By Colin Hadlow Santa Monica
To the gentlemen who wrote the article in the Santa Monica Daily Press called “Let’s be creative and find a solution to homelessness.”
My reply is, yes, why don’t YOU do something creative for change. It is always a “WE” when it comes to people destroying my ability to have a good, hard-worked for lifestyle. I was rather incensed by your “wake up” approach. I assure we are wide awake to the problem. Are you?
To reply to your points. I find it hard to believe that a person who is sober and going to college with a job is incapable of finding a room to sleep in. What is wrong with you? Seven years you have been on the street and in college since 1998. Put up a sign at SMC looking for a room. Look in the paper. Can’t pay? Get a better paying job. I have five friends in college AND working. They all have homes of some sort. I have to feel sorry for you because you are trying to better yourself? I applaud you. I do not feel sorry for you. Want socialism? Move to Sweden. Get the homeless together and use the panhandling money to buy a utopia in Oregon. I don’t know. You have the problem. You accuse “us” of creating it. You just don’t want to change.
We all agree these are hard economic times. But why did the homeless problem not ease during the good economic times of the ‘90s under Clinton. You attack us for pricing our way out of the market. What’s new? Where have you seen economies go backwards when they can go forward? Wake up! We are not using the homeless as a whipping post for our ills. This was going on way before there were bad times. The homeless were doing well in good times. Getting more money panhandling. What did they do with it?
We realize that probably 80 percent of the homeless are addicts in some form or another. Now you want ME to do something about protecting myself from them. I am a recovering addict. I got NO help. It is common knowledge that all the interceptions in the world are hopeless unless the addict WANTS to quit. Addicts have to learn to help themselves. You cannot support an addict. You just end up supporting the habit. I do not mind helping out the occasional person down on their luck. But you can only help so much before the helper becomes a crutch.
I got the help I needed. I was also a victim of rent de-control. I bounced a check for five minutes and was evicted because the landlord wanted me out to get a higher rent. The Santa Monica legal aid was hopeless. The lawyer there was “scared” to call a judge on a weekend. Poor me. I was homeless for six months. I pulled myself together and got another home. Now you will probably say, I had friends to stay with, etc. Yes, for about a month. I slept in my car and bathed at the gym. I just refused to be on the street. It was VERY tough. But I managed.
I understand we need to help those with mental problems and a great deal needs to be done in that field. But we tried to feed the homeless. It just got worse as more and more homeless flooded into Santa Monica. I gave money daily to transients on the Promenade. Did not help. Then I gave money to organizations that fed the homeless. Did not help. Why should I, who have worked very hard for a roof over my head, have to suffer because you chose not to? I know homeless people. Some sober, who ARE taking care of themselves! Why must my safety be affected? Why do I have to move from a tennis court because the smell of a homeless person is so bad? I have HIV, was homeless, had no job and lost all of my friends, had a massive drug and alcohol problem and still managed to care for myself, while very ill.
I am tired of your moaning. Do something yourself. Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in the bus. The blacks marched on Montgomery. The gays fought tooth and nail to get rights and fair treatment.
Your story is full of excuses. Quotes from Einstein and how incredible it is to be an artist? How you are different and we are all the same? Reality is staring you in the face. Our mayor came here in a Volkswagen bus as a hippie philosopher. Times change. You just don’t want to. There is an old saying, “Change or die.” You say you are creative. It is the “core of brainstorming.” Well, BE creative. Do some brain-storming. You sound like a leader. Lead your people. Do something. Don’t sound off in an ill-conceived tirade against me because I managed to pull myself together. Why attack people who have become wealthy, learn from them. I know. It takes commitment and work, sorry.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 21, 2002. Read the original PDF.