Living in coronavirusword 147: the egret is back. Reflections on homelessness, housing and Community Board 7

8/24

Back again

As I enter the park today,  I see the egret is back. I haven’t seen it for weeks.   Was thinking maybe  I had to do some research on migration patterns. But here it is, back again. My sense of order restored.

Tonight is a much anticipated community board meeting. Community Board  7 is the popularly elected advisory group on public policy for my old neighborhood, the Upper West Side. The controversy is this:  New York City had record numbers of homeless people even before Covid19.   With the onset of the virus, shelters with overcrowding , no social distancing or rudimentary  prevention measures became hotbeds of Covid19. In the meantime, demand for hotel rooms plummeted. So the city, without really informing the neighborhood, began transferring homeless people for shelters to hotels. Neighbors began complaining about public masturbation, defacation  and urination and harassing cat calls. Among other complaints. The neighborhood is up in arms. A Facebook Page, Upper Westsiders for Safe Streets, now has over 12000 signators!  Meanwhile, the r old vigilante group, Guardian Angels, has entered the neighborhood and is recruiting new members for "Safety patrols." A new community organnization has hired an attorney to sue the city. It has truly become a cause celebre.  Leaders from churches  have contacted me.They/ we are trying  to figure out what the role of the faith community  is in light of this issue. While there have been no Christian rooted communications so far, leaders from one local synagogue have released a statement to  their  members. Among other things it says:

Though the process was flawed, we are deeply pained by the vitriolic response coming from some Upper West Side residents, including nasty comments on social media, active harassment of the men and also of Project Renewal staff (largely because people confuse them with residents due to the color of their skin), and photographs of the residents being posted online without their permission. 

Regardless of how one feels about the city’s decision, such rhetoric runs contrary to the fundamental Jewish principle that all people are created in the image of God, deserving of being treated as such. Further, dehumanizing these men makes the problem about them instead of seeing homelessness as a systemic issue that needs to be addressed through policy and societal change. 

We have  canceled Bible Study tonight so that any can participate in the online ZOOM meeting. 

For over two hours I listen. I am glad that my friend  Pastor K Karpen from St. Paul and St. Andrew Methodist Church speaks. As does Rabbi Lauren Grabelle-Herrmann of the Society for the Advancement of Judaism. (Neighboring West Park on 86th Street.) And Marc Greenberg of the Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing ( an organization I chair) also speaks.

My thoughts:

* Our city council rep representative Helen Rosenthal speaks clearly and to the point dispelling rumors, especially related to  sex offenders.

* The bureaucrats speak but soun, unfortunately, like bureaucrats in the face of stirred up passion.  Only in her last statement does one city official go off script and share her true feelings.

* Even though, I’m glad Marc from IAHH spoke, I wish he would have said more about our Life Skills program which helps people prepare to reenter society.

* Very glad to hear Rev. K and Rabbi Grabelle-herman speak, though we need a united neighborhood voice.

* There is no distinction being made between the residents moved here and the preexisting unprecdented  homeless population of the city, and especially our neighborhood

* In response to the furor, the mayor has said he will move people back to shelters which is no solution in the midst of a  pandemic. Or to be honest, any time. Sigh. My mentor always told me liberals were the real problem. 

* Most disturbing is to follow the chat stream online. The constant refrain of “save the children” has an almost Qanon quality to it.

* The complaint about lowered property values doesn't own up to the fact that Covid19 lowered property values as people  fled the city long before any homeless people showed up.

* Homelesspersons, many who are employed and work, were not allowed for speak for themselves. 

* Many of the angry neighbors still  do not listen to facts and their emotional responses are literally Trumoian in form and content

* The local police precinct captain could  have been less neutral reagarding Guardian Angel intervention. 

* Turns out Guardian Angel founder Curtis Sliwa now lives in the neighborhood. His public gadfly persona has served him well. 

* I’ve known for over 10 years that my old neighborhood, the former “people's republic of the upper west side,” the congressional district of Bella Abzug, may she rest in power,  was no longer what it was. The more than our share argument gets made over and over. As does the send them to the east side or out to the airport arguments. Anywhere but here 

Aa a father of a son named Micah, and a member of the faith rooted activist group Micah faith leaders table, I have to object to the use as a  perjorative acronym MICAH to mean Mentally Ill Chemically Addicted Homeless. It's offensive. Micah was a working class prophet, not of the neoclassical  liberal elite. He said do justice, love mercy  and walk humbly with God. ( That is like, 
it.)

The theme is somehow fitting for the opening  of the Republican National (virtual) Convention where Donald Trump will once again be announced by acclimation for their nominee as President of  the United States. 

There is so much work to be done. And I am tired. 

I’m glad the egret is back.