Fenty’s Gifts To Homeless Families: Mold, Peeling Paint, Rib Patties, And Overcrowding
D.C. General, the city's long-shuttered hospital of last resort, is one facility that's used to being overused. In its pre-gentrification heyday, its emergency room swelled with indigent residents in need of care.
Though it's no longer providing ER services, things have scarcely changed at D.C. General, which now serves as a shelter for homeless D.C. families. Maximum capacity, say D.C. officials, is 135 families.
By early January, there were more than 100 families in residence. On Feb. 4, there were 163 —double the number of families from the same date last year.
On March 4, the District reached a troubling milestone. There were now 200 families taking up residence at D.C. General. That day, there were a total of 851 residents, including 400 children. The influx should hardly surprise officialdom, considering that as of late October,there were more than 400 homeless families on a waiting list for services.
Welcoming upwards of 60 families beyond capacity has strained the temporary digs. Shelter residents sleep on cots in hallways and in activity rooms, guarding their privacy via walls of bedsheets. The lucky ones get private rooms, some of which don't have functioning heaters.
"Atrocious," says Khristine Buchanan, 23, of her living conditions at the old hospital. Last night, she lingered at the building's entrance doing her best impression of an OSHA inspector. She says mold and peeling paint embroider the stairwell, roaches and mice share the sleeping quarters, and the one elevator often goes out of service.
Buchanan moved in on Feb. 6 with her husband and young child. They took up residence in a 4th floor activity room, sharing space with two other families. "It was crazy," she says. Her husband and son got rashes from bugs she thinks were "silver fish."
When Buchanan noticed two mice in traps under a heater, she complained enough that her family was moved into its own room a few days ago. They had lived in the activity room for more than a month.
Other residents describe similar conditions–a near chaotic place overcrowded with families and their belongings spilling from trash bags. One described some of the private rooms as replete with trash and clothes, and pot being smoked at the building's entrance.
Rainda Brown, 34, complains about the mold in the stairwell, and says that the heat does not work in the private room she shares with her daughter. They've had to double up on blankets at night.
A medical volunteer with Georgetown University says respiratory problems are the most common ailment among residents he's treated.
Tonya West, 40, moved into an activity room two days ago. She shares it with 18 other people. "It's all females in the room I'm in," she explains. "All of us got little babies." West says there's often no food prepared, especially for infants.
The food isn't much more suitable for adults, residents say. One night dinner was cereal. A typical dinner is something District authorities call a "rib patty" which Buchanan says is hamburger meat coated in BBQ sauce. "I feel like you're in jail," she says. "It's jail food."
Councilmember Tommy Wells, who chairs the Committee on Human Services, says he toured D.C. General during the historic snowfalls of early February. "I saw mold and ceiling damage was in the stairwells," he says. "I did not see it in any of the units where the families are living." He also heard complaints about there not being suitable food for infants, plumbing problems, and concerns over cleanliness.
Wells says of the facility: "It seems what was going on there was controlled chaos. There's nobody that would want to be there... There's nothing good about being at D.C. General."
Wells added: "It's not where I'd want my family to go."
Nor was the last place that the city used to accommodate homeless families. On Oct. 22, 2007, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty announced that he would be closing down DC Village, an abandoned nursing home that had been converted to a family shelter.
In a press release titled "Closure of DC Village Gives Way To Best Practices," the mayor's office railed against warehousing the destitute in crumbling, infamous buildings.
"DC Village residents have complained about the poor living conditions for years including overcrowding, poor food quality and inadequate heating and cooling resources. Persistent problems with mice, roaches and bedbugs have been difficult to control and have long plagued the families as well.
'One of our first major steps in changing the delivery of homeless services is the transformation of our family shelter system,' said Mayor Fenty. 'In the past we have accommodated families in emergency shelters where the conditions are not only unacceptable, but do not enable them to move beyond homelessness.'
Congregate settings, such as the model at DC Village have been shown to maintain people in environments where it is extremely difficult for them to address the issues that underlie their homelessness."
At the time, City Desk wrote the closing of DC Village was good news. No one could disagree that the place needed to be shuttered. But no one knew that Fenty was just going to move the city's most vulnerable to another hellhole.
Wells says that he recently had a meeting with Clarence Carter, the director of the city's Department of Human Services. Carter assured him that "at least 50 families" would be moved to apartments by this Friday.
Yesterday, there were 195 families at D.C. General. Before she went inside for dinner, Buchanan had some advice for any family thinking of moving in: "Make this your last and only last choice."
3:05 pm
Let's be clear. Fenty didn't close DC Village to make a better place for the homeless. I am confident that WCP will soon report about new development plans for the DC Village site...that don't include housing for any of the families currently warehoused at DC General.
Wait for it...
4:15 pm
Great article. I hope the DC government pays attention and avoids making the same mistakes this time around.
4:24 pm
The DC Government (or at least the elected part) doesn't really give a flying fuck about the homeless. They don't pay taxes, they cost money, and they don't vote en masse. Our elected officials couldn't care less about them. People like Barry say they care, but has he actually worked and sacrificed to get the homeless what they need? Nah.
SIGH for the state of humanity in this town.
4:24 pm
Let me tell you how this city especially the DC Dept. of Health which oversees Medicaid recipients handels people. The whole plan is too make it so difficult to get assistance and to maintain it, that many DOH employees try to ware you down and hope that you give-up and fall thru the cracks and out of the DOH system. I know this because a friend of mine is always fighting DOH! The DC General story I'm sure is just the tip of the ice burg if this paper wants to look into it!
4:57 pm
Homeless people are complaining? They don't likethe food they are being given for free? "all of us got little babies"?? Here's and idea: don't reproduce if you are incapable of supporting yourself. If you don't like the food or the conditions, do something to improve your situation.
What ever happened to "Beggars can't be choosers"?
5:06 pm
Or, "don't look a gift horse in the mouth?" The entitlement programs in this city and the sense of entitlement they've led to have given us a permanent underclass. I believe in charity and I donate heavily, but when people start expecting charity that is something else. It breaks my heart, we need to start looking at whether these programs have actually made anyone's lives better, or have they made people permanently dependent?
6:00 pm
FAGGIE FENTY SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF HERSELF.
SHE IS SO BUSY ATTENDING THE ILLEGAL WEDDINGS OF HER GURLFRIENDS THAT SHE HAS NO TIME TO ADDRESS THE REAL ISSUES FOR OF THIS CITY.
"Those Who Stand For Nothing, Fall For Anything" - Alexander Hamilton
SHE WILL GIVEN HER WALKING PAPERS SOON ENOUGH SO SHE CAN SASHAY DOWN THE AISLE AND RIGHT OUT THE MAYORS OFFICE.
THIS FUCKING CLOWN HAS GOTS TA GO!
6:52 pm
DM: Would you want to stay in a shelter infested with roaches and served weird "rib patties?" There's a 12 percent unemployment rate in this city. We should expect the city to provide a suitable shelter for homeless families. By suitable, I mean not a warehouse, etc.
6:54 pm
Cherkis, stop being an advocate and be a reporter. Cover the story and let folks make up their own minds.
7:11 pm
"all of us got little babies"?? Here's and idea: don't reproduce if you are incapable of supporting yourself.
I agree, but even if we get 100% observance of that maxim it's not going to end the problem of homeless people with children.
Unless we make it illegal for a business to lay off a parent, or require new parents to deposit a pre-payment of all living expenses for the next 18 years, we'll get people who have children they had a perfectly reasonable expectation of fully supporting, but now can't.
7:47 pm
Something like 40% of city spending goes to human services. That's a big proportion, and doesn't count such things as EMS, schools, parks, police, etc.
7:49 pm
Props on the quality investigative journalism.
7:51 pm
Well, if the shelters in DC are so bad, there's always P.G. County shelters available. If our taxpayer-paid accommodations are so bad (and if folks like Cherkis aren't willing to allow the poor and homeless to live with them), then the residents are perfectly free to go across the borders to Maryland or Virginia and demand better free food and housing.
7:58 pm
Seems to me these folks had a chance at a free education, subsidized medical care, parenting advice, etc. They took all their chances and flushed them. So now they're complaining that we are providing good enough food? Bring on the silverfish!
8:02 pm
I was homeless for a year. I couch surfed and worked my way up renting rooms from friends when I got a job working fast food in a mall.
Of course, I was young, single, and without kids back then.
8:21 pm
Hey Skipper, DM and Manor obviously you jackasses could careless about the poor. Well let me say this I hope that you keep all your money and your so call portfolio never goes bust because this could be you. How dare you tell someone how many children they are allowed to have this is not damn China. You holier then thou attitude, people loose jobs everyday to no fault of their own so stop blaming them. Jason please keep reporting this because we the taxpayers of the District of Columbia need to know what is happening in this city. Remember the jerk ie:Fenty closed down a lot of quality shelters so that he could give the money to his frat brothers.
8:45 pm
I'll have more on this in a subsequent post. But rest assured the mothers I interviewed didn't become homeless willingly.
One was evicted over a disputed with her landlord (it seemed clear the landlord booted her without going to court). Another fled a domestic violence situation. Another was a stay at home mom and became homeless after her husband got locked up on a distribution charge. She had worked as a carpenter and landscaper. Another had lost out on a promised section 8 voucher and couldn't pay the rent.
8:51 pm
And?
Everyone has a sad story. It's never the person's fault that they have several kids, that they have no job, that their life is generally f'ed up.
If the "residents" of DC General dislike it so much, they should seek shelter somewhere else - whether that means with family or friends or in Maryland or Virginia.
No one should have to live in squalid conditions, but if parents are concerned about their or their kids' health or safety, then they should find a better place to seek shelter.
9:54 pm
Cherkis: You're to be commended for reporting on squalid conditions at city run facilities. Why did you caption the blog "Fenty's Gift To Homeless Families"? Why not "DC's Gift", the "City Council's Gift", or "Vince Gray's Gift"? I may be wrong, but didn't the council slash funds for homeless shelters as part of an accross the board budget deficit reduction measure? If true, did that negatively affect the city's delivery of services to the homeless and other vulnerable folks? None of this relieves real human misery, but why hold Fenty alone responsible?
9:56 pm
I prefer the pictures with his popping veins. It goes with his character.
10:17 pm
@TH
$5 says because he was trying to be clever and link the bike article to this one.
10:24 pm
@ Drez
Why not link it to the Gray Fencegate piece in the Wash Times? Did you read it? LL daily gave it only a passing nod this morning. I clicked on the link and I urge you and others to do so as well. Pretty damning chronology.
11:38 pm
NO ONE GIVES A SHIT ABOUT GRAY AND HIS FENCE.
YALL NEED TO GET OFF EACH OTHERS DICK. THIS IS NOT ONE OF THOSE GAY ARTICLES.
AS THE SO CALLED MAYOR HE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR SERVICES TO RESIDENTS OF THIS CITY. LAST I CHECKED DC GENERAL WAS DC GOVT PROPERTY.
DISPATCH BANNEKER VENTURES OVER THERE AND GET THE PLACE CLEANED UP AND PAINTED. THEY NEED TO PAY BACK SOME OF THAT DOUGH THEY LOOTED.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
@SKIPPER SHUT THE FUCK UP AND GO MAKE THOSE FAKE ASS COMMENTS SOMEWHERE ELSE!
6:23 am
What I am missing from any of the commentators is the FACT that the Mayor shut down D.C. Village only to replaced it with a more deplorable warehouse; DC General. Nothing about his promise to move those from D.C. Village into apartment dwellings as a way to stave off perpetual poverty. D.C. General is twice as deplorable as D.C. Village. At least D.C. Village was designed to be a residential facility.
All I am hearing is excuses to defend the inexcusable and asinine attacks upon the poor.
Considering many Americans are one paycheck away from being homeless, I think it would warrant some personal discretion before attacking those who have fallen upon hard times. Jason is right, many of the District's homeless are not hopelessly irresponsible people. Many have simply lost jobs, fallen ill (mentally or physically), are victims of domestic violence or have been abandoned by their families. Some had children prior to being in that situation, but those kids don't go away because you are unemployed. Some are children themselves alone and fending for themselves. It is quite heartless to paint them all with the same brush.
Nonetheless, Fenty has failed to stand up to yet another of his grand promises of improving the lives of the homeless by closing down D.C. Village and putting them in better digs. Do no harm, should have been his mantra. He should have left well enough alone if he really didn't have any intention of moving these folks to improved housing.
It's nine months until the primaries right?
6:40 am
@noodlez - Now that the 14th street party house is closed, where do you go these days for power bottom workouts?
6:56 am
When has DC run any facility that deals with indigent/health/rehab with helpful efficiency? This didn't start with Fenty and this isn't just a DC issue.
Face it, no one gives two shits about poor, indigent, needy folks except 'advocates' and 'crusaders'. They are seen as a strain and a burden and money spent on them is money wasted and WE ALL KNOW that's how Governments really work. Why else does it matter about how much coin a candidate has? The indigent don't contribute to campaigns, barely vote, aren't seen as contributing members of Society. They simply don't matter.
I know of no such place otherwise
8:48 am
@proballdc COULD NOT HAVE SAID IT BETTER MYSELF. GREAT COMMENT!
WHAT PISSES ME OFF IS ALL THOSE COMMENTERS WHO POUR SALT ON OPEN WOUNDS AND WHO KICK FOLKS WHEN THEY ARE DOWN. THOSE THE SAME BITCHES WHO JUST GOT HERE AND IS TRYIN TO STAKE A CLAIM IN THIS CITY AND COMPLAIN AT THE SAME TIME.
WE ARE SUPPOSED TO LEND A HAND TO THOSE WHO NEED IT AND HELP THOSE UP THAT HAVE FALLEN.
noodlez DONT HATE BUT THIS IS ONE OF THOSE TIMES WHERE I HAVE TO HATE ON THOSE FOLK WHO MAKE THOSE TYPE OF COMMENTS AND THEN TRY TO JUSTIFY THEM WITH BULL SHIT.
8:51 am
Great article. Agree with TH though we should be condemning everyone, voters included.
8:57 am
@Skipper YOUR COMMENT #23 IS THE EQUIVALENT TO PUTTING A WORM ON A HOOK AND DROPPING IT IN THE TIDAL BASIN. THAT SHIT IS WEAK AND UN-ENTICING!
WHEN YOU COME AT ME YOU NEED TO SCOOP SOME CHUM, HAVE YOUR SPEAR GUN AT THE READY, GET IN THE CAGE AND RADIO BACK FOR A BIGGER BOAT.
NOW GO CALL YOUR MOTHER AND TELL HER THAT YOU MADE A MISTAKE AND DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO!
9:17 am
@Grumpy:
You're right. The homeless aren't in a position to support any candidate...yet. You can't register to vote if you can't prove DC residency, right? It would be a trip if the homeless and working poor in DC could get organized enough to vote people into office who actually have a viable, economic plan to address all of DC's ills and the will to execute it...but that would require a whole lot of education and coordination at the bottom of the grassroots level. The people who are charismatic, intelligent, and passionate enough to get this done...are doing more than trading insults in these comments.
For the record, I don't think anyone is entitled to sit back and collect a check, because he or she is unwilling to work. I also don't think anyone is entitled to be poor, unemployed, or underemployed.
9:25 am
Noodlez is why the tyrones & ray-rays need to be pushed out of this city posthaste. Bring in some more non-niggaz and everyone's quality of life goes way, way up.
Buh-bye chocolate city. Don't let the door hit your big fat black asses on the way to PG!!
9:37 am
I usually hate to say personal things about people, since I really don't know anybody on here, but Ignacio, I wish I knew you so that I could give you the beat down you deserve. You're obviously not from here and, quite frankly, we don't want you here. Please take your ignorance and racism back to the cave you share with your mother, who also happens to be your wife.
10:02 am
I don't like how much rent I pay and how much money I spend at the grocery store and how much money I spend on gas, why isn't the government just giving me money? How fucking stupid are you people? NO ONE likes to work and pay rent or a mortgage. If you get rid of the gov't run shitholes, maybe these people will stop breeding and try and support themselves.
10:05 am
I'm still amazed by how ignorant people like Greg and Ignacio are. Simply spectacular. If only everybody could have that same sense of entitlement.
I commend both of you on your brilliant insights. Thank you for sharing.
10:18 am
We all have an obligation to hold the DC Council and the Mayor's feet to the fire on this issue. I guarantee you a lot of people are getting paid and not doing their jobs in allowing these squalid conditions to exist.
Bet Fenty has never set foot in DC General since the homeless have been sent there (or his highly paid aides).
10:28 am
Well, the city has a deficit and perhaps a compelling need to increase its spending. The taxes in DC are already high but if enough citizens demand that better care is needed for entitlements then we will have to increase taxes.
Almost every financial aspect of a modern city in the US is in crisis. It will only get worse in the coming years. If you want more, then you will spend more, and it will cost more.
10:34 am
We don't owe the homeless as much as we give them. We need to support them through comprehensive mental health services that they then owe the government reimbursement for. I'd be much happier if DC set up work farms for the homeless to earn money than give beds to them.
Indeed, you're simply wrong. Ones value in society is based on what they give back to society or the potential to give back to society. That means working doctors are much more valuable as people than homeless drug addicts. When you realize that, when you realize that ones actions have consequences that devalue themselves then maybe you'll find true enlightenment.
But just so you know, I find your opinion neanderthalic because you want a slave underclass beholden to the government who is never successful.
10:39 am
Has anyone who has commented above actually worked to find people housing or get the mentally-ill care? It's not quite so simple as just throwing (someone else's) money at a problem.
For starters, when it comes right down to it, not everyone who is homeless actually can or even wants to do the things necessary in this world to rent or own their own home. And it should be no surprise that when chronically homeless and fundamentally incompetent people are sheltered with the transitional homeless, disorder is the result.
It's sad but true. Just as it's sad but true that no one in this city has ever be willing to pay the sort of money necessary to provide free housing, free job counseling, free family counseling, free psychiatric care, free drug counseling, free case management, etc to every person who needs it. And even if society at large somehow were miraculously suddenly willing to pay for all these things, how would society compel those who need them to accept them.
Jason- if you actually want to help people with your reporting, I suggest you develop an understanding of some of these issues and start dealing more in nuanced reason, and less in gross shock value.
10:42 am
And, again, between 30 and 40% of all local dollars spent go to human services already.
10:58 am
I have a weird position on this. I believe what the City has done to its poorest residents is atrocious. But I also find some comments here as bad as the condition these families are in. DC has one of the highest poverty rates in the Country yet we have some of the wealthiest residents as well. The concentration of poverty came be traced to racist policies going back decades and centuries. So, idiots who blame poor black folks as being lazy or having too many children and not being responsible, should study their history first before commenting. Failed and discrimantory policies resulted in this underclass of people we have here in the City. We need a solution that is less permanent training wheels and more a guiding shove in the right direction.
Cherkis- you've done the right thing by reporting this and commenting against idiots. Continue being an outspoken advocate. We need more reporters like you. They don't know what it's like. These people didn't choose this life.
11:30 am
hey, GREAT post Downtown Rez. I completely agree with you.
Anyone who is old enough has met someone who is fundamentally incompetent. I have a dear dear friend who fits that bill. For some reason I don't quite understand she was never quite "right." She disappeared into the desert and lived in a campground for years and when asked about it she still thinks she was there for about 3 months- it was like 20 months. She ended up in jail for a year because she always hangs out with the wrong people who do bad things. Dated several heroin addicts. She lived out of her car, got a graduate degree (she's really smart), but then disappeared into this average job and now owns a store and lives in a trailer park. She goes camping for a week but I get emails where she talks about running out of food 5 days in and living off berries and fish. She weighs like 100 lbs now. She's super smart but nothing she's ever done has been right and if she didn't move out to the woods she'd be homeless on the street. How does anyone solve that? What is she, a "hermit?"
by the way, I know for a fact that many people do "choose this life." Don't say they don't. I have a friend who is about 60, Black, who grew up in Adams Morgan. She befriended the Panthers, worked hard to educate herself, went to secretarial school, got a government job and then got training to become a private legal secretary where she makes a solid income. She owns a house and a beach condo. Her brother quits jobs for 6 months at a time so he's never saved up enough money to do anything. He pays $100 to get his girlfriend's hair done every two weeks. He never bought a house. She always complains about his choices and how he won't listen. She was one of 7 kids and 4 of them live in big houses in PG County and the other three barely have it together. The sane homeless made choices.
I had another friend who used to fight with her husband all the time, he left her and left her with the kids. She got so mad she charged everything to his card. When he never returned and the cards got canceled she had to quickly sell her house. she was on the road to disaster but she was a mean and angry person who drove everyone away from her. She played the victim who was afraid of becoming homeless, but she was at least partially responsible for her failed marriage.
11:31 am
@ABM
I agree with the "guided shove" in principle- that is in fact a fair short description of the existing Pathways program.
But every such program has challenges. For example, not only are they necessarily extremely resource intensive, they also necessarily require participants to actually participate and take assisted steps toward improve their own condition.
11:54 am
D- You friends sound like royal douches. I guarantee you that a mother living in this shelter with her infant child didn't choose this regardless of whatever twisted logic you have to justify this stupid shit. You don't know what her life was like or what brought about the change. Maybe she was a middle class, working professional who got laid off and her home, her nest-egg, had dropped 40% in value (not her fault by the way), she used up her savings, couldn't pay her mortgage and is out on the streets. Or another equally sad but unavoidable scenario. So for you fucks to cast stones without knowing these people says a lot.
Go do an intervention with your hippy berry chick or have a conversation about the man with your black panther friend- because they might end up here.
Rez- DC has a huge budget- one of the largest per citizen in the Country. It really is just poor leadership that has us in this condition. I wish I could blame Fenty alone, but it's a long line of self-centered pricks who have gotten us to this point. Our entire budget needs to be reorganized and to implement program parameters that are based on goal-oriented incentives. Right now, the entitlement issue is legitimate and the biggest problem we have. But it begins with public policies first rather than criticizing the people who are most affected by these failed policies.
12:38 pm
They complain about trash, mold, bad conditions...well clean the damn place up. You're homeless. It's not like you're working 10 hours a day and then commuting an hour each way, spending 50 bucks a week for gas. You don't need to waste time in the kitchen, because oh yeah, that's taken care of for you too. And perhaps you'd like us responsible tax payers to CHEW the food for you too? As much as I dislike fenty-i can't wait until he triathalons his black ass out of dc-it's not his responsibility to make sure these sad slob breeders get prieme rib every night on 400 count egyptian cotton sheets-it's called PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY. big words to read for peeps that dropped out of 5tn grade to start baby breedin and crack makin. go move in with yo gran motha in so carolina.
1:06 pm
Adrian, you totally misunderstood my point. The hippy berry chick is already virtually homeless because she is not competent to take care of herself. My panther-inspired friend knew that if she didn't pull herself by her bootstraps that she'd be homeless. You do understand, right, that Adams Morgan in the 1950s was the deep ghetto? Her brother who is nearly homeless got there by not going to college. The choice of not going to college is probably responsible for dozens of homeless families in those shelters. The other woman burned so many bridges that her family didn't care if she went homeless.
I don't understand your point. MY nest egg is my house. My house dropped 30% in value in the last 2 years. If, by some disaster I'd end up homeless I made sure over the last 20 years to send nice well-thought out cards to all my aunts and uncles and cousins and when I travel to their cities I usually stay with them. My current disaster scenario is this:
1. Move in with my parents
2. Move in with my in-laws
3. Move in with my sister in law's family
4. Move onto my uncle's farm
5. Move into my other uncle's cabin
Those are 5 housing options that I put together in case of utter financial disaster. Everyone above knows about this and is ok with it and several relatives want to use us as their safety net too. I bailed some of them out of binds already. Can you honestly tell me that the single mom who lost the value on her home also set up similar safety nets or did they just not bother to do so? Isn't living in that situation so much worse than piling into a basement room in a friend's house?
You seem to think that things happen "by chance" and let me tell you, most often, they don't at all. They start with people deciding not to work hard to get a college scholarship.
1:11 pm
This Onion article is a perfect example of this "it was an accident" mindset:
Boy's Tragic Death Could Have Happened to Any Family with a 10 Foot Python:
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/boy_s_tragic_death_could_have
1:27 pm
The difference between planning to fail and failing to plan.
2:19 pm
D- you fail to consider that people sometimes do not have the options you do. That's my point. You and your cracked out friends have options- choosing to not go to college might seem stupid to you or the potential cause for homelessness, but what happens when a person cannot choose to go college? You seem to think that all people started out in life evenly and that it's really their own fault for whatever success or failure they witness. However, this isn't true for everyone and the success and failings of some are a direct result of circumstances beyond their control. Pulling your straps up is sort of hard to do what you don't have boots.
2:37 pm
people, the truth is somewhere in the middle.
yes, this city needs to have a safety net for people, and that safety net needs to be safe and clean
on the other hand, many people in the system are capable of moving forward with their lives and either don't know how or are unwilling to do what is necessary to get out of homeless.
i would know, i DO work in this system.
the people who simply don't know how to get out of poverty, we can work with. those who just don't want to, we cannot. unfortunately, it is often the latter that spend their time complaining about conditions, because they are usually the ones who get stuck in one place. let me be clear, these buildings need to be fixed up, big time. but we do need to give DHS some leeway, there is only so much that can be done with limited resources.
2:44 pm
Exactly so, worker.
4:58 pm
in reference to D:
"You seem to think that things happen "by chance" and let me tell you, most often, they don't at all. They start with people deciding not to work hard to get a college scholarship."
get a college SCHOLARSHIP??? what? again, more people expecting to get something handed to them. if you want something, you work towards it, scholarship or not. you may be loaned out of your mind after school, but that's life. expecting a handout because you can shoot hoops or live on the wrong side of tracks is ludicris. and i'm talking stupidity, not the rapper.
4:59 pm
but on a happier note, the onion article made me smile.
5:03 pm
"You can't register to vote if you can't prove DC residency, right?"
This is the People's Republic of the District of Columbia, not the Commonwealth of Virginia. If you are homeless in DC and have no fixed address, you can submit a provisional ballot which is certified later, for all elections.
5:16 pm
"and i'm talking stupidity, not the rapper."
Then you would be spelling it "ludicrous" not "ludicris."
College isn't all that. Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard after one year. Warren Buffett (billionaire owner of Bershire-Hathaway) never went to college. Richard Branson (billionaire developer and owner of the Virgin brand) never went to college.
It's love of learning and discovery that's the key and it's not going be unlocked in a city that has an abysmal literacy rate and is still a colony of the US govt.
6:51 pm
@Anon comment posted 5:16
According to the most recent census figures the average high school graduate earns only 60% of what someone with bachelors degree does.
Exceptions of course exist, but by definition most people are not exceptional.
9:34 pm
THEY ARE HOMELESS. THERE ARE HOMELESS FOLK IN THIS CITY. HOMELESS FOLK ARE PEOPLE TOO! OKAY WE GET THAT.
BUT THE FACT OF THE MATTER REMAINS THAT THE BITCH BOY MAYOR ALLOWS FOLKS TO STAY IN A DC GOVERNMENT FACILITY THAT WOULD NOT PASS A HOUSING OR BUILDING INSPECTION.
WHERE IS D.C.R.A. ON THIS? THE DC GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE PULLED IN TO COURT TO EXPLAIN THE DEPLORABLE CONDITIONS.
WILL SOMEONE IN THE DC GOVERNMENT PLEASE SHOW SOME LEADERSHIP! A CALL TO THE LARGEST MINORITY FOOD CONTRACTOR THAT PROVIDES DC SCHOOL LUNCHES FOR MILLIONS OF DOLLARS COULD SEND SOME MEALS TO THEM FOLKS.
HIS TERM REMINDS ME OF THE MOVIE-VACATION. FENTY IS PULLING SOME CLARK GRISWOLD ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL TYPE SHIT. LETS NOT FORGET THE CONSTANT FUCK-UPS AND NON-EXCUSES!
9:59 pm
I love the idea that poster suggested above- the homeless people in shelters are as connected and monied as Bill Gates and Warren Buffet.
9:42 am
BostonJay seems to be bitter at poor folks. I'm glad you're life is great and has enabled you thus far to be such a well-to-do racist. You ass-clowns thinks things are easy or simple or available to folks when in reality they aren't. In the District, we have the worst public school system in the Country. We have the highest poverty rate for a large metropolitan city. We also have the highest number of residents with Bachelors degree (but there is a huge gap in who gets these- 90% of white residents have bachelors in DC while only 30% of minorities do). Whatever the fuck you clowns want to argue that its the individual and not the system, then how do you explain this blaring disparity. If you believe that all minorities are lazy, incompetent, or simply don't want to work, then maybe this proves it. I don't believe it, but convincing an asshole like BostonJay or others is nearly an impossible task.
Whaddup Noodlez- you limp-dick basturd. Not a lot to argue with you about today.
11:55 am
*sigh* The pervasive sense of entitlement among DC niggas is the cause for the overcrowding of a ragged old hospital.
Niggas here believe that for some reason, doing NOTHING absolutely affords you the right to receive everything. I worked as a social worker and a case manager for many of the families who reside in the Shelter and unfortunately, not many of them care enough about themselves or their children to want to do better.
Grown men live in that place with women that their fucking and the womeen breed children like roaches who are only afterthoughts and bargaining chips for housing. Add to that the mantra of DC, "GUB'MENT CAN SOLVE ALL PROBLEMS" and what you have is an entire generation of trifling ass niggas who only function as cum stains on the sheet of life.
Quantaviana will have 5 kids and have all of them diagnosed with some sort of LD so she can get SSI checks forr them because DC has the HIGHEST rate of people receiving entitlement benefits.
You people can rationalize, excuse, philosophise, and come up with all types of reasons that DC General is DC's fault. I have worked with these people and I can tell you, firsthand that they are ingrates and chronic needers. They are the problem and DC is an enabler.
Seriously, if you are living in a shelter and you can't take care of child #1, 2, or 3, why have child 4,5,6,7. Why live with a sorry ass nigga who doesn't even have enough gumption to take care of his own damn bastard children?
Once again, niggas are 1st place at the very worst of some social ill.
12:01 pm
Wow.
What a productive conversation this is. Really makes me proud. Not.
I'm imagining a bunch of people here would do better if they led by example and lived the change you expect to see from others.
drez out
12:46 pm
Adrian-i'm not bitter at poor folks. I grew up pretty damn po. I watched my married parents who were low blue collar workers struggle for years. it was not pretty-but i learned to provide for myself-no one was going to help me or us. so if that meant working 3 jobs while in high school to provide for my family, i did it. and no one was giving scholarships for 17 year olds that bagged groceries after school, flipped burgers at night, and did both all weekend, all while trying to keep an a- average.
what i'm bitter at is the entitlement. social services should be a safety net, not a goal. the attitude of 'i don't need to because someone else will' is so backwards and wrong, but perpetuated all the same.
life is about choice. even if you don't make the choice that gets you where you are, you still have choices to make. you don't keep having kids if you can't afford the one you have. you don't start drugging out because you can't handle your realituy. you don't pretend that everything is gonna be taken care of by the man when you don't man up yourself.
call me racist, elitist, snob, asshole-whatever. but i know everything i have i worked for and made responsible choices for.
and ps- i AM a minority.
1:35 pm
The problem is not Fenty. The problem is a lack of serious Council oversight of the homeless problem.
When you put old line liberal Tommy Wells in charge of oversight through his Committee on Human Services, you can be sure he will do nothing. Wells might take a trip to check on something when pressed by outsiders. He might even have a hearing. Rest assured though that his staff will do nothing while Wells continues to play as a council member and collect a pay check and council perks.
Everytime you put more money in your parking meters, pay an extra 5 cents on a bag to save the Anacostia River, and may well pay more for permits on your second car, think of Wells. At best he is a man with dumb ideas and little regard for DC residents.
2:54 pm
Hoodrat- I feel the need to respond even though you'll never listen to a person like me. Yes, I'm a bleeding heart. But I would be as sympathetic to low-income whites living in rural America (who by the way are the poorest demographic in the country- explain this one buddy since race ain't a factor here) as I do for the poor residents of the District, who happened to be Black.
The entitlement issue isn't bred into anyone's DNA but its been instilled in them for generations of forced dependency. Policies- dating as far back to Slavery and as recently as subprime lending and payday loan schemes- have failed these people, generation after generation.
Also, go fuck yourself you racist prick.
4:27 pm
@Anonymous #52, FYI - Warren Buffet earned a college degree, as well as a masters degree. He attended the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania from 1947-49, then continued his education at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, graduating with a Bachelors of Science in Economics in 1950. Buffett then received a Masters of Science degree in Economics from Columbia University in NY in 1951.
4:45 pm
Adrian,
Would you agree though that cultures coming up out of the south have a lousy work ethic that contributes to the trailer park as well as the city housing project?
5:14 pm
Adrian,
I'm black. I can't be racist, hence the reason I use the word nigga do freely and effortlessly.
You're not a bleeding heart; that title is reserved for white liberals who do what they do for por niggas out of white guilt. DC breeds a sense of entitlement and you being the piece of shit that you are, with each comment you make illustarte that point beautifully.
Those niggas wouldn't be homeless if they didn't approach life with an open palm and a 'gimmie" attitude.
5:27 pm
DC Hoodrat: Your post is offensive and ignorant. Blacks, whites, latinos, asians and every one else can be, and are, racists when they stereotype and assign negative traits to others based solely upon race. It's simply wrong, no matter who does it.
6:45 pm
Truth hurts, huh? Stereotypes have some factual basis. And Niggas will always be niggas. Clearly you are unaware of the the technical definition of racism.
Why don't you go visit DC General and see for yourself?
7:02 pm
@ IGNACIO
I hear you ASS AY'!!
I just copied this from an urban blog which was filled with pro-latino bullshit..........
"thats why u dnt fuk with mexicans, blacks just have a loud mouth thats it real talk and whites are just fukin the biggest p u s s y s on this earth,and try so hard to make a name for themselves,and for all you ho ass nig gers and crackers would dare call him a wet back or spick to his face cuz he would set yo bitchass on fire to lmmfao stay out of our way and dnt be suprised when the colors of the american flag go from red white and blue,to red white and green hahahahahahaa we takin over 1 city at a time"!!!
-------------------
Now this ignorant summbitch can't even spell correctly, but I guarantee he knows all about gunplay and knives!! Just like women snuck in (feminists) and da gays are taking over, who will protect you limp wristed liberals when it gets on and poppin'???
Don't burn your bridges, SKIPPY, JERKIS, RICKY "MANSPUNK" and all you fake ass bigoted/do-gooders!!
7:10 pm
Noodlez I see you holding it down in here!
Seems as though only a "select" few are allowed to keep it FAKE on WCP, LMBAO!!
"Life is short, Break the rules, Forgive quickly, Kiss slowly, Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably and never regret anything that made you smile"
THIS IS HOW IT SHOULD BE!
"There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves" - Will Rogers
THIS IS WHAT'S HAPPENIN'!!!
"Either the United States will destroy ignorance, or ignorance will destroy the United States"– W.E.B. DuBois
WHERE WE'RE GOING with all this fake ass, liberal, RACIST, POLITICAL CORRECT bullshit!!
Scared, say you're scared and enjoy the weekend!
7:23 pm
Aahhhh, DC Hoodrat, another BLACK ABOMINATION!!!
Blame the victim!!
This shit is what it is, from Lyndon B. Johson, Reagans WAR ON DRUGS and BUSH'S NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND, WE all are at fault!
Your monkey ass feelin' all self convictin', UNCLE TOMMISH and SELF RIGHTEOUS, GTFOH!!!!!
Last time I checked, we were not a monolith and ys INDIVIDUALS need to be accountable but what about A PEOPLE ACCOUNTIBLE FOR SELF! You uppity niggers and you liberal WHITEYS make me sick with this shit! Stop observing and start RESERVING the right to change! Clowns on here offering up name and "info" after the damage is done, GTFOH!!
Fuck all this rappin', here YA'LL GO....www.goodfaithclause.com
7:30 pm
Aahhhh, DC Hoodrat, another BLACK ABOMINATION!!!
Blame the victim!!
This crap is what it is, from Lyndon B. Johson, Reagan, Bush Sr.'s WAR ON DRUGS and BUSH'S NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND, WE are ALL at fault!
Your monkey ass feelin' all self convictin', UNCLE TOMMISH and SELF RIGHTEOUS, GTFOH!!!!!
YOU prolly maskin' da whiteness abou'chu!!!
Last time I checked, we were not a monolith and ys INDIVIDUALS need to be accountable but what about A PEOPLE ACCOUNTIBLE FOR SELF! You uppity niggers and you liberal WHITEYS make me sick with this shit! Stop observing and start RESERVING the right to change! Clowns on here offering up name and "info" after the damage is done, GTFOH!!
To HELL with all this rappin', here YA'LL GO....www.goodfaithclause.com
7:31 pm
MODERATE THAT....WCP!!
8:01 pm
Blah Blah Blah.
3:34 am
Aahhhh, DC Hood Rat, another BLACK (questionable) ABOMINATION!!!
Blame the victim!!
This crap is what it is, from Lyndon B. Johson, Reagan, Bush Sr.'s WAR ON DRUGS and BUSH'S NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND, WE are ALL at fault!
Your monkey ass feelin' all self convictin', UNCLE TOMMISH and SELF RIGHTEOUS, GTFOH!!!!!
YOU prolly maskin' da whiteness abou'chu!!!
Last time I checked, we were not a monolith and ys INDIVIDUALS need to be accountable but what about A PEOPLE ACCOUNTIBLE FOR SELF! You uppity nigg@rs and you liberal WHITEYS make me sick with this shit! Stop observing and start RESERVING the right to change! Clowns on here offering up name and "info" after the damage is done, GTFOH!!
To HELL with all this rappin', here YA'LL GO....wwwDOTgoodfaithclauseDOTcom
7:11 am
AND "Adrian BKA WHITEY bent-me over and over and over AGAIN,
You are no better!! An utter and complete UNCLE TOM, 2010 MAKE AND MODEL!!
You have some nerve, "have failed these people", WHEN your Uncle Rawkus Ass is a paycheck from poverty and a mistake away from suicide, YOU PEOPLE GOT DA' GAME ALL DA' WAY FUCKED UP, and to think you believe the crap that you post, UNBELIEVABLE!!!!
Drez, you already know, you are worthless, irrelevant and a fraud!!
Blah blah blah that! CLOWN!
8:47 am
Shorter saveDAbay:
Blah blah no one is black unlessI say so blah...
What a joke.
9:07 am
SaveDaBay,
DC Niggalosophy doesn't work on me. I am impervious to your attacks, but you mention an interesting point.
You consider grown men and women who breed children like roaches, that they cannot rear or financially support to be victims... right?
Perhaps they should spend more time getting GEDs, jobs, and self respect than they spend BEGGING.
Fuck them and you. DC could house all of those sorry ass dgenerates and a year later they would still be trifling ass hell.
I don't owe them shit... niether does DC. Since DC General is right next to the jail, let's get these knuckle-dragging crumbsnatchers 3 hots and a cot until they decide to become productive citizens.
9:25 am
It's the kids that are the victims.
They loose that status when they grow up ignorant and create new victims of their own.
Because someone has to be the self-sacrificing adult.
4:35 pm
Dc Rat
I don't know if there's much difference in either a NY rat, sewer rat DC rat or a pet rat, less say for a hand to mouth feeding exception, I think it safe to say IT'S STILL A RAT!!
Your self proclaimed RAT title is quite deservent, considering how YOU exclude yourself from any responsibility but other than to come to WCP and make a complete fool and mockery of yourself and downtrodden homeless on a bigoted blog! Yeah, that's gangster!!!!
What you describe does not "represent" or reflect all the homeless over at DC General! Your dumbass wouldn't know an "attack" from an INVITATION and with that said your generalization is unwarranted and unwelcomed, so FUCK YOU and we don't owe you shit, nor want to read your opinions, generalizations, self hate or bullshit, especially coming from a fukkin' RAT!
Do something about it other then to "bitch" , complain or mudsling on a blog about something WE all know is and was by design! You can continue to "blame the victim" all you want, but there will come a time when your blame shall turn into a cry for help, mercy or forgiveness, bitch! Life has a way of showing you better than it can tell you!!
BTW, next time you get hungry, eat some rat poisoning!
5:08 pm
SaveDa,
DC General is exactly as I describe it. Bastard child producing shitheads who are too fucking sorry to be helped.
Perhaps rat poisoning is the answer... for those breeding do-nothings.
I don't owe them shit and the only thing I need to do is make sure that I keep making enough money to NEVER have to live around niggas.
I love black people, but NIGGAS get on my fucking nerves and I hope to God that they kill each other off - soon.
5:18 pm
I love black people, but NIGGAS get on my fucking nerves and I hope to God that they kill each other off - soon
----------
I AGREE, but it's a way, a will and a time to do shit and WCP blogs ain't it!
12:09 pm
Save and Hoodrat- You two ass clowns deserve each others. You little bitches can't even begin to understand how this stuff works or more so in this case, does not work, because you're the ones that feel entitled. You rage against others because you feel they've been given somthing and that are lazy or ignorant or both. Fuck you two, you racist twits.
I don't mind being called an uncle Tom but I really don't know if you idiots know what the fuck an "Uncle Tom" is. You're implying that I sold old by giving in to the system while I'm here complaining about the damn system. I guess a little education might have allowed you two to know this, but ignorance and stupidity prevails in your twisted little worlds. And please make as much money as you all can and never live around me, cause me and my kind don't want your asses around us anyhow- you bitches.
10:54 am
Adrian,
Please don't lump me with save. I never called you anything and I seriously don't give a fuck about you and your bleeding heart nigga shit.
BTW, NOW I'm calling you a name. Invite all of those shiftless and lazy breeders to come live with you.
8:41 pm
DCHoodrat has got to be as ignorant as they come.You must come from poor stock and that's why your non-spelling ass is so bitter.BTW for some real info you dumb ass broad.I once was homeless three years ago in Montgomery County and, the majority of the homeless residence and drug addicts expecting entitlements just so happened to be white.So race has nothing to do with it.What I'd suggest to you is that you count your blessings and stop thinking that it can't happen to you.