policy Center 421-1108 UpSpring 363-3300 Health 961-0600 Center for Respite Care 621-1868 OTR: 1620 Vine Street 45202 Walnut Hills: 2631 Gilbert Ave. 45206 3550 Washington Ave. 45229 Crossroad Health Center 381-2247 Our Daily Bread 621-6364 Franciscan Haircuts from the Heart 381-0111 Goodwill Industries 771-4800 Intercommunity Justice & Peace Cr. 579-8547 Mary Magdalen House 721-4811 1223 Main St. 45202 People Working Cooperatively 351-7921 The Caring Place 631-1114 Talbert House 751-7747 United Way 211 Women Helping Women 977-5541 Off The Streets 421-5211 Hamilton County Office of Reentry 946-4304 138 E. Court Street Room # 101 First Floor Hamilton/Middletown St. Raephaels 981-4200 Salvation Army 863-1445 Serenity House Day Center 422-8555 Open Door Pantry 868-3276 Northern Kentucky Brighton Center 799 Ann St. Newport, KY ECHO/Hosea House Fairhaven Resuce Mission Homeward Bound Youth Mathews House Homeless & Housing Coalition Parish Kitchen Pike St. Clinic Transitions, Inc Welcome House of NKY 205 West Pike Street, Covington, KY 41011 5 E. Liberty St. 45202 for 26 issues 859-261-5857 859-491-1027 859-581-1111 859-261-8009 859-727-0926 859-581-7745 859-291-9321 859-491-4435 859-431-8717 Women’s Crisis Center 859-491-3335 VA Domiciliary 859-572-6202 Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky 634 Scott St. 41011 859-291-4555 You can support our mission and spread the word about your business. For more information contact Justin Jeffre at 513421-70803 x 12 or email streetvibes@ cincihomeless.org $100 859-491-8303 Want to advertise in Streetvibes? Cincinnati Health Network 2825 Burnet Ave. 45219 Center Independent Living Options 241-2600 Peaslee Neighborhood Center 621-5514 $150 THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED for 26 issues and a $50 donation �16 D e c 2 9 - J a n 11, 2 0 18 | N o . 37 2 S treetvibes is distributed by individuals who purchase the paper for 75 cents per copy and sell it for a $2.00 donation, keeping the profit they have earned. Becoming a Distributor is a great way for individuals who are financially poor to get back on (or stay on) their feet. This program provides supplemental income for those unable to secure other employment. Money earned helps meet basic housing, food and health care needs. The program is a hand up for people who are often in a place of getting only a hand out, or even no hand at all. All Distributors wear a badge and usually a vest and can be found selling the paper in Downtown Cincinnati, Clifton, Northside, Northern Kentucky and at area churches. ALFRED WOOLFOLK SINCE 10/2003 ASRES AYENAW SINCE 2012 BERTA LAMBERT SINCE 1997 BETTIE BAILEY SINCE 10/2017 BRANDON NELSON SINCE 4/2008 BRIAN ADAMS SINCE 7/2017 CHARLES WILLIAMS SINCE 7/2017 CHRISTOPHER KAIHATSU SINCE 7/2017 CLEO WOMBLES SINCE 10/2003 CRANDALL COBB SINCE 2004 DARREL ROZIER SINCE 7/2017 DAVID MCCANE SINCE 2017 ERIC VALDEZ SINCE 2/2017 GERALD FRANKLIN SINCE 7/2017 GRADY COOK SINCE 1997 GREGORY RAY SINCE 4/2015 HENRY BRELAND SINCE 7/2017 JAMES BROWN SINCE 3/2009 JAMES DAVIS SINCE 8/2000 JENNY BURTON SINCE 7/2017 JIMMIE GIPSON SINCE 2001 JON DARBY SINCE 2/2006 JOHN HORN JOSEPHINE BASKERVILLE SINCE 9/2008 J’TORI TYMAN SINCE 5/2014 KIM NGUYEN SINCE 7/2017 KENNY BUSSELL SINCE 10/2009 KAREN COLLETTE SINCE 7/2008 KEITH EUTSEY SINCE 2/2011 LARRY BROWN SINCE 10/2007 LEE MCCOY SINCE 7/2009 LEONARD JACKSON SINCE 2/2005 MARY MUELLER SINCE 5/2005 MARK SHEARS SINCE 4/2012 MAURICE GOLSBY MELISSA MOSBY SINCE 9/2014 MIKE CARANO SINCE 4/2016 RAESHAWN GIPSON SINCE 3/2009 RAYNARD JONES SINCE 10/2008 RICKY WOODS SINCE 4/2015 RICCARDO TAYLOR SINCE 1999 RONNIE PHILLIPS SINCE 10/2009 SAMUEL JACKSON SINCE 10/2006 STACIA HOLLANDER SINCE 2017 STEPHANIE EAKES SINCE 7/2017 SYLVESTER WALKER SINCE 7/2017 TALINA HILL SINCE 2/2015 TIA CASS SINCE 11/2007 TONY THOMAS SINCE 3/2005 VIOLET COLLINS SINCE 2017 VICTOR MUMPHRY WILLA JONES SINCE 1/2010 WINNIE RICE SINCE 7/2017 QUEENACELASTINE SINCE 7/2017 THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2018 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource December 29, 2017-January 11, 2018 Subject The topic of the resource Homelessness Description An account of the resource Pg 1: Cover Page Pg 2: From the Director “Regionalism” is a Buzzword Designed to Delay Transit Levy Pg 3: A Brand New Day Pg 4: How to Respond to Panhandling Pg 5: The Christmas Truce Pg 6: ICE Rounds Up 50 Undocumented Immigrants in Northern Kentucky Pg 7: A Case for Empathy Pg 8: Religious Peacemakers Pg 9: Homeless Memorial Pg 10: GCHC Pg 11: Living in a World with News that Some Perceive as Fake and Others See as Real Pg 12: Mike Brown Continued Ras Tafari Continued Pg 13: Street Voice Pg 14: Puzzles Pg 15: Resources Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Streetvibes Archive Project Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Streetvibes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource December 29, 2017-January 11, 2018 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Josh Spring Better Bus Coalition Dr. Mark Mussman Michael Earl Patton Mike Brown Trenton Davis Jason Haap Saad Ghosn Ras Tafari Kim Green Bill Woods Cam Hardy Casey Sault Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Better Bus Coalition Bill Woods Cam Hardy Casey Sault Christmas Cincinnati Dr. Mark Mussman Homeless Memorial ICE Immigrants Jason Haap Josh Spring Kentucky Kim Green Michael Earl Patton Mike Brown Ohio Photography Ras Tafari Religion Saad Ghosn Trenton Davis Washington Park https://streetvibesarchive.net/files/original/08fe1dd3c7f43adfaf14f1d57cb68ae2.pdf 33b400b9002a531343cd35af45cc36c4 PDF Text Text February 23rd - March 8th 2018 | Vol. 21 Issue 5 (No. 376) advocating justice | building community Uber Cannot Replace Public Transit - But It Can Enhance it | 9 This Issue is sponsored by Christ Church Cathedral INSIDE THIS ISSUE new Executive Director of The Child Poverty Collaborative | 2 My Picket Line | 3 Retired Lutheran Minister Dorsey Stebbins| 9 School shootings and other social problems | 7 Find previous issues of Streetvibes online at: cincistreetvibes.org Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition 113 E. 12th Street Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 streetvoice | 13 �2 LOCAL To FC Cincinnati Fans T he option of building a Major League Soccer (MLS) stadium in the West End is not a game. It is not just another match for FC Cincinnati to win. The West End is a neighborhood; a community of people. And meeting after meeting people who live in the West End have come out and passionately said no to a soccer stadium in the West End. People have said they don’t want the stadium because of the gentrification it will bring. Jeff Berding, President of FC Cincinnati, says the stadium would displace nobody. Even if a stadium would not directly take homes and displace people, the prospectors, developers and entrepreneurs who would come to cash in on it, would. Some have argued that gentrification will come anyway, so why not move forward with this stadium. That is such a terrible argument. First of all, gentrification is not inevitable. People can continue to organize and say no to displacement and exclusive “development”. Legislation can be created which would prevent displacement and gentrification. It simply is not inevitable. This F e b 2 3 - M a r 8 , 2 0 18 | N o . 37 6 JOSH SPRING Executive Director argument is like saying house fires are inevitable so its okay to let people sell tickets for a camp-fire marshmallow roast in the middle of your living Josh Spring Credit: Homeless Coalition room (if you have a home). When the wolf comes knocking at your door, don’t let it in. Here is the thing; the perspective, experiences and needs of people who live in the West End are more important than a soccer stadium. Do you, as FC Cincinnati fans, wish to be in a location where most of the people who live there, don’t want the team because people don’t want their neighborhood to be gentrified? Do you want to be a part of continuing the legacy of racist and economic displacement of Black People and People with low-incomes from the West End? That’s the history and that is why people don’t want this. And this history is still happening. 2,300 affordable homes have been lost in Over-the-Rhine due to gentrification. Thousands of people were forced from their homes in the West End just 15 years ago. If FC Cincinnati fans want an MLS stadium you need to begin telling Jeff Berding to stop trying to locate it in the West End. If the people who live there don’t want it, it should not happen. Further, I can’t imagine that this fight helps your prospect of FC Cincinnati being picked as a franchise by the MLS. Feel free to cheer your soccer players and team, but don’t cheer on your (Continued on page 6) Introducing the new Executive Director of The Child Poverty Collaborative T he new Executive Director of the Child Poverty Collaborative came to the Community Issues Forum on February 15th to give an update concerning this effort to effectively address Cincinnati's high family poverty rate. Although she cited some progress in assisting families in improving their situations, Dr. Karen Bankston emphasized that making a real dent in eliminating poverty in this city was a huge and complex undertaking. She called it "a heavy lift" that requires people to understand that many economic, social and political factors keep people poor. Bankston chided the popular concept that the solution is to convince poor people "to work harder." Many parents. She noted, are currently working two or three jobs but still not able to make a livable income for their families. She cited that 62- percent of Cincinnati's children in poverty have a workingparent, and that 72-percent of this area's jobs pay less than $50,000, the estimated amount needed to provide for a family comprised of one adult BILL WOODS Contributing Writer and two children. The Collaborative, Bankston noted, is currently bringing employers together to look for ways to deal with the very real income gap that exists in our job market. In her previous job at Children's Hospital, she convinced its CEO to do a study of employee salaries and their impacts. This review revealed that 4,000 people working for the Hospital received salaries that kept them below or just (Continued on page 5) Streetvibes is an activist newspaper, advocating justice and building community. Streetvibes reports on economic issues, civil rights, the environment, the peace movement, spirituality and the struggle against homelessness and poverty. Distributed by individuals experiencing homelessness or on the edge of homelessness, in exchange for a $2.00 Donation. Streetvibes is published twice a month by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless (GCCH), a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that works to eradicate homelessness in Cincinnati. 113 East 12th St. Cincinnati OH, 45202 Ph: 513.421.7803 FAX: 513.421.7813 WEB: www.cincihomeless.org BLOG: streetvibes.wordpress.com EMAIL: streetvibes@cincihomeless.org Editor: Justin Jeffre Executive Director: Josh Spring Director of Development: Mona Jenkins Director of Education: Dr. Mark Mussman Distributor Program Manager: Justin Jeffre Layout: Key Beck Reception: Larry Johnson, Anne Evans Maintenance: Pete Roper ----------------------------------------------CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE Writers: Josh Spring, Bill Woods, Dr. Mark Mussman, Jason Haap, Michael Earl Patton, Saad Ghosn, Mark Samaan, Steve Sunderland, Bobby Morris, Kim Green, Willa Jones ----------------------------------------------Photography/ Artwork: Justin Jeffre, Dr. Mark Mussman, Homeless Coalition, ECI.com, ABC7. com, ForceOptionsUSA.com, Saad Ghosn, Better Bus Coalition, Bill Woods --------------------------------------------------Thank You For Reading Streetvibes And Supporting Our Mission To Build Community And Advocate Justice. Karen Bankston speaks at Community Issues Forum Credit: Justin Jeffre THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED Streetvibes and The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless do not endorse candidates for public office. �No. 37 6 3 LOCAL My Picket Line | F e b 2 3 - M a r 8 , 2 0 18 DR. MARK MUSSMAN L ast year, my high school classmates planned a funfilled reunion weekend. I was excited to see old friends and catch up after all these years. Unfortunately, the planners, with no historical knowledge of the displacement that took place at the Metropole, decided to hold the event at the 21C Hotel. I immediately sent a message letting everyone know how 3CDC unethically and unjustly displaced the residents of the Metropole. I told them that I would not set foot in the 21C Hotel, and I urged others to do the same. It is my picket line. Growing up in Cincinnati, my first experience with a picket line was when Bigg’s employees were on strike. As a child, how could I know the complexity of collective bargaining? Staff Writer some of the protests against the new developments, like the Holiday Inn downtown or Richter Phillips Jewelers, which have been accused to be using unfair labor practices. In my mind, I tuck each of those places into a specific space that reminds me not to support that business. I also take the #NFLBoycott very seriously, and I hope that you did the same. I hope you will continue to boycott the NFL in the future, regardless of whether “your team” is doing well, as wage disparity, health/environmental issues, rampant sexism and racism plague the NFL. Wage theft is also an issue - which means that managers and business owners are withholding pay from their workers. There are many ways in which this occurs, from withholding at the very top, Champion Windows had nearly 700 employees who were finally paid almost $700,000 in overtime that they deserved. Many chain restaurants are on the list, but other smaller businesses, like The Senate in Over-the-Rhine, are also on the list. In Over-the-Rhine, I listen to stories of residents, including youth, who have received inhospitable service at restaurants, boutiques, or bars in the neighborhood. When someone complains that they were looked over for service, not given water or menus, people seated before them, ignored, poor service, etc., and they believe it has to do with their skin color, I file that business away in my brain as a place I should not support. Racism and poor labor practices are not the only reasons why I about it. Businesses that take up a huge amount of sidewalk space with barriers, like Rheinhaus, do that so they can serve alcohol on the sidewalk. Although it is legal, private sale of alcohol is not an acceptable use of public space. Other businesses are located in places that were key institutions in the neighborhood, like the corner store on 13th and Vine, where Homage is now, or the laundromat and school property where the Mercer is now. I refuse to be a part of the indirect gentrification in the neighborhood. Many other businesses are outside of the price range of myself and the original residents of the neighborhood. We obviously cannot afford to pay the starting dinner price of $38 at these restaurants on Vine Street. Finally, another trend, using racism/sexism/transphobia/ homophobia to sell your product will land you on my banned list. This includes the transphobic half taco, Hostile Design in Holtman's Donut Shop on Vine Street Close up of metal slats preventing people from sitting outside Holtman's Credit: Dr. Mark Mussman Credit: Dr. Mark Mussman But, I was well aware of what’s fair and that people should deserve a livable wage and safe working conditions. That instance, of actually seeing people outside a business, holding signs and daring customers to cross the line, was instrumental for me in my understanding of labor issues. Recently, you may have seen wages, to pooling tips unfairly, forcing workers to pay back overtime pay, changing time sheets, etc. Wage theft is rarely punished criminally, but business may be forced to pay back wages. A recent list of wagetheft businesses was compiled using federal data that included 100 local businesses where the employees have recovered their wages. For example, would refuse to patron a business in my neighborhood. Businesses, like Holtman’s Donut Shop on Vine street, where hostile design elements grace their building are also off limits for me. The metal slats under their windows prevent people who are waiting on the bus from sitting down. Even if they just rent the space, they could still do something half hotdog menu item from The Senate named after Caitlyn Jenner, or the poorly thought out menu items at Revolution Chicken “honoring” Gandhi and Harriet Tubman. Even though they changed these menu items, it is very offensive to come into a black neighborhood, where (Continued on page 7) Sidewalk seating forces single-file, tight spaces Spikes on the Fence around Union Hall bordering Imagination Alley Credit: Dr. Mark Mussman Credit:Dr. Mark Mussman THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �4 LOCAL THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED F e b 2 3 - M a r 8 , 2 0 18 | N o . 37 6 �No. 37 6 JUBILEE CAMPAIGN An Alternative | F e b 2 3 - M a r 8 , 2 0 18 A s anxieties about an economically unstable future grow globally, there is an alternative mindset much closer to home—literally just around the corner, in fact. Instead of relying on federal policy, our local communities are constructing an economy and a way of being that promises more stability and more local control. 2016’s surprise Brexit results in the UK and Trump’s election in the US are an indication that something fundamental is shifting in our economic and cultural landscape. There is waning faith that central governments—whether in Brussels or Washington and whether conservative or liberal—have the capacity to make a real difference in our lives. These votes highlight a profound distrust in some of the closely held beliefs that affect our economic and social well-being. No matter which way people leaned in the ballots, however, voters throughout the West agree that PETER BLOCK Contributing Writer more connected with their local communities. This community-concentrated mindset calls for a long-term shift in our economic thinking. Modern economic beliefs have been founded on assumptions of scarcity and a nearreligious belief in competition and growth. These beliefs have produced a set of betterment measurements: unemployment statistics, average income, purchasing power, and gross domestic product. Up until now, such metrics have become traditional yardsticks for the “good life.” This economic narrative implies that happiness and prosperity can be achieved by brilliant schooling, which leads to well-paying jobs, which leads to increased purchasing power, which leads to bigger houses and more assets. And yet the good life remains out of reach for too many: Families in the US are still impacted by the mortgage crisis, new jobs are in the lower-paying service sector, student structurally alternative economy that is occurring all around us. For example, cooperative housing involves jointly owned property with common spaces for cooking and eating, common areas for children to play, and privacy areas for times you want it. In the business sector, there are an estimated 30,000+ cooperative businesses in the US producing over 850,000 jobs; Ace Hardware and REI are two of the best known. There is also a rising nonmonetized economy. TimeBanks, which currently operate in 30 US cities, record each hour of generosity among neighbors, converting that time into additional volunteer hours to be spent at will. These communitybased models represent a profound shift towards an economics of mutuality. Instead of defining economics as the allocation of scarce resources, these models are based off the belief that in any given system, there is enough. There is also an expanding movement of community-building initiatives, in which neighborliness is assigned practical value. One of the most interesting is the Abundant Community Initiative, which was started in the Highlands neighborhood of Edmonton, Canada. something needs to be fixed. Instead of being outwardly focused on global forces or ceding all power to federal governments, many citizens around the world are turning their sights inward to what they can control: the cooperative economy and becoming BILL WOODS (Continued from page 2) above the poverty line. There are so many factors, according to Bankston, that keep families from lifting themselves out of poverty. She named the lack of affordable housing and the cost and the lack of day-care as two of them. Another negative is the lack of public 5 Working with the city government, local minister and neighborhood activist Howard Lawrence found people to act as “block connectors” for the neighborhood. The block connectors ask residents what they are good at, what they are willing to teach others, and what they would like to help make better in the neighborhood. The results of this experiment included a less isolated citizenry, more trust in the institutions of the city, and increased feelings of safety. The effort is now being replicated in fifteen additional neighborhoods in Edmonton. Now is the moment to take the idea of a cooperative economy and community-building seriously. As David Brooks declared in a recent New York Times column titled “The Great Affluence Fallacy,” “Maybe we’re on the cusp of some great cracking. Instead of just paying lip service to community while living for autonomy, I get the sense a lot of people are actually about to make the break and immerse themselves in demanding local community movements.” This crack could signal the beginning of an effort to reclaim the common good and reinvest in a promise we can believe in. Instead of looking outward or upward for solutions to our economic anxiety, we should be looking inward toward local and cooperative actions, plus a dose of neighborly affection. debt is high, and the average family credit-card debt is over $15,000, not counting car or home loans. And there is a solution that doesn’t rely upon federal political policy or the whims of the global economy. The cooperative economy is a transit to connect city residents with the jobs that exist in the suburbs beyond the City limits. Finally, she is convinced that uncoordinated and sometimes conflicting public and private social service programs must be refashioned to more effectively help families. Bankston says that any effective effort to address poverty has to go beyond economics to deal with the "distrust, anger," and other psychological barriers that grow up in a culture of poverty. She is encouraging the development of more hands-on services that work with families on the whole range of obstacles that keep them from achieving success. She sees the role of the Collaborative as a catalyst to promote and to advocate for the kind of coordinated programs and services THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED and public policies that will truly deal with the complexities of urban family poverty. P.S.- The Forum on March 1st tackles one of the issues brought up by Karen Bankston. A panel will look at the inadequacies of Cincinnati's current bus service and discuss how they can be fixed. -------------------------------------- �6 LOCAL School shootings and other social problems O ur media landscape defines how we feel about touchstone cultural events (no matter the political leanings of our news sources) by virtue of what gets covered, and how. Once again, we find ourselves in the midst of a debate about guns, school shootings, and the limits of the second amendment. But what if the media landscape does not provide an accurate context? In other words, what are the cold hard facts about school shootings? I thought to dig into some number-based facts with regards to school shootings. 1) According to the US Department of Education, in the fall of 2017, there were 50.7 million students in public elementary and secondary schools, and an additional 5.2 million attending private schools. For the sake of round numbers, let's call that approximately 56 million students attending our country's elementary and secondary schools. 2) Jugal K. Patel, writing a recent item for the New York Times titled "After Sandy Hook, More Than 400 People Have Been Shot in Over 200 School Shootings," states that, since the Sandy Hook shooting, "...there have been at least 239 school shootings nationwide. In those episodes, 438 people were shot, 138 of whom were killed." The Sandy Hook shooting happened in December, 2012. For the sake of simple math, let's call that five years ago. On average, then, 88 students per year get shot, and 28 per year get killed. Before looking at the math to determine the probability of a student being shot to death in school, let me be clear: I do not mean to suggest that it is acceptable for anyone to be shot needlessly, in school or otherwise. Instead, I'm just curious how the actual facts match the media landscape which seems to be influencing both what we talk about, and how we talk about it. To find the chances of being shot in a school-based event, I used the numbers from above: 88/56,000,000=0.00000157142, or roughly 0.00016%. Chance of being shot to death in a school-based event: 28/56,000,000=0.00000005, or roughly 0.00005%. I had to look up a JOSH SPRING (Continued from page 2) team trying to force its way into a neighborhood that doesn’t want it. Don’t cheer on your team to continue in a fight that simply makes it look worse and worse. Many of us are fine with FC Cincinnati looking worse and worse, but if you, as a fan don’t want that, tell Jeff Berding to stop trying to force the team on people that don’t F e b 2 3 - M a r 8 , 2 0 18 | N o . 37 6 JASON HAAP Contributing Writer chart to even know what words to call that number. I'm still not sure. While it is never okay for a child to be shot, a 0.00005% probability is astronomically small - especially compared to how I think the media landscape is making all of us feel right now. The fact that so many angry arguments, some of which can end family relationships or lifelong friendships, are happening over something with such a tiny probability Time for more facts! The National Center for Education Statistics indicates that, in the 2013-14 school year, there were 98,271 public schools in our country. (I'm not including private schools in this computation because, presumably, armed guards for private schools would not be paid by public dollars, but I could be wrong.) According to a 2014 Census Bureau report, the average American In some states, there are no age restrictions for rifles like the AR 15 Rifle Credit: abc7.com Media Guide to AR 15 Rifle Credit:ForceOptionsUSA.com strikes me as worth further thought. The radical right says we need to arm all the teachers. I'm not going to even take that suggestions seriously. But many have called for armed guards in every school. I feel like lots of people find that potential solution more reasonable. income is about $52,000 per year. Let's assume one armed guard in every school costs the average salary plus insurance and benefits. I believe this would take the number above $60,000 in real costs, but let's use that number to be conservative. And let's also remember many schools are want it because their life experiences tell them this stadium would harm their community. --------------------------------------- Jeff Berding at West End Community Council Credit: Justin Jeffre THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED so large, they would need more than one armed guard. Nevertheless, to put an armed guard in every public school at the average salary would cost $5,896,260,000 - or nearly $5.9 billion per year. If these armed guards were able to prevent all shooting deaths (which is highly unlikely), that would mean each saved life (28 per year) would cost approximately $210,580,714. Is it worth $211 million to save one life? According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, "[b] etween 1999 and 2002, hypothermiarelated deaths, totaling 4,607 in number, occurred in all 50 states in the United States." In other words, about 1,152 people die each year from being homeless in the cold. Over 41x as many people die from exposure related to homelessness than are shot in schools. Writing for the New York Times in 2012, in an item titled "Homeless Rates in U.S. Held Level Amid Recession, Study Says, but Big Gains Are Elusive," reporter Annie Lowery cites a housing official who claimed the US could effectively end homelessness for $20 billion per year. I think it's interesting to juxtapose numbers like this. I know there are all kinds of reasons people will cite about why homeless people are not the same as school students. There are all kinds of negative character traits that many apply to homeless people* which they don't apply to schoolchildren - but, at the end of the day, a life is a life, and I guess I kind of wonder what would happen if our culture would debate other social problems as vigorously as schoolshootings, especially when a greater total of lives could be saved. *Advocates of "person first language" believe in using phrases like "people experiencing homelessness," but instead I subscribe to "identity first language," which posits that being homeless is nothing to be ashamed of, and as such there is no reason to contort the typical use of adjectives in the English language. To contact Jason Haap email him at jasonhaap@gmail.com. [Editor’s note: The Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition encourages people to use person first language.] �No. 37 6 7 LOCAL Authorizing Hostilities | F e b 2 3 - M a r 8 , 2 0 18 MICHAEL EARL PATTON N o one I know questions the right to defend our country in the case of an actual attack, but what about in case of a threat? Who makes the decision to respond, what form the response shall be, or if there even should be a response? Let’s leave aside the issue of economic and trade sanctions and focus on military force. Specifically, I am interested in who has the power to deploy our forces to areas where hostilities are likely and also who can order military force to be used, such as a bombing campaign. Since 2014 we have been conducting airstrikes against the self-proclaimed Islamic State, which had taken over large parts of Iraq and Syria. We also have about 1,500 troops in Syria to help the Syrian Kurds beat back the Islamic State. The problem is that Syria is not an ally of the United States – far from it. We have heavily criticized President Assad and have said that there is no place for him in a peaceful Syria. Needless to say, we never got permission to station troops there, let alone conduct military operations. Obviously the president, as commander-in-chief, was involved, but was Congress? Was authorization from Congress needed? Did Congress grant it? The Constitution divides the authority over the military between the president, who is the commanderin-chief, and Congress, which has the power to declare war and controls the funding. This split in authority was the product of the 1787 Constitutional Convention, which deliberated greatly on the balance of power between the president and Congress. As described in Edward Larson’s book, The Return of George Washington: 1783 – 1789, many feared giving too much power to the president who could then use that power to become DR. MARK MUSSMAN (Continued from page 3) most of the original businesses have already been forced out, to recreate and rebrand traditional soul food, and make it out of reach of the black residents through racism, price points, or hostile design. I decided that I wanted to give my classmates an opportunity to see why I envision a picket line at 21C Hotel through a walking tour through Overthe-Rhine. Several of my classmates, who were in town for the reunion, and I met at Washington Park for Contributing Writer a monarch. Others wanted to give the president more power to get away from the indecisions so characteristic of Congress under the Articles of Confederation, which formed the first constitution of the United States. Under the Articles there was no separate executive officer, no one person to carry out the laws passed by Congress. And one of the things that vexed Washington was that Congress, under the Articles of Confederation, could not rid the 30,000 acres he owned in today’s West Virginia of Indians. The Indians, naturally enough, said that land and most of today’s Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, belonged to them. A stronger military was important to Washington. And while everyone at the convention trusted Washington to be an excellent first president, the concern was who would be the second. Many like Benjamin Franklin wanted a weaker president. In the end we wound up with the current division with people on both sides hoping that the somewhat vague wording would work to their side’s advantage once the new government got underway. And 230 years later that question as to exactly how to divide that authority is still with us. It must be conceded, however, that the president as commander-in-chief is currently using his power much more effectively than Congress is using theirs. The 1973 War Powers Resolution was passed over the veto of President Nixon. Section 4(a) (1) requires the President to report to Congress when U.S. forces enter hostilities, or it appears hostilities are imminent. Once such a report is submitted, the use of these forces must be terminated within 60 to 90 days unless Congress authorizes such use or extends the time period. Such a report has been given only once, during the 1975 Mayaguez incident, but by the time the report was submitted the forces had been withdrawn. Presidents have reported to Congress on the use of force but generally do not refer to this section, as for example President Reagan did in 1983 during the invasion of Grenada. Both houses of Congress objected and said that the time limit applied, but not in one united resolution. In any event, the forces were withdrawn within 60 days. In 2001 Congress passed the “Authorization for Use of Military Force” (AUMF) following the September 11 attacks. This authorized the President to use “all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations, or persons.” This authorization for use of force against un-named organizations and persons is unprecedented in American history, but note that the authorization is still tied to those somehow connected to the events of 9/11. In 2002 Congress passed another Authorization for Use of Military Force, this time against Iraq. Note that the implication is that Iraq was not connected with 9/11. As for Syria, President Obama did notify Congress that he was using force but avoided mentioning Section 4(a)(1), instead saying that he was relying on his authority as Commander-in-Chief. He later cited the two AUMFs passed in 2001 and 2002 as giving him authority to deploy troops to Syria and to engage in actions against the Islamic State. President Trump so far has done the same. The problem is, neither of these AUMFs extend to Syria. No one is saying that Syria was involved in 9/11 and the Islamic State, against whom we are fighting in Syria, did not even exist in 2001. The Islamic State is not harboring people from Al-Qaida but is fighting them instead since they are insufficiently Islamic. Many members of Congress have had similar concerns about our actions there but so far have not taken any action. Recent history has been that Presidents act while Congress dithers. Given the recent record of Congress on the budget and immigration issues, it is probably too much to expect things to change soon. I do think this is very important, I just don’t see how things will change given most of the current office holders. (Candidate Hillary Clinton said that she wanted the United States to enforce a “nofly-zone” to prevent Russian and Syrian aircraft from flying over parts of Syria, also apparently without getting congressional approval. No improvement was likely in that direction.) Instead, I present for your consideration the recent votes regarding the proposed budget (H.R. 1892) with its large increase in military spending. The increase will be $80 billion in fiscal year 2018 and $85 billion the next year; the details of which will be described in a later bill. In Ohio Congressman Chabot (R) voted against it while Wenstrup (R) voted for it. Congressman Massie (R) from Northern Kentucky also voted against it. Both Ohio Senators Brown (D) and Portman (R) voted for it. Kentucky Senator McConnell (R) voted for it while Senator Paul (R) voted no and even filibustered against the bill for a few hours. No doubt this topic will be continued at a later date. the walking tour. If you’d like to learn more about hostile design, changes in the neighborhood, and the service agencies who serve the community, please email me or goto https:// cincihomeless.org/about/education/ to schedule an Over-the-Rhine People’s Movement Waling Tour. --------------------------------------- Metal barrier at Rhinehaus creates a difficult situation Credit: Dr. Mark Mussman “Breakdown Stereotypes” “Eradicate Misinformation” The Coalition for the Homeless provides Education and Service Programs that help to portray a more accurate and holistic picture of homelessness in Cincinnati. We believe an educated public can be a more compassionate public, willing to dedicate time and effort towards creating solutions to homelessness. The “Voice of the Homeless Speaker’s Bureau” program is made up of individuals currently experiencing homelessness or who have experienced homelessness, who share their experiences. The program is designed to put a face on homelessness and raise awareness about those struggling in our community. To schedule a speaker, contact Mark Mussman at (513) 421.7803 x14 THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �RELIGIOUS PEACEMAKERS Retired Lutheran Minister Dorsey Stebbins' Voice for Peace and Justice Are His Patient and Persistent Protest Signs One at a Time 8 W F e b 2 3 - M a r 8 , 2 0 18 | N o . 37 6 hen Dorsey Stebbins, 12 years old, was not able to successfully help his father in his business as this latter expected, his father, fearing for him, bluntly told him that he "would not make it" in his life. This affected Stebbins very much and remained with him ever since. It, however, also created in him the determination to be persistent in whatever he did, to put in longer hours at tasks to make up for what he lacked, and that eventually he would succeed. "I am not eloquent at words," Stebbins says, "but I use signs to protest injustice wherever I see it, and I do it day after day, without being deterred, until someone notices." "My persistent protest signs are my voice, and I hope they make a difference, even if a little at a time," he adds. Stebbins was born in 1932 in a religious family, his mother a Lutheran and his father member of the Church of the Brethren. Baptized as an infant, he attended, growing up, the Lutheran church of Miamisburg, OH, the town where his family lived. He felt all along that he was a "child" of God. He was pious, and all those who knew him assumed he would become a minister one day. Heading to college and doubting his capabilities, he tried successively Education, Engineering, Liberal Arts, and finally the Lutheran Church Gustavus Adolphus College in St Peter, Minnesota. He worked hard, succeeded, was ordained a Lutheran minister and was offered two parishes in the same area. "I wanted to do my best to be a good minister wherever I was needed," he says. "I recognized that God loved me and everyone else, and I wanted to share this message with SAAD GHOSN Contributing Writer my parishioners." Stebbins remained 6 years in Minnesota then moved to lead other ministries in Dayton, then Loveland and Mason; he served as a Lutheran pastor for 22 years total. In 1977, and due to a misunderstanding with his bishop, he had to leave his last parish, the Holy Trinity church in Mason, and remained without one for 3 years. This lapsed time, according to the Lutheran Church rules, terminated officially his ministry. He later got a job as a high school teacher of mathematics in Dayton, OH, and remained in this position until 1992, when he retired to take care of his then wife, diagnosed with Alzheimer. In the meantime Stebbins had met Maurice McCrackin (1905-1997), an American civil rights and peace activist, also a Presbyterian minister who was removed from his church St. Barnabas in Cincinnati's West End, for standing up for his beliefs against the Vietnam War and refusing to pay his federal taxes as a result. McCrackin had then started the small Community Church on Dayton Street, downtown Cincinnati, and Stebbins joined it. "Meeting McCrackin in 1985 triggered my real involvement in social justice as an activist," says Stebbins. "When in college, I was, however, fascinated by any gifted person advocating for social justice and, thus, did contribute a little bit myself." Stebbins first act was in the Fall of 1958 when he and another seminarian went to Little Rock, Arkansas, to interview then Governor Orval Faubus, a Democrat, who was standing against desegregation of the Little Rock School District; and What Is LUTHERANISM Lutheranism is a major branch of  Protestant  Christianity  which identifies with the theology of Martin Luther (1483–1546), a German friar, ecclesiastical reformer and theologian. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched the Protestant Reformation in the German-speaking territories of the Holy Roman Empire. The divide between the Lutherans and the Catholics centers primarily on two points: the proper source of authority in the church, or the formal principle (Scriptures alone for Lutherans, Scriptures and Tradition, i.e. doctrinal and spiritual authority of the Christian Church, for Catholics); and the doctrine of justification (i.e. salvation), or the material principle (justification by "grace alone" through "faith alone" in Jesus for Lutherans; through faith and good works for Catholics). Lutherans retain many of the liturgical practices and sacramental teachings of the pre-Reformation Catholic Church, including baptism and the Eucharist, or Lord's Supper.  Today Lutheranism is one of the largest denominations of Protestantism including approximately 80 million adherents worldwide. Daisy Bates, the American civil rights activist, publisher and journalist, who, on the other hand, was actively supporting it. They also interviewed a local author who had written an article in The Progressive in favor of it; the president of the White Citizens’ Council, a white supremacist organization founded in opposition to racial integration of schools; and various students at a junior college. Dorsey Stebbins In 1960 and as a pastor, Stebbins attended a businessmen’s gathering and spoke out against accusations made by the House Committee on Unamerican Activities, the committee created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloyalty and subversive activities of citizens and organizations suspected of having Communist ties. A local paper editor soon after and in response to his intervention, wrote in an editorial that colleges in America were now graduating communist sympathizers. After meeting McCrackin, Stebbins followed him and participated in his numerous pacific activities, namely fighting for racial equality, for prisoner's rights, for an end to militarism in the United States, for the sanctuary movement affecting then Hispanic immigrants from Central America, against tearing down hotels that lodged the city’s poor... After McCrackin's death in 1997, he followed leads by Buddy Gray, IJPC, Contact Center, and ACORN, participating in their various struggles for social justice. In recent years, Stebbins protested Econocide (as defined by Alice Skirtz) and the gentrification of the Cincinnati neighborhood of Overthe-Rhine, regularly standing on its street corners, holding signs against the city and corporate actions that displace, in the name of economic development, poor residents they consider neither needed nor wanted. With Streetvibes contributing writer Jim Luken, he protested 5 years ago the proposed takeover by Western & Southern of the Anna Louise Inn downtown Cincinnati and its conversion into a de luxe hotel. The Inn had been functioning for Credit: Saad Ghosn over 100 years as housing for single women providing them with low-cost housing and various health services. Stebbins picketed persistently for 6 weeks in front of the Inn, holding his protest signs in locations visible to the Western & Southern's employees and to passerbys, calling their attention to the unjust issue. His tenacity triggered an increasing number and size of local demonstrations that weighed strongly in the final sale settlement of $4 million by W&S, enabling Anna Louise Inn to continue its mission by building a new home at an alternate site. In 2012, Stebbins was also one of the 1st Cincinnatians to religiously participate in the Occupy movement, hoping for a cultural and political revolution. He picketed, marched, demonstrated and attended the many strategic and sharing gatherings of the movement. "I saw in the Occupy meetings something I had never seen before," he says. "There was respect for everyone's voice, and a lot of diversity; so many African Americans and so many whites involved together, (Continued on page 11) Religious Peacemakers is a regular column highlighting Greater Cincinnati individuals who use their faith and religious beliefs for peace and justice. Saad.Ghosn@uc.edu is the founder of SOS (Save Our Souls) Art, an organization that promotes arts as vehicles for peace and justice and for a change. THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �No. 37 6 O LOCAL Uber Cannot Replace Public Transit – But It Can Enhance It | F e b 2 3 - M a r 8 , 2 0 18 9 MARK SAMAAN ur bus system has major flaws including 101 buses that are older than 12 years old and break down more often, routes are set up in a 70’s style downtown hub-and-spokes model, and strained budgets have caused service reductions which have increased the time between buses on the same line. These issues together have produced a system which loses riders every year as service declines, which lowers the revenue collected by Contributing Photographer is full, fares paid cover most of the cost of the trip. This type of route needs regular-sized buses to handle the demand, especially during peak hours. As most Route 33 riders’ destination is downtown, the capacity is needed along the entire route so that buses aren’t overfull as they near Government Square. Next consider Metro Route 50 which runs from Addyston to Downtown via River Road and Sayler Buses are so crowded, people have to stand Credit: Better Bus Coalition Metro, which causes further service cuts and continues the cycle. Many have discussed whether private rideshare services like Uber and Lyft could move people around more efficiently and cheaper than traditional bus service. Why replace buses and increase service when rideshare is growing and offers an alternative to driving your own car? Although rideshare offers some serious benefits to the public transportation system, the bus is still the most efficient method of moving large amounts of people at the lowest cost. Consider Metro Route 33 which runs on 8th St, Warsaw Ave, and Glenway Ave through Price Hill and Westwood. This route moves 1.1 million passengers per year and accounts for 8% of the total Metro bus ridership. Over 4,000 riders per day use the 33. The average bus on this line carries 54 riders per trip on its route with most riders going downtown. During weekday peak hours, buses come every 12 minutes and are consistently full. The average cost to provide this service is $1.85 of subsidy per rider. When the bus Park. It carried approximately 300 riders per day over 14 weekday round trips with an average of 15 riders per trip. The subsidy per rider is almost $10, with ticket revenues covering only 12% of the operation costs. So, what if this route was converted to Uber rides only between Addyston and Downtown along the route, but also providing service to the nearest Transit Hub at Glenway Crossing or the Western Hills Plaza? Right now, these riders are mostly all going to downtown and back, but because the ridership is so low each rideshare vehicle would most likely only be able to carry 1 or 2 people at a time except during peak hours. As such the subsidy per rider would be just as high as running a bus, if not higher. This type of line could be considered for rideshare service during off-peak hours, but during peak the bus is still the most efficient way to move people. Beyond cost and transit efficiency, adding tens of thousands of rideshare vehicles per day to our roads would cause major traffic congestion, especially during peak hours in the city. Although transit ridership in Hamilton County is very low at 4% of commuters taking Metro, the system does function very well as an urban core congestion and parking demand reducer. Main and Walnut Streets downtown carry a combined 24,000 bus riders per day in vehicles that make up less than 10% of the total vehicular traffic but 60% of the people moved in vehicles on those roads. Even at 4 passengers per car, thousands of rideshare vehicles would be needed downtown alone during peak hours. In addition to their addition to existing traffic, these vehicles would need significant dedicated loading and unloading spaces on city streets. Driving downtown is already difficult enough with people parking and picking up/ dropping people off. Imagine it with thousands more cars not fully pulling over into the loading lane, cars double-parked while they wait for their passengers, and general delays from people not being at the pickup point at the right time right during rush hour. Moving 4 people per car would also increase the ride times for passengers compared to driving 1 person at a time. Dropping off 4 different people at different locations which are somewhat close to each other could take as long as the ride itself, or even longer if local traffic conditions are bad. The influx of thousands more vehicles onto city streets would make our roads a nightmare and slow traffic significantly, especially in dense areas with lots of pick-ups and dropoffs. Anyone who has witnessed the gridlock on Main Street in Overthe-Rhine between midnight and 3 am has already gotten a glimpse of a future of replacing buses with rideshare. Rideshare does have a role to play in increasing the reach of our bus system and moving people around in low-density areas. One major factor which determines whether or not a person will take transit is how far of a walk the nearest bus stop is from their location which is called the first mile/last mile problem. Rideshare services could act as local shuttles in neighborhoods to bring people to the nearest major bus stop or transit hub, significantly shortening travel times for people who live farther than walking distance from bus stops. For people heading to farther out job centers, an express bus may bring them to that general area as a group, with rideshare vehicles waiting at the stop when the bus arrives to take people to their final destinations. This could especially work in places like Blue Ash and Mason, where a lot of people work, pedestrian infrastructure in job centers are almost non-existent, and buildings are not within a reasonable walking distance of each other. This would provide a seamless trip in the shortest time. Rideshare will not be an effective solution to our local transit woes, but it can offer significant benefits to the riding public and those who live beyond walking distance of transit stops. --------------------------------------- Certain routes are crowded for much of the day THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED Credit: Better Bus Coalition �10 LOCAL F e b 2 3 - M a r 8 , 2 0 18 | N o . 37 6 March 2 -24, 2018 For tickets please call (513) 381-2273 Purchase tickets online at www.cincyshakes.com AD Donated by Mark and Sue Ann Painter season sponsored by the Otto M. Budig Family Foundation THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �No. 37 6 LOCAL WHY IS CANCER MORTALITY SO HIGH FOR MINORITIES IN CINCINNATI? | F e b 2 3 - M a r 8 , 2 0 18 11 STEVE SUNDERLAND PART 4: THE ABSENCE OF A WELCOMING HOSPITALCOMMUNITY RELATIONSHIP "It is not surprising that rational decision makers in leadership positions would seek to avoid the complexity of community in favor of simpler models based on service delivery."--Gary Gunderson 1. Introduction: In prior articles questions were raised about the silence surrounding the high mortality rate from cancer for minorities. A question was raised about the absence of any healthcare outreach to those neighborhoods with the highest death rates, usually in those parts of our community that hospitals are located. A question was asked why physicians and nurses have so little experience with minorities and so little training for assisting low income and minority patients with their cancer. This article focuses on how a welcoming hospital and group of healthcare providers working in the community can change cancer mortality outcomes. Hospitals are not commonly thought about as places where friendly communication occurs. The invention of the Information Desk is the single greatest symbol of trying to assist a patient in finding the right physicians or departments. Yet, people leave with "information" but rarely understand how to negotiate the many hallways, especially when they may be suffering from an illness or a fear of an illness. What is needed is a different approach, an innovative way of thinking about the connection between the community and the hospital, especially in terms of cancer treatments. The person, before they are a patient, is filled with anxiety about approaching healthcare unless there is an attempt to make the visit to the hospital both understandable and safe. Going to the hospital can be a welcoming experience when there is a preparation that is trusted in the community. Too often people SAAD GHOSN (Continued from page 8) and all committed to non-violence and to an equal and just world." Stebbins has also been participating in many of the Amos Project activities, for instance in the fight against massive incarceration, and now, for a couple of years, against Judge Tracie Hunter’s criminal sentence. "They convicted her in 2014 for unlawful interest in a public contract, maintaining that she used her position as a judge to hire her brother. But they had no proof of it," says Contributing Writer have heard of or had horrible hospital experiences: treatments for the wrong illness, disrespect for the race, gender, and privacy of the person, long waiting times without any explanation as to why, and costly and often surprising costs. Replacing a history of indifferent or discriminatory expectations about a hospital visit requires a fundamentally different set of attitudes and policies. 2. Cancer care can be a welcoming and trusting experience for minorities and all patients: The key to new approaches lay in starting in the community with a person who is part of a team of a compassionate staff. Having a trusted navigator to assist with transportation to and from the hospital relieves a person who is unsure of how to take the best route. Having a trusted advocate accompany the person raises the possibility that the information about cancer screening and treatment will be better understood and that, if there are questions, the person will feel somewhat more confident that these questions can be answered by the health care professional. Having a compassionate colleague join with the person interested but fearful about cancer can have positive results when the fears are dispelled. Cancer is a confusing, dangerous, and misunderstood illness. It is rarely known that early screenings can catch and stop cancer growth, in many cancers. The presence of a heartfelt ally that can assist in obtaining accurate cancer information that offers the person the strength to continue. In sum, a person with an ongoing relationship with a friendly and knowledgeable friend can reasonably navigate the complex process of starting and completing the steps to knowledge about cancer. 3. Cancer navigators have been recognized as a critical factor in reducing mortality for almost 30 years. Harold Freeman, MD, surgeon, former president of the American Cancer Society, pioneered in 1990 a new approach to cancer care: the patient navigator. Freeman faced the reality that most of the people he met as patients were going to die because they had come too late for screening and treatment. The cancer had grown too much. His skills as a surgeon could not be applied when a patient's cancer had reached the final stage. Freeman recognized that the key to helping people involved coming to cancer care at the earliest stage. When cancer had just started to evolve, the physicians could move to remove all or most of the cancers. Freeman recognized that patients that were afraid of the hospital, terrified about anything to do with cancer, and resigned to fate their chances for survival, were not going to come for either screenings or treatment. Freeman opted to change the reality facing his lowincome patients. He realized that people could not overcome their fears by themselves, especially when they had no one to consult. He also realized that getting to the hospital for a screening and following up on treatments also needed some guidance and navigation by a trusted friend if the patient was going to have a successful outcome. The invention of the "patient navigator" as a person to assist the patient outside and inside the hospital made for the radical change in cancer care. In five years, with the use of patient navigators, Freeman changed the survival rate from 30% to 70%. Thanks to his innovation, every cancer program could develop a navigation program that followed his guidelines. The navigators were not healthcare professionals, nor did they offer medical advice. The navigators were advocates, allies, friends, and critical members of the healthcare process. 4. The spread of navigator programs across the US was a slow but successful process. The concept was seen as ripe for federal research to examine the strengths and weaknesses. Following five years of Stebbins. "Just recently, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters broke the same law  by offering a paid internship to the son of his good friend Ohio Supreme Court Justice Pat DeWine upon his request, and nothing has been done about it," he adds. Stebbins regularly picketed the streets of Cincinnati, holding his signs in favor of Justice Hunter. In the beginning, he got no public acknowledgement, but after 3 weeks or so, drivers passing by started honking their horns in support. "The issue is not out in the open and very few vocal leaders speak of it," he states. "I am one of the rare white individuals to protest Hunter's unjust sentencing; I see, however, my signs starting to make an effect. Unfortunately, racism is still alive and healthy in our society." Stebbins' main concerns have always been what is right and good for the community, the country, the world. He is for equality for all, and for opportunities for a good and decent life across the board. His commitments stem deeply from his Christian faith. Even though now retired as a Lutheran minister, he still attends the Ascension Lutheran Church, in Montgomery, OH, where he occasionally teaches Sunday school, also the Community Church, THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED national research, navigation was seen as a major factor in reducing cancer mortality and made a necessary part of every cancer program by the American College of Surgeons, a medical association that accredits cancer programs. Three years ago, in order to highlight his program, Dr. Freeman was invited to Cincinnati to share his research on patient navigation with hospital staff from most of Cincinnati's hospitals. His research, accompanied by an additional research presentation by Electra Paskett, PhD, Ohio State James Cancer Hospital, made clear that navigation had powerful positive outcomes in cancer education, cancer prevention, and cancer treatment. Since their presentation, a private non-profit organization, Cancer Justice Network, started the first navigation program. Using volunteers from the UC school of medicine, the Xavier school of nursing, and selected community organizers, a navigation program was begun in places where low income people, minorities, and the aged congregated. At dinners, health fairs, senior centers and school meetings, navigators visited with people and gently advised them about the benefits of cancer prevention. Slowly, the navigators began to hear the list of reasons that people were afraid to go for screenings and treatments. People didn't want to know what cancer does to the body, or understand what a screening involved, or whether they could get the results when they didn't have a primary care provider, or what to do with their children while they were getting screened, or where the best place to go for a screening was, or what the costs would be if cancer were found, or, in sum, who really cared if they lived or died from cancer. The navigators reached out to people, spoke one on one with them at locations outside the hospital, brought people to talk who had survived cancer, discussed that the navigators were going to be with (Continued on page 12) at Dayton St, founded by his mentor McCrackin, and which recognizes his ordination. "I see myself as an activist for justice and peace," says Stebbins. "When unjust issues come up, I jump. I respond to the immediate, and my signs become my voice." Quoting Micah 6:8: "The Lord God has told us what is right and what He demands: 'See that justice is done, let mercy be your first concern, and humbly obey your God',” he adds: "This core sums up my approach as a follower of Jesus Christ." --------------------------------------- �12 LOCAL F e b 2 3 - M a r 8 , 2 0 18 | N o . 37 6 The Road to Redemption T o start I must say this is about me and my experiences here at Joseph House. These are all my opinions and thoughts. I came here in September of 2016. Having been living with my mom for the past 25 years after getting honorably discharged from the US Army. I came here to save my life. I am an Alcoholic. Writing that simple 9 letter word has more meaning to me than any other word in the human language. I must admit that to myself daily or I will forget why I am here. I was here 3 years ago, but wasn’t ready to stop my destructive lifestyle and more importantly be honest with myself and others. Joseph House is a place for Veterans like myself who STEVE SUNDERLAND (Continued from page 11) people throughout their screening and, if necessary, through their treatment as well. Deeply felt fears about facing cancer, added to prior poor experiences with healthcare staff, and confusion about healthcare insurance, slowed the decision to go with the navigator. Many people that signed up for a screening refused to go when the time came for the screening and often refused the chance to go with a navigator. Many poor people explained that cancer was not at the top of their list of concerns; instead, they were more worried about food, shelter, employment, or their children's lives. The navigators began to understand why cancer mortality was so high in this population: the fears about cancer were in competition with other realities that took precedence in the survival of people. 5. The start of the Cancer Justice Network's navigation program was done with the support of many agencies in Cincinnati that work with the poor, homeless, aged, or people with disabilities. There was widespread recognition that the healthcare needs of this population were spotty and needed new interventions. The navigators were welcomed into agency dinners, health fairs, and meetings to discuss health related concerns. At the same time, the hospitals of Cincinnati did not start an in-hospital navigation program. Even though there was widespread recognition of the need, and an appreciation of Dr. Freeman's work, the hospitals avoided starting a program. The navigators in the Cancer Justice Network didn't have clear connections into hospital cancer programs for those people that needed a next step of treatment. Getting a colonoscopy proved difficult as well as many hospitals were reluctant to plan for such a procedure BOBBY MORRIS Contributing Writer suffer from the disease of Addiction. Let me describe who I was at my mom’s house. I was that creepy Uncle who stayed upstairs at his mom’s house who only came out to get something to eat or to do that weekly chore of putting the garbage on the curb begrudgingly. I was so isolated from life that I forgot how to feel. I was disconnected from my family and from reality. I was in a state of depression many like me can identify with. After years of this I finally had enough and made the call to Joseph House for help. Since that day in September my life has transformed. Redemption had begun without me knowing it at the time I start my day with chores, being responsible is something I lack. At my age this is something I should have learned at 14, but at that age I was drinking and drugging. Joseph House uses simple activities to get me to get in the habit of doing what’s right. It’s a struggle somedays and I think even non-Alcoholics can relate to struggling with things at times. Being a Veteran is a common thread for us. Taking orders and doing things with an attention to detail has been lost over the years but not forgotten. Joseph House reminds me of that constantly. Working in groups and going to meetings allows me to get to know who I am. Here the recovery is individual based. Each one of us have our own difficulties and with the help of staff (my Counselor) I have grown. I am not perfect each day but I see the if the patient was unpredictable in coming for the exam. It was clear that hospitals did not see navigation as a necessary element of their approach to cancer care. One hospital system did reach out and share research on how a navigation program in Birmingham, Ala., had made major steps in successfully working with a geriatric population. A local hospital team was planning on visiting the program and seeing how navigators within the hospital program were being used to improve treatment and hospital costs. 6. At the same time, another program that used navigators in and out of the hospital came to the attention of the Cancer Justice Network. This program is called The Congregational Health Network(CHN) and it is based at Methodist Hospital in Memphis, TN. Reading about this program made clear that navigators, if they were to be successful in overcoming longstanding fears, had to meet people outside the hospital and welcome them to think about their health and then connecting to the hospital if the services were needed. Visiting the Methodist Hospital program, the Cancer Justice Network learned the following: A. Methodist Hospital recognized that healthcare needed to include a partnership with churches in the community that could build trust in both the community and in the hospital. A major program was needed as Memphis had a very large poor and minority population that needed extensive healthcare. B. The chaplain of Methodist Hospital reached out to a small group of ministers to discuss the nature of a sound relationship between the hospital and the churches. Meeting for over a year, they realized that there was a spiritual connection between health of the congregants and the health providers. And they believed that the churches had "assets" that could improve healthcare. C. An agreement was signed, called a Covenant, that spelled out the nature of the relationship between church health committees and a navigator at the churches and navigators from the hospital. Churches would select "liaisons," people well known within the church community to be designated as navigators. These navigators would have direct connection with one of the team of hospital navigators. In this way, potential patients knew there were trusted people in the church who cared about health and that they were in a relationship with a hospital funded navigators. These two sets of navigators would work together, with the hospital navigators visiting the church at times, and the church navigators accompanying their congregants. D. The minister's discussion highlighted that both the church health committee and the hospital needed to demonstrate that people could engage with respect, fostering trust, insuring reliability, using only straight talk, providing a capacity to listen deeply for understanding the needs of the individual, and to make commitments to follow through. Over ten years, 500 churches joined the Congregational Health Network, reaching about 200,000 people. E. The CHN developed five Care Pathways for healthy relationships: These are: 1) to educate by offering short courses that church members can attend for free on diseases and disease prevention; 2) A monthly prevention goal, i.e., discussion about a "disease of the month;" 3) a commitment to intervention, to making sure patients went to the hospital for needed screenings and treatments; 4) a realization that there needed to be a high quality life outside the hospital, and resources to assist; and, 5) a commitment to use the resources of the church for aftercare for the patients in order to assure a THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED small changes in my life. These small changes will eventually lead to a better me and with that a productive member of society. That is one of the goals of my recovery to redeem that in which I have lost and have destroyed in other people. To conclude this brief stint into the life I have here in Joseph House. I would say that I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world right now. I can see the redeeming qualities in myself and the others around me and with that in mind we all can make the people in our lives proud to know us once again. REDEMEPTION IS POSSIBLE THROUGH THE HELP AND AID OF PEOPLE LIKE THOSE AT JOSEPH HOUSE TO CARRY YOU THROUGH THE ROUGH PATCHES UNTIL YOU CAN SEE THE GREEN PASTURES UP AHEAD. --------------------------------------- continuation of healthy behaviors. F. The early outcomes of the CHN's approach are impressive: "... early hospital research data show a 50% decrease in mortality rate, a 20% decrease in hospital readmissions, and a savings of over $4 million in billable costs to the hospital. On all patient diagnosed, the average CHN patient showed approximately 120 days longer between readmissions to the hospital, compared to control patients out of network." G. The CHN has a deep spiritual commitment to making this relationship work for the churches and the hospital. "It's the right thing to do," the Rev. Bobby Baker, chaplain and co-founder of the CHN, says when questioned about the mission of the hospitals and the churches. Clearly, the extra effort to organize ministers, health committees, select and train church navigators, and build relationships with hospital navigators and hospital procedures is a fundamental change for both the churches and the hospital. It is a change that is now welcomed by both partners in the CHN. 7. Cincinnati's hospitals and cancer programs have a lot to learn from the CHN. Facing the problems of mortality in our community will require a new focus and new policies if there is to be any significant change in the life expectancy of most of our citizens. Right now, there is only one navigation program and it is outside the hospitals, and touching about 6000 people a year with education programs and assistance to screenings. The CHN program offers a different methodology with an expectation of different results. We will work for the development of this exciting alternative to health care. --------------------------------------- �No. 37 6 STREET VOICE | F e b 2 3 - M a r 8 , 2 0 18 SON A PARADE FOR HIMSELF Son talk to me Mommy needs to know What you feel Did you know plans are being made For Prez Trump's big military parade? And what you see His desire for a grim show of force Son talk to me Is not a traditional American course. Mommy loves you Democracy's not The Donald's thing. With all her heart Seems like we have been drifting apart It’s a feeling, I feel in my heart I will never let anything keep us apart In the heart is where we need to start Like the good old days When learning and hoping were part of our start And we would talk Let’s start over son Because you are my heart KIM GREEN 13 Streetvibes Distributor & Contributing Writer He's a man who sees himself as King. BILL WOODS Contributing Writer HOME ALONE I feel so blessed that being homeless for me has ceased Ceased meaning yesterday looking at today I still pray for peace I just knew being home alone, finally afer living in the street with a slide That I could finally rest with my memories and let my spirit glide I've learned that being home alone doesn't always make one happy Especially to wake up to the reality that the world you live in actually is crappy I hear a security guard involved in the death of a young man I hear for double murder you get twenty-five years in this land! I find myself afer all is said and done I'm lonely, bored, behind the time or missing people I need to be able to talk, enjoy, laugh, respecting history with loud chimes on the steeples I've learned in order to a make a change is some serious work and a lot of effort for me I've learned that I can not change people I must take the challenge to change myself you see I 've learned to keep my spirit clean for only God knows the truth there is NO DOUBT I'm learning to be honest with myself and living my life is what it's all about For everyone needs to be aware rather it be now or later that the CONSCIENCE KILLS Whether you be good or bad to live in denial just listen your conscience will get you... YOU JUST BE STILL! WILLA DENISE JONES Streetvibes Distributor & Contributing Writer THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �14 PUZZLES F e b 2 3 - M a r 8 , 2 0 18 | N o . 37 6 CROSSWORD PUZZLE NO. 145 Across 1. Bring ashore 5. Region 9. Track 13. Woodwind instrument 14. Tether 16. Pronunciation mark 17. Transmitted 18. Out of fashion 19. Loose flowing garment 20. Set at a high angle 22. Spool 23. Elderly 24. Weep 26. Accepted something given 28. A state of adversity 33. Grooved tire surface 36. Colony insect 37. Impart knowledge 39. Sloping edge on a cutting tool 41. Smack 43. A lower limit 45. Brass instrument 46. Hirsute 48. Mistake 50. Relieve from 51. Inflict 53. Totality 55. Soot 57. The night before 58. Aromatic leaves used as seasoning 61. Skilful in physical movements 64. Planet 68. Golf club 69. Edible bulb 71. Painful 72. Metallic element 73. Meaning of a word or expression 74. Finished 75. Brink 76. Trial 77. Requirement Down 1. The result of costs exceeding revenue 2. Assist 3. Not any 4. Hate 5. Any high mountain 6. Raise 7. Facilitate 8. A useful or valuable quality 9. Small long-tailed bird 10. Highly excited 11. Hollow cylindrical shape 12. Pay close attention to 15. Serf (Middle Ages) 21. Dessert wine 25. Cattle reared for their meat 27. Globe 28. Punctuation mark 29. A relative by marriage 30. One of a flight of steps 31. Involves a vendor and buyer 32. Gain points in a game 34. A light shade of blue 35. An accounting entry 38. Tusk 40. Polite name for a woman 42. Mien 44. Memorization by repetition 47. Edible tuber 49. Tear violently 52. Acclaim or praise 54. Rationality 56. Religious doctrine 58. Magnitude 59. Desiccated 60. Percussion instrument 62. Amercement 63. Flip of a coin 65. Wander 66. Diagram often used in genealogy 67. Group of animals of the same kind 70. Fish trap PUZZLE SOLUTIONS ISSUE 375 CROSSWORD PUZZLE NO. 144 SODOKU PUZZLE NO 275 - MEDIUM SODOKU PUZZLE NO 274- MEDIUM PUZZLES from puzzlechoice.com and puzzles.ca THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �No. 37 6 RESOURCES | F e b 2 3 - M a r 8 , 2 0 18 Central Access Point 15 381-SAFE Shelter: Women and Children Bethany House 557-2873 1730 Race Street 45202 St. Francis Soup Kitchen 535-2719 St. George Food Pantry 751-8771 2554 Dennis St. 45219 Prince of Peace Lutheran Church 621-7265 Health Resource Center 357-4602 McMicken Integrated Care Clinic and Mobile Medical Van 386-7899 40 E. McMicken Ave, Cinti, Ohio 6037 Cary Ave. 45224 FreeStore/FoodBank 241-1064 McMicken Dental Clinic 352-6363 40 E. McMicken Ave, Cinti Mental Health Access Point 558-8888 NAMI of Hamilton County 351-3500 PATH Outreach 977-4489 131 E. 12th Street 45202 Madisonville Ed & Assistance Center 271-5501 Other Resources St. Vincent de Paul 562-8841 215 E. 14th St. 45202 1841 Fairmount Ave. 45214 The Esther Marie Hatton Center for Women 2499 Reading Road 562-1980 Grace Place Catholic Worker House 681-2365 1528 Race St. 45202 Churches Active in Northside 591-2246 4230 Hamilton Ave. 45223 Salvation Army 762-5660 112 E. Liberty Street 45202 YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter 872-9259 4600 Erie Ave. 45227 Serves area codes: 45226, 45227, 45208, 45209 Shelter: Men Shelterhouse 721-0643 1125 Bank Street 45214 411 Gest St. 45203 Treatment or Supportive Recovery: Men St. Fran/St. Joe Catholic Work. House 381-4941 Charlie’s 3/4 House 784-1853 1437 Walnut Street 45202 City Gospel Mission 241-5525 2121 Vine Street 45202 Prospect House 921-1613 1805 Dalton Ave. 45214 Parkway Center 661-4620 682 Hawthorne Ave. 45205 Starting Over 961-2256 Shelter: Youth Sheakley Center for Youth (18-24 y/o) 2522 Highland Ave. 45219 569-9500 Lighthouse Youth Crisis Center (10-17 y/o) 3330 Jefferson Ave 45220 961-4080 Treatment or Supportive Recovery: Women Shelter: Family Treatment or Supportive Recovery: Both Interfaith Hospitality Network First Step Home 961-4663 2203 Fulton, Cinti, Ohio 45206 AA Hotline 351-0422 CCAT 381-6672 471-1100 Housing: 830 Ezzard Charles Dr. 45214 Caracole (HIV/AIDS) 761-1480 CMHA 721-4580 Excel Development 632-7149 OTR Community Housing 381-1171 Joseph House (Veterans) 241-2965 1522 Republic Street 45202 114 W. 14th Street 45202 Talbert House 221-HELP Tender Mercies 721-8666 27 W. 12th Street 45202 Hamilton County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board 946-8000 Recovery Health Access Center 281-7422 Sober Living 681-0324 Talbert House 221-HELP Advocacy Tom Geiger House 961-4555 Volunteers of America 381-1954 Anna Louise Inn 421-5211 2401-2411 Reading Rd. 45202 Cincinnati Union Bethel 768-6907 2401 Reading Rd. 45202 VA 977-6800 VA Homeless 859-572-6226 Food/Clothing First Lutheran Church 421-0065 1208 Race St. Food - Last Monday 12-1 Clothing - second Monday 12-1 Lord’s Pantry 621-5300 OTR/Walnut Hills Kitchen & Pantry 961-1983 Catholic Social Action 421-3131 Community Action Agency 569-1840 Contact Center 381-4242 Franciscan JPIC 721-4700 Gr. Cinti Coalition for the Homeless 421-7803 117 E. 12th Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 Legal Aid Society 241-9400 Ohio Justice & Policy Center 421-1108 UpSpring 363-3300 Health 961-0600 Center for Respite Care 621-1868 OTR: 1620 Vine Street 45202 Walnut Hills: 2631 Gilbert Ave. 45206 3550 Washington Ave. 45229 Crossroad Health Center 381-2247 Our Daily Bread 621-6364 Franciscan Haircuts from the Heart 381-0111 Goodwill Industries 771-4800 Intercommunity Justice & Peace Cr. 579-8547 Mary Magdalen House 721-4811 1223 Main St. 45202 People Working Cooperatively 351-7921 The Caring Place 631-1114 Talbert House 751-7747 United Way 211 Women Helping Women 977-5541 Off The Streets 421-5211 Hamilton County Office of Reentry 946-4304 138 E. Court Street Room # 101 First Floor Hamilton/Middletown St. Raephaels 981-4200 Salvation Army 863-1445 Serenity House Day Center 422-8555 Open Door Pantry 868-3276 Northern Kentucky Brighton Center 799 Ann St. Newport, KY ECHO/Hosea House Fairhaven Resuce Mission Homeward Bound Youth Mathews House Homeless & Housing Coalition Parish Kitchen Pike St. Clinic Transitions, Inc Welcome House of NKY 205 West Pike Street, Covington, KY 41011 5 E. Liberty St. 45202 for 26 issues 859-261-5857 859-491-1027 859-581-1111 859-261-8009 859-727-0926 859-581-7745 859-291-9321 859-491-4435 859-431-8717 Women’s Crisis Center 859-491-3335 VA Domiciliary 859-572-6202 Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky 634 Scott St. 41011 859-291-4555 You can support our mission and spread the word about your business. For more information contact Justin Jeffre at 513421-70803 x 12 or email streetvibes@ cincihomeless.org $100 859-491-8303 Want to advertise in Streetvibes? Cincinnati Health Network 2825 Burnet Ave. 45219 Center Independent Living Options 241-2600 Peaslee Neighborhood Center 621-5514 $150 THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED for 26 issues and a $50 donation �16 F e b 2 3 - M a r 8 , 2 0 18 | N o . 37 6 S treetvibes is distributed by individuals who purchase the paper for 75 cents per copy and sell it for a $2.00 donation, keeping the profit they have earned. Becoming a Distributor is a great way for individuals who are financially poor to get back on (or stay on) their feet. This program provides supplemental income for those unable to secure other employment. Money earned helps meet basic housing, food and health care needs. The program is a hand up for people who are often in a place of getting only a hand out, or even no hand at all. All Distributors wear a badge and usually a vest and can be found selling the paper in Downtown Cincinnati, Clifton, Northside, Northern Kentucky and at area churches. ALFRED WOOLFOLK SINCE 10/2003 ASRES AYENAW SINCE 2012 BERTA LAMBERT SINCE 1997 BETTIE BAILEY SINCE 10/2017 BRANDON NELSON SINCE 4/2008 BRIAN ADAMS SINCE 7/2017 CHARLES WILLIAMS SINCE 7/2017 CHRISTOPHER KAIHATSU SINCE 7/2017 CLEO WOMBLES SINCE 10/2003 CRANDALL COBB SINCE 2004 DARREL ROZIER SINCE 7/2017 DAVID MCCANE SINCE 2017 ERIC VALDEZ SINCE 2/2017 GERALD FRANKLIN SINCE 7/2017 GRADY COOK SINCE 1997 GREGORY RAY SINCE 4/2015 HENRY BRELAND SINCE 7/2017 JAMES BROWN SINCE 3/2009 JAMES DAVIS SINCE 8/2000 JENNY BURTON SINCE 7/2017 JIMMIE GIPSON SINCE 2001 JON DARBY SINCE 2/2006 JOHN HORN JOSEPHINE BASKERVILLE SINCE 9/2008 J’TORI TYMAN SINCE 5/2014 KIM NGUYEN SINCE 7/2017 KENNY BUSSELL SINCE 10/2009 KAREN COLLETTE SINCE 7/2008 KEITH EUTSEY SINCE 2/2011 LARRY BROWN SINCE 10/2007 LEE MCCOY SINCE 7/2009 LEONARD JACKSON SINCE 2/2005 MARY MUELLER SINCE 5/2005 MARK SHEARS SINCE 4/2012 MAURICE GOLSBY MELISSA MOSBY SINCE 9/2014 MIKE CARANO SINCE 4/2016 RAESHAWN GIPSON SINCE 3/2009 RAYNARD JONES SINCE 10/2008 RICKY WOODS SINCE 4/2015 RICCARDO TAYLOR SINCE 1999 RONNIE PHILLIPS SINCE 10/2009 SAMUEL JACKSON SINCE 10/2006 STACIA HOLLANDER SINCE 2017 STEPHANIE EAKES SINCE 7/2017 SYLVESTER WALKER SINCE 7/2017 TALINA HILL SINCE 2/2011 TIA CASS SINCE 11/2007 TONY THOMAS SINCE 3/2005 VIOLET COLLINS SINCE 2017 VICTOR MUMPHRY WILLA JONES SINCE 1/2010 WINNIE RICE SINCE 7/2017 QUEENACELASTINE SINCE 7/2017 THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2018 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource February 23-March 8, 2018 Subject The topic of the resource Homelessness Description An account of the resource Pg 1: Cover Page Pg 2: From the Director Introducing the New Executive Director of the Child Poverty Collaborative Pg 3: My Picket Line Pg 4: How to Respond to Panhandling Pg 5: An Alternative Pg 6: School Shootings and Other Social Problems Pg 7: Authorizing Hostilities Pg 8: Religious Peacemakers Pg 9: Uber Cannot Replace Public Transit Pg 10: GCHC Pg 11: Why is Cancer Mortality so High for Minorities in Cincinnati? Pg 12: The Road to Redemption Pg 13: Street Voice Pg 14: Puzzles Pg 15: Resources Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Streetvibes Archive Project Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Streetvibes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource February 23-March 8, 2018 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Josh Spring Bill Woods Dr. Mark Mussman Jason Haap Michael Earl Patton Saad Ghosn Mark Samaan Steve Sunderland Bobby Morris Kim Green Willa Jones Justin Jeffre Homeless Coalition ECI.com ABC7.com ForceOptionsUSA.com Better Bus Coalition Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF ABC7.com Better Bus Coalition Bill Woods Bobby Morris Cancer Child Poverty Cincinnati Dr. Mark Mussman ECI.com FC ForceOptionsUSA.com Homeless Coalition Jason Haap Josh Spring Justin Jeffre Kim Green Mark Samaan Michael Earl Patton Minorities Public Transit Religion Saad Ghosn School Shootings Steve Sunderland Uber Willa Jones https://streetvibesarchive.net/files/original/b72e4fc15a8afae438b714a79fccba45.pdf 38856df2ddda6b3404cc72cda427a71b PDF Text Text February 9th - February 22nd 2018 | Vol. 21 Issue 4 (No. 375) advocating justice | building community The Allure of Gentrification | 3 This Issue is sponsored by Christ Church Cathedral INSIDE THIS ISSUE An Update on Citizen Organizing in 2018 | 2 Life is a Beach: Homeless In the Ocean State | 8 UC Students lose their bus passes | 9 Where Are Our Troops? | 7 Find previous issues of Streetvibes online at: cincistreetvibes.org Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition 113 E. 12th Street Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 streetvoice | 13 �2 LOCAL From The Director: Jeff Berding Has Brought Us Another Winner (not really) • At least 29.9 percent of people in Cincinnati live below the federal poverty line. • At least 41% of Black people in Cincinnati live below the poverty line. • 44.6 percent of our children live below the poverty line. • 52 percent of children under age six are a part of families experiencing poverty. • 74 percent of Black children below six years old live below the poverty line. • Nationally, prices have risen by about 42 percent since 2000. In Hamilton County the median income has risen by about 19 percent in this same time span and the cost of housing has risen more than 50 percent. • Since 2000 the poverty rate in Hamilton County has grown 43 percent. • Out of the 50 largest metro areas in this country, Cincinnati ranked 10th highest for the number of evictions in 2017. • More than 110,000 Hamilton County households are trying to make it in homes they cannot afford. • In Hamilton County we have a shortage of 40,019 homes available to L JOSH SPRING Executive Director Josh Spring Credit: Homeless Coalition households with incomes between 0 and 30 percent of the annual median income. Another way of saying this is that 55,600 households are trying to fit into 15,581 affordable homes. • On average, the life expectancy of Black men in Cincinnati is 10 years less than that of white men. The average life expectancy of Black women is 6.6 years less than white women. • Because the lack of affordable housing is at such a crisis level, so many families with children are losing their housing and seeking shelter, that approximately 70% of those families are turned away due to lack of available resources put into affordable housing construction and sustainability. • Our single women’s shelter operates over capacity almost constantly and has to turn women away because the lack of affordable housing is so great. • Our 18 to 24 year-old youth shelter has operated at capacity for years and has to turn people away because the lack of affordable housing is so great. • Our single men’s shelters on average operate at or over capacity. • Last winter the Winter Shelter hosted approximately 300 more individuals over the season than it did just several years earlier when we successfully, for the first time got it to be an open every night of winter. • The number of individuals and families living outside and in other places not meant for human habitation are also higher than in the past. • About 70 percent of people in the local shelter system are Black. • This school-year probably 20% of (Continued on page 12) An Update on Citizen Organizing in 2018 ast year, events in Washington, D.C. sparked significant local grassroots organizing around social, political, and economic justice issues. These local efforts included a Women's March and an initiative to bring about Congressional redistricting reform in Ohio. At the Community Issues Forum at Christ Church Cathedral on February 1st, a panel reviewed how some of these activities are playing out in 2018. Kate Gallion of United We Stand, was a key organizer of the recent January Women's March in downtown Cincinnati. She called the local march here and the marches in Washington, D.C. and across the country "a profound moment in grassroots organizing." The almost spontaneous coming together of women shaken by Trump's election a year ago has taken hold and actually grown in size. For instance, approximately 12,000 people F e b 9 - F e b 2 2 , 2 0 18 | N o . 37 5 Streetvibes is an activist newspaper, advocating justice and building community. Streetvibes reports on economic issues, civil rights, the environment, the peace movement, spirituality and the struggle against homelessness and poverty. Distributed by individuals experiencing homelessness or on the edge of homelessness, in exchange for a $2.00 Donation. Streetvibes is published twice a month by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless (GCCH), a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that works to eradicate homelessness in Cincinnati. 113 East 12th St. Cincinnati OH, 45202 Ph: 513.421.7803 FAX: 513.421.7813 WEB: www.cincihomeless.org BLOG: streetvibes.wordpress.com EMAIL: streetvibes@cincihomeless.org Editor: Justin Jeffre Executive Director: Josh Spring Director of Development: Mona Jenkins Director of Education: Dr. Mark Mussman Distributor Program Manager: Justin Jeffre Layout: Key Beck Reception: Larry Johnson, Anne Evans Maintenance: Pete Roper JUSTIN JEFFRE ----------------------------------------------- Streetvibes Editor marched locally in 2017, and this number increased to 15,000 this January. In fact, this number of participants makes it the largest nonsports related march on record in Cincinnati. Gallion noted that Facebook was a key social media tool in organizing the marches. Not only is it a fast (Continued on page 6) CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE Writers: Josh Spring, Justin Jeffre, Dr. Mark Mussman, Trenton Davis, Luwana Pettus Oglesby, Michael Earl Patton, Jim Luken, Isaac Smith, Jason Haap, Kim Green, Willa Denise Jones ----------------------------------------------Photography/ Artwork: Bill Woods, Isaac Smith, Jim Luken, Dr. Mark Mussman, Homeless Coalition --------------------------------------------------Thank You For Reading Streetvibes And Supporting Our Mission To Build Community And Advocate Justice. Attendees at Womens' March rally in Cincinnati Credit: Homeless Coalition THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED Streetvibes and The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless do not endorse candidates for public office. �No. 37 5 LOCAL The Allure of Gentrification 3 | F e b 9 - F e b 2 2 , 2 0 18 W DR. MARK MUSSMAN e get intoxicated when we think about changing the neighborhood. Quite literally, in Over-the-Rhine, we are putting a bar on every corner. But that’s not the intoxication I’m talking about. There is a lie, rooted deep within the false narrative of the American Dream, that claims that gentrification is good for a neighborhood. Even the New York Times encouraged its readers this month to visit Cincinnati, and specifically the “gentrifying district of Over-the-Rhine” as if gentrifying is a good thing, something to behold and embrace. But the reality is much more dangerous than that, and is something we should all be fighting against – here’s why. The biggest issue caused by gentrification is simply displacement. Whether people are displaced from their homes due to rising rents, eviction notices, or the overall loss of housing and small businesses, people are forced to move from their homes under the guise of “cleaning up the neighborhood.” Displacement is often done illegally, but because people in poverty can’t afford legal council, or don’t have the knowledge to fight for their rights, they are left with no way to fight back (unless they work with the Homeless Coalition and Legal Aid to create and sustain tenant organizations.) Displacement also occurs when your neighborhood changes and you are left without the things that made your neighborhood a community: schools, corner stores, social service agencies, public pools, public parks, laundromats, Staff Writer a post office. Why are you in this neighborhood anymore if you can not afford to go to the new shops, restaurants, or because your family and friends have already been forced out? Displacement doesn’t happen privatization of public goods and resources. Woefully underfunded public goods, like parks, schools, and public housing, become nuisances and “blight” which need an infusion of money to bring back to community standards. The larger picture of “cutting taxes” creates this shortfall goods. This week, ECOT, an Ohio online charter school, was found to have falsified its attendance records, reaping millions upon millions of taxpayer dollars that should have been going towards education. This is a perfect example of the privatization of public goods because we have now lost this money, and we won’t get it back – meanwhile, it will be spent on political campaigns of people who are calling for less taxes (again to underfund our public resources) CPD Assessment fittingly shows a park with all white children in it Credit: Cincinnati Police Department within a bubble – there are many steps that precipitate it, and many of them might be something that you think is harmless, and with which you agree. You might think it’s inevitable that the parks become privatized like Washington or Ziegler Park. This issue goes more deeply into Neoliberalism, which is essentially the of funding, and leaves us with “no choice” but to ask for a public-private partnership. This is what I call “built to fail” in which we know the outcome of underfunding, but we pretend like the people being hurt by it are not worthy of our full investment. We are seeing this happen at a rapid rate in both housing and public so that they can grab the next pot of public money – most likely housing. Our public housing is now being converted to private ownership through a process called RAD, which will sell off all of our publically owned real estate holdings to private companies who will want to make money for their shareholders off of the backs of low-income renters. This is being done in the name of “preserving” housing, but in reality, it is just another way for wealthy people to raid the public coffers. Other tactics that are used to gentrify a neighborhood include: surveillance, discomfort, criminalization, denial of experience, placing business over residents, forced programming, hostile design, and lack of historical insight. We are seeing each of these tactics occur in Over-the-Rhine right now. Other neighborhoods that are also forcing out residents include Walnut Hills, Corryville, Avondale, Mt. Auburn, Lower Price Hill, and CUF. Each neighborhood has its own community council and CDC (Community Development Corporation) that is making decision for the community, often without any genuine community input. Over the course of many years, this lack of community input results in the interests of those wanting to make more money trumping the voice of the residents who call their community “home.” A good way to look at this is Maps like this are used to create a false narrative Credit: Cincinnati Police Department THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED (Continued on page 7) �4 LOCAL THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED F e b 9 - F e b 2 2 , 2 0 18 | N o . 37 5 �No. 37 5 JUBILEE CAMPAIGN Compassionate Measurement | F e b 9 - F e b 2 2 , 2 0 18 W TRENTON DAVIS e are not deficiencies. We are people. In President Harry Truman’s inaugural address, when he first announced the “Truman Doctrine”, he tacitly began the popularization of the phrase: the “developing world”. This characterization of the world as an “us” and a “them”- them being those people who need “developing”- cast an imperial shadow on the United States’ aid programs abroad. They need fixing. That is what we told them. This view of others has percolated into domestic policy via the conversations that we have about our own communities. The questions that we ask our neighbors, when we Contributing Writer are trying to raise them out of poverty, focus on what they don’t have. Many times, we label entire neighborhoods as “poor” simply because they don’t make a lot of money; we call this measurement median income. The current measurement system labels these people as broken, lesser, in need of fixing, simply because of something as superficial as money. Moreover, these measurements bring non-profits and welfare programs that offer just enough to keep your head above water. They induce cycles of fluctuant income- a social safety net that may not catch you- rather than promote and foster economic freedom. What is needed are strong neighborhoods that recognize and are connected to their assets. What is needed is a new narrative- a voice that speaks truth about who we really are. This new narrative must be told through a new economic index. We call it the Neighborhood Economic Vitality Index (NEVI for short). It is an assets-based index that asks residents of communities what they can and do offer to their neighbors. NEVI is currently active in several communities around Cincinnati, namely: Stanely Rowe Towers, Winton Terrace, Millvale, and Lower Price Hill. By allowing residents to express their skills, talents, gifts, others learn about the abundance that already exists in the There’s Compassion in Sharing LUWANA PETTUS OGLESBY “What it means to get gathered information back.” They Do Care!! T 5 ime and time again, we’re asked to give information about ourselves and our communities. Why? We never know the outcome of these questions. They come into our communities to ask us, what we think, how we feel, what changes needs to occur, how can we help and various other questions; but they never say or let us know what our input will show and what we can get from it. Well, there is beginning to be a shift in how others are thinking about us and what to do with the information they collect from us, about us and our communities. NEVI (Neighborhood Economic Vitality Index) has approached J-RAB, Inc. (Jurisdiction-wide Resident Advisory Board), an organization made up of the Presidents/Vice-Presidents of the Resident Council throughout CMHA (Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority). It began with three (3) developments, Stanley Rowe Tower-B, Millvale and Winton Terrace. This was a way to reach out to the residents and surrounding residents of CMHA in various neighborhoods to get their input about their neighborhood. As the president of Stanley Rowe Tower-B Resident Council, located at Contributing Writer 1621 Linn St., in the West End, and a Resident Connector for NEVI, I am pleased to say that a positive change is occurring. Through J-RAB, NEVI is doing what no others have ever done or thought to do. They are giving us the answers and what they mean, to the questions asked, so that we can see for ourselves the findings of these asked questions. You see, those that live outside of certain neighborhoods simply don’t see and/or choose not to see the various and numerous talents in our neighborhoods and communities. They don’t see the potential in us nor do they see the entrepreneurial possibilities that we have. To be shown the multiple talents of the residents within our communities enables us to utilize these vast and various talents; which in turn, places us in a better position to aid in the revitalization of our neighborhoods and/or communities. This allows the residents throughout the various neighborhoods and communities to show what they can do to uplift their community. This is all we have ever wanted; to be shown that WE do matter- as much as our responses do. The compassion of others in sharing what is gathered and/ or collected, processed and given back is the biggest and best way of showing that we are cared about. “Breakdown Stereotypes” Although this process is starting as a small and designated task, it is and can be/will be the start of wonderful things to come. There is nothing more uplifting, for those feeling overlooked, left out and/or ignored, than to be shown that others care about you. These caring individuals have their own obstacles to deal with, yet they continue to do what they do, which is care. It is not easy, nowadays and in our society, to go against the grain, but some do. They do not neighborhood. For example, in one of our NEVI sessions at Stanley Rowe Towers in the West End, a resident talked about his baking ability. He makes a mean Butterfinger cake- like way better than the ones you can get at Kroger. After his NEVI session, the other members of his group had a new acknowledgement of his skills. In business speak- he gained market exposure and created new demand for his cake-making business. Stories like the Stanley Rowe baker are what we hope to promote and commercialize. In today’s investment market, we are always concerned about scale. Well, sadly, scale doesn’t necessarily build strong communities. In fact, it leaves many feeling forgotten. NEVI is the first step in shifting this narrative. Profit needn’t always be the rightful bottom line, sometimes community needs to be. allow others to make them feel bad about the good that comes from them encouraging and uplifting others to be better. That’s all that any of us truly want, is to be the best we can possibly be. So, to receive information to show us the various, untapped talents within our communities is gratifying. It allows us to no longer be afraid to shine because they too see the sparkle in us. So, I leave you with “Come On Mindful People Allow Stars to Shine In Our Neighborhoods” COMPASSION. Thanks for caring, by sharing. --------------------------------------- “Eradicate Misinformation” The Coalition for the Homeless provides Education and Service Programs that help to portray a more accurate and holistic picture of homelessness in Cincinnati. We believe an educated public can be a more compassionate public, willing to dedicate time and effort towards creating solutions to homelessness. The “Voice of the Homeless Speaker’s Bureau” program is made up of individuals currently experiencing homelessness or who have experienced homelessness, who share their experiences. The program is designed to put a face on homelessness and raise awareness about those struggling in our community. To schedule a speaker, contact Mark Mussman at (513) 421.7803 x14 THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �6 LOCAL THE CAMPAIGN MOTHER GOOSE AND OTHER ALTERNATIVE FACTS - POLITICAL SPOOFS IN RHYME S F e b 9 - F e b 2 2 , 2 0 18 | N o . 37 5 JUSTIN JEFFRE Streetvibes Editor treetvibes Contributor Bill Woods has a new book out. "The Campaign Mother Goose and Other Alternative Facts" features political spoofs in rhyme that appeared in this biweekly from June 2015 until last December. Beginning when candidates started to announce they were running for the Presidential nomination, these pieces follow the primaries, the 2016 Presidential election, and the first year of the Trump Administration. The author found a lot to poke fun So to avoid feeling blue, Let's tell him he's through, And inform The Donald You're Fired!” Even as Trump picked up momentum in 2016, these pieces reflect an incredulity that the former Reality TV star was getting so much attention. “Holy smoke and great merciful heaven, Trump gets headlines twenty-four seven.” “No matter what time I turn on the news, There is The Donald spewing his views. It just goes to show if you Ohio, is quite concerned about the health of the democratic process, and utilizes humor to show the excesses of "big money" in campaigns, voter suppression, and gerrymandering. In his introduction, the author stresses this theme. "Endless TV ads packed with lies and half truths, Super Pacs funded by billionaire Fat Cats, and polarized debates that rarely touch on the common good can cause one to lapse into despair. Since it isn't at during this time period. One fact becomes quite apparent to readers of these spoofs. He initially did not take seriously the candidacy of Donald Trump. When Trump announced he was running in the summer of 2015, Woods wrote this piece. “Obnoxious Don Trump Is now back on the stump. His tirades make us tired. rant to excess, You're bound to get a lot of free press.” Although Trump as a candidate and as President receives a lot of satirical scorn in this book, Hillary Clinton, the Democrats, and politics in general also garner a fair share of humorous derision. Woods, a former chair of Common Cause/ healthy to cry all the time, these spoofs in rhyme are dedicated to having a little fun at the expense of the comic villains that plague our public life." Besides using the Mother Goose rhyme model for many of his political parodies, Woods likes to transform famous poems into satirical pieces. impact on government and public policy. Responding to the theme of voting, Bill Woods, representing the informal coalition working on Congressional redistricting reform in Ohio, emphasized that the proposed Amendment to Ohio's Constitution will provide a very meaningful reform for women activists to support. In an update, he noted that two-thirds of the signatures needed to put the reform on the ballot have been collected. He warned, however, that Republicans in the Ohio House and Senate are attempting to place their own partisan plan on the May ballot in order to confuse voters and derail reform. He called on attendees to call or email their state legislators in opposition to this move. Finally, Michelle Dillingham, Executive Director of Community Shares, offered a brief overview of the "state of social justice" in Greater Cincinnati. She included both social and economic justice activities in her mix. She emphasized an organizing effort focused on revitalizing public schools through citizen involvement in decision making. One of the goals of this movement is to halt the privatization of public education. Dillingham touched on a variety of JUSTN JEFFRE (Continued from page 2) way to get information to a large number of people, but it also provides a vehicle for bringing together the diverse causes represented by the Women's Movement. She also talked about the decision to make voting a theme of the recent marches as way to provide a purpose for organizing and bringing all these people together. Voting doesn't solve all the issues shared by this diverse coalition, but it does offer a way for a significant portion of the electorate to have an THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED For instance, he reworked William Blake's "Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright" to chide the current Congress. “Tiger, tiger burning bright. Politics now is such a fright. Can you or else a grouchy lion Go put a scare in Speaker Ryan? We'd ask you then to quickly switch, And do the same to Senator Mitch.” “The times require some feline force, To put our Congress back on course.” The author continues to contribute his political spoofs to Streetvibes as well as his "Poll Cat Cartoon." Published by Blurb, an online-book publisher, readers who order the book through Streetvibes will insure that profits beyond the publishing costs will go to this biweekly newspaper. [Bill Woods was the 2017 Buddy Gray Award recipient. Email Streetvibes@cincihomeless.org to order] women's rights issues, but primarily left that part of the discussion for Kate Gallion. She talked about efforts to work for economic justice and the movement to promote a living wage. Finally, she reviewed the "Poor People's Movement" both nationally and locally. She explained the emergence of "Moral Monday's " and the organizing tactic of having hundreds of people rallying at various State Houses in favor of Medicaid expansion. "It is exciting," concluded Dillingham, "to see all this diverse citizen organizing taking place in Cincinnati and in other communities across the country." �No. 37 5 LOCAL Where Are Our Troops? | F e b 9 - F e b 2 2 , 2 0 18 I have often wondered just where are troops are. I don’t mean those stationed here in the U.S., nor those in allied countries such as Japan and Germany. Of course there are troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, but where else? I recently found a government website that has a summary of troop locations by country around the world – well, at least the places that the Pentagon admits where we have troops. The place that is the most concerning to me is Syria. The website is not quite current but several weeks behind, and updated quarterly. Still, at the end of September there were 1,547 Army, Marine, Air Force, and Army personnel (in order of their numbers in Syria). There were also 173 from the Reserves and National Guard. That is a significant number especially since Syria never gave us permission to go there. As for whether Congress ever authorized this deployment, that depends on one’s interpretation of the U.S. Constitution, the 1973 War Powers Resolution, and the 2001 and 2002 Authorizations for Use of Military Force that were passed following the attacks of September 11, DR. MARK MUSSMAN (Continued from page 3) through the lens of a current issue that was brought to my attention last week: Findlay Park. The Cincinnati Police Department (CPD) did an assessment on the park, which is located at 5 points – McMicken, Vine, and Findlay Streets in Over-theRhine. The larger context of the park is important, as Model Group (and a few other developers) have recently bought all the properties abutting the park, and are turning them into market-rate condos and apartments. The park itself has been underfunded and left to deteriorate. Other parks in the area have been remodeled (yet not privatized), but Findlay Park’s improvements over the past few years have only been to remove things from the park, rather than improve or add. With the release of the CPD assessment, it is clear that displacement is a big part of the push to gentrify the park. Paradoxically, CPD understands that removing “the criminal element” from one area will just push it to another. In the assessment, they write that, “These issues have plagued the area for years and have been exacerbated recently as crime has been displaced from other areas of Over-the-Rhine.” This demonstrates that they are being coerced into creating this assessment by someone with financial interests related to the park, rather than from a holistic view of a community. CPD then calls for most of the park to be removed – the seating, the grills, the basketball court, the picnic tables, the fencing – the people. The claim is that MICHAEL EARL PATTON Contributing Writer 2001. I concluded that Congress did not authorize this deployment and it is in violation of the Constitution. However, even a brief summary would be far too long for this article and will have to wait for another time. I will just mention that although the number of troops stationed in Syria increased under President Trump, the question of authorization has been brewing for several years. There is something else about our troops being in Syria. You may know that Syria’s neighbor to the north, Turkey, started a military operation against the Kurds of northern Syria on January 19. Most of these Kurds are the ones the United States supports in the campaign against ISIL, but Turkey calls them terrorists and is concerned that their desire to have an independent state of their own will spill over into Turkey. Hundreds of civilians have been killed so far in the Syrian province of Afrin. Turkey’s President Erdogan has threatened to broaden the offensive in order to secure a buffer strip along more than half of the Syrian-Turkish border. Erdogan specifically mentioned the Syrian city of Manbij and promised to cleanse it of terrorists. According to different press accounts, Manbij is where most of our troops in Syria are stationed. Erdogan knows this. So our troops in Manbij, Syria, are there to support the Kurds in their fight against ISIL. We did not get permission from the Syrian government to deploy them, which is not surprising since Washington would prefer Syrian President Assad to leave. However the imminent threat to those troops is not from Syria but from our NATO ally, Turkey, where there were 2,174 troops including the Guard and Reserves. In a further twist, Turkey is using Leopard tanks made and sold to them by Germany, another NATO ally. Russia’s position as an ally of Syria might be vital for avoiding an armed conflict with our NATO ally Turkey. Does your head hurt yet? Mine does. Most troops are stationed in the United States. Not counting the Guard and Reserves, there were 1,119,873 in the United States and 215,249 “overseas,” which includes Canada (129), Mexico (61), and a few others in some Central American the picnic tables and grills are never used for their intended use: “They are rarely, if ever, used for their intended purpose and mainly serve as magnets for people looking to engage in illegal behavior.” We should be insulted that our community members are being deemed as unworthy to use a picnic table or grill. CPD claims that no one uses the park for legitimate reasons, and essentially calls everyone who uses the park “criminals.” Criminalizing people for utilizing public spaces, which might be their only respite in an otherwise increasingly loud and raucous neighborhood, is antithetical to the purpose of a park when your only alternative is paying to sit in a bar. Surveillance can mean cameras, or it can mean “block watch,” or beat patrols for the police, or increased lighting. Surveillance has great implications for the freedom of people who utilize the park and deeper meaning when we consider the “panopticon” and “total institutions” that permeate the loss of freedom and identity in an increasingly policed and imprisoned United States. When our parks, such as Washington and Ziegler Parks, are modeled after prisons, complete with 24/7 private security, dozens of cameras (panopticon), and forced identity, we have to wonder how much freedom is worth losing for so-called security, especially when crime is down throughout the neighborhood. CPD does not want the park to be comfortable, so they are advocating for the removal of seating and adding a dog park and a workout track. Redefining the use of the park, coupled with more hostile design, which are elements that stop people from doing normal things, such as sitting or laying down (benches with bars in the middle, or are too short to lay down on, bars, slants, flower pots, fences, or spikes to prevent people from sitting on walls, etc.), creates not a park, but a carefully curated area that can only be enjoyed by a select few – those who can often afford the trek to another park. We are seeing the prioritization of businesses over residents occur at a rapid rate in Over-the-Rhine. Community Council meetings are becoming increasingly hostile to the community member experience, and we are being told that we need to make our meetings more hospitable to businesses seeking entry into the neighborhood. This is coming with a lack of historical insight, both of the wholesale displacement of thousands of units of affordable housing and the longer historical narrative of redlining, racism, and disinvestment which led to the conditions we are dealing with today. A lack of historical understanding is dangerous, and goes back to the false narrative that the only solution is a market solution. To quote the executive director of the Homeless Coalition, Josh Spring, “There is no market solution to our housing crisis.” This is a stern warning that we cannot rely on market forces for solutions in housing, education, parks, etc. as the market is only creating a larger income and wealth disparity, a gap THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED 7 countries. There were 44,562 in Japan, 34,435 in Germany, and 23,635 in South Korea. There are lesser numbers in Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom. For fighting what is normally called the War on Terror there were 13,329 in Afghanistan (again, not counting the Guard and Reserves) and 7,402 in Iraq. Around the Persian Gulf there are more troops with 8,598 in Bahrain, 9,241 in Kuwait, 4,666 in Qatar, and 3,455 in the United Arab Emirates. Djibouti, on the Horn of Africa and near the Arabian Peninsula, sticks out. There were 3,132 troops there and almost half as many Reserves and National Guard. My guess is that these troops are somehow involved in the conflicts of and near the Arabian Peninsula. I do have one piece of anecdotal information to share about Djibouti. A friend had a family member stationed there. Supposedly the food served is often better if the station assignment is in something of a hardship location in order to help with moral. His relative reported that the food served in Djibouti was very, very good. There are 100 troops in Lithuania, which borders Russia. In (Continued on page 11) in educational attainment, and a park for the rich and connected and “take-what-you-can-get” attitude for everyone else. Even CPD recognizes the efforts as displacing crime from one area to another – so we need to question where will the crime go next? Innwood Park? Belleview Park? Or should we redefine crime, end the drug war, and engage in racial equity and reparations? Gentrification is built on the false “meritocracy” narrative of the American Dream – if you work hard, you will be rewarded. We know that this narrative is false because study after study has shown that educational attainment is only linked to family income and spending on curricular materials. We know the meritocracy narrative is false because people born into poverty are not likely to get out of poverty, even if they attend college. We know that the meritocracy narrative is a lie because the rich can do little to no work, yet their wealth increases exponentially. People are getting richer because of gentrification – people are not getting rich from gentrification. No one has been lifted out of poverty because of the development in Over-the-Rhine, yet thousands of people with lowincomes have been displaced from the neighborhood, and at this rate, most middle-class people will be pushed out as well. It is only a matter of time. The CPD Assessment can be accessed online: https://tinyurl.com/ findlaypark --------------------------------------- �NATIONAL 8 F e b 9 - F e b 2 2 , 2 0 18 | N o . 37 5 Life is a Beach: Homeless in the Ocean State JIM LUKEN G reetings from the Ocean State. After 15 years of tenement living in Overthe-Rhine and 8 years of writing for Streetvibes, I made the big move to Rhode Island in July so that I could live out my waning years near the sea. I live here in a 3rd floor, 3-room, “Section 8” apartment at the Peace Dale House, rural Rhode Island's equivalent of “public housing.” My rent here is $6 a month more than what I was paying for a remodeled, three-room Over-the-Rhine Community Housing apartment, but my heat is provided. I loved my downtown apartment in Cincy. I didn't think much about it at the time, but my desk there looked out onto nothing but a windowless brick wall. My desk here looks through patio doors onto nothing but trees. The 100-unit complex is perched at the end of a long driveway, with a wooded area surrounding it. A dramatic change, but I've managed to adapt, mainly because—in the warmer months—I find myself a 20-minute bicycle ride from the Ocean. Things could be a lot worse. One thing I have missed here, Contributing Writer He is deeply involved with the local Congregational Church, which—I had learned—is itself deeply involved in matters of homelessness. He filled me in about Welcome House, our homeless shelter, located right here in Peace Dale. The church does a sit-down meal once a week for us poor folks. I've attended a few times. Tablecloths. Silverware. Everything served. Even better, the church is an overflow shelter for the area's homeless people. In the winter it is full every night. I recently enrolled at the local Y in the “silver sneakers” program provided by my Medicare advantage plan. I work my aged bones and muscles there three times a week. Since I no longer have Internet, I sometimes use the Y's computer located in a small common room near the front desk. It faces an outside window. On Sunday last I was sitting there and I heard a woman behind me on her phone. I heard her say, “Welcome House.” Since I had been planning to do long-distance story about the shelter for this paper, I walked over to the woman. She had finished her area of my new home. She immediately began opening up about her situation. “I've just arranged so I can stay at the church tonight.” She pointed to the far wall of the room where there were four very neat backpacks and hampers. “I just need to find a way to get my stuff over there.” The church was only a half mile distant. I said that I could take her there. But she explained that the church didn't open its doors until 7:30, five hours off. She told me she was 50 (a young-ish and exuberant 50). I told her that I was 73 and had a daughter who was almost 50. I offered to get her where she needed to go until the church opened. After texting a friend on her Obama phone (“I don't have many 'minutes' to call, so we text”), we worked it out that I would deliver her and her belongings to this friend's house. “In exchange, would you be open to doing an interview? I know the readers of my hometown paper would be interested in hearing about your story.” She generously agreed. We met the next day at the library, then drove to a coffee shop where I got to hear a big chunk of her story. Similar to the story of every homeless person I had interviewed in Cincinnati, hers (Continued on page 12) Mary travelling in the snow with luggage Credit: Jim Luken Mary relaxing for the day Credit: Jim Luken however, is a connection with the poor. Poor people are everywhere, so I knew they must be around here, but— compared to downtown Cincinnati, they are fairly hard to identify in this semi-rural, bedroom community locale, 35 minutes from Providence. During my first six months here, only twice have I seen people “flying signs” on the street corners, panhandling. I had been intending to learn more about the homeless situation here, but I kept putting it off, enjoying my new laid-back lifestyle. You know: wind, sand and surf, almost every day. Finally, with winter keeping me more confined, I began nosy-ing around here in my adopted world. I ran into Brad, a fellow resident at the Peace Dale House. phone conversation. She seemed like a “professional person.” I thought she might be the director. She wasn't. My lucky break. “Excuse me, I heard you mention Welcome House,” I said. “Do you work there?” She looked me square in the eyes. “No,” and with only a moment's hesitation, “I live there sometimes.” I was genuinely startled. “Does that mean...” I sheepishly asked “... that you are homeless?” “Yes,” she said with a very comfortable smile, “right now I am.” I apologized for approaching her, explaining that I had written for a homeless newspaper and that I was planning on doing a story about the homeless situation in the South Coast Peachdale Congregational Church Credit: Jim Luken THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �No. 37 5 LOCAL UC Students lose their bus passes; Bus rider left out of the conversation | F e b 9 - F e b 2 2 , 2 0 18 9 ISAAC SMITH •University of Cincinnati cancels UC Metro Card, killing unlimited rides program for students, faculty, and staff •UC officials told the Enquirer and News Record the cut gave the school increased flexibility to fund the Bearcat Transportation System •Public records indicate that the program cut was to fill a budget hole caused by cost overruns in operating a shuttle to UC’s Blue Ash campus •Even with the elimination of the UC Metro Card, the Bearcat Transportation System will see funding cuts and service reductions •Bus riders were given no advance notice of the card’s elimination as negotiations with SORTA were conducted without public input s the start of the new school year approached at the University of Cincinnati, students interested in applying for their semester bus pass through the UC*Metro program were greeted with an unfriendly message: “Registration for Fall Semester 2017 is suspended pending the outcome of negotiations between UC and Metro; the future status of the program is unknown at this time.” To frequent UC-affiliated Metro riders, this was bad news. For five years, UC and Metro had partnered to provide students with two options to get around Greater Cincinnati without a car. The first was the UC Metro Card, which cost $53 per semester for students and $160 per semester for faculty and staff, and gave the holder unlimited rides within Zone 1. The other option was the EZ Ride Card, which was free, but lowered the fare anywhere Metro goes from $1.75 to $1.00, with $0.50 transfers. Thousands of students, faculty, and staff relied on these programs to get to and from class, jobs, internships, co-ops, and anywhere else they needed to go. In mid-August, all those riders were left wondering: what happened to my bus pass? On August 17, an incomplete answer arrived. The UC Metro Card was no more. Going forward, the only option available to students and employees would be the EZ Ride Card. For a student who rides the bus to and from class every weekday and who does not have to transfer, the elimination of the UC Metro Card nearly triples transportation costs for a semester. For a student who uses the bus for more than trips to and from class, or who needs to transfer, that cost increase only gets bigger. UC students, however, received almost no notice that this program was going to change. The Thursday before classes in Fall 2017 was the first time that bus riders were sent any notification at all that they would A Contributing Photographer lose their unlimited rides pass. The elimination of the UC Metro card is not entirely unexpected. In 2005, Metro and UC tested a program that would give students the ability to ride any Metro bus for free by showing their student ID card. The test was successful, and in 2007, the program launched. The cost to UC was $150,000; half of that cost came from the school, and the remaining half was paid by the student government. In 2009, it was expanded to provide free rides to students, faculty, and staff, at a cost to the university of around $250,000. That was the only expansion. When UC shifted from quarters to semesters in 2012, the free rides went away. Instead, students could pay $53 for a semester of unlimited rides, and employees could pay $160. The cost to the university remained $250,000, but also gave students who did not ride the bus as frequently the option of the EZ Ride Card. The 2012 agreement remained in effect until this year, when the UC Metro Card was eliminated. Since the 2009 expansion, renegotiation of the contract between UC and Metro has only led to less access for UC-affiliated bus riders. The recent program changes betray a university saying one thing in public and doing another thing in private. In 2016, UC issued new student ID cards, which contained a contactless chip embedded in the card. At the time the new ID cards were issued, students were informed that it was a transit tie-in: it would effectively replace the red and black bus passes currently given to students, depending upon the plan selected. Instead of needing a separate pass, students could do what they did during the pilot program yet again: ride the bus using only their student ID. The company that produced the ID cards even bragged about the transit tie-in on its website. The same year, the Board of Trustees voted to keep the College of Law on the main campus, instead of moving it to The Banks, as had been proposed. The school recently decided to relocate the law school to the building that currently houses the Lindner College of Business. Construction to change the building so it suits the law school is set to begin in 2019. But one reason given for keeping the law school uptown— away from the firms and courthouses where students get jobs, internships, and externships—was that students could easily use the UC Metro Card to ride Cincinnati Metro’s many bus lines downtown. Now 2018, the transit tie-in remains unused, and law students are feeling misled. They are not alone, either—the Southwest Ohio Transit Authority, or SORTA, which operates Metro buses, was not expecting the delay in notification. A public records request submitted to SORTA for emails regarding the UC*Metro program reveals a transit agency doing all it can to keep the program alive with a limited budget, and a university hiding the ball. “The origin of the delay is with UC,” SORTA Director of Marketing and Communications Dave Etienne wrote to another employee in an internal email provided in response to the records request, “but that is probably moot since it is the students and staff who will suffer.” In other emails, Etienne expressed concern that UC’s delays in responding to SORTA’s attempt to negotiate to keep the program intact were intended to make SORTA, and not UC, look bad. In May of 2017, however, SORTA was the source of the delay. UC Associate Vice President of Facilities Management Joe Harrell sent several emails to SORTA employees asking for an update on what price point SORTA would agree to for offering the program at a reduced cost. Initially, SORTA had offered a price of $80,000 per year to offer only the EZ Ride Card to only students. SORTA then proposed $151,000 for offering only the EZ Ride Card to students, faculty, and staff. Harrell initially asked for an update on May 16, saying “a lot of people are asking me about the status of this program.” On the May 22, SORTA responded, offering $80,000. It was not until June that SORTA offered the $151,000 that pays for the program as it exists today. A meeting held by a UC committee about the UC*Metro program on July 13, 2017, appears to be pivotal. A similar records request submitted to UC reveals that the cause of the program’s alteration may not have been an attempt to redirect $100,000 THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED to beef up UC’s own shuttle service, as the school had suggested, but to cover a budget deficit from operating a shuttle to UC’s Blue Ash campus. “We are about $100,000 in the hole for the Blue Ash shuttle, and we spend about $75,000 more on other transportation costs than we receive in revenue for a total deficit of $175,000,” Harrell wrote in an email the morning of July 13, discussing the recommendations that came of the morning’s meeting. Rather than expanding campus shuttle service, the $99,000 saved from the elimination of the UC Metro Card would plug the hole left by operating the UC Blue Ash shuttle. To make up for the remaining $75,000, UC shuttle service would be reduced as well, eliminating late night shuttles, and replacing them with Night Ride service, which offers UC students a free ride on-demand to destinations within one mile of campus. The numbers, however, do not seem to add up. UC admitted it received “a large benefit from this program,” referring to offering the red UC Metro Card, which may be why a SORTA employee “didn’t seem disappointed when we told him we were thinking of not renewing the program.” Despite the apparent lack of disappointment, emails between SORTA employees and UC employees show SORTA continuing to offer both the EZ Ride Card and the UC Metro Card at the same price of $250,000. Nowhere in the records that were received does either SORTA or UC discuss raising the cost of the discount card to cover the budget gap. The email sent after the July 13 meeting was not sent to any students; UC was not able to provide a list of who was present at the meeting, or even what committee met, but it does not appear that any student input was solicited regarding the discontinuation of (Continued on page 11) �10 LOCAL F e b 9 - F e b 2 2 , 2 0 18 | N o . 37 5 January 26 - February 17, 2018 For tickets please call (513) 381-2273 Purchase tickets online at www.cincyshakes.com AD Donated by Mark and Sue Ann Painter season sponsored by the Otto M. Budig Family Foundation THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �No. 37 5 | F e b 9 - F e b 2 2 , 2 0 18 I n this age of call-out culture, where so many seem too eager to proclaim their moral superiority over those who disagree with them, the recent kerfuffle over Elder High School students making å comments during a basketball game against St. X has provided an opportunity to study a more compassionate way to respond to deplorable actions. Full disclosure: my son attends St. Xavier. Before this story made its way into the media, I received (along with, I presume, all St. X parents) an email with a statement from the principal. The compassionate humility and self-reflection evident in that email was refreshing precisely because I so infrequently see that kind of tact anymore. In the message, principal Terrence Tyrrell ends self-reflectively: Being men and women for others means calling out injustice and naming it for what it is. The actions of the Elder student section on Friday were racist and homophobic. While it is easy to point fingers MICHAEL EARL PATTON (Continued from page 7 raw numbers this is not enough to do anything but appears to be a sign of support. There are 20 in Ukraine. The spreadsheet also lists 17,301 as “unknown,” so we do not know where they are stationed. That LOCAL Let us enter the struggle 11 JASON HAAP Contributing Writer of others, Tyrrell's example reminds us how the most impactful approach is to use these opportunities for personal reflection. To improve the world, we probably need to improve ourselves first. As Jesus speaking in Matthew reminds us: Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. I fear we live in a world that, overall, celebrates public humiliation over reflection. We love calling-out the specks. [To contact Jason Haap email him at jasonhaap@gmail.com] at Elder today, we also need to look within our community at times where we have fallen short in this area. All of us need to reflect and discern on what happened at Elder, and what happens at St. X, to make sure we are not actively, or silently, participating in this behavior. As men for others, we must challenge and confront this behavior to continue to build our culture. Being a man or woman for others is not for the weak. It is for the courageous. Jesus's example calls us to a faith that does justice. In that light, it is important to understand that intolerant words spoken or written and intolerant actions are not welcome here. The promotion of truth undermines the ideology of injustice. Love for each other and love for all others fills us with the courage to enter the struggle. Good prevails only if we are willing to endure that struggle. Reread that first paragraph above. Tyrrell is not trying to point fingers at Elder students. Instead, he points out that we have a moral responsibility to name bad behavior which is different from the dynamics of contemporary call-out culture. Immediately after calling Elder's student's behavior "racist" and "homophobic," the very next sentence turns that critical eye inward. When I wrote my introductory paragraph to this item, I'm not sure where the word "kerfuffle" came from. It is not a word I use frequently. It just kind of popped out of my fingers without thought. I like that word, but I was afraid of using it. I believe wholeheartedly there are people who find the connotations of that word inappropriate for this item's subject. It's a funny-sounding word, and there is nothing funny about racism and homophobia. Several readers, I am quite sure, are hung-up on that word, creating arguments against my own inappropriateness. I left the word because, for readers with that reaction, I realized they are doing precisely what St. X's principal avoided. Rather than pontificating about the errors or poor judgement might be interesting if we knew the locations, or perhaps they would just be supplementing the numbers we know about. Some of the places which just have a few troops intrigue me. Why are they there? Why are there 8 Marines in Saint Pierre and Miquelon, a small group of French islands near Newfoundland? These rocky islands are all that is left from their empire in North America after losing everything else in the French and Indian War. Why are there two Marines in Macau, which is an island that is part of the People’s Republic of China? Macau, by the way, is the premier gambling center of the world. Anyways, if you want to look at the website yourself, go to: https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/appj/ dwp/dwp_reports.jsp . You need to scroll down a little to the section “Military and Civilian Personnel by Service/Agency by State/Country.” I bookmarked this site and will be checking it from time to time. than their EZ Ride Card-holding counterparts: students who had access to unlimited rides took an average of 83 rides in 2016, while students who had the EZ Ride Card and had to pay per trip took only 15 rides. Faculty and staff rides were similarly split between the UC Metro Card and the EZ Ride Card, with staff members who paid for the unlimited rides card taking 133 trips, and those using the free card taking only an average of 27. Contracts were finalized in early August of last year, at which point the origin of the delay was, according to internal SORTA emails, no longer with SORTA but with UC. By early August, both agencies had agreed to a contract providing only the EZ Ride Card to students, faculty, and staff for $151,000. All that needed to happen was both the SORTA board and the UC Board of Trustees needed to vote to approve it. Those votes did not come until the middle of the month, resulting in the delay in notifying students about the future of the program. What will happen going forward remains uncertain. Unlike in years past, the contract to which both parties agreed in August of this year is not for three years, but for one year, with a one- or two-year renewal option. Perhaps with some student input the UC Metro Card will return at a higher price, and with more advertising. At a Better Bus Coalition event held at Clifton Market earlier this semester, many of the UC students who approached the Better Bus Coalition table were not even aware that the UC*Metro program even existed. If the program’s recent trajectory is any indication, however, further cuts to both the UC*Metro program and UC’s shuttle service may be down the road. [Isaac Smith is a member of the Better Bus Coalition. To find out more go to betterbuscoalition.org] --------------------------------------- ISAAC SMITH (Continued from page 9) half of the UC*Metro program. Instead, UC and Metro assumed that with the unlimited rides pass eliminated, those who had elected to purchase that pass would instead elect to receive the free EZ Ride Card and pay $1.00 per ride. Raising the cost of the card, however, could have allowed the program to continue at reduced cost to UC. Although it would have meant nearly doubling the cost of the pass, a $95 per semester pass for students— assuming the number of students purchasing the pass remained the same, and did not continue to fall, as had happened in recent years— would have raised enough money for Metro to get the $99,000 it needed to continue offering the program while allowing UC to cover the deficit it was running on its shuttle program. But with a pass not well advertised and no student input seemingly solicited, that possibility did not play out. Instead, students are left with costs tripled, rather than doubled or kept the same, and have lost the convenience of having to swipe only one card to get on the bus. As a result of its ease and convenience, students with the UC Metro Card took far more rides THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED -------------------------------------------- �12 JOSH SPRING (Continued from page 2) children in Cincinnati Public Schools will have experienced homelessness. • After a decade of cuts and now a couple years of partial restorations, the City of Cincinnati funds the city’s Human Services Fund at just shy of 1 percent of the city’s general fund. • In the rememberable past the City of Cincinnati has put only about $4 million of our city-specific funds into affordable housing, while the cost of constructing a rental unit has risen by more than 50 percent since 2000. • In 2017 more than 137 people died while without homes and because of homelessness, up from 72 people in 2016, 58 people in 2015 and 46 people in 2014. Their average age in 2017 was 51. • Thousands of subsidized homes are within just a few years of their subsidy contracts possibly expiring. • Thousands of units of affordable housing have been lost due to gentrification in the last 20 years, further deepening poverty and homelessness and splitting apart communities. JIM LUKEN (Continued from page 6) was amazing. Mary She gave me her real name, but said she did not want me to use it. “So, pick a name,” I said. She thought about it. “This is interesting.” And after a while, “Okay, Mary.” Why not? Mary had been born and lived a comfortable young life in a Rhode Island town some twenty minutes distant. He father had been a prominent surgeon, as well as an alcoholic. She had five older siblings. The family had a beach house in nearby Narragansett and a ski home in the Massachusetts Berkshires. Her parents divorced when she was 16. Even then, although she had lots of school friends, she recalls being something of a loner, an independent spirit. “One day, late fall, I rode my bike down to the beach. I was pretty much alone there. I drew a great big heart in the sand. In the middle of it, I wrote the word 'LIFE.' That's the way I am. I still love life. I don't know what I would do without my positive spirit.” She did her college at the nearby University of Rhode Island, where she majored in Communications and French. “I was Phi Beta Kappa and graduated Magna Cum Laude.” It had become quite clear that Mary was a very intelligent woman. She was also dynamic and personable, as she talked a blue streak about her life and the series of misadventures leading up to becoming homeless. I mentioned to her that, in the early '80s, homelessness famously manifested itself in people who were called at the time, “Bag Ladies,” women who moved about LOCAL F e b 9 - F e b 2 2 , 2 0 18 | N o . 37 5 • Regularly companies purchase a property from a person, then through the county court system evict everyone (most of whom are Black people), rehab the building into expensive condos or apartments, sell or rent them to wealthier people (most of whom are white people) and the city gives the owner a tax abatement on the increase in the property value caused by the rehab. Then potentially, the neighbors across the street sees their property values go up as a result to levels where they can no longer afford their property taxes. • Since 2003 more than $1 billion consisting of local, state and federal taxes as well as private funds from wealthy companies whose lionshare of revenue is generated by the hard work of regular folks, have been spent primarily on housing by the city/very wealthy businesscreated organization 3CDC, and homelessness and the housing crisis are the worst they have ever been in Cincinnati and Hamilton County. To repeat more briefly, more than $1 billion has been spent in the last 14 years primarily on housing, and homelessness in our area is the worst it has ever been. You know what we need?...... A SOCCER STADIUM! THAT’S RIGHT, WE NEED A SOCCER STADIUM! (Please note that the previous two sentences are sarcastic. We do not need a damned soccer stadium. How greedy, arrogant and self/ethnocentered do you have to be to live in a city where homelessness and the shortage of affordable housing are at record levels and you decide to fight for a soccer stadium? You could choose to fight for the right of women, men, girls and boys to have sustainable housing, but you choose to fight for a stadium where people can watch other people kick a ball around a field? I can hear it now, someone like Jeff Berding (who already suckered people into two other stadiums) saying, “Well, I believe in both. A soccer stadium will improve our city and is worth fighting for and of course we must fight poverty. I’m always trying to improve our community”. If in the future you are in a room where a business person is telling the crowd she or he believes we need a stadium and she or he also cares about fighting homelessness and poverty, I hope you have a shovel with you because you’re going to need it to ensure the level of BS doesn’t get above the windpipes of those present. And don’t buy the argument that we need this stadium because of the jobs it will create. If the Lindners really cared, they could pay all of their employees a living wage and could build a whole bunch of affordable housing with the piles of money in their possession. In reality, the shovel you need for the BS must be the actions you put forth to fight yet another set of selfcentered, exploitive, greedy lies. You can’t actually fight for both this soccer stadium and fight poverty and homelessness. People have got to pick a side. Tactics may differ in the fight against the exploitation of people and a neighborhood, but there are really only two sides to this. Our speech and actions can be resolutely rooted in love of neighbors and justice or rooted in money and ethnocentrism, but not both.) with all their belongings in large bags. She laughed, considering her four bags. “Sometimes I joke with friends and call myself that...'a bag lady.'” I was still dealing, somewhat incredulously, with her poise and her ease in opening up her life to me. My big question, which I couldn't wait to ask, was: “So how did a person like you wind up homeless?” “On the road” to homelessness After college, she said, “I just wanted to get out of Rhode Island.” And she did, moving to, and working at, various jobs in eight different states, some nearby, but others farflung. Sacramento. Seattle. Chicago. Minneapolis. “Minnesota was just too cold for me.” In Baltimore she tried to join the Navy. After several months of boot camp, they realized she had a blood disorder, and she was unable to go on. In Seattle, at 25, she recalls being in love with a handsome young man. “It was Valentine's day, and I wanted to make a special card for him. I decided to learn how to say 'I love you' in different languages and write them out on a big card. I planned to do some research at the library, but I got called into work.” She didn't give up on her plan. “I started calling ethnic restaurants and asking them how to say 'I love you' in their language.” By now, half a life later, she continues this practice. Whenever she meets a foreigner, she asks for their way of saying, those three famous words. “At this point, I can say it, from memory, in 32 different languages. I sometimes use it as a way of bringing a little peace (and love) into the world.” Eventually Mary wound up back in her home state, taking a good job with the social security administration. She laughed at the irony. “I found myself doing interviews with people who were in the same situation as I find myself in now.” She earned enough money to buy her own house in the town of Warwick. She lived there for eight years. Her positive spirit would be tested again and again as things started to unravel in her life. She began drinking more and more. Bills were piling up. She got a DUI (called a “referral”). Finally, she wound up having to “short sell” her house. She moved into an apartment but, after four years, she was forced to leave because of issues related to her two beloved cats. [She insists that the cats were wrongly blamed]. For a while, she moved into a small house with her mother and an older brother. That didn't work out either. Suddenly, as with so many others, she found that she was out on the streets. Just over a year ago, she moved into Welcome House for a month and a half. That situation quickly became too “stressful” for her, and she moved out. A day in the life Here is the way a day in Mary's life generally goes. She couch surfs with a friend, or—as she would that night— beds down at the church (after 7:30). In the morning, a friend who stays at the church often drives her to the YMCA (she had been able to enroll there for a year for $35). She does a daily workout routine, gets sweated up, and—most important—has a hot shower. Then she hangs out on the computer in the Y's common room, reads, and enjoys a cup of coffee. [During her overnight at the church after our interview, Rhode Island got six inches of unexpected snow. The next morning this woman trudged almost a mile [toting all her belongings] to the Y, where I joined her and took the accompanying photos]. At 11:3O, she makes her way (with all those bags) to the Welcome House, where lunch is provided. After lunch, she often walks a short distance (also with bags) to the Peace Dale library. On decent-weather days, she hangs out in a pleasant little park across the main drag from the library. Late in the afternoon, her brother, who works nearby, might pick her up and take her to her mother's house, where she can do laundry and arrange her belongings for the following day's bout with being on the move. More important, she gets to visit and care for of her cats. Mary also has the afternoon option of remaining in town and moving her belongings to the Guild House, part of an agency that provides various services to locals. She can remain there until the church shelter (next-door) opens at 7:30. In some ways, Mary's life might seem much more genteel than the situation of homeless people in a big city like Cincinnati. But the lifestyle that homelessness forces on any individual is never remotely easy—all those belongings to haul everywhere Mary goes. The future “So, what are your plans in terms of resuming a more 'normal' life?” I ask. She says that she is hoping to get a permanent situation at the shelter in Westerly, a larger town, a half-hour south along the coast. “If I get in there, there are plenty of jobs available. I'll borrow a bike. “I try not to think too much about it. I do whatever I need to do. I'll take it step by step. If you try to analyze too much you lose track of where you are. I figure there's only up from where I am.” THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED -------------------------------------------- �No. 37 5 | F e b 9 - F e b 2 2 , 2 0 18 ORANGE BARRELS 13 STREET VOICE Orange Barrels, Orange Barrels They’re everywhere Each day the construction workers are there Putting up the construction signs Placing Orange Barrels all around From block to block, from street to street Construction work is on the streets THE ADMINISTRATION'S IMMIGRATION POLICY "Don't give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." That is the gist of Trump's immigration policy. Now all those folks from "shithole countries" Will be informed that they must stay away, To make some room for whiter applicants From countries like Norway. BILL WOODS Contributing Writer GROWN ON THE MARKET FINDLAY MARKET HAS ALWAYS BEEN A PLACE So just sit down and take a seat Orange Barrels are what you’re gonna see TO GET FRESH PRODUCTS A PLACE TO SHOP WHERE YOU'RE SAFE AND PEOPLE WATCH THEIR CONDUCT HOME GROWN VEGETABLES IS NOT ALL ONE CAN ENJOY AT THE MARKET IN A DAY KIM GREEN Streetvibes Distributor & Contributing Writer THEY HAVE GOOD FOOD WHERE YOU CAN EAT, DRINK AND HAVE A SEAT BY THE WAY THE MARKET DECIDED TO ALLOW THE CINCY HOMELESS COALTION NEWSPAPERS TO BE SOLD GAVE ME A SECTION TO SELL STREETVIBES AND TO MEET MY BOSS WHO WAS OLD AND COLD LITTLE DID I KNOW THE BOSS USED TO SELL PAPER BAGS THERE WHEN HE WAS A BOY THEREFORE, HE KNEW MR. FLOWER MAN, MR. COFFEE MAN AND MR. TEA MAN, NOW I’M COY FEAR FOR MY PLACE AT THE MARKET I HAD TO GET TO KNOW MY BOSS I KNEW WITHOUT HIS UNDERSTANDING TO SELL STREETVIBES WOULD BE LOST I BEGAN TO SHARE WITH HIM THE PAPER ALLOWING HIM TO READ STORIES AND MY POETRY ONCE HE UNDERSTOOD HOMELESSNESS READING THE PAPER HE SHOWED LOYALTY HE SAID HI I'M MR. MARTY AND I SAID I'M MS. WILLA SELLING STREETVIBES TODAY THEN HE TOLD ME HOW LONG HE'S BEEN WORKING SECURITY FOR YEARS WITHOUT A DELAY I BELEIVE HE GREW ON THE MARKET AND HE IS MY INSPIRATION TO COME TO FINDLAY BY THE WAY I THANK YOU MR. MARTY FOR SO MANY YEARS OF DEDICATION AND BEING A FREIND OF MINE I WILL ALWAYS STAY ON MY SCHEDULE SELLING STREETVIBES AND I'LL ALWAYS BE JUST FINE WILLA DENISE JONES Streetvibes Distributor & Contributing Writer THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �14 PUZZLES CROSSWORD PUZZLE NO. 144 Across 1. Ness 5. Inundated 10. Written leave of absence 14. Hooter 15. Travesty 16. Notion 17. Desiccated 18. Test 19. Leave out 20. Bend forward 22. Part of the hand 23. Three squared 24. Squash plant 26. Erase 28. Cramp 31. Golf accessory 32. Roofing material 35. A sheltered and secluded place 37. Flare up 41. Playing card 42. Simple crane 44. Large expanse of water 45. Migratory aquatic birds 47. Narrate 48. Leguminous plant 49. Colony insect 51. Not fresh 53. Swallow 56. Roof of the mouth 60. Lacking warmth 61. Large military dining room 64. Stateroom 65. Not in favor of 66. Creek 68. Tincture 69. Slant 70. Dodge 71. Boundary of a surface 72. Ancient stringed instrument 73. Refund 74. Cervid Down 1. Abyss 2. Major artery 3. Earlier in time 4. Give support or approval to 5. Astern 6. Buckle 7. Song 8. Burn caused by hot liquid or steam 9. Protective headgear 10. Trailblazer 11. Let in 12. French river 13. Satisfy 21. Music genre 25. A gradual decline 27. Edible plant 29. Kind 30. Conventions of a group 32. Label 33. Frozen water 34. The sheltered side 36. Tartan skirt 38. Employ 39. Small vegetable 40. Bronze 42. A surface depression 43. Applaud 46. Small fatty fish 48. Tardy 50. Wood, cut and prepared 52. Used in varnishes and sealing wax 53. Currency 54. Part of a church 55. Boldness 57. Dwell 58. Undertone 59. Go in 60. A telephone connection 62. Cleansing agent 63. Soft drink 67. Tonality PUZZLE SOLUTIONS ISSUE 374 CROSSWORD PUZZLE NO. 143 F e b 9 - F e b 2 2 , 2 0 18 | N o . 37 5 SODOKU PUZZLE NO 274 - MEDIUM SODOKU PUZZLE NO 273- MEDIUM PUZZLES from puzzlechoice.com and puzzles.ca THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �No. 37 5 RESOURCES | F e b 9 - F e b 2 2 , 2 0 18 Central Access Point 381-SAFE Shelter: Women and Children Bethany House 1841 Fairmount Ave. 45214 557-2873 The Esther Marie Hatton Center for Women 2499 Reading Road 562-1980 Grace Place Catholic Worker House 681-2365 6037 Cary Ave. 45224 Salvation Army 762-5660 YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter 872-9259 131 E. 12th Street 45202 Shelter: Men Shelterhouse 411 Gest St. 45203 241-5525 Parkway Center 661-4620 1805 Dalton Ave. 45214 Churches Active in Northside 591-2246 FreeStore/FoodBank 241-1064 McMicken Dental Clinic 352-6363 40 E. McMicken Ave, Cinti Mental Health Access Point 558-8888 NAMI of Hamilton County 351-3500 PATH Outreach 977-4489 Madisonville Ed & Assistance Center 271-5501 Other Resources St. Vincent de Paul 562-8841 215 E. 14th St. 45202 621-7265 112 E. Liberty Street 45202 4600 Erie Ave. 45227 Serves area codes: 45226, 45227, 45208, 45209 1125 Bank Street 45214 Treatment or Supportive Recovery: Men Charlie’s 3/4 House 784-1853 Prospect House 921-1613 Starting Over 961-2256 2121 Vine Street 45202 682 Hawthorne Ave. 45205 Shelter: Youth Sheakley Center for Youth (18-24 y/o) 2522 Highland Ave. 45219 569-9500 Lighthouse Youth Crisis Center (10-17 y/o) 3330 Jefferson Ave 45220 961-4080 Treatment or Supportive Recovery: Women Shelter: Family Treatment or Supportive Recovery: Both Interfaith Hospitality Network Housing: First Step Home 761-1480 721-4580 632-7149 381-1171 Talbert House Tender Mercies 221-HELP 721-8666 Tom Geiger House Volunteers of America Anna Louise Inn 961-4555 381-1954 421-5211 Cincinnati Union Bethel 768-6907 27 W. 12th Street 45202 2401-2411 Reading Rd. 45202 2401 Reading Rd. 45202 VA VA Homeless Food/Clothing 421-0065 Our Daily Bread 621-6364 OTR: 1620 Vine Street 45202 Walnut Hills: 2631 Gilbert Ave. 45206 351-0422 381-6672 Joseph House (Veterans) 241-2965 1522 Republic Street 45202 Hamilton County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board 946-8000 Recovery Health Access Center 281-7422 Sober Living 681-0324 Talbert House 221-HELP Advocacy 977-6800 859-572-6226 First Lutheran Church 1208 Race St. Food - Last Monday 12-1 Clothing - second Monday 12-1 Lord’s Pantry OTR/Walnut Hills Kitchen & Pantry AA Hotline CCAT 830 Ezzard Charles Dr. 45214 Caracole (HIV/AIDS) CMHA Excel Development OTR Community Housing 114 W. 14th Street 45202 961-4663 2203 Fulton, Cinti, Ohio 45206 471-1100 Catholic Social Action Community Action Agency Contact Center Franciscan JPIC Gr. Cinti Coalition for the Homeless 421-3131 569-1840 381-4242 721-4700 421-7803 Legal Aid Society Ohio Justice & Policy Center UpSpring 241-9400 421-1108 363-3300 117 E. 12th Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202 Health 621-5300 961-1983 Health Resource Center 357-4602 McMicken Integrated Care Clinic and Mobile Medical Van 386-7899 535-2719 751-8771 4230 Hamilton Ave. 45223 721-0643 City Gospel Mission 1730 Race Street 45202 St. Francis Soup Kitchen St. George Food Pantry 2554 Dennis St. 45219 Prince of Peace Lutheran Church 1528 Race St. 45202 St. Fran/St. Joe Catholic Work. House 381-4941 1437 Walnut Street 45202 15 961-0600 Center for Respite Care 621-1868 Crossroad Health Center 381-2247 3550 Washington Ave. 45229 5 E. Liberty St. 45202 Center Independent Living Options Peaslee Neighborhood Center 241-2600 621-5514 Franciscan Haircuts from the Heart Goodwill Industries Intercommunity Justice & Peace Cr. Mary Magdalen House 381-0111 771-4800 579-8547 721-4811 1223 Main St. 45202 People Working Cooperatively 351-7921 The Caring Place 631-1114 Talbert House 751-7747 United Way 211 Women Helping Women 977-5541 Off The Streets 421-5211 Hamilton County Office of Reentry 946-4304 138 E. Court Street Room # 101 First Floor Hamilton/Middletown St. Raephaels Salvation Army Serenity House Day Center Open Door Pantry Northern Kentucky Brighton Center 799 Ann St. Newport, KY ECHO/Hosea House Fairhaven Resuce Mission Homeward Bound Youth Mathews House Homeless & Housing Coalition Parish Kitchen Pike St. Clinic Transitions, Inc Welcome House of NKY 205 West Pike Street, Covington, KY 41011 for 26 issues 859-491-8303 859-261-5857 859-491-1027 859-581-1111 859-261-8009 859-727-0926 859-581-7745 859-291-9321 859-491-4435 859-431-8717 Women’s Crisis Center 859-491-3335 VA Domiciliary 859-572-6202 Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky 634 Scott St. 41011 859-291-4555 You can support our mission and spread the word about your business. For more information contact Justin Jeffre at 513421-70803 x 12 or email streetvibes@ cincihomeless.org $100 981-4200 863-1445 422-8555 868-3276 Want to advertise in Streetvibes? Cincinnati Health Network 2825 Burnet Ave. 45219 40 E. McMicken Ave, Cinti, Ohio $150 THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED for 26 issues and a $50 donation �16 F e b 9 - F e b 2 2 , 2 0 18 | N o . 37 5 S treetvibes is distributed by individuals who purchase the paper for 75 cents per copy and sell it for a $2.00 donation, keeping the profit they have earned. Becoming a Distributor is a great way for individuals who are financially poor to get back on (or stay on) their feet. This program provides supplemental income for those unable to secure other employment. Money earned helps meet basic housing, food and health care needs. The program is a hand up for people who are often in a place of getting only a hand out, or even no hand at all. All Distributors wear a badge and usually a vest and can be found selling the paper in Downtown Cincinnati, Clifton, Northside, Northern Kentucky and at area churches. ALFRED WOOLFOLK SINCE 10/2003 ASRES AYENAW SINCE 2012 BERTA LAMBERT SINCE 1997 BETTIE BAILEY SINCE 10/2017 BRANDON NELSON SINCE 4/2008 BRIAN ADAMS SINCE 7/2017 CHARLES WILLIAMS SINCE 7/2017 CHRISTOPHER KAIHATSU SINCE 7/2017 CLEO WOMBLES SINCE 10/2003 CRANDALL COBB SINCE 2004 DARREL ROZIER SINCE 7/2017 DAVID MCCANE SINCE 2017 ERIC VALDEZ SINCE 2/2017 GERALD FRANKLIN SINCE 7/2017 GRADY COOK SINCE 1997 GREGORY RAY SINCE 4/2015 HENRY BRELAND SINCE 7/2017 JAMES BROWN SINCE 3/2009 JAMES DAVIS SINCE 8/2000 JENNY BURTON SINCE 7/2017 JIMMIE GIPSON SINCE 2001 JON DARBY SINCE 2/2006 JOHN HORN JOSEPHINE BASKERVILLE SINCE 9/2008 J’TORI TYMAN SINCE 5/2014 KIM NGUYEN SINCE 7/2017 KENNY BUSSELL SINCE 10/2009 KAREN COLLETTE SINCE 7/2008 KEITH EUTSEY SINCE 2/2011 LARRY BROWN SINCE 10/2007 LEE MCCOY SINCE 7/2009 LEONARD JACKSON SINCE 2/2005 MARY MUELLER SINCE 5/2005 MARK SHEARS SINCE 4/2012 MAURICE GOLSBY MELISSA MOSBY SINCE 9/2014 MIKE CARANO SINCE 4/2016 RAESHAWN GIPSON SINCE 3/2009 RAYNARD JONES SINCE 10/2008 RICKY WOODS SINCE 4/2015 RICCARDO TAYLOR SINCE 1999 RONNIE PHILLIPS SINCE 10/2009 SAMUEL JACKSON SINCE 10/2006 STACIA HOLLANDER SINCE 2017 STEPHANIE EAKES SINCE 7/2017 SYLVESTER WALKER SINCE 7/2017 TALINA HILL SINCE 2/2011 TIA CASS SINCE 11/2007 TONY THOMAS SINCE 3/2005 VIOLET COLLINS SINCE 2017 VICTOR MUMPHRY WILLA JONES SINCE 1/2010 WINNIE RICE SINCE 7/2017 QUEENACELASTINE SINCE 7/2017 THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2018 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource February 9-February 22, 2018 Subject The topic of the resource Homelessness Description An account of the resource Pg 1: Cover Page Pg 2: From the Director An Update on Citizen Organizing in 2018 Pg 3: The Allure of Gentrification Pg 4: How to Respond to Panhandling Pg 5: Compassionate Measurement There’s Compassion in Sharing Pg 6: The Campaign Mother Goose and Other Alternative Facts Pg 7: Where Are Our Troops? Pg 8: Life is a Beach Pg 9: UC Students Lose Their Bus Passes Pg 10: GCHC Pg 11: Let Us Enter the Struggle Pg 12: Josh Spring Continued Jim Luken Continued Pg 13: Street Voice Pg 14: Puzzles Pg 15: Resources Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Streetvibes Archive Project Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Streetvibes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource February 9-February 22, 2018 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Josh Spring Justin Jeffre Dr. Mark Mussman Trenton Davis Luwana Pettus Oglesby Michael Earl Patton Jim Luken Isaac Smith Jason Haap Kim Green Willa Denise Jones Bill Woods Homeless Coalition Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Bill Woods Bus Dr. Mark Mussman Gentrification Homeless Coalition Isaac Smith Jason Haap Jim Luken Josh Spring Justin Jeffre Kim Green Luwana Pettus Oglesby Michael Earl Patton Students Trenton Davis Troops University of Cincinnati Willa Denise Jones https://streetvibesarchive.net/files/original/53c943460c1c97a4d2994765b9acfd66.pdf 29508671bd7f957a72562d3ef03ae84e PDF Text Text J a n ua r y 1 1 t h - J a n ua r y 2 5 t h 2 0 1 8 | Vo l . 2 1 I s s u e 2 4 ( N o . 3 9 7 ) advo cating justice | building communit y Any opinions in this issue are of the authors and don't necessarily represent Streetvibes or The Homeless Coalition. Article on page 8 I’M BIG, I’M BAD, I’M A BID! This Issue is sponsored by (Retired) Judge Mark P. Painter Find previous issues of Streetvibes online at: cincistreetvibes.org Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition 113 E. 12th Street Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 streetvoice | 12 �2 COALITION N o v 11 2 - -NJan. o v 19, 0 18 || N o . 393 Jan. 25,22019 No. 398 From The Director: Working Not Waiting Streetvibes is an activist newspaper, advocating justice and building community. Streetvibes reports on economic issues, civil rights, the environment, the peace movement, spirituality and the struggle against homelessness and poverty. Distributed by individuals experiencing homelessness or on the edge of homelessness, in exchange for a $2.00 Donation. Streetvibes is published twice a month by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless (GCCH), a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that works to eradicate homelessness in Cincinnati. 113 East 12th St. Cincinnati OH, 45202 Ph: 513.421.7803 FAX: 513.421.7813 WEB: www.cincihomeless.org EMAIL: streetvibes@cincihomeless.org Editor: Gabriela Godinez Executive Director: Josh Spring Director of Development: Mona Jenkins Director of Education: Dr. Mark Mussman Josh Spring giving a speech. Credit:Amanda Meet JOSH SPRING I Executive Director n 2006 the musician John Mayer released a song which included the following lyrics: “…Now we see everything that’s going wrong With the world and those who lead it…” and “…To bring our neighbors home from war they would have never missed a Christmas No more ribbons on their door And when you trust your television What you get is what you got Cause when they own the information, oh They can bend it all they want” These lyrics are pretty good; identifying what’s wrong and who’s leading the wrong, ending war and not trusting mass media. But the rest of the lyrics of this song mirror a major problem among so many groups of people: “…With the world and those who lead it We just feel like we don’t have the means To rise above and beat it So we keep waiting (waiting) Waiting on the world to change…” and “It’s hard to beat the system When we’re standing at a distance So we keep waiting (waiting) Waiting on the world to change” and “Now if we had the power To bring our neighbors home from war… It’s not that we don’t care We just know that the fight ain’t fair So we keep waiting (waiting) Waiting on the world to change” What the hell! You know the problems, you know the problems need to be ended, but your waiting on things to change? He’s right that we may not yet have the “means to rise above and beat it” and that “It’s hard to beat the system when we’re standing at a distance” and that the “fight ain’t fair”. Duh, yes these are true statements. But these are not reasons to wait. In fact there are no reasons to wait on making change. If we don’t currently have the “means” then we have to make the means. So we have to strategize, execute, re-evaluate and organize people. The “means” are never going to magically appear or be given to us, we make them, really, as we hone ourselves, we are them. The best way to not be “standing at a distance” is to move forward, into the fray; strategically ignite the fray. And about the fight not being fair; yes the majority of resources are controlled by the few extremely wealthy people and companies and the very wealthy who envy them, but we have a whole lot more people than they do. I know some reading this may be thinking, “…oh don’t make it an ‘us and them’ thing.” It already is an “us and them” thing and allowing ourselves to be blinded by faux warm and fuzzies about everyone just needing to work together keeps poverty and oppression well fed. Instead we need to own the fact that we have many, many people and organizing our collective strength is how we recover the necessary resources to ensure just opportunity for healthy life. At the end of the song, Mayer sings: “One day our generation Is gonna rule the population So we keep waiting (waiting) Waiting on the world to change…” Perhaps he is saying he believes that once his generation “rule[s] the population” change will happen, so he and his friends are just “waiting” for that day. If we claim we are “waiting” on something to change the world or we are “waiting” on our having enough power to change the world, really we are just utilizing the word “wait” to act as if care, but the timing just isn’t right yet. This is faith without works. Having faith things will change, even having faith we will lead such a change, but doing nothing about it keeps the paths to destruction well-established. We should have faith justice will rule, but the faith is born in working to eliminate the paths to destruction and concurrently establish justice. We aren’t waiting. THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED Distributor Program Manager: Sallie Mascus Layout: Gabriela Godinez Reception: Bonita Batton, Larry Johnson Maintenance: Pete Roper ------------------------------------------CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE Writers: Josh Spring, Reginald Black, Yonna Walterson, Chris Arenault, Robert Park, Jonas Fullner, Paul Boden, Bill Woods, Key Beck, Kim Green, Willa Denise Jones, David McCane ------------------------------------------Photography/ Artwork: Homeless Coalition, pngtree. com, Gabriela Godinez, wraphome.org, Amanda Meek ---------------------------------------------Thank You For Reading Streetvibes And Supporting Our Mission To Build Community And Advocate Justice. Streetvibes and The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless do not endorse candidates for public office. �No. 39 Nov 2 - N o v 19, 2 0 18 Jan. 113-|Jan. 25, 2019 | No. 398 3 U.S. NEWS Shutdown Easy ROBERT PARK I Contributing Writer t’s really very simple. The Democrats announce that two can play this disgusting game (shutting down our government that we pay for and that should be doing things we need, you know, like inspecting food supplies, protecting and fixing the environment, enforcing labor laws and protections, prosecuting discrimination, collecting taxes owed by the super-rich, making climate- change resilient infrastructure…). The Democrats (not known for backbone) would explain: we will not vote for any Budget that does not establish Medicare-for-All immediately. Period. And then they go home and wait. Catch-up with the locals, read some good books, attend rallies and picket lines. With a clear commitment for universal, publicly funded health care (like almost all modern countries already have), the details could then be negotiated: phase-in Medicare coverage by lowering the entry age each year by 5 years. If its 65 now, a year from now it’s 60; 5 years from now it’s 40. Includes dental and vision. Funds transition programs that liberate nurses working for insurance companies and gets them back into a health care system that works well for the people. Instead of Nancy Pelosi smiling and promising bipartisanism, she needs to cut off the corporate sugar daddies and learn how to street fight for us. Do the right things and small donations will follow, in the millions. Instead of projecting niceness, we need to hear from her and her colleagues sarcasm, ridicule and honesty. Tell the GOP to take his wall and shove it. It would help a lot if the Dems would explain the origins of the immigration crisis: the war on drugs and corporate super-exploitation in Central America by some of the Dems’ biggest contributors. These are not issues to smile about, they are life-anddeath propositions that the American people are already on top of or ready to be. One man’s journey through 19 years of homelessness REGINALD BLACK Street Sense D avid Gardner, 34, had been homeless since he was fifteen years old – the age at which he was taken away from his mother. He is a native Washingtonian and moved into his first place of his own this year. Gardner has had work on and off, and he has also bounced between jail and drug treatment programs. While he was homeless, he learned about gratitude. “I thanked someone for coming down and helping me out and uplifting my spirits,” Gardner says. “It is hard out here.” This is his lived experience, as shared during an interview at McDonald’s in downtown Washington D.C. Reginald Black: Over the years of being homeless, what kind of facilities did you encounter? Gardner: As a child, I was sent to shelter houses from the age of 15 until I was 19, when I was convicted of a crime I committed with some co-defendants of mine. I learned that I have to be independent if I want to be something out in the world. When I came home, I juggled with trying to get back into my family life. But I didn’t believe that my family had my best interest at heart, you know? I was dealing with a drug addicted sister and she was into prostitution, and it was just unsafe for me. Can you describe some of the shelters that you spent time in? I was told to stay out my neighborhood. That’s what lead me to come to the shelters and come downtown. That was in 2003. The shelters I have been to in Washington, D.C. are run by Catholic Charities for the Department of Human Services. You would think that a church would be a safe haven for people to go in to. But once you get there, you have to be there at a certain time. You could actually be hurt or harmed for standing in the line [waiting to get in], because people burst in front of you and try to take your spot. One thing that happened to me that I was afraid of was when my sheets were stolen off my bed. I can remember my first day there: I was excited to finally get my bed. I put my sheets on my bed and then they were stolen. I went up to the front desk and was like, “Oh my gosh, what’s going on here? Someone stole my stuff! I do not feel safe here no more.” One of the guys at the desk explained to me there was a lot of stealing going on and that there would be a lot of people that I’d meet who would not have my best interests at heart. I picked up some charges in the shelter because some guys decided to pick on me and we got into an altercation. I got arrested for assault, so I didn’t really have nowhere to go. But I also met a lot of good people and a lot of friends that I stick to and we are trying to progress and to become something in our lives. Before you were homeless, what kind of environment did you grow up in? Do you think it ultimately led to your homelessness? Well, prior to me being arrested, I was just a little kid – seven or eight years old. In my neighborhood, a lot of the boys used to hang around outside. My thing was hanging around outside. At some point, some people came around to try to help [my friends] out and explained that [my friends] were homeless. So that’s how I first found out about being homeless. I had a single mother and four siblings growing up. My father was dead when I was born. So, it’s been hard, you know? I don’t blame nothing on my family because they tried to do what they had to do, especially my mother raising four kids. I went to school and, like I said, I was arrested at 15 and sent out to Virginia. I went to grade school and always had good grades. I always studied and learned and listened to the teachers and did my homework. Once I came home from residential, I was able to get my GED. When I was a juvenile, I did two years in college and in between living in the shelters and going backand-forth – from what they call postto-post – I would pick up temp jobs and try to work and just try to better myself. Did the services at that time help you with employment? Well, at the programs I have been to, I feel as though I put forth a lot of effort to progress in my behavior. I believe they helped me strengthen my mindset so that I could get my life together. A lot of times it did help me just by giving me somewhere to stay at and not be locked up and arrested, and by giving me someone to talk to, you know? I made it my goal to see my case manager every two weeks when I was in the shelter, which was good. Little things like that really help a person out. It sounds like you have seen different services change over time. Have they gotten better? A lot of these services and a lot of the people that come with these services – I’ve learned they’re in there to just get THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED a paycheck. A lot of them will allow you to be hurt, harmed and put in bad hands. The people I was working with, they didn’t inspire me or assist me with what was going on at the time. But in a lot of the day programs that are opening now there are people that come out and serve and it’s really helpful. Where have you found direction or inspiration lately? Well, I signed up for a constituent scholarship and got accepted into to the National Alliance [to End Homelessness] conference [in July]. What I do is sign up for everything and let the people call me back. Focus is my thing. Everybody wants to sign up for the partying events or cookout events. I pick events where I have to go to places like the Wilson Building. Courtesy of Street Sense / INSP.ngo �4 ADVERTISMENT THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED NJan. o v 211 - N v 19, 18 | |NNo. o . 393 - oJan. 25,2 02019 398 �N o. 39 ov 225, - N2019 o v 19,| No. 2 0 18 Jan. 113 -| N Jan. 398 5 GLOBAL Mothers of Drug War Victims Demand Justice in the Philippines YONNA WALTERSSON Inter Press Service A basketball bounces. The heat feels almost physical against the skin. Young men dribble the ball playfully on the hot afternoon of Christmas Day. A mother approaches them asking to borrow a few pesos to buy water. A son grins back at her. For a short time, it’s only a moment among others. A few hours later, it has become a memory carefully imprinted on the mind of a mother - the memory of the last time she saw her son smile. That evening, he is murdered – shot to death alongside a friend. Two of the thousands of people killed in Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on drugs. “They ride in tandem,” says Lorena Villanueva. “One steers the motorbike, one shoots,” says Emy Pagaduan. It’s their sons’ killers that the two women are talking about as they sit in a park in the middle of Manila. Those who appeared on Christmas Day 2016 and who shot their sons to death. 21-year-old Ray Justin Villanueva and 16-year-old Ramil Pagaduan were killed early in the war on drugs that is still underway. By now, “riding tandem” has become the mental image of how the killings take place. Motorcyclists quickly drive into an area and shoot the person next in line to be killed. “We thought it was fireworks that we heard, which is not surprising given we were in the middle of Christmas celebrations when we often have fireworks,” says Lorena Villanueva. In Caloocan, Manila, where the two women live, a handful of people die every day in the war on drugs. The area is poor, which has been a common denominator of murder locations. The political opposition suggests that’s because the country’s poor people have a harder time pursuing legal action and the police can therefore kill with impunity. But trade union activists, human rights lawyers and politicians are also among those killed and imprisoned, and a climate of fear has established itself in the community. The war on drugs began immediately after Duterte was sworn in as president in June 2016. During the presidential campaign, he promised that 100,000 criminals would be killed. Official figures now state that about 5,000 have been killed in the war against drugs. Local human rights organisations insist it’s more than neighbour using drugs? Are you going Lorena Villanueva adds: “I pray Ramil Pagaduan and Ray Justin Villanueva. Credit: Yonna Waltersson, Arbetet-Global/IPS 29,000 people. The official stance is also that those who have died in the war on drugs have done so because they were violent during their attempted arrests. It was only in September this year that President Duterte acknowledged that extrajudicial executions take place in the country. In a speech from the presidential palace he said: “My only sin is extrajudicial killings.” After the death of her son, Lorena Villanueva has left her job. She says she has to devote herself to protecting the children who are still alive. It’s usually young people that are killed. Sitting on the stairs in the park, she pulls a photo of her son out of her handbag. “He was always so happy. After my husband’s death, he had taken on his father’s role. He always had so many plans for what he wanted to do and things to fix in the house,” she says. At the headquarters of the democratic socialist party Akbayan Citizens’ Action Party, one of the party leaders, Machris Cabreros, tells us how the police operate: “The police knock on doors in poor neighbourhoods, asking three questions: Is anyone in your family using drugs? Do you have a relative or to cooperate?” That’s how the police compile a list of those to be killed so that they can meet their quotas, she says. An Amnesty International report on the war on drugs, released earlier this year, contained testimonies that a bounty is paid for each killing. Depending on who is shot, the killer is said to be able to get between 8,000 and 15,000 pesos. Akbayan’s Machris Cabreros says the system creates a culture of informers and establishes a fear in society. Emy Pagaduan agrees. “You do not know who’s the enemy.” Among those who have experienced the war on drugs, there is also a sense that it is the poor that are being killed. “Those involved in the drug trade are safe. It’s us poor who lose our lives,” says Lorena Villanueva. Lorena Villanueva and Emy Pagaduan are part of a larger group of women who have filed charges against the president in the International Criminal Court in The Hague (ICC). A preliminary investigation has begun. With the application to ICC, the group hopes to hold someone accountable for the lives lost. “We want justice,” says Emy Pagaduan. THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED every night for someone to have the courage to come forward and tell the truth about who killed our sons.” The fact that President Duterte has acknowledged that extrajudicial killings take place in the country can lend weight to the ongoing investigation. But few – if any – people believe the investigation will result in a drop in murder rates. “There is no indication that it is about to slow down, even though he is aware that there is an investigation. Maybe if he is forced to go to The Hague for questioning. But the investigation will take time and Duterte has also threatened that the Philippines will leave the ICC,” says Kith Melgar, one of the Akbayan party leaders. Another Christmas is around the corner; a much-loved celebration for many Filipinos, who start celebrating as early as September and continues until Christmas. But Emy Pagaduan says her family no longer join in the festivities. “We will be at the cemetery on Christmas Day. There is no joy left in celebrating Christmas.” Courtesy of Inter Press Service / INSP.ngo �GLOBAL 6 NJan. o v 211 - N v 19, 2 02019 18 | N o . 393 - oJan. 25, | No. 398 Negotiating for Nature Concerned over the rate of biodiversity loss, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is calling for a new deal for nature and people. South Africaís white rhinoceros recovered from near-extinction thanks to intense conservation efforts. Credit: Kanya DíAlmeida/IPS THARANGA YAKUPITIYAGE Inter Press Service W ildlife is being wiped out in an unprecedented rate, and it’s our fault. But a new deal could provide a new pathway forward. Concerned over the rate of biodiversity loss, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is calling for a new deal for nature and people in order to accelerate and integrate action between three core areas: biodiversity, land degradation, and climate change. “The trends are shocking. We are facing a decline which is unprecedented and its accelerating,” said WWF’s Director General Marco Lambertini. “This is a global issue. Almost no country is completely exempt,” he added. And it’s not just the iconic species like pandas, elephants, and tigers, he noted. According the WWF’s recent Living Planet report, populations of vertebrate species have declined by 60 per cent around the world in just 40 years. Freshwater species alone faced a decline of over 80 per cent. Such population declines were especially prominent in South and Central America, where there is 89 per cent less wildlife than in 1970. Among the biggest drivers of biodiversity loss are directly linked to human activities, namely land conversion and overexploitation. Over 40 per cent of the world’s land has been converted or set aside for agriculture alone. The Amazon, which is home to over 10 per cent of the world’s species, has seen deforestation and habitat conversion to make way for agricultural activities such as cattle ranching and soy cultivation. Though there have been some efforts to halt and reverse such harmful activities, 20 per cent of the Amazon disappeared in just 50 years. In Indonesia, primates are facing a heightened risk of extinction as forests are destroyed to produce palm oil. “Food production is the single most important driver of wild habitat loss… very few people realise the connection between the food that they eat and the impact it is having on wildlife and wild habitats in the world,” Lambertini said. But it doesn’t stop there. According to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), unsustainable land management, which encompasses many modern crop and livestock practices, is causing soil and land degradation thus contributing to both desertification and further biodiversity loss. “With our current trends in production, urbanisation, and environmental degradation, we are losing and wasting too much land,” said UNCCD’s Executive Secretary Monique Barbut in the group’s Global Land Outlook report. “We are losing our connection with the earth. We are losing too quickly the water, soil, and biodiversity that support all life,” she added. Lambertini echoed similar sentiments, stating: “There’s not going to be a prosperous, healthy, happy, just future for us in a degraded planet.” Finding common ground UNCCD is one of three conventions that were established during the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. Its sister conventions include the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Though significant as separate frameworks, Lambertini highlighted the need for more integration between the three conventions as the three issues are interconnected. “We are calling for a new deal for nature…that really recognises those interdependencies and that they need to be integrated—land degradation, climate change, and nature conservation,” he said. The Executive Secretaries of the three conventions also recognised the intersectionality of the three issues during the U.N. climate change conference in 2017, calling for the establishment of a project preparation facility. The facility would help promote a coordinated action towards the convention’s common issues and finance large-scale multi-disciplinary projects. However, little has been mentioned of it since. Similar to the Paris climate accord, the proposed “new deal for nature and people” would ramp up the international community’s efforts through ambitious goals and targets to halt biodiversity loss and protect and restore nature. Unlike the majority of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the end date of the biodiversityrelated targets under the SDGs is in 2020 and it is expected that many countries will not come close to reaching the targets given current trends. The new deal for nature would therefore be a post-2020 framework, helping governments to keep up, if not raise, their efforts. A recent U.N. Biodiversity Conference agreed to begin a preparatory process, marking a first step towards a new framework. However, WWF noted that ambition was weak. “The world needs to wake up to the risks of biodiversity loss. All stakeholders; business, government and people, need to act now if we are to have any hope of creating a sustainable future for all and a New Deal for Nature and People in 2020,” Lambertini said. “For this to happen, we need a cohesive vision and strong political will – something [Conference of the Parties 14] has unfortunately lacked,” he added. The value of nature THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED The Living Planet Index calculated that nature provides services worth $125 trillion annually while also providing us with fresh air, clean water, food, and medicine. Wildlife play an essential role, and can even help restore and conserve land. “We often forget that these creatures are fundamental to maintaining ecosystems like forests, oceans, wetlands, grasslands and make services that are fundamental to us,” said Lambertini. “There is a huge link between biodiversity and their ecosystems… and our fight against climate change,” he added. For instance, approximately 87 per cent of all flowering plant species are pollinated by animals, and crops that are partially pollinated by animals account for 35 per cent of global food production. Primates also help disperse seeds and pollen, helping maintain tropical rainforests which are play a crucial role in global rainfall patterns and carbon emissions reduction. During the recent U.N. climate change conference in Poland, many looked to natural climate solutions including forests which help cut emissions by up to 30 per cent. WWF is urging all stakeholders to come together to deliver on a comprehensive framework to help protect the environment by the next U.N. biodiversity conference set to take place in China in 2020. “It’s time to stop taking nature for granted—we are depending on nature more than nature depends on us,” Lambertini said. “Don’t leave nature and environmental conservation and climate change as an afterthought, they have to be driving the thinking and the planning at the policy level as much as the economic level,” he concluded. Courtesy of Inter Press Service / INSP.ngo �N o. 39 3 |- N ov 2 25, - N 2019 o v 19,| 2 0 18398 Jan. 11 Jan. No. GLOBAL 7 Dozens of indigenous women forcibly sterilised in Canada CHRIS ARSENAULT Reuters D ozens of indigenous women were forcibly sterilised by Canadian health authorities, including as recently as in 2017, said the lawyer leading a classaction lawsuit against the government. Alisa Lombard was speaking on Thursday after appearing in Geneva at the UN Committee Against Torture during hearings into Canada's human rights record. More than 90 indigenous women in the western province of Saskatchewan contacted lawyers to join the lawsuit over forced sterilisation, said Lombard of Maurice Law, the indigenous-run firm spearheading the case. "This practice needs to stop," she said, adding that she knew of cases in 2009, 2011 and 2017. "If it happened then and nothing was done to prevent it, I don't see why it wouldn't be happening now," Lombard said. A government spokeswoman said officials were still gathering information on the issue, and could not say with certainty that the practice had stopped. The UN committee will publish its findings on December 7. "This class action is there to stop it (forced sterilisation), punish it and prosecute it," Lombard said of the suit, which was filed last year. Health experts and human rights campaigners said the forced sterilisations, which the United Nations considers a form of torture, are symptomatic of the discrimination and abuse that Canada's indigenous women face. The government does not deny coerced sterilisations took place. However, a spokeswoman for the minister of indigenous services said she could not comment on allegations in the lawsuit as the matter was before the courts. ‘Serious violation’ Earlier this week, minister of indigenous services Jane Philpott told lawmakers the "coerced sterilisation of some indigenous women by medical professionals is a serious violation of human rights". "We know that indigenous patients can face systemic barriers in accessing medical services, including discrimination and racism," Philpott said. It remained unclear how many indigenous women were forcibly sterilised in Saskatchewan or elsewhere in Canada, said Alex Neve, secretarygeneral of Amnesty International Canada, who also testified at the UN committee hearings. "It is impossible not to conclude that this arises from a context of deeply entrenched racism and colonialism. People take part in a smudging ceremony organized by the First Nations Indigenous Warriors and the American Indian Movement on the Cote First Nation, near the town of Kamsack, Saskatchewan, Canada, August 6, 2017. Smudging is a common practice among some indigenous peoples in North America and is believed to cleanse a person or place of negative energy. REUTERS/Zachary Prong This is tied up with stereotypes of indigenous women as being incapable mothers," he said. Indigenous people comprise about 5 per cent of Canada's 36.5 million people, and are disproportionately affected by poverty. Nearly half live in western provinces such as Saskatchewan, according to government census data. During his testimony, Neve called on the government to appoint an independent investigator – ideally an indigenous woman, he said – to conduct a review to determine the scale of the problem and recommend solutions. "Under international law it is very clear forced sterilisation is torture," Neve said. Decades-long practice The lawsuit, which Lombard said could go to trial in 2019, names the Saskatchewan government, provincial hospitals, several doctors and national authorities. It is seeking C$7 million ($5.3 million) per plaintiff. Forced or coerced sterilisation which is defined as sterilising women without their proper, informed consent - began in Canada in the 1930s and continued until at least 2017, the suit states. The lawsuit cites a woman with the initials M.R.L.P. as the lead plaintiff. It said the Saskatchewan resident was sterilised without proper, informed consent immediately after her second child was delivered by emergency caesarean section in September 2008. Health professionals suggested she undergo a tubal ligation - a surgical procedure in which a woman's fallopian tubes are blocked, tied or cut - when she was "particularly vulnerable": in labour and about to undergo emergency surgery. "Her written consent was sought by health professionals moments before emergency surgery was affirmed, contemporaneously with the administration of opioids, and while she was incapacitated by the pain associated with active labour," the statement of claim said. When she later sought to have the procedure reversed, health professionals told her she would be unlikely to fall pregnant. Her relationship with her then-partner ended due to her sterility, the suit said. "Canada and the province were aware of these policies and practice and their disproportionate impacts on vulnerable Aboriginal women, historically and currently, and have done nothing to prevent them," the statement of claim said. Canada's universal healthcare is largely funded by the national government and provided by provincial authorities. The lawsuit said coerced sterilisations were an example of cruel and unusual punishment, which is illegal under the country's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The provincial health ministry said it had launched an independent review last year after indigenous women came forward saying they had been pressured into having tubal ligations after giving THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED birth. It changed its policies after that review, a ministry spokeswoman said. "It (the government) now requires that a woman must have had a documented discussion with her healthcare provider before coming into hospital," she said in emailed comments. "Otherwise, a tubal ligation would not be provided during the patient's post-partum experience ... Our priority is to engage, understand and better serve the health needs of all indigenous residents of Saskatchewan." The provincial ministry said it was implementing cultural training for all maternal services staff, and was working with indigenous leaders and elders to improve the consent process and healthcare in general. The spokeswoman could not comment on specific claims made in court documents as litigation is ongoing. Marcia Anderson, a professor of health sciences at Canada's University of Manitoba, said it was difficult to hold healthcare providers to account as the country did not gather data on healthquality performance by race. "There is very little (even no) ability to monitor the expression of racism in the healthcare system," Anderson said by email. "Racism is as present in healthcare as it is in our broader society, but it is acted out in different ways." Courtesy of Reuters / Thomson Reuters Foundation / INSP.ngo �FEATURE 8 N ov 2 o v 19, 18 | |NNo. o . 393 Jan. 11- -NJan. 25,2 02019 398 I'm Big, I'm Bad, I'm a Bid! PAUL BODEN P Western Regional Advocacy Project atrolling and controlling our public spaces— sidewalks, streets and parks— Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) are privatizing our downtowns and main thoroughfares. Our public spaces are becoming corridors and shopping centers that are welcoming consumers with open arms and excluding everyone else. Most particularly impacted by this emerging trend are the houseless communities, who are seeing these areas to rest and sleep, free from harassment and criminalization, shrink. BIDs have been growing significantly across the United States. In California, BIDs have grown exponentially since the passage of the Business Improvement District Law of 1994, which expanded their budget, autonomy and authority. One hundred eighty-nine BIDs have been identified in 69 California cities surveyed. What began as a way to supplement public services within geographically defined boundaries has turned into massive beasts with large budgets, controlling public space and being significantly funded with tax dollars with little to no oversight. Even though BIDs control large swaths of private and public land, many people do not know what a BID is. However, most people could probably point out the BID Ambassador and street cleaning teams, whose brightly colored uniforms are a common sight as they give tourists and shoppers directions, pick up garbage, and pressure wash sidewalks. A positive sight for many, but behind the scenes, BIDs have become powerful lobbies, crafting or supporting ballot initiatives and legislation to push anti-homeless loitering, sit-lie, sidewalk obstruction and other laws, ensuring the further criminalization of homeless people and compounding the day to day harassment of the houseless community. As shown below, the increase in BIDs directly correlates to an increase in local antihomeless laws. BIDs are formed when business THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED owners and/or property owners come together, petition for their establishment and get approval from the local government. Once the BID is established, the local government collects an assessment (tax) from all the property owners within the district, including the local government on publicly owned parcels. Funds from this tax are then turned over “to a nonprofit or to a quasi­-governmental agency run by the BID organization’s board of directors.” Some BIDs are run by business owners, who are primarily focused on bringing in more shoppers, while others are run by property owners, who are interested in attracting tenants who can pay higher rents for storefronts and/or housing. In effect, our local governments are turning taxpayer dollars over to private businesses, which use that money to create a more “safe and attractive” consumer environment. There are well over 1,000 of these special districts throughout the United States, whose main function is to drive poor and homeless people away from the neighborhood by hassling them, enforcing the sit-lie law and other discriminatory tactics, including contracting with the cops to step up enforcement of “quality of life” offenses, thus criminalizing homeless and poor people’s existence. �No. 39 Nov 225, - N2019 o v 19, 2 0 18 Jan. 113 -| Jan. | No. 398 “It is my understanding that the people who ride around on bikes waking up the homeless are not supposed to put their hands on anyone… If I’m breaking the law a San Diego Police Officer is to do something about it- not some flunkie on a bike who has no badge, [and] won’t tell me his name,” stated a complaint filed by a homeless woman in San Diego, who was awakened by a BID security guard when he rode his bike into her. To be clear, we are not just talking about houseless people when we talk about BIDs criminalizing nonconsumers. BIDs do not want anyone in their districts from whom they cannot profit. This includes street vendors (Permit Betty), buskers and anyone who is hanging out in the neighborhood but not looking to purchase anything. Laws against sitting on the sidewalk and other such laws are always discriminately enforced, specifically with the goal of removing people, who are not wanted, from public spaces. From a study by UC Berkeley Law School Policy Advocacy Clinic FEATURE conducted for the Western Regional Advocacy Project (WRAP) to understand the effects Business Improvement Districts have on houseless communities in California, “BIDs violate California law when they spend property assessment revenue on policy advocacy… BIDs may violate additional state laws when they spend assessment revenue collected from public properties within their districts on policy advocacy…. BIDs and their agents may violate state, federal and international law through their policing practices, including the infringing on the legal rights of homeless people.” This study, “Homeless Exclusion Districts: How California Business Improvement Districts Use Policy Advocacy and Policing Practices to Exclude Homeless People from Public Space,” is the first of its kind containing groundbreaking research on how BIDs impact our local communities. “Their entire job is to push homeless people out by harassment, pressure washing the streets, and calling the cops on folks. They are also hiring formerly homeless people to harass other homeless people and removing them from their economic corridors,” remarked Benjamin Donlon of Right To Survive in Portland, Oregon, on Clean and Safe, a 213 block BID that touts itself as the “oldest, largest and most successful BID in the nation” created by several adjacent BIDs, Clean and Safe controls all of downtown and Old Town Portland. As General Dogon, an organizer from L.A. Skid Row can attest, “Cops will pull up and go right up to the BID guard and pull him to the side and have a conversation with them, and then walk over to the homeless person and tell them what they did wrong. The BID guards then began to think that they are the police and that they have the power. The community ambassador is really the community oppressor.” A classic example of BID control of public space is the Urban Camping Ban in Denver, Colorado. Terese Howard of Denver Homeless Out Loud said, “When the unauthorized camping ban was passed in Denver, The Downtown Business Partnership (a prominent BID in Denver) listed in their annual THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED 9 report that they were successful in the lobbying of the unauthorized camping ban. Further, the Downtown Business Partnership supports enforcement of sit-lie laws, enforcement of unconstitutional panhandling bans, and further architecturally pushes homeless people out of their districts by removing benches, water fountains, bathrooms and trash cans.” “BIDs will go Block by Block to ensure that every sidewalk, street and park serve to benefit the businesses that are in the district. Public Space has become nothing more than the hallways of a shopping mall, and if you are in that hallway you better be there to shop, or someone will chase you out,” said Paul Boden of WRAP. With the release of the study, “Homeless Exclusion Districts: How California Business Improvement Districts Use Policy Advocacy and Policing Practices to Exclude Homeless People from Public Space,” we hope to bring greater awareness to how our shiny new shopping spaces are created, and what goes into their creation— mainly our tax dollars and our freedom. �10 GLOBAL N ov 2 o v 19, 18 | |NNo. o . 393 Jan. 11- -NJan. 25,2 02019 398 The Sailors Haunted by Their Experiences in the Mediterranean Deacon Fiete Sturm leads the Seamenís Mission in Altona. The pastor takes care of sailors on land. Credit: Marina Kostian JONAS FÜLLNER Hinz&Kunzt F leeing across the Mediterranean has always been dangerous. The International Organisation for Migration has recorded over 13,500 deaths in the past three and half years alone. Aid organisations such as Sea Watch, Sea Eye and Lifeline have been deploying lifeboats to prevent this number from rising further, but now their vessels have been blockaded in Malta. While sea rescue operations are being obstructed, the dying continues. Italy won’t even allow entry to vessels carrying rescued refugees. It is not only lifeboats but also large cargo ships that have been taking in the shipwrecked. The international Law of the Sea obliges ships’ captains to help people in danger on the high seas if they are able to do so. To not do so would also deeply offend the sailors’ sense of honour. This is something that maritime deacon Fiete Sturm is certain of. The 36-year-old is the leader of the German Seamen’s Mission in Altona, Hamburg, which is located not far from the fish market. As a pastor, he talks to the sailors on a regular basis. Here, he speaks about his experiences and explains why sea rescue operations are essential: “A sailor once told me how he saw a child and mother drown right before his eyes. He was aboard a fairly large container ship. Life vests were floating in the water. Some people had clearly already died. Using their last ounce of strength, the mother and child drew near to a rescue ladder. But the ship was still moving a little and the sea was rough. Both were dragged under the water and weren’t seen again. “The sailor saw everything and had no way of helping. It shook him up very badly and it took months before he could go to sea again. To this day, he still doesn’t dare go out on the Mediterranean. “Other sailors try to repress what they've gone through. I can understand why. You need to be able to function at sea. It’s a tough job – 300 hours’ work per month – and sometimes you’re away for nine months at a time, far from home. Only when sailors stay at in port for a longer period, perhaps because they’re ill, for example, do they have the time to talk to a pastor such as myself. “Three years ago, a sailor confided in a colleague of mine that he no longer dares sail in the Mediterranean. He remembers sailing over children’s rucksacks drifting in the sea. Many people are still using this route to flee hunger and war. I know sailors who are unable to sleep at night in the summer months before a trip to the Mediterranean. “The fear that a rescue could fail is always there. Unlike rescue organisations’ boats, cargo ships are not equipped to enable people to easily come on board from the water. The side of the ship can sometimes be 30 metres above the surface of the water and there are no hatches to simply pull people through. Even in calm seas there can be a suction effect in the water. “When they use a rope ladder to climb down to the shipwrecked, the sailors put their own lives at risk. The mere thought that something like this could happen at any time off the Libyan coast is enough to make the sailors anxious. “Many of them would like to turn a blind eye, but they don’t. The law requires them to provide a rescue service to those in distress at sea. However, they don’t provide help just because the law says so: if you’re at sea, then you offer your help. It’s a guiding principle. It’s also got nothing to do with their morals. I’ve spoken with sailors who vote for right-wing parties and think that too many refugees are coming to Europe. But there’s no question that they would help refugees in distress, regardless of the fact that it’s dangerous and irrespective of their personal feelings towards these people. At that moment they’re not refugees, but castaways floating in the water. “Now that captains are facing charges for offering assistance – as happened with the boat Lifeline – it means that these fundamental practices are being destroyed. Saving lives at sea goes without saying. That principle can never be shaken. “Anyone who goes a step further and says that the expectation of receiving help in distress is contributing to migration is confusing cause and effect. The people who died came first. If that weren’t the case, then the rescuers and their lifeboats would never have gone out in the first place. Now people are saying that if there were no rescuers, then people wouldn’t dare make the dangerous flight across the sea. But there are plenty of studies that say this is not the case. People will continue to flee. And they will continue to do so across the sea, over and over again.” Translated from German by Hazel Davies Courtesy of Hinz&Kunzt / INSP. ngo Around 4000 people held a demonstration for sea rescue operations in Hamburg on 13 July. They threw flowers into the Elbe in memory of the refugees who have drowned in the Mediterranean. Credit: Tina Fritsche THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �No. 39 Nov 225, - N2019 o v 19, 2 0 18 Jan. 113 -| Jan. | No. 398 11 LOCAL My Story DAVID MCCANE I Contributing Writer became homeless back in 20045. Been homeless for 13 years, 4 months, 3 weeks until last year when I got my place. I was on the streets in Mansfield too. I left here for about a year and three months but I realized I needed help. I got out of jail, came back here, got together with Alphonse who helped me get connected with Greater Cincinnati Behavioral (GCB) to work with caseworkers and get housing. He told me I had to give 110% and then the caseworkers would give 110%, so I did. I did volunteer work and I love it. My caseworkers got me on Social Security Income. They set up appointments with me, help me set goals, and they’re really there for me. They’ve been a lot better than other places. I finally found people who listen to me and help me with my problems. They make sure I stay out of trouble. GCB really works with me. They helped me get an apartment. When I had an apartment, I gave it up to my friends who had kids because they needed somewhere to live. I didn’t mind being on the streets. The caseworkers helped me stay on the right path. They helped me get into college and I’m almost there. Daulton King helped me out when I needed someone to talk to about apartment situations, or just what was on my mind. He gave me a lot of good advice and told me to keep my head up and stay strong. He’s the one who helped me get into Streetvibes in the first place. I’m going to Cincinnati State for culinary arts and I’m working on getting my license and a car. I’m starting this semester and just got my uniform. On the 7th, I’ll get a set of knives to complete the chef ’s uniform. I’d really like to do cooking and baking if possible. I have my own recipes and have my own signature dishes. A friend of mine let me stay with him until he got kicked out and I used to cook for him. I did a lot of experiments with steak and pork and that’s when I realized how much I liked it. I got praise from a pastor I knew up there. I’m trying to come up with new recipes with chicken right now. I like to use different ingredients that you don’t expect, like cinnamon and garlic Crisco together. I also like doing heritage cooking since I am part Irish, German, Scottish, and Cherokee. I like to mix them all together, like a main dish from Irish cooking and a side dish from Native American cooking. Cooking wasn’t my only option, but Cinci State doesn’t have a Masonair program for construction. I am somewhat qualified in masonry, but I need to finish scaffolding. I’d like to be a fully certified mason as well. I also do landscaping and I’m a masseuse. If it wasn’t for the people at the Homeless Coalition—including the people at Streetvibes—I would still be on the streets and I wouldn’t be going to college. I’ve had my place for a year and one month and I plan to keep it. The PATH team really worked with me and I got into XL, which pays half of my rent. The same landlord has a two-bedroom place in Price Hill, which would be good. I’ve been trying to tell other people that they should also try to get housing here but you have to give 110%. Getting Beyond Benign Neglect BILL WOODS Contributing Writer T he period connecting the end of the old year and the start of the new one often prompts thinking about past events and what will come next. This December, my thinking began earlier after hearing an update on homelessness in this region by Josh Spring at the annual dinner of the Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition. Spring, the Executive Director of the Coalition, didn't pull any punches as he depicted a worsening situation with more homeless families and individuals and an enormous need for affordable housing in this area. This unsugar coated presentation jolted me to reflect about how we have evolved to such a dismal situation both locally and nationally. When Applied Information Resources, working under the auspices of the newly formed Homeless Coalition, conducted the area's first homeless study in 1986, the immediate response of people of good will was that resources must be quickly found to end this crisis that was impacting the lives of so many men, women, and children. One year later when I attended an international conference on homelessness in Delhi, India, delegates from other countries expressed disbelief that a rich nation like the United States could have a homeless problem. Those who knew their history would cite the programs of "the New Deal" and the 1960s "War on Poverty." In looking back now at the1980s, I believe that we had already entered a time frame that I am now calling "the period of benign neglect." By 1986, Ronald Reagan was in his sixth year as President. He came into office with the slogan: "Government isn't the answer. Government is the problem." He vowed to cut costly and unnecessary federal programs, and to cut taxes in order to unleash America's entrepreneurial spirit. When AIR did its homeless study it cited that funding for various housing assistance programs shrank from $24.9 billion in 1981 to $7.8 billion in 1987. A complimentary ideology also emerged at that time that government assistance actually entrenched poverty and caused a culture of dependency. Along with that philosophy came the mistaken notion of wide spread welfare fraud and welfare queens driving to pick up their checks in Cadillacs. Thus, a powerful new political force grew up in the Reagan era to counter the long prevailing concept that bold government action could solve major problems and assist families and individuals to get back on their feet. I label the time from the 1980s to the present as a period of benign neglect, because the dismantling of the federal safety net has gone on steadily but slowly. The federal housing cuts and cuts in other federal assistance that began in the 1980s have continued with stops and starts along the way. During the almost four decades under review enough progressive and moderate members of Congress have prevented any cataclysmic assaults on the safety net, and for sixteen of the thirty eight years, a Democrat has served as President. The new conservatism, however, subtly infiltrated the thinking of some Democratic leaders including Bill Clinton. As President, Clinton signed into law in 1996 a more punitive and limited welfare law that replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children- a long accepted entitlement program. Meanwhile, states like Ohio witnessed the cutting or elimination of anti-poverty programs by their legislatures. Groups such as the Homeless Coalition and other advocates for the poor fought against this continual whittling away of funding for affordable housing and other safety net programs, but this ongoing battle THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED with its stalemates and losses became almost numbing. Nobody did a very good job of keeping tabs on how these steady losses were mounting up and having a greater impact at the local level. This article has focused on one major factor that has led to the homeless situation that Josh Spring described at the Coalition's annual dinner. A complete picture would include other factors such as the impact of "big money" on the political process at all levels, the change to a global economy, and a culture that now emphasizes individualism, corporate greed, and polarized groups rather than any emphasis on "we the people." These factors and others would need to be blended into a complete story about how we became mired in this period of benign neglect. Perhaps the election and Presidency of Donald Trump serve as a wake up call to jolt us into acknowledging the critical problems that have slowly grown to gargantuan size over time. With democracy and most of our institutions and government programs now in jeopardy, maybe we will also be able to recognize that a city and a nation that can accept growing poverty and economic inequality no longer deserves to be called "great." �12 STREETVOICE It's Misting & It's Raining It's misty and it's raining But I'm not one who does much complaining As the mist comes in, before the rain starts to fall I hold my head up and there are no stars Just the mist and the rain falls As a child, I would cry when the dark clouds, would roll by, And I didn't see a beautiful blue sky, But now I smile, No more tears, no more cries I realize how our trees grown so tall When our wonderful God, Lets his rain fall No matter how dark I realize God always does his work Sometimes it's cloudy And sometimes it's dark But God always does his part N o v 11 2 --N o v 19, 0 18 || No. N o . 398 393 Jan. Jan. 25,22019 You and I You and I must make a pact To be mindful of how we act Toward each other no matter what And not hold hatred down in our gut We must understand that everyone is unique And know that a change is what everyone seeks With time and patience, with help from up above We can conquer the hatred we feel and replace it with God's love For only with God's guidance and his so many blssings Will we understand living life together without ever guessing We'll finally know what it is to live on this planet together To love each other for who we are and not what we are for now and forever! WILLA DENISE JONES KIM GREEN Streetvibes Distributor & Contributing Writer Streetvibes Distributor Contributing Writer Streetvibes Writing Circle If you would like to submit a story for publication in streetvibes, come join Katelyn Lusher and Chris Wilkey for a group writing session! S treetvibes is distributed by individuals who purchase the paper for 75 cents per copy and sell it for a $2.00 donation, keeping the profit they have earned. Becoming a Distributor is a great way for individuals who are financially poor to get back on (or stay on) their feet. This program provides supplemental income for those unable to secure other employment. Money earned helps meet basic housing, food and health care needs. The program is a hand up for people who are often in a place of getting only a hand out, or even no hand at all. All Distributors wear a badge and usually a vest and can be found selling the paper in Downtown Cincinnati, Clifton, Northside, Northern Kentucky and at area churches. THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �STREETVOICE No. 39 Nov 25, 2- N o v 19, 2 0 18 Jan. 113- |Jan. 2019 | No. 398 A Day in the Life of Sarah Huckabee Sanders Pity Sarah Huckabee Sanders. For Trump she always panders. To the press she has one song. "The President is never wrong!" Some say It's so reprehensible To defend acts so indefensible. Does she ever stop and pray? "Please no crazy tweets today!" BILL WOODS Contributing Writer 13 Creeping Thistle When I was picked by this pink flower, They told me it was a weed, I kept this flower, providing water as new roots grew, watered, even after the “thank you”s ended, even once I ran out of drink for myself, even when thorns appeared, even after those thorns prodded at my veins, They told me that this flower was feeding false hopes, They were worried that i was buried too deep in the dirt with this flower- weed, Once i tried to listen, there was nothing left to say, they had to go away, while I had to lay, next to the prickly pink flower, because it begged me to stay, I thought to plant it somewhere far, It convinced me to let it settle in my backyard, Stronger it grew with access to my sun, my grass, my soil, Its roots grew into my pipes and broke through to my living room, kept finding its way into my home, I called to get it removed, tweezers, pliers, shovels, bulldozers, They got it out of my house, no one could get the last green thorn out of my ear. GABRIELA GODINEZ Editor-in-chief THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �14 FUN N ov 2 o v 19, 0 18 | |NNo. o . 393 Jan. 11- -NJan. 25,22019 398 Pet Horoscopes by Dusty Changepurse About the Author: Dusty Changepurse is a visual and creative artist whom infuses spirituality, creativity and social justice into their work and everyday life. They have been providing pet horoscopes and tarot readings for a couple of years. They are an experienced empathy-based Tarot cart reader with many years of experience. The horoscopes presented should not be seen as medical/vetenarian advice. If you or your pet needs actually medical assistance, please see a medical professional. Libra (Page of Pentacles) - The inquisitive nature of the Libra pet will be in full force this month. I will say, be prepared for your pet to push the envelope of freedom -- meaning this is a time your pet will try to get free. Pay special attention to Aries (Queen of Swords) - Has your pooch been acting like pets who love a good jailbreak. A new toy may be the thing the top dog around the house lately? Well, that is because needed to distract them from running. If you have a bird, something shiny this month should do the trick. an sense of ease, imagination and dream-achieving is on the plat for them this month. An old dog may not learn new tricks, but they can refine the trick to make it a showstopper. Scorpio (Six of Swords) - This is time for closure, if you Also, this is the month for your puppy to find puppy love. just lost a pet. It is important to realize that our pets Love is in the air for Aries pets. continue to watch over us even after passing. This is a time for remembrance and understanding that pain comes in Taurus (Ace of Pentacles) - Yes, we get it. You are the cat’s ebbs and flows. Water-living pets should be prepared for meow. Your pet is on a roll this month with the blessings, some hardships, but know it is a needed process for them. Transitions abound for the Scorpio pet. so be prepared for them to leave you lots of gifts. A flailing bird is a gift right? Well, they have blessing on blessings coming their way so this is not the time to stop spoiling Sagittarius (Three of Swords) - Your Sag pet’s heart is in that feline. Your Taurean pet is super good luck right now, the right place, but their rambunctious attitude sure boils so consider betting of black (cats). your blood. This month will have some pain (especially in abdomen or hind legs). Your pet not only needs emotional support this month, but they may need actual physical support this month also. Your words are powerful tools that can be used for harm or helping. Right now, your pet needs some support: Mental, psychological and physical. Gemini (Three of Pentacles) - You ever have that one pet, that always needs something? Well, this won’t be the last they need a belly scratch or gentle boops on the nose. Your gemini pet may be acting out or not their usual self. This is their way of telling you that they are needing support right now. Don’t forget to share some extra love with your pet. Capricorn (Six of Pentacles) - Oh you Capricorn animal you! This month you are ballin’ and loving life. You my Cancer (The Hierophant) - That ferret of yours is plotting… friend, need some greens in your diet. Also, this is a month and plotting. Your Cancer pet is all about maintaining of fruition, so if your pet was hoping for that puppy-cation, order this month. Yes, that means they will try to rule well this is the month. Abundance will be your friend. This the house, so be prepared. Your pet is really receptive to is a month where bird-owners should start planting seeds spiritual energy right now, so I suggest giving them space and intentions. Red birds are especially good luck this month. and not forcing any meetings. Hey, your partner can meet your pet next week. Leo (Seven of Cups) - Ayye, your pet is on the glow up lately. The fur is so fresh and so clean clean. The other furries are jealous and your pet knows it. Be prepared for your pet to be the center of attention this month. Don’t hate, just take the credit. That luxurious coat didn’t brush itself. This is the time to live vicariously through your pet. Your Leo pet can handle more love, more food, more everything this month. The benefits will multiply for all involved. Virgo (The Devil) - So, everything is not sunshines and rainbows. For my Virgo pets, this is a time for grounding and keeping things simple. Simple foods. Simple joys. Simple tasks. This month will spell the end of certain important relationships with your pet. So if you are a dog park goer, prepare for a loss of a friendship or play buddy. Aquarius (King of Swords) - Structure, Structure and Structure. Get the hint. This month your pet will need some structure in their lives. This means you may need to double down on training, but know reinforcement is a good thing. If you have a rodent, then this may be a good time to keep your pets occupied with new things. May we suggest a new playmate (or a mirror). Either way give your pet something or someone to boss around. Pisces (Knight of Wands) - Full steam ahead. Your pet has the intuition to spare this month. That means you need to keep transparency with your pet and their pet buddies. Your pet will be full of energy… and attitude. So you can reprimand your Pisces if you like, but be prepared for pouting and plenty of attitude. They are sure on one this month. Sheesh. Proceed with caution. THE VOICE OF THE STREET...UNSILENCED �No. 39 Nov 225, - N2019 o v 19, 2 0 18 Jan. 113-| Jan. | No. 398 Central Access Point 381-SAFE Shelter: Women and Children Bethany House 557-2873 RESOURCES St. George Food Pantry 751-8771 2554 Dennis St. 45219 Prince of Peace Lutheran Church 621-7265 1528 Race St. 45202 Churches Active in Northside 1841 Fairmount Ave. 45214 The Esther Marie Hatton Center for Women 2499 Reading Road 562-1980 Grace Place Catholic Worker House 681-2365 4230 Hamilton Ave. 45223 591-2246 FreeStore/FoodBank 241-1064 112 E. Liberty Street 45202 Madisonville Ed & Assistance Center 271-5501 6037 Cary Ave. 45224 Salvation Army 762-5660 4600 Erie Ave. 45227 Serves area codes: 45226, 45227, 45208, 45209 131 E. 12th Street 45202 YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter 872-9259 St. Vincent de Paul 562-8841 1125 Bank Street 45214 Shelter: Men Treatment or Supportive Recovery: Men Shelterhouse 721-0643 Charlie’s 3/4 House 784-1853 411 Gest St. 45203 St. Fran/St. Joe Catholic Work. 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McMicken Ave, Cinti Mental Health Access Point 558-8888 NAMI of Hamilton County 351-3500 PATH Outreach 977-4489 Other Resources Center Independent Living Options 241-2600 Peaslee Neighborhood Center 621-5514 215 E. 14th St. 45202 Franciscan Haircuts from the Heart 381-0111 Goodwill Industries 771-4800 Intercommunity Justice & Peace Cr. 579-8547 Mary Magdalen House 721-4811 1223 Main St. 45202 People Working Cooperatively 351-7921 The Caring Place 631-1114 Talbert House 751-7747 United Way 211 Women Helping Women 977-5541 Off The Streets 421-5211 Hamilton County Office of Reentry 946-4304 138 E. Court Street Room # 101 First Floor Cancer Justice Network 404-3882 Hamilton/Middletown St. Raephaels 981-4200 Salvation Army 863-1445 Serenity House Day Center 422-8555 Open Door Pantry 868-3276 Northern Kentucky Brighton Center (11-17 y/o) 859-491-8303 ECHO/Hosea House Fairhaven Resuce Mission Homeward Bound Youth Mathews House Homeless & Housing Coalition Parish Kitchen Pike St. Clinic Transitions, Inc Welcome House of NKY 859-261-5857 859-491-1027 859-581-1111 859-261-8009 859-727-0926 859-581-7745 859-291-9321 859-491-4435 859-431-8717 799 Ann St. Newport, KY 205 West Pike Street, Covington, KY 41011 Women’s Crisis Center 859-491-3335 VA Domiciliary 859-572-6202 Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky 634 Scott St. 41011 859-291-4555 Want to advertise in Streetvibes? You can support our mission and spread the word about your 961-0600 business. 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For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2018 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource January 11-January 25, 2018 Subject The topic of the resource Homelessness Description An account of the resource Pg 1: Cover Page Pg 2: From the Director Pg 3: Shutdown Easy One Man’s Journey Through 19 Years of Homelessness Pg 4: GCHC Pg 5: Mothers of Drug War Victims Demand Justice in the Philippines Pg 6: Negotiating for Nature Pg 7: Dozens of Indigenous Women Forcibly Sterilized in Canada Pg 8: I’m Big, I’m Bad, I’m a Bid! Pg 9: I’m Big, I’m Bad, I’m a Bid! Continued Pg 10: The Sailors Haunted by Their Experiences in the Mediterranean Pg 11: My Story Getting Beyond Benign Neglect Pg 12: Street Voice Pg 13: Street Voice Pg 14: Fun Pg 15: Resources Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Streetvibes Archive Project Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Streetvibes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource January 11-January 25, 2018 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Josh Spring Reginald Black Yonna Walterson Chris Arenault Robert Park Jonas Fullner Paul Boden Bill Woods Key Beck Kim Green Willa Denise Jones David McCane Homeless Coalition Pngtree.com Gabriela Godinez Wraphome.org Amanda Meek Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Amanda Meek Bill Woods Canada Chris Arenault David McCane Drug War Gabriela Godinez Gentrification Homeless Coalition Indigenous Women Jonas Fullner Josh Spring Key Beck Kim Green Mediterranean Nature Paul Boden Philippines Pngtree.com Reginald Black Robert Park Sailors Willa Denise Jones Wraphome.org Yonna Walterson