There are some out here that would say that finally achieving the end of the longest labor in birthing history....has just been accomplished.
If this story, and all the lead-in stories that brought this birth to come to pass (living wage..little guys tromped on everywhere in the area...big money greed...alleged power abuses, etc. etc. etc. etc.) and all the likely to come backlash stories that will follow it; does not make top stories of 2012, then 'ZG' is off his game.
This step is huge. Unprecedented in Aspen's history. For two government powered organizations, to finally step forward and bravely confront Aspen's powerful government over what is a huge deficit in the physical, social and material well-being of the majority of Pitkin County's population is truly an epochal moment.
Now, don't limit yourselves to just homelessness and linking up human services. Tackle the problem itself.
Self-sufficiency standards and living wages. High suicide percentages. No rehab facilities and the one that is present is grossly overloaded. An out-of-control drug culture. Social pressures to keep up appearances simply to be able to hold down a job at Aspen scale. An entire 'next tier up' culture that is filled with professionals, single parent families and people in a social position that they cannot show the world-at-large that they are teetering on the edge of hungry and homeless.
Invite others besides social services to help you see what all the problems really are. If you're going to have honest discussions then make them brutally honest discussions. Invite law enforcement and the folks who run the thrift stores and soup kitchens because they know where the problems are.
In simplistic terms, deal with the entire problem.
A very special thank you goes out to the Regional Homeless Coalition and Dorothy Atkins up on the Aspen Daily. For not only starting the discussion but reporting that event openly to the public.
Dorothy Atkins:
"“I think it’s time to look at the whole thing again,” McCabe said. “It’s kind of like asking ourselves, ‘What do we want to be when we grow up?’” ..." (Read more? Click title)
"Truth goes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Then it is violently opposed. Finally, it is accepted as self-evident."
1 comment:
I'm speechless on this one. Remember back to 2007 when letting the words "homeless" or "child care assistance" or "food stamps" coming out of anyone, anyone living in Aspen or Pitkin county's mouth was a social and economic death sentence. Anybody talking became instantly radioactive.
Now not only topics of daily conversation we have a coming out party for in the closet government agencies.
Speechless. It's very good news. They need to go find the single parent families and the next tier up from qualifying for food stamps folks that are really, really hurting out there and set up a bridge program.
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