Shifting Mindsets
by Tony Chavira
Clearly, white collar workers never thought (while in the process of gambling away America's money) that a potential credit collapse would affect them. But as this article from Change.org shows, we need to stop pretending that we've somehow never seen homelessness before, no matter the social strata it affects:
Every few months, it seems, the media cover with surprising naivete and shock a "new homelessness." There seem to be three so far. Homelessness due to foreclosures is a "new homelessness." Economic insecurity among families and children as the fastest growing segment among the homeless is "new." White collar homelessness, a specious trend or not, is yet another sign that the recession continues to widen its hold. Where once it was predominantly the marginalized who experienced homelessness, now it's those with voices and connections to the mainstream who can share the dangers of an unsustainable system of mutual support.
In a world where anyone can be homeless, and we've seen this, it's harder to pretend innocence.
Couldn't have put it better myself.
And speaking of not-being-able-to-put-things-better-myself, Houston's Metro Chairman David Wolff, a real estate developer, spoke with the Houston Chronicle about improving Metro's reputation and the general ethic people have toward using public transportation options. Here's what I wanted to read:
Transit should really serve all the people in this area. It's not just for people who have no alternative, and it has to be attractive to do that and I think rail takes it there. One of the differences that I think we had with Tom DeLay was that he felt that a transit system is sort of a form of welfare. I think this was unfortunate and narrow-minded, because it is not a form of welfare. I recall walking out of Da Marco's on Westheimer one night with friends of ours, around 10 at night, and I think it was the 82 was inbound. And it was full. And they said, “Look at that bus! Who's on that bus?” I said, “I'll tell you who's on that bus. Those are the people who stand behind the counters in the stores in the Galleria, those are the people who clean the offices, those are the people who wait on you in restaurants. Those are hard-working people.” They're not on that bus because it's sort of fun to be riding the bus on Westheimer at 10 at night. They're getting from their jobs back to where they live. And if they didn't have that form of transit, then they'd be on welfare. Metro is a productive part of our city, helping people get from where they live to where they work, to get to their doctor, to shop. So I have very short patience for people who think it's a form of welfare, and therefore it's sort of a cross to bear. No, it's an important part of the city and people who don't realize that don't know cities.
And you heard it here, folks.
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