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DETROIT -A coalition of
this city's homeless protested
. their plight for the seco d time
this month when they tagcd a
sit-in Tuesday, Jan. 26 at the of-
of Detroit Housing Com­
missio er Tom Le .
The first demonstration
brought the threat o� jail, the
second, promise of a home in t
public housing.
Earlier, on the holiday mark­
-s ing the birthday of Dr. Martin
\ Luther King, the National
. Union for the Homel . seized
two empty apartments at l;he
Brcwster/Dougl p ojects to
prote the proposed demolition
o( 1100 units there.
At Tuesday's demonstration,
one of th Participants, a resi­
dent of C.O.T.S. temporary
shelter, Sonya Terry saJd, "This
morning we came to ddr
Tom Lewis about obtaining
public housing fo the homeless
residents of various shelters
throughout Detroit.
"We were told that the hous­
ing commission not accept­
ing applications. wis met with
some of us upstairs and let us
know that there is available
housing." Terry said.
She said ccording to Lewis
there are 11,000 units available
through public ho ing that the
poor could move into.
e ere off; ed Herman
Gardens, Pau Robeson,
Par bide and ther housing
projects as alternatives to
C.O.T.S.," she said "He also told
us that we, as pro pective
tenants would have fir� iority
c'oali
ion
to the newly constructed units in
the future," .
Another C.O.T.s. resident,
Delphine Shamblin who is also '
secretary and treasurer of the
National Union for The Home­
less said, "We came here with a
list of demands for Lewis to
meet, but by the time we got
upstairs and heard what be had
to say, the - majority of our
demands had been et,"
"We asked for 11 ing ap- .
plications, priority access to the
new units and transportation.
Lewis assured us . t when the
contracts Come up, tenants in
the present units will be
•
, prioritized.- ing Commissioner Tom Lewis
APPUCA110NS TO BE said, "Thismorniag9t'eWereable-
tAKEN . to have a clear discussion as to
On Monday February 1, - what was fantasy and what was
Housing Placement Director reality. The Homeless Union
Neil Andel'$Oll is scheduled to came to the meeting with the
meet with members of the belief that we were not ccepting
Homele Union at C.O.T.S. applications for public hoUsing.
with applications for any home- which � �lutely false.·
less person wi hing to par- ., �WIS said tha� after some
ticipate in the public housing time mto the meeting. he found
program. .- ou that none o! th� coesplaiaees
At that time the persons will had made applications.
be pi,cked up and transported to "They said the wanted to fill
the Housing Commissioner' 01- out applications and 1 told them
fice � appJica . will be . that we would work with them to
processed. sec that it happens"' Lewis said.
Of Tu "We are going to C.Q.T.S. shel-
� ter on M�nday with our bus to
. pi up any persons wanting an
application processed."
UPGRADE IMAGE OF
TENANTS .
_ Lewis stated his reasoning
t behind the demolition of many ,
. of the currently. existing housing
projects. He said, "Our proposal
� to redesign thes housi g
projects stems from a 1930's t­
titude when the housing was vi­
able and you had to be some­
body with something in order to
live in them."
"But this is the SO's when
peop e, poor though they might
be, have an increased evaluation
of themselves and they are refus­
� to live in outdated public
liousing just for the sake of
having somewhere to go," Lewis
said.
·1 sensed the reas why
some of the homel were stay-
. iDg at C.O.T -S. instead 0 iablic
Ua .. housing. thea overall mbWUte
.Handicapped pUS
By R ruiings forcing IAlrsing homcs to
HIGHLAND PK - Warning remove feeding tubes from
, of the possibility of ge ocidc in adults, deprifng them o� food
future ye r , the Michigan and water. .
Handicapper Caucus is uraiog Caucus representatives warn
the Democratic Party to dopt a that destruction of patients con-
p tform plank at its 1988 con- 'sidered "d4fective" or "imper­
vention su� t e priaciplc feet" in Nan Gemumy lead to
. of government cbon protcc;ting genocide against races the Nazis
medical patient from dis- Considered inferior.
aiminatory neglect because of Research by the American
handicap, age, social statui or Civil Liberti es Union reveals
race. that an Okl om. Unive icy
The caucus is UJJioI citizens health center . ch started
to write Gov. Jam Blanchard, neglectingbabicslOlclybccause.
'the head of the Democratic o( handicap bepn �UtiDa
Party' national PlatfOrm Com� the quality of a han capped .
mittee, in upport of such baby'slife also partly on"JDCOIDC
plank. The governor can be and r ce," the caucus staled.
reached by writiDg: �rDOr'I Caucus members em-
Office, Lanling, Michigan">'- pbasized they were not seeking
48909. extraordinary treatment or
The caucus j concerned heroic .-equaI
attempts by medical or- aeees to e e ordiDary
pnizatio to overture la treatment routinely given to
preveDting ho pitals from other • •. .
Deglecting ordinary care for . Caucul chair Tommy
ba· . handicapt and court M DOted, "We have to be
. I
Coaiition: welfare
',reform could harm:
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By
,DETROIT The' thoseforcedunderthls program
Metropolitan Detroit Welfare . to wor without .'
�cform Coalition (WRC) While opposing H.R. 1'720,
citizens to write letters urging . WRC does favor incorporating
Sc ora Carl Levin and Donald in future legislation some "poIi-
_ cigle to oppose Se�e BiD tivescctioos·in biUwhicbin-·
1151 and their CODIfCII1DCn to VOM:
qppQIC H.R. 1720. � Coali- -Contin uing medicaid
tioD ys both bills force benefits for low income people
those on social service . who are .
tance to perform maodatory I-Providins reimburse Dt
rkfal'e. tax dedueti 'for thOle
WRC Director Kathleen. who p� .their chiIdreu iD 4ay
.. Murphy Ca tillo state that .care feahties;
&iDee social service If are' -Ret.ininl APDC paymeDta
CUITCDtIy oaIy 58 percaat of the for two pareDt f.milies, 10 that
poverty level, m.ndatory famili will not be forced to
workfare would force rcc:ipieDts break up.
to work without wages bile Cutillo belie'Ye&
1ea11Ul. aa them. in deep poverty. in the welfare system .
She laJi workfare docs DOt be ep award COJ1'CCtiDa
lead to -real payiDa jobs., b I condition i social service­
often eDCOur private aDd . which penalize i income per­
government employers to 10 for orking aDd destroy
replace regular worters . h f.miliea.
recogniud as full persons with
full civil rights. The principles in
our plank would protect other
millorities a ell. A a
DcIDoaat, I believe our party
wiD support this.-
The Highland Park City
CouDcil unanimously passed a
resolution identical to the plank,
proposed bytbeD Council Presi­
dea Martha Scott shortly .
before ber election mayor.·
The caucus plans to this
resoIutio introduced in other
citiea part of a ·aty by city
campaip" to geneJtate lupport
for� .
The Michigan Democratic
Party State CCDtral Committee
aDd the Middpn Commi&aion .
on HaDdicapper CODcerDs ..
paued. reaoI· Iait
1 .. year and the I)etr • Of
1 the Amcricaa Civil Liberties
UnioD uppOrted simiJu prin.:
dpIea for the treatmeDt ofhand-
icapped •
·1
ro
was 'becfause C.O.T.s. lS only
temporary, we plan to do better
-tomorrow," .
Lewis says Councilwoman'
Maryann Mahaffey as ed
pre ent public ho sing as a
7his-is-your-last -chance-you' d­
better-grab-i situation.'
He said, 'What the homeless
citizens arc not aware of· the
fact that it co the ame
amo to Ine"in die Brewsters
as it docs to live in the Paul
Robeson or Sojourner Truth
Complexes. It's all public hous­
ing where you have to qualify to
live there."
In speaking of the proposed
demolition of . the,
BrewsterlDouglass, Lewis said, '
"All are trying to do is give the
poor pie of our commwiity a
I d at, updated place to ..,
which will in turn upgrade their
personal standards, now doesn't
tpat make sense? •
In an apparent reference to
the Short End Of The Stick
Committee, a group of Brewster .
tenants who oppose moviqg out
to make way for demolition,
, Lewis said, - Aaually, the people
who are resistant 0 this renewal
are merely tho e wishing to
maintain the living quarters they
now occupy without going by
I H.U.D. regulations --- that
being family size being the
determining factor of unit size,"
Approximately 15 individuals
turned out for the demonstra­
ti and according to both
I embers of the Homele s
Union and .commissioner
Lewis, -Much was ac­
complished.
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