The Street

A few days after Christmas, folks living on or near the streets in downtown South Bend started talking about a couple of guys who were missing. Mike Nolen’s family had been expecting him and his friend, Mike Lawson, for Christmas dinner, but they never showed up. This was unusual, not like them. Nolen’s mother put in a missing person’s report. We started calling local hospitals and jails.

A week later, with no word from either of the Mikes, their friends told police to check out an abandoned building where they were known to hang out, or down in the nearby manholes, in case something bad happened.
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South Bend, Indiana Tribune:

Lawson and three other men were found dead inside city manholes near Coveleski Stadium last week.

The deaths of Lawson, 53, Michael S. Nolen Jr., 40, Jason Coates, 29, and Brian G. Talboom, 51, have all been ruled homicides.

Authorities released no new information Friday regarding the deaths of the homeless men.

[Jerry] Eason spoke fondly about Lawson at the Mass held at Our Lady of the Road, a drop-in center at 744 S. Main St. About 80 people — primarily friends and a few family members — attended the Mass, which was followed by a potluck dinner.

The Mass was for Lawson, a Catholic who stayed at the Catholic Worker House, but all of the victims were prayed for.

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In mid-July I was told that Worcester took down its anti-panhandling signs, after more than a year of a failed anti-panhandling media campaign.

Now, photographic evidence has arrived: posts that used to have anti-panhandling signs, and no longer do:

I’ll be revising this post a bit in the coming days to give the history, as I understand it, of this campaign. I’ll probably be removing most of the anti-panhandling info from Worcester Poverty Issues.

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42 people gathered outside South Bend’s Paramount Restaurant last night for a prayer vigil remembering Jan Griffiths, who was run over by Keith Romine earlier this week outside the restaurant, killing her. This restaurant is practically right around the corner from the Catholic Worker house in South Bend where I’m staying.

Also struck was Derrick Herron. According to Tribune reports, Ms. Griffiths was staying at the Center for the Homeless, fleeing a “domestic violence” situation caused by Mr. Herron. Ms. Griffiths had previously been dating Mr. Romine, who she met at the Center, and who was released from prison last December after serving 24 years for killing his wife.

Mr. Romine had been staying at Dismas House, a couple doors down from the CW, but was kicked out and moved to the Center.

A sordid and sadly ironic tale.

After a reading of the 91st Psalm at last night’s vigil, there were words of praise for the Sheriff and the security staff at the Center. But no Sheriff or security staff was there to keep Ms. Griffiths from being killed. Any of us could die at any moment. Nobody with a gun can offer us real security or real safety. Some of us find these things in religion; others do without.

Tribune:

The Common Council unanimously passed an ordinance banning solicitation directly in traffic on Monday. The ordinance prohibits those collecting donations, distributing literature, or selling or offering items, from stepping into traffic to solicit motorists. This includes standing on a sidewalk and reaching into traffic in any way.

The discussion seems to have been entirely about people fundraising at intersections, but the last sentence indicates that this would ban panhandling, too. You could stand on the sidewalk and hold your sign, but if a motorist offered you money, you could not reach “into traffic” and take it.

It strikes me that a ban like this has much more impact in a city like South Bend than in Worcester. Worcester has several urban areas with lots of foot traffic, so if you want to pass out fliers or solicit donations, you don’t have to rely on motorists. South Bend, on the other hand, is just a big suburb, with a low population density and few areas with lots of walkers. Motorists are the only game in town.

Kevin Ksen says he was arrested for distributing flyers. He was picked up while promoting an event for people concerned with how the Worcester Police Department is behaving while COPS is filming in the city.

Talked to him on the phone today. I hope he will go public with more details. For my part, I find this to be, all hyperbole aside, scary.

Just got word that Worcester has taken down the signs for their much-criticized “anti-panhandling” campaign.

More details when this is confirmed.

The L.A. Times has had several articles in the past week about homelessness on Skid Row in L.A.

An alleged “dumping,” the practice of hospitals or law enforcement agencies taking patients or inmates and dropping them off on Skid Row, was captured on videotape.

The city attorney has filed lawsuits against two Skid Row hotels accused of practicing the “28-day shuffle,” in which people living in residence hotels are evicted after 28 days so that they don’t get legal rights as residents by living somewhere for a month.

Columnist Steve Lopez states what should be the obvious and says that the homeless need homes, not police harassment.

Lopez also pens a hopeful story about a homeless man named Ernest Adams who’s recently been able to get off the streets and into his own apartment.

The Mayor, businesses, and the ACLU find themselves in agreement over a plan to crack down on crime on Skid Row but not sweep up homeless people.

An editorial on this approach.

Letter writers express their opinions.

“Have we really become so heartless, materialistic and inhumane that we consider the problem of skid row to be one of cleaning up trash rather than finding a solution to a human tragedy? “

It’s quite shocking to visit the Skid Row neighborhood and see how many people live such a desperate existence. None of the police approaches to the problem address the core issues of mental illness and addiction that lead to chronic homelessness. The poor will always be with us, but the problem on Skid Row won’t be minimized until we can treat these mental and spiritual problems to help restore these men’s and women’s dignity.

A man walking his dog in Green Hill Park yesterday found the body of a homeless man, the third discovered in the city in five weeks.

Ricardo Rivera, 57, was found dead in the woods near the Stanton Street area, police spokesman Sgt. Gary J. Quitadamo said.
(Telegram & Gazette, subscription required)

The number of known people living on the street has more than doubled with the approach of spring, although the weather has been fierce at times. Yesterday’s low was 18F.

Update: Telegram & Gazette:

The family of the 57-year-old man found dead in Green Hill Park Monday morning said he was not homeless and had been taking medication since he started becoming “confused.”

[...]

Mr. Rivera’s family said yesterday he had lived with them in the city for the past four years or so and had left sometime Thursday night. The family searched for him, but could not find him.

So was he officially a “missing person” at some point? The police say he was known to stay at the PIP. Did his family figure he’d just wandered off again? The newspaper story is sparse on the details.

WTAG-AM reported this morning that a homeless man, Sammy, was found dead in a car in a used car lot in Main South.

It is possible he had been dead for some time.

I didn’t hear the radio report, and it’s not on the local websites, so that’s all I know. This item will be updated.

Friday update: Samuel Acevedo, RIP. The Telegram & Gazette has the story:

Basing their assessment on the condition of the body, police and Mr. Malvey said Mr. Acevedo must have been dead for some time.

[...]

Mr. Malvey said that, in a given week, he finds three or four people seeking shelter in automobiles parked in front of the dealership.

The article confirms that Mr. Acevedo “preferred living on the street,” and that it was challenging to get him to rent an apartment or stay in a shelter.

A situation like this is frustrating. You think, “What could have been done to prevent this?” and there’s no good answer. It’s one thing if a person prefers living in cars to staying at a rough place like the PIP shelter. It’s another thing if a person prefers staying in cars to living in an apartment.