Friday, August 27, 2010

30,000 In Mob Scene Chaos for Housing Vouchers-America's Shame. Lib TV Media Ignore It

By chance I came across this article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution from August 11th. I post the highlights (or rather lowlights) from a shameful episode in current American life. Shameful on so many levels;

  • That three quarters of the population of an area turns out in such awful conditions pushing and shoving and trampling in frustration on the off chance they will get subsidised housing vouchers.

  • That local Housing Authority  officials are so out of touch with the urgent needs of their population that they would be so taken by surprise by the turnout
 
  • That waiting lists have been closed since September 2008

  • That the liberal MSM ignores this story-the plight of those on low incomes, the desperate middle class adding to the homeless, the growing numbers of unemployed desperate for housing. None of what happened in Atlanta entered the consciousness of the liberal elite and the Democratic party who are supposed to be the guardians of the working class.

What happened in Atlanta is America's shame. Now more than ever we need a whole new political class as typified by Sarah Palin-a class of and from the great mass of common sense folks who will work for them not the vested interests in Washington.

THIS MUST NOT HAPPEN AGAIN

"Thirty thousand people turned out in East Point on Wednesday seeking applications for government-subsidized housing, and their confusion and frustration, combined with the summer heat, led to a chaotic mob scene that left 62 people injured.

At the Tri-Cities Plaza Shopping Center, emergency vehicles passed each other, transporting 20 people to hospitals. Medical and police command posts were set up on scene. East Point police wore riot gear. Officers from four other agencies supported them. .All of this resulted from people attempting to obtain Section 8 housing applications and, against long odds, later securing vouchers for affordable residences. Some waited in line for two days for the applications.

Offering applications for the first time since 2002, East Point Housing Authority officials had triple the crowd they anticipated, and one that was three-fourths of the 40,000 population of the south Fulton city. Things got out of hand when people started cutting into lines and authorities attempted to move groups to different areas.


Felecia McGhee, who came in search of her own Section 8 assistance, saw two small children trampled when people rushed the building that held the applications. When a group of people who had been waiting hours in a line were told to move to another line, people started pushing, shoving and cursing, witnesses said.


People collapsed in the heat. Emergency personnel drove up in a pickup truck and handed out bottled water. People were carried off on stretchers. A baby went into a seizure and was taken


Wednesday's deluge of people seeking low-income vouchers in East Point demonstrated just how desperate the need for affordable housing has become in metro Atlanta, officials said. Some 15,000 Georgians currently are accommodated with Section 8 housing, with thousands more on waiting lists. Housing openings have been difficult to find anywhere, including rural areas."

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