Homeless but working

September 18, 2008

Dear Sir,

Please allow me the space in your column to respond to 'Tom's Aunt Polly's' letter of September 15, 2008.

Aunt Polly, (if I may be so bold) thank you for noticing us. Although I must say that if you did indeed see us at 7:45 a.m., half of us would have already packed up our bedding and left.

I do take exception to the colourful titles you have given us; 'vagrant' as in homeless I will accept, but 'do-nothings' well, that does not apply to the whole of us. And by the 'whole of us', I mean the entire population of homeless persons, not just at 'Point Pleasant' aka 'Albouy's Point', but us, spread throughout this entire beautiful island. You see, contrary to what you might believe most homeless people have jobs. I for one do and I sleep at 'Point Pleasant'. Several of us work in legitimate work places. You probably visit my workplace on a regular basis and you don't even know the full extent of how or why I am where I am.

Here's the problem I am faced with... I don't even look in the paper anymore for a studio or one bedroom apartment. The cost is way out of my means. If I have to set aside more than three quarters of my wages just for rent, forget it. Now, that's not to say that living on the street is any less expensive. To some degree, yes, but I still have to eat, wash my clothes, buy my necessities and so on. This can be very costly. I cannot store foods, I cannot have too many clothes and I must carry whatever I have with me at all times in fear of the 'not so honourable' neighbour or the parks people, who will discard of my belongings if left in a place which I might have considered safe. Try going to work every day smiling and hoping that others don't discover that you're really not as peachy as you appear. And you say "It's a Wonderful Life". You and your ilk don't have a clue. Next time you see me, invite me to your house to have a meal, take a shower, watch some TV, or simply give me the time of day.

Don't complain about me until you've walked a mile in my shoes or slept next to me at 'Point Pleasant', for that matter (just for a week), or even stop to ask me if you could be of some assistance.

Homelessness in Bermuda, whether we choose to accept it or not, is now in epidemic overdrive and is a national social problem that is going to get worse, mark my words. We must all come together to rectify and eradicate this major issue. And following the bleak forecast of our economy... "God help us".

So Aunt Polly, we're not going to disappear just because you've bought it to the Mayor's attention via this medium. There is collective work which needs to be done. And that's all I have to say... for now.

OUTDOOR LIVING CENTER

Pick up the dealers

September 22, 2008

Dear Sir,

This week in your newspaper's YOUTH NET news sheet, there was a letter to their editor that asked — why as a 13-year-old if they could see where you can buy drugs all the time, why can't the police see it, and why don't they do anything about it?

We all want to ask the same question. Why won't the police pick up these drug sellers which are easily seen all over the island — White Hill, Ord Road, Valley Road, etc. for a hundred places. Please will our never-seen Commissioner of Police or our Premier or the Governor answer this question. We know that drugs are the cause of at least three-quarters of the Island's problems. Getting rid of the dealers would surely slow things up.

I suppose that they don't have room in the prison for them all — but you could put them in work gangs in stripe jump suits and do the work that the AIG volunteers were doing on the front page of the Gazette today (Saturday). They could sweep the roads — daily, weed the few open spaces we have left, keep up the railroad trail, wash dishes, scrub the sidewalks in town. We know these persons don't work so we aren't keeping them from anything. It could be 1 month first offence, 2 months the second offence, etc. Police could oversee them since they would have fewer small crimes to write up.

But still, please answer. Why won't the Police pick up the small drug dealers?

NOT A WALL SITTER

Warwick

Stranded by the buses

September 18, 2008

Dear Sir,

Although I do honestly believe that it is a good thing that Bermuda children can now ride for free on our buses, there has been no improvement of service for the general public. I travel to and from Paget on the number 8 route and am so tired of standing at the bus stop early mornings (7 a.m.) and watching full buses go by without stopping to pick up people for 45 minutes or more. I try not to add to Hamilton's traffic problems by not taking my car into Hamilton but today, by 7:40, I made the decision to walk back to my home and drive my car to work — the buses just were not picking up people by 7:40 a.m. there were about 8 people at my stop waiting to be taken to Hamilton.

Afternoons are no better — I attempt to catch the 4:25 p.m. bus on Route 8 that goes to Barnes Corner and there are many days that it never comes and I am stuck with catching the next one that goes to Somerset which is always jam packed with school children sitting and adults standing!

I have seen the news stories attempting to discourage people from driving into Hamilton and encouraging them to use public transport — but you need to have reliable service and presently this just is not the case!

I have tried to contact Dan Simmons on previous occasions and can tell you that he does not respond — so he obviously does not care. I have called the telephone numbers listed for the Public Transportation Department in the telephone directory and no-one at those numbers can even give you the telephone number for complaints — hence my letter to you. Perhaps if everyone takes their complaints to the newspaper, we will see some kind of improvement.

TIRED OF BEING STRANDED