NEWS
Protesters call for emergency shelter
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Also by John Potratz:
- UW enacts new parental notification policy for students (September 22, 2005)
- SLAC proposal passes (October 14, 2005)
- Speaker criticizes FDA (November 7, 2005)
- UW responds to STW allegations (November 29, 2005)
- ASM, ODOS take sides on office restructuring (May 2, 2005)
Related Stories:
- Overnight sit-in ends with arrests (December 13, 2004)
- Protesters wrap up 2-day sleep-out for wet shelter (April 28, 2005)
- Mayor denies wet-shelter (January 20, 2005)
- Activists rally for city wet shelter (April 26, 2005)
- Students, local homeless launch shelter campaign (March 24, 2004)
by John Potratz
Friday, December 10, 2004
University of Wisconsin students and Madison residents gathered on Library Mall Thursday afternoon to rally in support of building an emergency shelter for Madison’s homeless community.
The rally, which ended in a sit-in at the mayor’s office, was organized by the Madison Warming Center Campaign and the Multicultural Student Coalition to demand that Mayor Dave Cieslewicz provide more funding to build adequate shelter for homeless individuals for the winter season.
“Homeless people are oppressed by society. All of [Madison’s] property is privatized and public property is only open during specific hours so [homeless residents] have nowhere to go,” MWCC student coordinator Colleen Condon said.
The rally kicked off with speakers from MWCC and Veterans for Peace, backed by a banner reading, “No more deaths this winter.”
“This whole situation is ludicrous that we can have such disparity [in Madison]. This is supposedly a progressive city in a very affluent country,” UW senior Brian Benson said. “As students, we are always complaining about how cold it is walking around campus — I couldn’t imagine spending even one night out in the cold.”
As the rally headed toward the Capitol, protesters placed flowers in front of Walgreen’s, where one homeless individual died last April. One protester reminded onlookers of homeless death by marching with a headstone-shaped sign reading, “R.I.P. Al, Pat, Lazaro and unknown others — Winter 2003.”
“OT,” a 38 year-old local homeless resident and protester, knew the three deceased individuals.
“Al died in McDonald’s, and I found Pat dead,” OT said. “I got about 15 or 20 tickets [for loitering] this year; the cops got to leave us alone.”
OT said he would go to a shelter if one were available.
“Sure, it’s better than the streets. The only place I can go is Law Park,” he said.
As the rally rounded the Capitol and stopped at the City Hall to meet with Cieslewicz, protesters chanted, “We will not give up the fight; shelter is a human right!”
Approximately 75 protesters passed through metal detectors in the City Hall entrance while waiting in line to continue the rally inside the mayor’s office.
Upon reaching the mayor’s office, rally organizers where denied a meeting with Cieslewicz and were asked to remain outside in the hallway.
In the waiting room and outside the mayor’s office, protesters chanted, “Hey, Dave, where do you sleep? How many kids are on the street?” for nearly half an hour before Cieslewicz emerged from his office to address the group.
Once outside his office, Cieslewicz said he set aside $11,000 in the city budget and $45,000 that had been raised in the private sector for homeless relief. When one protester asked where he slept, mayor Cieslewicz replied, “In a bed, the same as you.”
Cieslewicz then left the building escorted by police officers.
Despite the mayor’s departure from the scene, many sit-in protesters remained outside his office to await his return this morning and demand the opening of an emergency shelter.
“Right now, [the sit-in protesters] talked with the police, and they’re going to sleep there the night without getting arrested,” MWCC volunteer Molly Stumpf said. “The people doing the sit-in are committed to staying there until their demands are met.”
As of press time, approximately 21 students remained outside the mayor’s office, according to Stumpf.
—James Davison contributed to this report
Anonymous (December 10, 2004 @ 1:47am):
instead of making the problem worse why don't you freaky liberal losers try to help them kick the drug and alcohol addictions....
Anonymous (December 10, 2004 @ 8:40am):
Is it just me or shouldn't this protest have occurred a couple months ago. Do emergency shelters just magically appear because of a protest? No! They need time to be budgeted, planned and, if necessary, built. Why wait until the weather is cold to start the protest?
Anonymous (December 10, 2004 @ 8:57am):
What don't we eat? (Red Meat!) Why don't we eat it? (Because it's murder!)
Oh I love you causeheads. You just make my day.
Anonymous (December 10, 2004 @ 9:04am):
Why didn't the protestors address the issue that most homeless have a serious drug and/or alcohol problem combined with mental illness? They don't get 20 tickets in a year because the cops are bored. These people are very troublesome from a behavioral standpoint.
Putting a bunch of folks like this in a confined space at night with each other without significant security and safety measures is a recipe for disaster. Of course, significant security and safety measures are very expensive.
The types of problems underlying homelessness are quite difficult to deal with. Unfortunately, protesting them and throwing money at them really doesn't do much to solve anything. Well, I suppose it does give a few people a wholly unjustified sense of actually "doing something".
Anonymous (December 10, 2004 @ 9:23am):
If all of these protesters kicked in 100 bucks each (if they care so much they can give up drinking and pot for a few weekends), they could probably build a nice warming pavillion themselves. But it's easier to be compassionate when you're using other people's money.
And most of the other commenters are correct to pint out that homelessness is not simply caused by the lack of a home. Drug abuse, alcoholism, and mental illness are far and away the greatest contributing factors to homelessness. All are sad, none are fixed by setting up a warming shelter.
Anonymous (December 10, 2004 @ 9:36am):
I am protesting protesting.
Anonymous (December 10, 2004 @ 10:14am):
While it's true that many homeless people have mental issues or some sort of drug addiction, it's important to note that it is not all of them. There are plenty of families and people who have fallen on hard times, people you'd never expect to be homeless. And even if they have an addiction or mental illness, is it still right for society to let them freeze to death because there is no place for them to stay? Shelter isn't going to be a long term solution for homelessness, I know that, but it can prevent a lot of suffering and even death. Also, a lot of homeless people are also veterans who fought for our country and returned home with a drug or mental illness issue that has greatly contributed to them being homeless. I don't necessarily agree with the wars that these people fought in, but I still think they deserve something better than sleeping in the snow each winter. Call me a protesting crazy liberal if you want, but it is simply not right for a society such as ours to let people freeze to death or suffer in the cold because they lack shelter.
Anonymous (December 10, 2004 @ 10:18am):
I think, honestly, we all agree with you the person I will not call a crazy liberal. No one wants these people to freeze to death, and we would like to see all of them possible get their lives back on track. But all the protests over the issue is about getting the homeless population food and shelter, not programs to get them rehabilitated in whatever ways they need to be.
Anonymous (December 10, 2004 @ 10:19am):
If I were homeless, I'd go to Florida so I didn't get cold.
Anonymous (December 10, 2004 @ 11:07am):
If you were homeless, how would you get to Florida?
Anonymous (December 10, 2004 @ 11:30am):
I'd walk.
Anonymous (December 10, 2004 @ 11:38am):
"instead of making the problem worse why don't you freaky liberal losers try to help them kick the drug and alcohol addictions...."
They probably would, but conservatives have forced cuts in funding to treatment programs. Now it's impossible to treat everyone.
Anonymous (December 10, 2004 @ 11:43am):
Any time we set up a safety net, we have to be extremely careful that we are not setting up a safety hammock.
Of course we don't want people to freeze. However, they don't want to freeze, either. People are surprisingly adept at keeping themselves alive when faced with such a stark choice.
Instead of spending all day screwing around and yelling at each other in Piss Park & that church by the capital, a good portion of these folks could get off their lazy butts and do something useful with their lives. It doesn't seem that burdensome to ask able-bodied citizens to at least pay for their own housing.
Furthermore, if they understood how to form productive relationships that didn't revolve around fulfilling base desires, they would be much better off.
For example, if any two of them got together and decided to pool resources, they'd find much better housing options.
Admittedly, the #1 obstacle these folks face is addiction. Reason, rational thinking, responsibility and maturity are sadly unattainable after you've chosen to fry your brains since you were 12.
Anonymous (December 10, 2004 @ 12:44pm):
There is some guy who made a photo collection of Madison homeless -- as if to say they are somehow great warriors--it was pathetic. For me, it had the opposite effect. Far from producing empathy, it made me more disgusted than ever.
The city should close that homeless park and sell the land---why are we all paying to give the homeless a drug den---that land should be on the tax rolls.
Anonymous (December 10, 2004 @ 12:56pm):
"a good portion of these folks could get off their lazy butts and do something useful with their lives"
Are you going to hire homeless people?
I doubt the challenge the majority of homeless face is laziness.
"Admittedly, the #1 obstacle these folks face is addiction. Reason, rational thinking, responsibility and maturity are sadly unattainable after you've chosen to fry your brains since you were 12."
The problem is our health system does not treat mental illness well, unless you have money. Most health insurance (if you have health insurance) does not adequately cover treatment for mental health. Drug addiction is a huge problem for those that have untreated mental illness. Many of these people have been self-regulating with illegal drugs since they were twelve. These aren't the stoners from your high school.
So let me rephrase my question:
Are you going to hire a homeless person with mental illness and a possible drug addiction?
Anonymous (December 10, 2004 @ 1:13pm):
Besides the drug addiction/mental health issues, it's got to be pretty difficult to get a job without a steady address or phone number...pretty hard for those potential employers to get in contact with you. Just another reason we shouldn't classify every homeless person as lazy and unwilling to get a job.
Anonymous (December 10, 2004 @ 1:20pm):
When I was 12 I made a simple decision... I'd stay in school and wouldn't do drugs. Every year I made the same decision, because I knew that NOTHING IS FREE ANYWHERE! Food is not free, my rent surely isn't free, clothes aren't free. So it's hard for me to be compasionate to people that were a pain in my ass when I was 12 and now are a pain in my ass everytime I walk down state street.
To these people that want a shelter... Have you ever worked in one? Have you ever worked at a church giving out a free meal? It's scary as hell! The problem is that there is no good solution. That's part of the problem with a free country... 1% of the population is dumb and will ruin their own lives, and ask for a free handout from everyone else that is smart enough to survive.
Anonymous (December 10, 2004 @ 1:29pm):
Why do people think that everyone who is homeless has spent their whole life making bad choices because they want to spend the rest of their life on handouts? Are there people who do this? Of course. But does that mean we turn away everyone else?
I've worked at the Salvation army serving a meal. There were an awful lot of families there, and I saw more than a few of them who had just come from work. These are people who'd like desperately to have a home and be self-sufficient, but for one reason for another they can't. And what about a veteran who returns from war and ends up homeless? How about a mother who had been in the home caring for her children until a divorce? These are the kinds of people who end up homeless too. And once you're in that situation, it's very difficult to get out.
It'd be great if everyone had the chance to stay in school and get a decent job so that they wouldn't be in that situation, but despite the belief that everyone can get ahead in America, it just doesn't work that way.
Anonymous (December 10, 2004 @ 1:39pm):
"Why do people think that everyone who is homeless has spent their whole life making bad choices because they want to spend the rest of their life on handouts?"
Because people think the homeless should just be able to lift themselves up by the boot straps. The poor are just lazy, and all drug addicts are just weak people. It's much easier to believe these things than to look deeper into why the poor stay poor, homeless stay homeless, and mentally ill and "normal people" become drug addicts.
They all should have just chosen at age 12 to work harder and stay clean.
Anonymous (December 10, 2004 @ 3:47pm):
Once people get addicted, it is incredibly difficult to clean them up after the fact.
Even if we funded a program with $10 zillion, we would not even make a dent in drug addiction. Drug treatment programs are almost universally ineffective. We can't undo either the brain damage or the addiction, especially in long-term addictions. Funding isn't the issue.
Somebody please take a walk down state street and tell me with a straight face that drugs are a victimless crime. The issue is prevention. However, anytime someone suggests prevention, they get accused of being some moralist.
From a practical standpoint, it would be much cheaper and much more effective if we could stop drug addiction before it happens and before it perpetuates itself into an ugly monster that nobody can or desires to deal with.
Anonymous (December 10, 2004 @ 3:47pm):
Drinking enhances your social skills... AHHHHHHHH!
Anonymous (December 10, 2004 @ 3:53pm):
A warming shelter for the beggars lmfao
Anonymous (December 10, 2004 @ 5:03pm):
Question: Wasn't there an SRO in Madison a few years ago? If there was, what happened to it?
Anonymous (December 10, 2004 @ 5:44pm):
I walk down state street every night after work and it's irritating and often scary when people yell at me for money or just plain yell vulgar things at me. I'd rather see my exposable income and government funding go towards organizations and people who will give positive feedback to society like cancer centers.
I hated the quote in the article "the police got to get off my back" when I don't think they should because then I am risk of getting more harassed. Call me selfish for putting my own safey first.
Anonymous (December 11, 2004 @ 8:26am):
I have a novel idea: Adopt-A-Bum. Participants would be entitled to full tax examption for doing a benevolent deed for the needy. Instead of demanding more shelters for them, they could take a homeless person into their own home and provide for them. They can help the cause directly and taxpayers would save a bundle. Everyone's happy. Sound like a plan?
Anonymous (December 11, 2004 @ 1:45pm):
this school is filled with a bunch of privleged liberal and conservative pricks that are only concerned with which frat is throwing a party this weekend, which bar is having a special, and where they can park their moped. I'm not saying anybody should be a saint and donate hundreds to the homeless, but have some compassion. Instead of giving the homeless money, I buy them soup and a sandwich sometimes. It will make both of your days even if it's only one meal and appears insignificant. People arent homeless because they're lazy, they're homeless becuase something went wrong along the way whether it was their fault or someone elses, and I really doubt anybody would choose to live in this cold just so they wouldn't have to work. How about you stop thinking about yourself and which designer shoes you want to match your cardigan for a minute, and consider that maybe everyone didn't have the same options your parents gave you for 18 years, or are maybe still giving you.
Anonymous (December 11, 2004 @ 6:28pm):
"this school is filled with a bunch of privleged liberal and conservative pricks...
"How about you stop thinking about yourself and which designer shoes you want to match your cardigan for a minute..."
Do you really think that insulting students is going to motivate them to help the homeless or any other cause? We're students! We have have it rough already just trying to get through college. We don't all party our guts out at the frat parties or wear designer clothes. Your verbal attack only make us care less. We have enough to worry about just trying to graduate. So fuck you! YOU take 'em all in if you care so goddamn much, asshole!
Anonymous (December 11, 2004 @ 6:49pm):
I can't say I blame the mayor for reacting the way he did. If those stupid protesters think that accosting public officials is going to bring about any kind of positive change, they are sadly mistaken.
I'm really interested in knowing what else these protesters are doing besides having all these dumb protests. I wonder just how many of them are raising money to build more shelters, or collecting food for food pantries. Just how much do they actually care? I'm sick and tired of hearing them bitch at me for having it better than them while many of them come from rich families.
In the end, I'll graduate and they'll drop out or get an academic suspension because they wasted all their time on meaningless protests. Then, they'll join the ranks of the homeless. Will I care? Ha!
Anonymous (December 11, 2004 @ 7:05pm):
I saw on the news where the protestors sitting in outside the mayor's office were arrested. Good! Serves 'em right!
Look, the majority of the homeless here in Madison are not originally from Madison, or even the state of Wisconsin. There are a lot of other states that are in much better shape economically. Many of the homeless here come from those states. Wisconsin is one of only a handfull of states that do more than just a minimal job helping the homeless. Why aren't these protestors yelling at all those other states to take care of their own poor so they won't go flocking to other states?
Wisconsin, Minnesota, New York, Massachusetts, California, Texas and Washington D.C. are about the only states that are doing anything. Those states take in the lion's share of homeless. Most other states do practically nothing. Why not raise hell with the states that don't care? Try to spread out the moral obligation to help the homeless so that the few states that do will not have to burden themselves with higher state and local taxes. You can only tax working people and their employers so much before they pack up and move to someplace cheaper. Then what will we do? Tax whoever's left even more to make up the loss?
The poor will always be with us, but there are better, more effective solutions than clogging the hallways at City Hall.
Anonymous (December 11, 2004 @ 7:18pm):
After they were arrested, cited and released, protesters retired to a friend's house for pizza and to consider their future plans.
"Our demands weren't met. But I definitely think we made the statement we wanted to make. Overall, I would say the action was a success," Spangler said after the arrests.
The protesters intend to appeal their fines, which were $412 each for resisting arrest and $288 each for trespassing, Fuller said. Their court date is Jan. 11, he said. There was no bail. -- Cap times
-------------------
LOL LOL LOL
Pizza? LOL LOL
Appeal the fines?? You are guilty, done deal. LOL
LOSERS
Anonymous (December 11, 2004 @ 8:34pm):
"Our demands weren't met. But I definitely think we made the statement we wanted to make. Overall, I would say the action was a success," Spangler said after the arrests.
And they think they accomplished something? In a couple of weeks the whole affair will be forgotten! I agree with the poster who said that other states beside the few should be pressured to help their poor residents more. In Missouri, a state that is doing a lot better than Wisconsin economically, there are no more than rescue mission-type shelters in St. Louis and Kansas City. Those shelters will only allow homeless to stay a few nights. Where are the protesters?! Madison does quite a bit more than most cities in the U.S. and protesters swarm the state capital and City Hall every chance they get!
Activists should put their efforts where they will count for something, not where they will bore people to death. Tennessee, South Carolina, Arkansas and Indiana are a few more states that are faring better than Wisconsin. Why aren't protesters flocking to those states?
Most of the country figured out how to "help the homeless" a long time ago during the Reagan years. Simply cut as much welfare spending as they can possibly get away with. Their poor population will eventually pack up and trek across the country to another state, where they will be someone else's burden. Problem soved! Now it's down to a few states to take care of the majority of the nation's homeless population. Those few states are maxed out. Then the protesters come marching in to complain that "you aren't doing enough", even after state and local taxes keep going up and up. Pretty soon, those states will throw up their arms and the only help poor people will get is a one-way bus ticket to another state. I believe in help those less fortunate, but don't ask me for money. I'm already helping by paying a bundle in state and local taxes. It is time the rest of the country do their part.
Anonymous (December 11, 2004 @ 9:52pm):
I am guessing "Mayor Dave" got sick of the foul hippy smell in his office.
I mean WTF, they are protesting against one of their own?!
Anonymous (December 12, 2004 @ 2:09am):
Q: Why couldn't the lifeguard save the hippy from drowning?
A: Because he was far out, man!
Anonymous (December 13, 2004 @ 9:14pm):
"Why didn't the protestors address the issue that most homeless have a serious drug and/or alcohol problem combined with mental illness?"
23% of the homeless suffer from severe and persistent mental illness; 26% of the homeless suffer from an alcohol/drug addiction (with significant overlap between the two). How many people does the person who posted this know that are alcoholics or addicted to a substance? Double-standard? Also, please look up the facts next time before stereotyping.
"A good portion of these folks could get off their lazy butts and do something useful with their lives."
42% of the homeless are employed. In the median state a minimum-wage worker would have to work 89 hours each week to afford a two-bedroom apartment at 30% of his or her income.
"I'm really interested in knowing what else these protesters are doing besides having all these dumb protests. I wonder just how many of them are raising money to build more shelters, or collecting food for food pantries. Just how much do they actually care?"
We've actually spoken to the mayor twice, to the county executive once, to the director of the CDBG once, to various alderpersons, we've done food and clothing drives, and are applying for federal not-for-profit so that we can begin operating soup kitchens in the future. People in the group work and volunteer within shelters, there are homeless individuals involved, social work and social welfare majors, in addition to concerned students and community members. I encourage anyone to come to one our meetings, we'd love to address and discuss the negative tereotypes surrounding homelessness.
