Segregated Tax Credit Housing

    Does the title of this post sound like an oxymoron? Although this does not hit home for most Americans, no pun intended, it defines home for millions of Americans in subsidized housing. If you have been seriously affected by loss of employment and retirement fund, segregation continues to rear its ugly head. It is not so much a lack of rules and regulations, as it is the will to enforce them.  If you're thinking, "... not with my tax dollars," here is a link to a ProPublica article, part of a series entitled, "Living Apart."  http://www.propublica.org/series/living-apart.

     Living in tax-credit housing is eye-opening. For example the LIHC where I rent, seems a reasonable alternative to Section 8 housing. In fact it is segregated housing. Residents of this development have no access to the common areas and amenities of the development's "luxury" side. At one point a few of us asked whether we could pay dues, to use the exercise facility at Broadway Station. Others asked whether they could take their children to the swimming pool. The response was swift and negative.

     A neighbor and I personally visited the HUD Regional Fair Housing Office in downtown Denver, complaint in hand. A representative met with us. She swiftly dismissed us but not before a HUD representative handed us fair housing booklets. A natural smart-mouth, I said, "Thanks. We have these ... problem is, we took the regulations seriously." The representative asked whether she could keep our complaint on file. The government loves generating files, so we said, "Knock yourself out!"  Last, but, by no means least, she advised us not to bother taking the complaint to the public housing authority, CHFA, as they would be unable to help. 

“Research experts want to know what can be done about the values of poor segregated children; and this is a question that needs asking. But they do not ask what can be done about the values of the people who have segregated these communities. There is no academic study of the pathological detachment of the very rich...” --Jonathan Kozol, Savage Inequalities:  Children in America's Schools

    The separation between residents of Broadway Station and Broadway Junction would be legally defensible, but for the concept of disparate impact. Broadway Station residents are predominately single, upwardly mobile, younger and white.  Broadway Junction residents, by contrast, are primarily ethnic minorities, disabled and/or elderly. As is so often the case, tenants of Broadway Junction have no representative organization and little desire to "rock the boat." People are grateful, in most cases, not to be living in nasty housing and more dangerous locations.

     One thing is believe happens in all subsidized housing is that tenants don't commonly know their rights, don't want to stand up for themselves, don't know or don't want to know their immediate neighbors. Some tenants face illnesses and disabilities that are emotionally paralyzing, or must be represented by others. Reasonably healthy tenants struggle against overwhelming financial limitations, to feed, clothe and transport themselves and/or their children, not to mention accessing medical assistance. For many the struggle just to get to work and stay employed is a challenge. For others, it is a full time job applying and continuously re-certifying for (often meager) government assistance.

     Here's the kicker: Trammel Crow Residential, which developed Broadway Station and Broadway Junction, took millions in tax breaks, took the money and ran. Perhaps you'd bet the Dallas-based company is unwelcome in Denver. No, Trammel Crow Residential is now developing a new, high-end apartment complex, not a block away from Broadway Station. Rent rates on that property will drive market prices up. The end result? Rents on the tax credit property will go up. Ah, but you knew that. So did the new owners of Broadway Junction. Who are they? Why, Archdiocesan Housing, Inc., a subsidiary of Catholic Charities, of course. Would one of America's largest non-profits support segregation in their housing. I'll let you guess.

     Observe tax credit development in cities, where it is the new trend. First you will have to go to parts of your city, you would not dream of calling home. Visit with residents in the developments -- it will change the way you see wealth, poverty and race in this country. I've said it before, as have so many before me, America hates her poor.

  

    

Time Out!

The world needs a time out! What horrific events we've seen this week! Amidst the drama, we try to grasp so much more than the events, themselves. Primary among them, of course, are the bombings at the Boston Marathon. Like so many people I'm stuck in the flight portion of Flight or Fight, but have not found refuge. I've lived in Boston, and know how strong, loyal, and resilient Bostonians are.

Aside from the world of fanaticism and terror in which we find ourselves, I keep coming back to Dzhokar Tsarnaev. In search for the name, Dzhokar, I entered the Hebrew, Zohar. I wondered, was this boy full of light, as his name seems to imply? Aside from his bond with his brother, Tamerlan, how was Dzhokar seduced into acts of extreme violence and cowardice? The story will unfold, no doubt, relentlessly. Someday we may understand how each brother arrived at the tipping point in his quest for belonging, meaning and power. 

May we not succumb to thoughts of violence and revenge today, but rather to thoughts of mercy and compassion. We are to love our enemies that they might be returned to their right minds. Marianne Williamson

Be assured people the world over pray for compassion and peace for victims, their families and friends. If for no other reason than to lament the terrible waste of two young lives, we can only wish the same for them, their families and those who knew them. 

Take time to reassure your parents, as well as your children and grandchildren. The elderly are in as much of a quandary as anyone. The realists among us are not kidding ourselves by speaking of a "kinder, gentler time,"merely a simpler, less frenetic time. Earth spins in her orbit faster than we can comprehend, even as the nation mourns her dead and injured, even as investigations proceed. 

I'll leave closure and healing to those whose belief is stronger than mine. Meanwhile I'm looking for slipstreams. For the moment, the best I can do is dream of a dress to sew, the renewal of Spring cleaning, writing challenges, grandchildren's birthdays and a commencement ceremony ...

    

Sharp As A Tack

Tea and Inquiry

My readers who are Mystery Theater and Agatha Christie readers will recognize Miss Jane Marple. My mother, Agnes, was Miss Jane Marple, her perfect double, and sharp as her seam ripper. Agnes Cole was a dame formidable. It was risky business to underestimate her. I mention her, because, today,  CBS This Morning with Charlie Rose and Nora O'Donnell, featured Dr. James Galvin, M.D., M.P.H. Dr. Galvin, of the Barlow Memory Center in New York, is a noted psychiatrist and neurologist. 

Dr. Galvin's research involves the study of people in their eighties, some of whose memories are as good as those of people in their fifties or sixties. These very sharp octogenarians, he identifies as "super-agers." 

Before any of us goes over the moon with excitement, Dr. Galvin and his researchers do not know why the brains of super-agers atrophy less than the brains of others. The good doctor pointed out what we already know. We do neither control our genes, nor the flight of time. We can only do so much about environmental factors. 

Of the people Dr. Galvin has studied, however, excellent agers are very active. These are people who challenge their minds and, perhaps more important, their bodies. Super-agers stay engaged ... in work, in society, in life. Dr. Galvin's research found them to be people who'd made exceptionally healthy lifestyle choices, as well, from excellent diet and exercise, to eliminating smoking, alcohol and drug use. 

While the good doctor discussed certain health issues, such as Diabetes and high blood pressure as detriments, he said nothing about the array of pain-numbing and other drugs we consume. All I can say is, to me, King Kong was in the room. Beware the solutions; pain may not be the ultimate enemy of the aged.

“One of the saddest things in life, is the things one remembers." ―Agatha Christie

I'm not conflicted. I want my "little grey cells" intact, although I sometimes wish my memory were not nearly as good as it is. I wish I could not recall the condescending, patronizing people I've encountered. Even as we suffer the vicissitudes of age, we have the tools and the power to help ourselves. In a society which devalues us, it is a challenge is to demand better of ourselves and others.

One grocery store clerk recently admonished me not to have a "heart attack." He had forgotten, twice, to give me my change! Marshaling the strength not to paste him in the nose, I said, "Not to worry, m'boy, the old bean, and the old ticker work just fine ...  my money, if you please!" It is never too late, not even for a sweeter, gentler, me. 

Take care of yourself! We're all we have!

Houston, we have liftoff!

     Which do you prefer, departure or liftoff? Back in the day, it was always thrilling watching a rocket launch on television, awaiting the announcement,  "Houston, we have liftoff!" Even standing still, we are in a process of departing this life.   

     Daniel Robert Eldon, a young British photojournalist, artist and activist titled his journal, "The Journey Is The Destination," also the title of a film about his life. Reading the press coverage of his violent death, I struggled to comprehend it. He was brilliant, had a great heart and he was so young. 

   

A man does not die of love or his liver or even of old age; he dies of being a man. Miguel de Unamuno

     Are you comfortable with the Buddhist precept of impermanence? -Not many Westerners view birth and death as illusory. We invest belief in paradise, in everlasting life, right down to rejoining our acquaintances, friends and family. Some plan for marriage in the afterlife; others consider that a pathway to purgatory. Either way, we depart, and how we view the departure is more important than the event, itself. 

     As for me, I'd prefer liftoff, implying freedom from gravity, leaving everything and everyone behind for a final adventure, destination unknown. You may be thinking, of course, you would choose liftoff! You have lived a long, full life. But, as there is no such thing as closure, there is no such thing as a full life. Centenarian or infant, there is always something more. 

     My hope is to be at peace with my own death and not to have people grieving my death. I like the concept of an Irish wake, but without the maudlin aspects. And, please, no "celebration" of my life, as there is something false in ceremony.

      All I'd like to fund, besides the obvious, is one great party, with glorious music, champagne and a big, luscious cake. Think of it!

  

Drama Queen

Medea

     This post is not directed at you, dear reader, nor is it all self-revelation. We have a standing joke, one daughter and I. Pressures build, and one of us or the other invokes Dr. Phil McGraw. It's a combination of screech and whine, "Dawktter Pheeeuhll! Heyulp meeee!" It provides much-needed comic relief. It is also an anguished question. "How the heyull did ah git here?" A bridal consultant, my daughter is buffeted by drama in her workplace. Not long ago, home became the center of drama in my life. I fled a retirement community, and will never return to so-called senior housing. The realities of abandonment, illness, poverty and death were condensed and oppressive there. 

All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players:

They have their exits and their entrances;

And one man in his time plays many parts,

His acts being seven ages. 

William Shakespeare, As You Like It

     This is only part of a monologue from As You Like It. The complete monologue won't leave 'em laughing. Enter the Drama Queen. Shakespeare had one thing right, male or female, we humans play into the dramatic aspects of our own and those of others. What is the drama cycle, anyway? No doubt the people and events around us turn dramatic, so the question becomes, how to respond. 

     The Drama Triangle of persecutor, rescuer and victim plays out everyday in news coverage, on the stage of international affairs and, all too often, at home. The psychologist who first described the triangle, Stephen Karpman, did so in a 1968 article concerning fairy tales and script drama analysis. Simply put, drama requires characters who take on certain roles: 1) one actor plays the role of victim; 2) another actor attacks (bullies, intimidates, persecutes, the victim in one way or another; 3) an third actor steps in, to rescue the victim. Anyone who has studied Grimm's Fair Tales knows nothing is simple, not even in a work of children's fiction.  

     This isn't about people who target others, although they are plentiful; it is about ourselves and what we can control. Take a long, ruthless, look at yourself. Are you a victim, someone who blames others for adverse or negative experiences, circumstances or outcomes? It is so much easier to place blame than to acknowledge wrongdoing without blaming ourselves or others. It is tough to take responsibility for our own actions, the roles we play in events. To move forward means to do your own work. Seeking compassionate remedies and achieving them. Learning and teaching from experiences, growing to be proactive for ourselves and others. It is life's marathon, run uphill, barefoot and, sometimes, on broken, bloody feet ... never as appealing as opera. 

     If you are a chronic rescuer, consider what the rescue role takes from you, whether there is a material or emotional toll. More important think about what rescuers deny people they perceive as victims. First an habitual rescuer must agree that, yes, life is full of victims. Simply put, by constantly rescuing a family member, for example, we disable him or her. The victim cannot grow, learn or become accountable and proactive. A serial rescuer, then, furthers the victim cycle ... something to consider. All of us would like to fix others, fix the world, but there is a balance to achieve in running interference.   
     I'd be the last person to deny or suppress genuine emotion. Personally, though, I'd like to avoid dramatic undertow, and enable personal growth.