Who are we?

This sickens me:
In a wooded area of Mounds Boulevard, off Seventh Street, and near where I work, a homeless camp must have been spotted and called in to the City. Within a short day's time (much less time than Child Protection or Code Enforcement was out to get a window screen repaired or stop the young child from leaning out the two story window), the camp was razed - bulldozed.

A 'blight' it is called, on our lovely lower Dayton's Bluff. DAMN! The blight is on the people of this neighborhood and city who refuse to look at the growing number of homeless INDIVIDUALS as human beings. I know some of the men who camp out - Dorothy Day and the Mission become too crowded, too many personalities under stress, and sometimes just no room. I've pointed out a couple places they could sleep outside. Damn!

Carl, one who had camped out for at least two years, finally got housing through the housing for homeless individuals program. He referred to his big back pack as his 'home', his house. He told the police that they could not search his home without a warrant. WOW! To the bulldozer and city, these homes were nothing more than garbage.

God, I feel so angry.

A couple years ago a person from our community council told me with no uncertainty, "we work with buildings, not people!" There are times that I don't think I belong here.

I have become wary of being specific to certain issues - instead of enhancing and finding solutions for those who are making do, our city, on many layers, further makes life hell for those who have little or nothing. 'No, we're not trying to regentrify'. ROT!! How inhumane can the good people of Dayton's Bluff be?

Last year at a meeting with someone from the Mayor's office and Youth Services, a friend and I mentioned how great it was that a group of people in one neighborhood put up a portable basketball hoop - because the city refused to place a basketball hoop or court in the huge rec center play area across the street (too much noise). Within the week the city had it removed. (illegal to have it in the street - it took up less space than a car, and it was in front of a park, not a residence).

What if these men (I know there are women, also who camp, and teens) became faces? Not photos, but snapshots of who they are, and how they came to be in such a situation? For the brief time I had to stay in the hostel and knew no one here, I can speak to being 'invisible' among humanity, and living basically out of a backpack. But at least I was sure of having a bed at night among 8 other women.

Steve, the homeless man I worked with on Tuesday, now will be getting an apartment (we worked it through with his doctor and housing admin who had been screaming at him. Also, I connected him with a friend in District 5 who can pay him for helping to clean Payne Ave. this weekend.

EVERY HUMAN BEING HAS A FACE, A PERSONALITY, A HISTORY, A STORY. ARE PEOPLE AFRAID OF THE UNKNOWN? WHERE IS THE HUMANITY!!!!

Don't give me the crap about camps being festering places of crime, disease, etc. We are our own festering diseases of the heart and soul!