So sad that this elderly man, who was so well-known and well-liked in his neighborhood, was homeless there for so long.
Did no one ever reach out to him - whether homeless services social workers or neighbors - to help provide him with housing?
5
@doy1, Here's an article that answers my question:
https://citylimits.org/2019/10/08/opinion-murders-demand-a-deeper-look-at-how-we-treat-the-homeless/
But it doesn't fully answer why our society allows elderly, disabled, and severely mentally ill individuals to remain unsheltered, sleeping on the streets in all weather, and subject to every danger and abuse.
I've been thinking of Mr. Kwok for days - thinking of how this elderly, frail-looking man had to sleep in the street in all weather for many years. And he's one of thousands.
We CAN do better. As the article shows, there ARE solutions - if we have the will to carry them out. Right now, we're spending billions - and there are still thousands of people getting shuffled from one horrible shelter to the next, or out in the street.
These are fellow human beings, not just a "problem."
"Punches, Rages: Before 4 Killings, the Suspect Grew Ever More Violent."
Mr. Santos's story is not unique. The catch-and-release syndrome happens thousands of times a year. The cops arrest perps, the courts slap their hands, and they're freed after little or no jail time. Mr. Santos fits a pattern.
Now that four homeless men, including an 83-year-old, are dead, perhaps we can have a serious discussion of mental illness, why we cannot allow people to roam our streets and subways screaming and flailing about and menacing those of us who frequent such places (that is, most of us), who can be trusted to take meds, and who needs to be institutionalized against their will, for good.
7
Regarding "In effect today; suspended tomorrow for Yom Kippur."
"I Will Survive" parody - "I'll be Inscribed":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxTuhLayowQ
sung by Jan Horvath
Strangely timing-wise, this was based not on an article near a Jewish New Year, but lifted pretty much from a New York Today column "Advice for Fasting" that was on June 21, 2017. (Fasting - it's not just for atoning any more!). IIRC, all the meals pictured were actually made by my spouse over the many years, and were on his Facebook page.
Gmar Chatimah Tovah to all who observe! If you're a good person, it really won't matter if you cheat and no people see it.
3
I always wanted to visit Freedomland; we used to pass it on our way to my aunt's. But Dad said there were too many mosquitoes there.
We went to Coney Island instead, a lot closer to home. But the hankering never left me. Even now, driving along and seeing that scraggly creek and the new buildings that have risen beyond it, I always think, There's Freedomland.
3
It doesn't rank up there with installing elevators and/or escalators, but putting more benches at bus stops (and in subway stations, too) would be a lower cost way of helping people who have trouble standing. Bus shelters would cost much more: just a bench in many places would help people with disabilities use the MTA system.
By the way, there are many people who wouldn't qualify for a paratransit system who need to avoid stations without elevators or escalators: walking up so many stairs is just too difficult for them.
5
@lucky13, regarding this point "there are many people who wouldn't qualify for a paratransit system who need to avoid stations without elevators or escalators"
Maybe it's a question of whether the $5-billion is being used wisely. Someone may just need to do a quick and dirty calculation of what it would cost to give car service to all legitimate users of the transit system who medically can't use steps. But don't allow it for people who really medically can use the subways, but like the convenience, which Access-a-Ride clearly has not done a good job of screening out.
On the back of an envelope serving as a ledger sheet, thinking only in terms of regular car service costs for getting around the city (let's say thinking very very high average $50-60 each way, but many likely being $20 or less), $5-billion could make all the Access-a-Ride problems, which the article linked says include the "long waits, poor service and high costs," vanish for several decades. (As my aunt saw once she medically couldn't do steps any more, it's a wonderful system when it works efficiently. The person just had to leave time for others to get picked up.) A dedicated fleet of cars and drivers who are employed by the MTA would surely be cheaper. When rides are for time-fliexible recreation rather than medical or employment, cut costs more where time of day doesn't matter,only in low-traffic times.
And no costly repair of broken elevators, which would surely be on top of the $5-billion.
.
6