Have people been following the fiasco with the city of DM and their
war on Hope builders and the “hooch” dwellers?
A church activist helped a bunch of homeless guys build some nice
little shacks from recycled materials to keep them from living in
boxes under a bridge. They pulled together and built a tight little
camp. Of course, there was a fire, and that was all the excuse the
city needed to doze the whole place.
I understand that it was on city land, safety and liability issues, etc, but what
a shame to let the jack-boot of bureaucracy stomp on imagination and
personal initiative.
I'm afraid this is not the last shanty-town that we will be seeing
before the economy recovers- I'm disappointed that Mayor Cownie didn't
look for a better solution.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20081203/NEWS/812030381/1001
Watch the video – breaks your heart.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEwOA7NZnq8
2 Comments
I've been thinking about this story a lot
I feel bad for those people and can’t imagine what they are doing in this cold weather.
I definitely think it was wrong to destroy those homes without giving people a chance to find other housing.
On the other hand, there’s no question the liability issues were significant for the city. I don’t know what the best solution would have been.
desmoinesdem Fri 5 Dec 10:17 AM
What a crock
We’re about to loose two million jobs in Detroit and there are going to be plenty of folks living in shruburbs before too long. I agree there is a safety issue with indoor combustion but there are going to be a lot of shanty towns before too long …
stranded-wind Tue 9 Dec 8:41 PM