Massachusetts state budget is balanced on the backs of the poor!

I got up this morning to another winter day of at home working. I am grateful to have a job that at least some of the time I can do from home but “man oh man” is this winter killing me. My budget for heat this winter is shot. At $3.09 a gallon it’s going to cost me $2,010.00 to heat my 6 room apartment, almost double from last year. You see we live in a house that was built around the turn of the century, turn of the last century and I think our furnace was built at the same time. I sat down to get some work done, after our internet came back on.

So today when I took a minute to look at the cuts in Gov. Patrick’s 2012 budget my first thought won’t be printed here and then I thought, again the government is balancing the budget on the backs of the poor. I looked in on a couple of websites for more information The piece in “The GovMonitor” was kind to the budget, 4/5 of the article talked about all the things this budget would provide, was structured to do and how they were increasing revenues while the rest talked about where the cuts would be. Of the 12 bulleted cuts 9 will predominantly effect low and middle income people the other 3 effect everyone but again it will be the poor people who suffer most. You can read the whole article at http://www.thegovmonitor.com/world_news/united_states/governor-patrick-releases-2012-massachusetts-budget-recomendations-45419.html

But here are some of the high points or should I say low points of the budget cuts.

• $65 million to local aid

Let’s see….local aid that means cuts in police, firepersons, highway crews, teachers, trash collectors etc. Oh and don’t forget many of those that get laid-off will fall into the ranks of the poor.

• $45 million for counsel to indigent persons

No more free legal aid outside of the Public Defenders’ Office. Don’t get me wrong… there are some really good P.D’s and there are some shlubs. Let’s be real our state doesn’t pay well enough to attract the best and brightest. And when there is an exceptional one they move on pretty quickly to better paying work. If you are poor the state reminds you that “beggars can’t be choosers”

• $23 million for spending on emergency homeless shelters

This one can in no way be justified. Cutting funding to shelters when homelessness is on the rise and there is nothing firmly in place to keep families from being on the street is just plain stupid. When you have families in motels because there are no shelter beds and then they cut beds, where’s the logic? If you want to save money how about this… Average stay in a motel is 4 months that’s $9,733. Why not take ½ that money and give rental subsidies for 1 year, use the rest of the money to help train people so they can earn enough to support themselves.

• $16.4 million for Department of Mental Health hospitals

Between 1972 and 1990 70% of the state mental hospitals in the country, closed releasing its patient s into the community. Many of these people ended up on the streets, in shelters, in jail or dead. Those that were lucky enough to have family that could provide a place for them to go, as their family members aged, died or went into long term care facilities they too ended up on the streets. So what now? Throw the remaining patients, the ones that are too unstable to handle being in the community without a safety net, into the street? Again the disenfranchised get the short end of the stick.

I’m getting pretty cynical right about now, so I guess I’m starting to rant and being a bit sarcastic.

• $15 million for the Employment Services Program

Yes yes please take away the remote possibility that an unemployed resident could get retrained to find sustainable work.

• $14 million for family respite services at the Department of Development Disability Services

The government says “Families who choose to keep their differently-abled relative at home do not deserve respite. ‘

• $11.5 million for the clothing allowance paid to families receiving TAFDC

$150.00 per child will buy maybe 3 school out fits at Savers or Salvation Army. Local rules for school uniforms don’t help much, rarely do uniform acceptable clothing end up in a second hand store.

• $8 million for Early Intervention services at the Department of Public Health

Early intervention services are utilized by mostly poor people. Poor people have more preventable health issues that any other segment of our population but “Hey unhealthy malnourished people are easier to control.’

• $6.6 million for group care services provide by the Department of Children and Families

Now while I am not a cheer leader for D.C.F. they are needed. How many children will die or be permanently injured because services were cut.

• $6.2 million for the State Police

Small towns beware. The State Police won’t be able to be there to back you up when you need them because they have been laid-off.

• $5.9 million for health promotion activities at DPH

We should keep the masses uninformed. It’s really simple they get sick, they die so we save money.

• 2% cut to all constitutional officers’ administrative budgets, including the Governor’s Office

Okay this is a step in the right direction but how about 20% cut. Let the governor, senators, representatives and constitutional officers’ get their own dam coffee.

There are some ways to raise money a flat tax across the board? Or even just raise the taxes a bit. I’m willing to pay more. Well we still have some time to get changes in this budget but we better work fast, summers just around the corner.

Milton Rogovin

From JoAnn Wypijewski at The Nation: Two days after Milton Rogovin died at his home in Buffalo on January 18, the Gage Gallery in Chicago opened an exhibition of his photographs called “The Working-Class Eye of Milton Rogovin.” Class was not merely Milton’s subject, it was the optic through which he saw the world, something that distinguished his work from what the culture had expected of social documentary photography since the 1930s.

His steelworkers and miners, prostitutes and hustlers, the retired and the unemployed, do not want our pity. They look into his camera from among the tools of their trade, on the streets where they work, at home among their treasures or alone against a bare wall. “Who built the seven gates of Thebes?” Milton used to quote Brecht. Who made the world we know? Where did they live? What did they love? And who is left behind? Milton read history and saw some of the people who made it in perspective. Like aristocrats and astronauts, they posed for their portraits, without, as he said, any “monkey business” from him. Read more at The Nation.

Does Scott Lively accept any responsibility for this?

I am sickened-- absolutely sickened-- by the presence of this man only three doors from Arise!  We've had one meeting between Arise and Out Now and are planning for another for the wider community.  Stay tuned.

New York Times, January 27: NAIROBI, Kenya — An outspoken Ugandan gay activist whose picture recently appeared in an anti-gay newspaper under the headline “Hang Them” was beaten to death in his home, Ugandan police said on Thursday.
David Kato, the activist, was one of the most visible defenders of gay rights in a country so homophobic that government leaders have proposed to execute gay people. Mr. Kato and other gay people in Uganda had recently warned that their lives were endangered, and four months ago a local paper called Rolling Stone published a list of gay people, and Mr. Kato’s face was on the front page.
He was attacked in his home Wednesday afternoon and beaten in the head with a hammer, said Judith Nabakooba, a police spokeswoman. But police officials said they don’t believe this was a hate crime.
“It looks like theft, as some things were stolen,” Mrs. Nabakooba said.
Gay activists disagreed and said Mr. Kato was singled out for his outspoken defense of gay rights. “David’s death is a result of the hatred planted in Uganda by U.S. Evangelicals in 2009,” said Val Kalende, the chairperson of one of Uganda’s gay rights groups, in a statement. “The Ugandan government and the so-called U.S. evangelicals must take responsibility for David’s blood!”
Mrs. Kalende was referring to visits in March 2009 by a group of American evangelicals who held anti-gay rallies and church leaders who authored the anti-gay bill, which is still pending, attended those meetings and said that they had worked with the Americans on their bill.
After growing international pressure, Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, indicated that the bill would be scrapped but that hasn’t happened yet and it remains a simmering issue in Parliament. The Americans involved later said they had no intention of stoking such a reaction.
Many Africans view homosexuality as an immoral Western import, and the continent is full of harsh homophobic laws. In northern Nigeria, gay men can face death by stoning. In Kenya, gay people can be sentenced to years in prison.
But Uganda seems to be on the front lines of this battle. Conservative Christian groups which espouse anti-gay beliefs have made great headway in this country and wield a lot of influence. Uganda’s first lady is a born-again Christian and has even proposed a virginity census. At the same time, American organizations that defend gay rights have also poured money into Uganda to help the small and besieged gay community fight back.

Josh Kron contributed reporting from Juba, Sudan

We can't let ourselves be intimidated

Here's the email from Sally Weiss that got folks together yesterday...

There's a CALL FOR SOLIDARITY with the anti-war activists who must appear before a Grand Jury in Chicago early next week.  Let's answer this call and assemble at 4:00 this Tuesday (Jan. 25) in downtown Springfield in front of the FBI office,  which is in the downtown TD Building right in the heart of downtown Springfield.

Carpool from the North at the Gazette Parking Lot on Conz Street,  Northampton, at 3:25.

Ellen Graves and I put together a Stop the FBI Raids demonstration in front of the FBI office (downtown TD Bank Bldg) in Springfield shortly after we heard about the raids in Minneapolis and Chicago on Sept. 24, 2010.  We had a good response, a very good crowd of protestors.  Emma Roderick of BORDC (Northampton) spoke and was our interface to the TV media.  Atty. John Thompson explained our rights as protestors to us and helped us interface with the Springfield police. Carl Moos wrote us up a good explanatory flyer to hand out to citizens; those passerbys seemed quite interested. We chanted,  led by Ellen and by Malcolm Chu of Justice for Jason and No One Leaves.  We certainly got each other energized.

Fast Forward to December.  Marilyn Levin from Boston contacted several members of the Alliance for Peace and Justice of W-MA that one of the people subpoened on Sept. 24 in Minneapolis was available to speak in Northampton.  We jumped at the opportunity.  The very committed activist Meredith Aby gave us a rousing account of what happened to her and what the National Lawyers Guild is doing in building the defense of these activists.  Bruce Miller, professor of Constituational Law at Western New England College,  was our M.C.  Bill Newman of the ACLU and Nick Camerota of IAC-International Action Center provided us with materials,  especially the CCR's "When the FBI Knocks".  Now we knew a lot and were better prepared to protect ourselves and our friends.

IT LOOKS LIKE WE NEED TO EXERCISE OUR FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY and OUR FREEDOM OF SPEECH ONCE MORE.  Down below please read a call relayed by PDA's Tim Carpenter for SOLIDARITY PROTESTS ON JANUARY 25 -- this coming Tuesday.  My buddy Ellen Graves is in D.C. fasting and protesting No More Guantanamos and the treatment of Bradley Manning.  So this Sat. morning at 6:15 I am issuing the call,  based on what went well earlier.

Let's meet up at 4:00 this Tuesday (Jan. 25) in downtown Springfield in front of the FBI office,  which is in the downtown TD Building right in the heart of downtown.  There is a little brick plaza there -- just built for a good protest.  It's right on Main Street at 1441 Main.   If you're coming from I-91,  it's just one block from the ramp at Exit 7 (coming from the North).  It is in the general area of the Sheraton Hotel and Tower Square.  There is some parking on the street and in the huge parking area a block away under I-91.

ARISE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE made signs for the earlier demonstration so we're all set there.  We'll try to stay awhile until about 5:30 or so, so that demonstrators can get there after work too.  We did find that there is good passerby traffic at 4:00;  it's a good time for TV coverage;  so let's stick to that starting time.  Checking the weather forecast,  Tuesday will be slightly warmer than Sunday, with some possibility of snow.  (Watch your email for any changes in schedule due to the weather, but it looks ok right now.)

In Northampton we are used to carpooling from the Gazette Parking Lot.  So let's say -- Carpool at 3:25.

Maybe I can rig up a way to fill AFSC's big water jug with some Hot Chocolate to keep us going. 

Try to be there !  Spread the word !  This is our chance to support the brave activists in the Midwest,  our chance to support Meredith Aby, who we know.

This Tuesday-- protest a foreclosure!

Tuesday, January 25th, 2011 at 2PM

FORECLOSURE AUCTION PROTEST

38 Seneca Street, Springfield, MA

Two days before Christmas, 40 community members and supporters protested at 38 Seneca Street to demand that PHH Mortgage Corporation stop the foreclosure auction scheduled for that day.  38 Seneca Street is the home of Noelia Ramos, her husband, her daughter and her two year old granddaughter.  The power of the community successfully postponed the auction until January 25th.  We cheered and chanted, "We'll Be Back!"

Shortly after the auction, Ms. Ramos received a call from the bank asking what all those people were doing outside of her house. When Ms. Ramos explained they were there to support her and fight for her and her family, the bank's representative said, "Well now you can just deal with me," and asked her to send in loan modification papers again! Ms. Ramos sent in her information and is still trying to work with the bank to find a reasonable solution. But PHH Mortgage is planning to foreclose on her home during the middle of the process!

Why won't the bank cancel the auction and negotiate in good faith to modify Ms. Ramos' loan?!

Join us to protest PHH's insistence on auctioning off the Ramos Family home.  If the auction proceeds on Tuesday, let's give potential investors a loud message that our community supports the right of Ms. Ramos and her family to stay in their home.  The No One Leaves/Nadie Se Mude campaign is determined not to let another Springfield house get boarded up by the bank and another Springfield family get kicked out onto the street!

For more information, contact organizer Malcolm Chu at 718-666-6872.

Ask the Super Bowl Host Committee to Stand Up and Protect Children

Targeting: Bill Lively (President and CEO), Tony Fay (VP of Communications), Larry McCoy (CFO), see more...Bill Lively (President and CEO), Tony Fay (VP of Communications), Larry McCoy (CFO), Robert Cluck (Arlington Mayor), Clay Christopher (Board Member), Tara Green (President, COO), Paige Smith (VP, Sponsor Services), and Kit Sawyers (VP of Special Events)

Started by: Melissa Snow

The trafficking of children for sale at the Super Bowl is well documented.  Texas Attorney General Abbott is taking a stand and has prepared a task force to identify and respond to traffickers who plan to sell children at the Super Bowl.  However, it is not enough to expect law enforcement and victim advocates to bear the entire burden of responding to this issue, which is expected to include many victims.  In support of the efforts of the task force, we are requesting the Super Bowl Host Committee embrace a proactive approach with community members by endorsing the “I’m Not buying It” campaign, which would raise awareness and deter the buying of children during the Super Bowl.
As evidenced by the tremendous amount of work and money the Host Committee has channeled into Slant 45, clearly improving the lives of children is a priority. Countless children in the DFW region have benefitted by the commitment and opportunities provided by this program.
However, the children trafficked to DFW to meet the demand of the Super Bowl are being left to fend for themselves.  According to the Dallas Police Department children exploited through sex trafficking have an average life expectancy is just seven short years. The average age a child is tricked and trapped in sexual slavery is just 13 years old.  These children are beaten, brutalized and tortured for the profit and pleasure of others.
This Super Bowl Host Committee’s hard work has turned the North Texas Region into a showcase with a record number of million-dollar sponsors, state-of-the-art infrastructure and events that appeal across audiences. They’ve set the standard for the Super Bowl experience.
Now, let’s join together and ask the Host Committee to take a stand and set the standard for all Super Bowl Host Committees to come. The Host Committee has the biggest megaphone to prevent the buying and selling of American children during this year’s festivities.  Law enforcement, legislators, non-profits, churches and business all are stepping up to the plate to stop this horrific abuse of our children. It’s time that the Host Committee faces the reality that children will be trafficked to North Texas and answer the question – What role will they play in preventing the sex trafficking of children during the Super Bowl?
DFW-based Traffick911 is leading a comprehensive game plan to protect American children. Local, national and international organizations have joined forces with Traffick911 in the I’m Not Buying It campaign. This Super Bowl Host Committee has proven it has the power and influence to make history. Join me in asking the Super Bowl Host Committee to endorse and fund the “I’m Not buying it” campaign to protect and defend children during the Super Bowl!!

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   Photo credit: Lady DragonflyCC

Homeless shelter turns away gay people

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From Michael Jones at Change.org: The House of Mercy homeless shelter in Columbus, Georgia, might want to go back and read their Bible. There's a passage in Isaiah they should pay particular attention to: "Share your bread with the hungry, take the homeless into your homes, clothe the naked when you see him/her, do not turn away from people in need." But instead of following that line, the House of Mercy shelter has a rule on its books: if you're gay and homeless, you belong on the streets. Perhaps House of Mercy might consider a name change to House of Ignorance.
The CBS station in Columbus, WRBL, ran a story last week discussing two women who were booted out of the House of Mercy homeless shelter, because shelter staff thought they were gay. These were women who actually fled abusive homes, and as one of them told WRBL, she was expecting to be treated with compassion by the folks at House of Mercy.
"I was hoping that just by the name ... I was hoping for security," one of the women said. Instead, the woman says the way she was treated at the House of Mercy was unholy. "It was not a place of God."
The director of House of Mercy, Elder Bobby Harris, told WRBL that "practicing" gay people aren't welcome at his shelter, no matter how in need they might be.
"[Homosexuality] is not tolerated here at all. Let me tell you one reason why: because of the Bible, of course. And then we have little children ... We believe that Christ can change all. But when they begin to practice their acts," Harris says, there's nothing he can do for gay people in need.
Harris did not say where in the Bible Jesus gave permission to cast LGBT people out into the street, or refuse them service if they're needy or, in the case of these two women, fleeing violent homes. WRBL reached out to other homeless shelters in the area, and found that not a one, outside of House of Mercy, excludes gay people from being served. They interviewed Valerie McLain, who works at the Crisis Center of Russell County, and she told reporters that homeless shelters should be in the business of serving all who come through their doors, and not revictimizing those in need.
"We welcome anyone that is a victim. That's who we serve. We have no discrimination. We make no discrimination with anyone. We're not in the business of revictimizing the victim," McLain said.
Sounds like the House of Mercy not only needs to re-read their Bible, but they could also stand to learn a few lessons in service from other shelters in the area.
Meanwhile, here's the real kicker: the two women at the center of this controversy? They say they're not even gay, which means that the House of Mercy denied them service based on rumors or bad information. Still, one of the women told WRBL that even if she was gay, she would hope a homeless shelter would have enough compassion to help her out.
"If I was gay, and I had all these other issues and I came [to the House of Mercy], is that what you do to people going through stuff?" she asked.
Apparently so. How about sending the House of Mercy a message that this policy of excluding gay people is not only inconsiderate, it runs counter to the supposed religious teachings they hold dear. Check out the story below from WRBL for more information, and to see Elder Bobby Harris actually say on camera that it's his Christian duty to deny homeless gay people service.

Stand against police brutality

Please come to the Springfield Court tomorrow, Tuesday Jan. 18th to stand against police brutality.  Melvin Jones has a court appearance and we will stand out on State St. with our signs.  Please come at 8:15am!

Also, we will go to the Chicopee Court next Friday Jan. 28th at 8:30am, when it will be decided if Jeffery Asher will get approved a 'change of venue' for the criminal charges brought against him for the beating of Melvin Jones.

Felice Yeskel, longtime Arise ally, dies

Sometimes it can seem like  Springfield and the upper valley are separated by thousands of miles...but Felice Yeskel was one of the rare persons who bridged that divide.

I couldn't do better to describe her work than to reprint the obituary written by her partner, Felicia Mednick, for the Hampshire Gazette.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

AMHERST - Felice Yeskel, age 57, died at home in Amherst on Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2011, of cholangiocarcinoma.
She is survived by her life partner of 18 years, Felicia Mednick (whom she was able to marry in Massachusetts in 2004); her beloved 12-year-old daughter, Shira Ma'ayan, and her circle of chosen family, who surrounded her to the last minute of her life. Felice was born in Manhattan to Phyllis and Harry Yeskel, and attended Hunter Elementary School for gifted children. She then went to Seward Park High School (where she helped to change the dress code for girls).
Felice devoted her life to activism on issues of equality, diversity, and nonviolence. Rabbi Julie Greenberg, her long-term friend, said in her eulogy, "Felice was a master of identity development and the dynamics of social change."
Beginning as an anti-war and feminist activist in high school, she continued her activism at the U of Rochester. After college, she moved to California where she worked against the anti-gay Briggs initiative. Then she moved to Philadelphia, where she obtained an MA in Psychology. She joined Movement for a New Society, living with other activists for social change. She helped lead the Seneca Women's Peace Encampment to protest against cruise missiles. In 1982, she moved to UMass to attend the Ed.D. program in Organizational Development. While there, Felice was a member of Diversity Works, a collective which led workshops on transforming social inequality.
Upon graduation, Felice presented UMass with research about the difficulties gays and lesbians faced on the campus, which moved the university to launch a pioneering center for GLBTQ concerns (later to be called the Stonewall Center), with Felice as the founding director. She served in that role for 20 years. Felice also served as an adjunct faculty member in the Social Justice Program. Her first book was a manual for teaching activists on other college campuses how to set up centers for queer students and faculty.
With Chuck Collins, Felice co-founded United for a Fair Economy in 1995, an organization dedicated to reducing the growing economic divide in the United States. She led inspiring workshops on this issue for thousands throughout the USA. She was in demand internationally, as a consultant and facilitator, on issues of class and diversity. She co-authored, with Chuck Collins, the groundbreaking book "Economic Apartheid in America: A Primer on Economic Inequality and Insecurity."
Six years ago, Felice and Jenny Ladd co-founded Class Action, an organization dedicated to helping people and organizations explore issues of class differences and cross-class communication. Felice believed that raising awareness about class issues was a necessary first step in building a movement to create change.
Felice honored her working-class roots throughout her life. She touched thousands of lives, enlightening, inspiring and supporting. She will be deeply missed.
Donations in her honor can be made to the Institute for Policy Studies and its programs on economic inequality (30 Germania St., Building L, Boston, MA 02130) and the Global Fund for Women (222 Sutter St., Suite 500 San Francisco, CA 94108, USA).

Health care? What health care?

Aron Goldman of the Springfield Institute did this video of one of our founding members, who was back in Springfield for a few months after a 20 year absence.

Tell me what level of frustration you would be feeling if you had to go through what Hollee did.

UPDATE on January 25: Wish I could say something more positive about Hollee's situation, but I can't.  The good new I can share, however, is that the Caring Health Center is once again accepting new patients.  Hollee tried to get an appointment during the two months when the center was understaffed, and the center had to prioritize their 14,000 existing patients over new patients. 

Health centers across the state are struggling with funding, and they deserve our support as a community.

Know Your Rights with the Police! Workshop

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS TRAINING

Do you know when police are and are not allowed to search you?
Do you know when you have to answer an officer’s questions?
By fully understanding our rights, we can protect ourselves against unjust police practices.
Join us for a free “Know Your Rights” workshop to learn the basics of  asserting your rights when dealing with the police.

February 11, 2011 3:30-5pm
Arise for Social Justice
467 State Street in Springfield
Free and open to all

This workshop is brought to you by the Community Coalition for Justice. We are a group of community members and organizations working to stop police brutality in Springfield and to increase police
accountability to the community.  Questions? Want to get involved?  Contact community.coalition.for.justice@gmail.com or call Arise at 413-734-4948 or 413-519-5964.

.. Elle Magazine: Apologize for Trying to 'Whiten' Indian Skin

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It looks like Elle had quite the white Christmas.
Bollywood actor and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is featured on the cover of Elle Magazine looking far paler than she is in real life. Most fans are up in arms and an appalled Ms. Bachchan is considering a lawsuit against the magazine.
Consumers have long been inundated with ads that use prominent Bollywood actors to promote skin-lightening products. In a country that produces gorgeous women of color, it is sad that Ms. Rai-Bachchan, who is relatively light-skinned, is one of the very few with some cross-over appeal. To see magazines like Elle further enforce the color hierarchy of crossover appeal by making Aishwarya appear lighter-skinned is a slap in the face.
This is the second racial debacle surrounding Elle. The American version was criticized for its October 2010 issue, which featured actress Gabourey Sidibeon on one of its four celebrity covers with noticeably lighter skin than her natural complexion.
Lets tell Elle Magazine to make a commitment to moving away from using white as a standard for beauty, and demand a public statement and apology.
For regular updates on the 'Elle Whitening' campaign please follow us on follow us on Facebook, just click 'Like' at the top of our Facebook page and check in from time to time.

Thanks, Change.org!

Police Brutality in Provincetown!

picture courtesy of http://www.city-data.com

On July 4, 2010 Jim Downs was a bystander in an unlawful arrest taking place in Provincetown MA, a place where differences of sexual orientation are celebrated, but as Downs explains, racism still seems alive and well.  Downs tells the story of an abuse of power he witnessed and his frustration in trying to take action in a town where even the local paper seems complicit in the harmdoing.  After finding no other avenue through which to speak his truth Downs turned to the Huffington Post to exhibit his moral courage and make one final attempt to reach the man unlawfully arrested. 

Full Article at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-downs/if-i-could-write-this-in_b_677864.html?ref=fb&src=sp

Over the past several weeks we at Arise have been hearing some very disturbing stories coming out of D.H.C.D. at the Liberty St. D.T.A. office. This is the new department that handles Emergency Assistance (temporary emergency shelter for families).
2 weeks ago several families slept on the steps of D.T.A because they were turned down for E.A. A shelter worker from Holyoke had been at the D.T.A. office and saw the families who slept there. She came to Arise and asked if there was anything we could do. We sent back some information and our phone number and within an hour we were down at welfare. By now there were 8 families who had been sent packing by the woman who ran D.H.C.D. here in Springfield.This is were Arise got involved. Many of the families were not allowed to even fill out an application. We were told of a worker who took an application and then just tossed it in the trash, one family was told "there is no money for shelter because families from other states come to Mass and take all the money" another "you're lying, you aren't homeless"
After speaking with the families and telling them their rights the most important at the time was that everyone has the right to fill out an application and that if it even looked like they might be eligible then they should be placed until they were able to get all the documentation needed.

Of the 8 families 2 left in disgust without going back in, 6 families insisted on filling out an EA application and 4 were placed in temporary shelter. The last 2 families 1 was originally from Springfield but had lived in Buffalo N.Y. for several years. The father had come back to Spfld. 5 months earlier to find work and an apartment, in the mean time the Mom was not able to support their apartment and was evicted. So she came be with the father of her children because there was not enough space where Dad was staying they went to D.T.A. The other family was from Brooklyn N.Y. and fled to Spfld. because they were targeted with violence by a woman who lived in the same housing complex (NY Housing Authority & N.Y.H.A. police said there was nothing they could do and refused to move either them or the woman to another location. These 2 families refused to be intimidated. They called Arise
Both families came back to Arise, the first call I made was to Gerry McCafferty at the Springfield Office for Housing she contacted others including H.A.P. Marsha and Ramona from HAP came to our office and worked on filling out papers for what ever was available. I started calls first to W.M.L.S. and then M.L.R.I. to get the ball rolling.
The next day Friday both families were again at Arise for help and we went back into action. Amid a plethora of phone calls both families went back to D.H.C.D. and they demanded to be allowed to fill out an other application for E.A. While they were waiting for a determination letter to be issued the supervisor of D.H.C.D.were told that if they did not leave, they were waiting on the office steps, D.C.F. would be called and their kids taken away.
Long story short The Office for Housing paid to house both families at a local motel for the night and H.A.P. paid for the next night. On Friday afternoon D.H.C.D. gave both families temporary approval for Emergency Shelter but wouldn't you know it D.H.C.D. sent one family to Worcester and the other to Pittsfield, the Mom is in family shelter, the Dad was placed in a single shelter but we are working on that and working to get both families moved back to Springfield.
Placing the families 45 min. from Arise in either direction and 1 1/2 from each other, they had become each others support system, maybe D.H.C.D. was hedging their bets and thought distance would deter our efforts. I guess D.H.C.D. forgot about the modern convenience called a phone for communication and if all else fails Pony Express have this new thing called a truck.

Thanks to Marion at WMLS and Ruth at MLRI for all their work and continuing work and to The City of Springfield Office for Housing, Gerry McCafferty, Marsha and Ramona from H.A.P. for all their work helping these families.

Fight Poverty NOT Prostitution

Monday July 19th many of us flooded City Council Chambers with our families and friends in tow.  We found it important to stand up against Councilor Ferrera's proposal to create a mandatory minimum sentence for people offering as well as people soliciting sex for a fee.  There were many reasons to oppose this ridiculous proposal.  For one, Arise has fought for years for the decriminalization of prostitution in Springfield.  Secondly, most women charged with such "crimes" are already serving 9-18 months in the Chicopee Jail so this mandatory minimum would just be redundant--but would give the inflated impression that Councilor Ferrera was tough on crime. Thirdly, even the Dept of Corrections is re-evaluating mandatory minimums and the ways in which they create large racial disparities in our criminal (in)justice system.  Additionally we would like to see the City Councilors creating plans to reduce poverty in Springfield NOT working to further criminalize acts of survival.  Arise members, OUTNOW members, Prison Birth Project members and other concerned people filled council chambers carrying signs and taking the mic during the speak-out period.  Fortunately the Council saw the wisdom brought forth by the community and voted Ferrera's proposal down 12 to 1!
The media seemed overwhelmed with the concept that SO many queers and kids were moved to speak out against this measure, evident by this amazing news clip: http://www.cbs3springfield.com/news/local/Prostitution-penalties-stay-the-same--98862014.html

One tree at a time

We had a little tree growing in front of Arise last year, but one day, it was gone, cut down-- a casualty of the State St. Corridor renovation.  We were told that in the spring, we'd get another little tree-- not the same one, of course.  The ghost of our original little tree  lingered above the sidewalk-- and in my mind-- all winter.

This spring I watched trees and flowers being planted up and down State St.-- trees in the median strips, lavender bushes on the slope outside STCC's iron fence.  Then, one day a month ago, I came into work to discover that the previously grassy strip between the sidewalk and the curb had been paved with black tar.

Trees and grass everywhere I looked!-- in front of Burger King, the closed Kavanagh's building, the median strip-- but not in front of our little strip of storefronts, which house a Black-owned clothing alteration and tee-shirt shop, a Latino-owned recording studio and music store, a storefront evangelical church, a Vietnamese-owned nail salon, a Chinese restaurant, a Turkish-owned pizza shop-- and, of course, Arise.

"What are we, too ghetto to get grass and trees?" I asked myself-- and started my phone calls to get to the bottom of this story.  First I was told by the city that it was a state plan, and I'd have to get my question answered by one of several state employees.  No calls were returned over several days.  Then finally I was sent back to the city, to Dept. of Public Works Director Al Chwalak.

Al told me that the tar was only temporary, that eventually the tar would be replaced by brick.

"And what about our tree?" I asked.

"There's no room for a tree," he said.  "The strip is smaller since we widened the street."

"And you know that for sure?"

Long pause.

"I'd have to check with the city forester," Al said.

Now, I'd already called the city forester, Ed Casey, and he hadn't called me back.  Maybe a call from Al would get a better response.

Then I was away for a week, and when I called Al on my return, he told me that the forester hadn't called him back, but he'd try Ed again.  He also mentioned that city employees would be walking up State St. on Wednesday and Thursday, doing their punch list to track the work finished and unfinished.

So we made our signs, put them in front of Arise, and waited for the city to come by.

On Wednesday, we spotted the folks in suits and orange vests on the sidewalk outside our office.  I went out to talk to them, and one turned out to be Al Chwalek.

"You're getting three trees," he said.  We're bricking the strip but we'll create three tree wells."

"Thank you very much!" I said, and we shook hands.  So it turned out our signs were unnecessary, and yet I knew that without the dozen phone calls,our strip would have remained treeless.

Last week I drove by the house where I lived for thirty years, owned by a slumlord who never maintained the house, and which eventually, after the chimney started to fall to pieces and the foundation began to crumble, I had to leave.  Someone-- and I think not the city-- had cut not only the junk trees, but also a magnificent maple tree, at least a hundred years old,  that had provided afternoon shade for my bedroom on hot summer days.  Only a ten foot trunk still remained standing.  It was heartbreaking.

This, that and an other thing,

Things are getting pretty busy at Arise. With demonstrations, vigils, fund raising, meetings and then everything else, time is limited. There are never enough hours in the day. I wanted to take a moment and let folks know about a couple of things that are happening in the next week or so.

This past Tuesday The farmers market at the "X" is back with a new location. The market has moved to Cyr Arena in Forest Park. They are open every Tuesday 12:30 PM TO 6:00 PM now through the end of October. Just let the attendants at the entrance to the park know where you are going and you'll get a pass to park in the lot next to the arena. Don't park anywhere else or you'll get towed.

Wednesday, May 12th @ 6pm the Arise Springfield Tenants Union will be meeting in our office on State St. We are organizing to let people know their housing rights. We've had a great victory in tenant protections on a state level. An omnibus bill was passed this past week that gives tenants more protections in foreclosed properties than ever before. It also the first step in foreclosure legislation that truly protects property owners caught in the throws of the foreclosure crisis. Stop in and see what we are up to.

Arise Membership Meeting. May 15th, 2010 at Tapestry Health on Bay St Spfld., MA We plan on having lots of fun and sharing information about what we've been up to and where you think we aught to go. So stop in if you can if not stop by the office and say Hi.

Arise Membership Meeting May 15!

Are you a current or former member of Arise?  Or have you been interested in checking us out but just haven't gotten around to it?

On Saturday, May 15, we'll be having a meeting at Tapestry, 365 Bay St., Springfield. 

Light breakfast at 9:30, and by 10 am, we'll be talking about our organizing campaigns: 

• Ending police misconduct and developing resident oversight
• Stopping a toxic incinerator proposed for Springfield
• Developing a strong tenants union to protect people's rights
• Bringing an end to deadly and wasteful wars and returning funds to our community
• Challenging racism in the community and in ourselves
• Developing economic alternatives to our current system
• Increasing people's involvement with electoral issues, especially ward representation

Our mission is achieving social justice for those of us usually left out of the system!  Want to fight with us?  Then please join us!  For more information, email ariseforsocialjustice@gmail.com or call 734-4948.