Wednesday, August 11, 2010
F'ed The East Point Housing Authority might be poorly run
Posted by Gwynedd Stuart @gwynnstu on Wed, Aug 11, 2010 at 5:18 PM
The AJC is reporting that a massive crowd of around 30,000 people descended on Tri-Cities Plaza shopping center in East Point today in order to fill out applications to receive Section 8 housing vouchers.
Fights broke out, children were trampled, and more than 60 people required medical attention after they were forced to wait in the unbearable heat, some for several days.
The real kicker: a sign posted on the door of the storefront where the applications were being distributed explained that vouchers aren’t even available as of now. The most filling out an application will get anyone is a spot on what’s sure to be a lengthy waiting list — and that's only if they qualify.
There are so many questions that need to be asked of the East Point Housing Authority officials about this, most importantly, why it was necessary to create an unsafe situation in order for people of modest means to do something as simple as apply for housing assistance. Are applications not always available? Why the hell not?
Calls to the housing authority's office are sent directly to an automated system that provides the option of either entering your party's extension or listening to a by-name directory. No one's job title is given, and even if you happen to randomly pick the right person, the call is dropped rather than sent to voicemail if they don't pick up. The authority also doesn't appear to have a website — the link provided on the Atlanta Housing Authority's site is down.
DeBorah Hargrove, an executive assistant in East Point Mayor Earnestine Pittman’s office, told CL that people have had trouble contacting the authority by phone all week. Hargrove provided us with East Point Housing Authority executive director Kim Lemish's cell phone number, but she has yet to return our call.
Check Fresh Loaf for more on this story.
Comments (9)
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Good Lord, so everything's Obama's fault now, oydave? This is purely the fault of the incompetence of a single housing authority, not some great plot by the president.
Obamaville is not Obama's fault. Obamaville has been carefully built year after year by the Social Democrats, line by line, bureau by bureau. Obama is just their latest and greatest leader, the one true Democrat, come from his haj as a Chicago party hack to rise above us all, "sort of like a god" and show us all the wonders of centralized planning and VA-style health care.
I had the same thought. Why were they making people wait for days just to pick up an application? Why were they making people wait at all??? Since when is a paper application the only thing available?
It should be possible for people to just print out the application form out at the local library if they don't have an internet connection at home. There's no need to wait in line at all.
I agree with you rptrcub. It's rednecks with oydave mentalities that always blame a black man whenever "anything" negative happens in the world. It is this type of thinking that will keep our world divided and full of hate! ACCEPT that the head of the white house is no longer all white...GESH, get over it already, lol!!!
An annoucement was printed in the local county paper, which is required whenever the waiting list gets low. Someone read the annoucement and the information was passed word of mouth. Of course this means the fact that the applications will only be distributed Wednesday, August 11th from 9am to 1pm were left out. Amazing what a little reading and fact finding can acomplish.
Another thing, how is this related to the President?? (Gee, funny how no one complained or doubted the leadership of our last presidents??!!) The waiting list for East Point Housing Authority was last opened in 2002. There has ALWAYS been a long waiting list and an even longer list of people needing the assistance. It took about 4 years to recieving housing aid in the 1990s. This country doesn't have the best track record of supporting its citizens and it has been evident since the Great Depression. It's not a matter of who to blame or when, why, or where did it start but a matter of how do we resolve it?? People are losing jobs but still need a roof over their family's head and food to sustain life--Bottom line Where is the help when it's needed and who do you turn to when you have absolutely no means of financial support?? You can make more money as a college student which is easier than finding employment in Atlanta.
This is a direct result of destroying all of the public housing units w/o having enough vouchers for everyone to find new homes.
The idea that this has anything to do with Obama is an amazing leap of "logic".
Applications should be available online at all times instead of so many years apart
It is Obamaville because this is the future as envisioned by Obama and the Social Democrats. Legions of loyal dependents, agitating for more , more , more from the public trough. Of course he had nothing to do with poor planning and crowd control in the burg of East Point. The connection is the Great Society vision of all true Democrats which gave us an entitlement class yelling "Where is my money?" Right now, he is the figurehead for this .
And, as usual, criticize a Democrat economic policy and that makes you a "redneck" who "blames a black man" for "anything negative."
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