Since Monday people had been lining up outside of the East Point Georgia Housing Authority office in order to pick up a FORM so that they could apply for Section 8 housing in the city of East Point. Again - as I understand it this is to pick up the form to get on a waiting list for housing.
The center administrator appeared on the news every day since Monday indicating that there was no need for people to be in line. Everyone who was in line by 1pm on Wednesday (today) would be assured a form.
As I drove to the scene to see it with my own eyes the fact that there was a massive traffic jam on Main Street in East Point and that no less than 8 police cars with sirens blazing cut through traffic I knew that there was an overflow crowd situation. I cut through some back streets, parked and walked about a half a mile to get to the plaza where the housing authority office was located.
Sheer chaos and pandemonium is what I saw.
Let me put aside any indictment of the PEOPLE IN LINE for a second. While I will hold my ground and mandate that they be respected as "equal human beings" we need to instead focus upon the POLICIES that have brought about this situation, the LOGISTICS by which one central bottle neck was used as the paperwork distribution point and the SECURITY situation. I can tell you that if everyone in that line is does not get a form - there is going to be a riot. There were not enough police authorities on site to do crowd control in the event that these people did not get what they have been waiting for.
I am going to address these issues one by one.
LOGISTICS - Pure Incompetence
If it is true that the people are receiving forms and not filling it out today - WHY didn't the housing authority get the forms printed out last week and set of distribution centers that were disbursed throughout the city? There was not one single reason to set up this situation to pick up a damned form.
I just heard from the news media that the form must be MAILED back by August 31st.
- Make a web based form available to everyone with a computer
- Set up computers at the library and other government offices to complete the form
They created a bottle neck that need not be built up.
Security - Overextended As A Result Of Other People's Incompetence
The best time to commit an armed robbery in the city of East Point Georgia would have been this morning. No less than 90% of all police cruisers were committed to this one scene. The worst possible time for there to be a fire in the city of East Point was also this morning.
I am not blaming the East Point Public Safety Department. They did what they had to do to respond to an issue that was not of their making.
They should have called in some GA State Patrol units for backup. There was not enough manpower to address a situation of mass anger at the news that there were not enough forms printed.
The Policies That Created The Situation Of Desperation For The Black People Who Suffer A Gap Between Their Desired Living Standards And The Local Opportunities To Express Themselves Productively
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To Be Continued
10 comments:
See you had a good article until you had to make it a race thing....should not even be in the story. It is a broke system which created a mass chaos and jeapordized the safety of all involved and not. Section 8 is for all races. And East Point is not necessarily a community of color...at least not one color. Look around!
I have to agree that whoever set this up should be fired for gross incompetence. There was absolutely no reason for those folks to not be able to complete this paperwork over the internet, but that might eliminate some jobs or force folks to be reassigned to do some real work. Neither of those options are desirable.
There's no reason why the government can't function more effectively, but we have to be honest about this. This cuts across the entirety of government from welfare dispensing to bank bailouts to war financing. Just the other day we hear that 90+% of Iraqi oil money was improperly accounted for.
Anon:
Please detail how I made it a "race thing"?
I am Black therefore I SHOULD BE OUT THERE right?
The "BROKE SYSTEM" is the East Point powers that be. Their incompetence allowed all of this to happen.
The thing that you fail to understand Anon - is that about 3/4ths mile from that very location is the city of Atlanta's "Pittsburgh" section. There is an abundance of empty, foreclosed upon, newly remodeled houses. If the government was going to blow money why not have it purchase up this vacant stock of property and work out some scheme by which these people can live in them.
I think it sad how peole have to wait in a line to get on a waiting list... while our president is baling out car company's and credit card debts....
Neenie:
No, no, no - not here will you put forth this talking point.
East Point Georgia is a LAND OF THEIR OWN!!!
If there was ever a town that was modeled in the making of the PEOPLE - look no further.
What you are seeing is the results of what I have been calling out for years: A HARVEST LAND OF POOR BLACK PEOPLE that has been keep fed by the Metro Atlanta Black Establishment forces. This machine keeps these people "feed" but NOT PROSPERING.
As long as they are RELIABLE VOTES for the Democratic party machine - the incestuous relationship works.
You need to go back and look at the promises of "If you VOTE TO PUT US INTO OFFICE THIS IS HOW YOU WILL BENEFIT" that was marketed upon these people. Most of these points were LOCAL in nature.
Instead your argument has us looking past the LOCAL MANIPULATION and instead focusing upon NATIONAL POLITICS.
This is an issue of the LOCAL productive opportunity and education being misaligned with the people's desired STANDARD OF LIVING and the government's commitment to keep them from falling into a pit.
"You need to go back and look at the promises of 'If you VOTE TO PUT US INTO OFFICE THIS IS HOW YOU WILL BENEFIT' that was marketed upon these people. Most of these points were LOCAL in nature."
Well said, CF. This is Atlanta's shame. It is political corruption, hustling, and baiting at its worst, and it feeds enmity and reaps poverty. Atlanta is on its merry way, going from 'the city too busy to hate' to a smaller version of Chicago.
If you don't think it works just as badly in predominantly white areas of the country think again. The poor are kept on the streets, homeless, because this is corporate policy. It does not matter that it is cheaper to house homeless people than chase them in futile circles with police vehicles. It does not matter that a class of people without regular medical care spreads diseases like MRSA. It does not matter that the FHA own tens of thousands of foreclosed properties.
Homeless people keep those that have jobs working at low wages. They keep them from complaining about unsafe working conditions. They keep them from unionizing. Lose your job, can't pay your rent and you become one of THEM.
Our government Democratic and Republican parties both, has been captured by corporate interests. Homeless, hopeless people are profitable to the big pharma, profitable to the private prison industry and profitable to the gun and security industries.
And they are most profitable when they are seen as a massive threat. Hence, the public display of poverty.
If you don't think it works just as badly in predominantly white areas of the country think again. The poor are kept on the streets, homeless, because this is corporate policy. It does not matter that it is cheaper to house homeless people than chase them in futile circles with police vehicles. It does not matter that a class of people without regular medical care spreads diseases like MRSA. It does not matter that the FHA own tens of thousands of foreclosed properties.
Homeless people keep those that have jobs working at low wages. They keep them from complaining about unsafe working conditions. They keep them from unionizing. Lose your job, can't pay your rent and you become one of THEM.
Our government Democratic and Republican parties both, has been captured by corporate interests. Homeless, hopeless people are profitable to the big pharma, profitable to the private prison industry and profitable to the gun and security industries.
And they are most profitable when they are seen as a massive threat. Hence, the public display of poverty.
Pagolin:
The problem that I have with your disposition is that it places us on the CONSTANT CHASE.
Even when we achieve TOTAL CONTROL OVER OUR LOCAL COMMUNITIES, with favorable people in place - people like YOU are going to always look for the indictment outside of your domain of power.
You don't offer MANAGEMENT you offer permanent activism, stringing the people along.
Permanent activism is pretty much the price people will have to pay. We have Social Security and Medicare covering the minimal needs of our elderly. These are also items the certain political groups are always trying to raid for profit.
If people had the ability to pick up those forms at local post offices or download them off the internet it wouldn't change the fact that there is insufficient housing and/or insufficient employment for the people who were in that line. It just shoves the issue into a dark corner.
The problem isn't a lack of resources. We're bulldozing empty buildings. The problem is the refusal to distribute those resources in a fair way.
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