A Moment of Empathy in Hoboken

I walked to my Dr.'s appointment today in Hoboken. I took the light rail, which is such a cool form of transportation. It feels like Europe and the views if you take it to Bayonne or over here to Paulus Hook are astounding. The Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Lower Manhattan, etc. It is beautiful. If you haven't taken it you should. Anyway. I digress. I went to my Dr. appointment and on the way back to the light rail I stopped at Dunkin Donuts.

As I was walking there I noticed a familiar face collecting change outside the Dunkin Donuts. She is a rough character, but deadpan honest if you speak to her. She reminds me (for some reason) of Ellen Page in Juno. But, she is weary, you can tell, standing in the freezing cold, probably 10 degrees with the wind chill and she is shabbily dressed. She looks exactly like what she is -homeless. Anyway, I give her the change in my pocket, say hello and walk in to Dunkin Donuts. I change my mind and thought I don't want this dreadful coffee (though I prefer it over Starbucks) so I washed my mug and left. No more coffee today.

As I departed I noticed she was still collecting outside the Dunkin Donuts and then I witnessed a moment in human interaction that I thought worth writing about. I noticed a woman, probably a stay at home mom, a yuppie, the privileged in Hoboken that altered this community forever. She left just before me out of Dunkin Donuts, but she was staring at her bagel and she stopped in front of me and turned back, clearly pensive and about to make a move. Her daughter in the baby carriage about two years old, covered by a plastic wrap probably warmer than the young homeless woman has been all day. She turned as I watched and she approached the young woman and said "do you want the other half of this bagel? I just bought it, but I know I won't finish it." The young woman stared at her for a moment in pause and said, "yes." Nothing else, but her eyes said it all, and then "thank you." And the woman turned to leave and said "good luck." You could tell the young woman hadn't felt that kindness in a while.

Wow, I thought, the human feeling of empathy. That is what is missing. A human soul on the street, begging for the necessities of life and what that is like. It is what is missing from the discussions in Gaza. In Iraq, Afghanistan, Mumbai and China. Our ability to see what it is like to live in someone else's shoes. If we ever lose this for good, we lose everything.

What Does Homelessness Look Like in New Jersey?

The Corporation for Supportive Housing, which leads the annual point-in-time homeless count conducted by all New Jersey Continuums-of-Care, has released the data from the January 25, 2007 count. A Summary of the statewide findings and Full Report with county-level data are available on their website.

• The report finds that on the day in question there were 14,939 homeless persons in New Jersey, including 2,542 children. The count surveyed sheltered (10,510) and unsheltered (1,887) homeless adults and also requested information regarding any children in the household (note that participants in the count expressed concern at the time that the results would undercount children because of survey design issues). – Families, as counted, represented 20% of the population.
• Among demographic trends in the survey responses are the findings that:
• Homelessness is present in every county and that there are trends of both urban and rural homelessness, although rural homelessness is harder to count due to poorer service networks.
• 50% of adults were male, 41% female, 1% transgender, and 10% unknown
  Nearly 80% were white, about 15% Black, and the remaining adults reported as Asian or other (no separate Hispanic category)
• 30% were living in shelters, 18% in hotels/motels, 23% in transitional housing, 15% on the streets, and 14% did not indicate.

Families were primarily in transitional housing and motels

• 61% of adult respondents had at least one “disabling condition” (mental illness, substance abuse, severe medical condition, and/or HIV/AIDS)
• 31% indicated that they had experienced at least 4 episodes of homelessness in the last 3 years.
• 21% had been homeless for less than three months, 34% had been homeless between three months and one year, 33% had been homeless more than one year.
  

Mayor Roberts of Hoboken Wants to Rid the City of the Homeless?

At first I thought a new social program for the homeless, someone willing to take on a major problem in the urban landscape, but I was sadly mistaken. Mayor Roberts said in the Jersey Journal yesterday:

Roberts says he's fed up with "vagrants" - i.e. homeless people - panhandling, relieving themselves in public and using Pier A as their own urban resort when they bathe in the fountain and sleep on the park's benches.

He says the city has ordinances on the books that prohibit such behavior, but Police Chief Carmen LaBruno has not made enforcing these public nuisance laws a priority.

"I believe we can do better a job," Roberts said. "I am a supporter of the homeless and have supported the city's homeless shelter, but that doesn't mean our residents should have to put up with what they have to put up with."

Roberts said a number of factors make the Mile Square City a favorite spot for the region's homeless, including the lack of homeless shelters in nearby towns, NJ Transit's push to remove squatters from its old train terminal property and the "generosity" of local residents toward panhandlers.

The issue has been covered at Hoboken 411 ad nauseum. The readers over there seem to agree with the Mayor, that the homeless are vagrants, criminals, drunks, thugs, etc. Name a slanderous comment and it has been used at Hoboken 411. But, for a Mayor, a public official to make comments such as this is embarrassing for him and for our community. He is the Subversive Garden assclown of the week.

Many of the homeless have long histories in the community (we can call it Hudson County): they have cycled for years between foster homes, DYFS, YCS (as youths) and shelters, correctional facilities, marginal housing and low-income neighborhoods. "Many have also experienced abusive family lives and relationships, and as a result they often lack role models and have difficulty sustaining motivation. Most have never in their lives known opportunity or stability. All have known repeated failure."

The homeless also often have inadequate education and lack the basic job skills, work experience, social supports and life and coping skills necessary to succeed independently in the community. Lasting success for the homeless is difficult without first receiving assistance in addressing these issues.

This is well known. Above are not radical ideas, but clearly accepted fact by advocates and legal services organizations around the community, the state and the country. Why, then would a Mayor of a major metropolitan area say such a thing. Who is he pandering to? Is he this stupid? Is he trying to get the Hoboken 411 vote?

Should not the dialogue focus on why we have so many homeless in our community? What is long-term homelessness or chronic homelessness? Is this because of a lack of affordable housing in New Jersey (the 2nd. most expensive state in the country), the sub prime market, poverty, the recent economic downturn, divorce, domestic violence, the lack of family support, chronic health problems, mental illness, drug and alcohol addiction, and of course natural disasters? Being homeless is the end of the line, it is the last stop unless somehow one can climb out of the suffocating poverty and sickness many face.

Does the mayor really believe ticketing a homeless person will make him/her not sleep in the park? Not have to go to the bathroom? Is this Mayor Giuliani all over again? There were a lot of candidates for assclown this week, but Mayor Roberts earned it. In an American environment that is constantly treating human life with disdain, the Mayor should be ashamed of such comments. Assclown.