By Juan Montoya
The recent cold snap and its effect upon the city's homeless who seek shelter where they can find it is nowhere more graphically demonstrated than in the photo above sent to us by another of our readers.
In this case, it's a wheelchair-bound man who is huddled in a doorway across from Market Square on Adams Street, a budding nightclub area.
There are some who say these people should be rounded up and hauled off to jail for vagrancy, while other more progressive advocates say that the city has failed to address this very visible human necessity.
The Ozanam Center on Minnesota Road sends a van to pick up homeless at designated places, but if they don't make it there on time, they are left on the street exposed to the elements to await the coming of the day and a warm meal at the Good Neighbor Settlement House on Tyler Street. Some merely gather cardboard boxes and fashion out abed to sleep in alleys or doorways.
Other cities prefer to ignore the problem and say these types of scenes give the city a bad name and image. But some are of the opinion that unless you face the problem squarely, a solution will never be found that addresses their needs and the improvement of the downtown area. The city dealt with car washers who worked on the city parking lots and streets by assessing a $250 fine for working without a permit and they have moved to private parking lots and homes to work instead.
This problem has been festering in our city ever since a bond issue was passed that gave money for the establishment at the old Mother of Perpetual Care Center only to have successive city administrations ignore it and use the funds for other projects. That site is now going to be a Brownsville Community Resource Center which aims to serve as a one-stop shop that will provide "community services with a special focus on veterans."
The Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation states that the Center has the "potential to improve the quality of life for our veterans and that of the Brownsville community in general."
Will that include the homeless?
We know that so far it has benefited the contractor – Ziwa Construction – to no end.
Then the contractor said he needed an additional $82,919 that depleted the contingency fund and required $70,279 more to do the job right.
That made the cost of rehabilitating the old Mother of Perpetual Help building a staggering $953,754, almost $1 million. Now, some would say, wouldn't it have just been better to get a brand new building with that $1 million? (We run the photo above in response to a request from one of our seven readers.)
There's money in human misery, we guess. Meanwhile, get used to the people living on the street.
10 comments:
So Brownsville has Homeless? LOL
To LOL, don't you ever have anything meaningful to say other than your sarcastic comments. It appears that you can't wait for Montoya to write something and then be the first one to same something dumb. Get a life LOL.
Pinche pendejo at 11:43
Why don’t they go sleep in the mall. It’s heated, and air conditioned.
Or go anywhere. But get out of our downtown,
the front door of the USA for millions of int’l tourists.
Jack White and the good folks at the Good Neighbor Settlement House have a plan to get homeless people off the streets and provide the services to move them back into society. We should do everything in our power to help them in this endeavor. Please consider donating time or funds to the Good Neighbor Settlement House.
who cares about the adults
BISD HAS ALOT OF HOMELESS CHILDREN
they live on relatives couches, in their parents cars on some nights and on good nights they stay at a hotel on central blvd. the school buses even stop at these hotels to pickup the students. no wonder our test scoress suck. if people think drugs pass thru here on their way to houston or dallas they are wring. we have a crack problem and the kids are suffering.
Just another failed project by the City's administrators. Looks like Marina Zolezzi and her staff don't know what they're doing if they keep throwing money at that problem. Fire the project managers!
Do you think that attorney that filed to run for mayor will help? I don't think so. He didn't even mention nor address this problem. His platform reads like a resume application for a job. Does this city deserves and want another attorney?
Juan, Someone should do a total investigation of Ziwa Construction that has worked on several projects here in Brownsville. This company has ripped off the city for millions. You caught my attention to this when you ran an article on July 9, 2017, titled "Would you pay close to $1million for this building? and showed a picture of the building. The building is across from the Bike Barn on 6th Street. I went to look at the building when I first saw it on your blog. It is unbelievable. I was shocked. The entire building is made of concrete blocks that you can buy at Home Depot for $1.78 each. The architecture is atrocious and stupid looking and so blase with no real definition. How this fiasco was approved by the city is beyond comprehension. What a ripoff by Ziwa. Shame on you Ziwa. Shame on those who approved and continued that throw taxpayer money at this project. Please run the picture again for your readers.
The Mother of Perpetual Health building was paid through federal funds! I believe a quick call to the inspector general is in order!
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