Maybe you've been one of the lucky ones. Maybe you've been one of the people chosen to meet for a cuppa java with Park Ridge's own Java Man, Mayor Howard Frimark.
We hear Mayor Java Man has been downing the java like an SUV guzzles gas; meeting with some of the St. Mary's neighbors who are troubled by the fact that many of their concerns and questions about the proposed homeless shelter remain unaddressed and unanswered.
We also hear that Mayor Howard continues to repeat himself incessantly, even when faced with facts that contradict his statements, and questions from those lucky St. Mary's neighbors who've been granted special access to observe Java Man in action.
One concern residents have had is what will happen when the homeless shelter "guests" are shagged from the St. Mary's basement. Will those homeless "guests" begin hanging out in the Park Ridge Public Library or the new Uptown redevelopment? We are told Mayor Java Man is unconcerned and does not directly address the questions during those Java Man sessions he's been conducting.
So today we decided to offer some ideas for merchants and residents, the property-owning taxpayers in the Uptown TIF district, to combat the potential problem of an imported number of homeless "guests" making Uptown their new hangout.
And we know Benedict Alderman Ryan (5th ward) will welcome these ideas. After all, they are what some other communities have done to address the issue of homeless people hanging around urban developments.
From a website called "Transfer; nyc & hudson chronicler of architecture, bad, good & otherwise" we find the following architectural elements, characterized as "anti-sit":
Anti-sit storefront.
Anti-sit standpipe.
Anti-sit planter.
Anti-sit railing.
Anti-sit business interior.
Anti-sleep public bench.
None of those additions to the landscape of an urbanized setting look very inviting. But then again, that's the idea. Too bad such elements are likely to have the same uninviting effect on homeless "guests" and shoppers, alike.
But we thought Mayor Java Man and Benedict Alderman Ryan would want to know what other communities are doing to combat the problem of homeless "guests" loitering in residential and shopping districts, when they aren't being housed in an overnight homeless shelter.
May 27, 2008
Java Man!
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9 comments:
last week, I was driving in town near the Starbucks on NW Hwy and the mayor ran out in front of my car (I believe he was exercising his mayoral right of way). Is this where he is holding his coffee meetings with citizens?
What a collection...and I suppose some of those items might become necessary if the number of homeless persons invited to spend time in Park Ridge increases dramatically...as it has in Arlington Hts.
The citizens surrounding the proposed PADS shelter at St. Mary's have long stressed that their concern is not limited to what takes place inside the proposed homeless shelter, but rather what happens outside the homeless shelter...and as today's PRU collection demonstrates, what happens is a lot of hanging around...
As I've told friends, Uptown redevelopment was always intended to lend a more urban feel to Park Ridge's central business district...of course, one can't completely capture that urban feel without the requisite accessory of a few pan-handling homeless clients...
If statues of owls are used to scare away pigeons, could we use statues of cops to scare away the homeless?
WOW, great idea about the statues. I am sure Howie has a list of a few he would like stuffed.
The PRMA is full of crap on their homeless shelter idea of theirs and they know it.
They have talked about starting slow by housing 15 homeless people, one night a week at St. Mary's.
Well wouldn't you know it, there are about 15 churches that are part of the PRMA.
Instead of opening a shelter and cramming all these homeless people into a basement, I say why don't each one of these churches open up their own rectory to one of the projected 15 homeless they want to help.
Then instead of pushing them out onto the street at 7am to go hang wherever, the homeless person each church took in the night before can spend the day doing odd jobs around the rectory, working off the welfare they were given the night before.
They could finish up their working it off in time to catch the next train or bus to the next PADS shelter site.
I think that works. The PRMA should put their individual member mouths where their foist it off on the community selves are.
Great idea, Anonymous May 27, 2008 2:08 PM., although it sounds a lot like a variation on the "workfare" theme that a number of states (e.g., Colorado) require of their welfare benefit recipients.
Howard,
Where's my coffee invite?
I have a couple of things to discuss with you...among them how to best run against you next Spring!
I think I know what kind of campaign to run and which points to bring up, but if you wanted to point out a few more skeletons, I sure would appreciate it.
So come on...send me an invite...I'm a big coffee fan!
Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.
Give a homeless man a night in Park Ridge, and he will make it a home for a lifetime.
Java Man is a great description for Frimark.
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