Fixin' Up The Houses

Today's Journal...

Volunteers to repair up to 80 homes
Community needed to do in-kind work, provide hospitality to teens

MIDDLETOWN — Up to 80 low-income homes will get much-needed repairs thanks to the efforts of local organizations and volunteers from Group Workcamps.

Supports to Encourage Low-Income Families is co-sponsoring the weeklong repair blitz with Group Workcamps, a nonprofit Christian organization based in Colorado. Church youth group members from across the nation will be converging on the city July 10-16 to repair homes in the Meadowlawn and Prospect neighborhoods.

This is certainly a noble program with good intentions, no question. But in all honesty, isn't this an indictment and further evidence based on the theme our city government is sponsoring?

Our city leaders, over the last 5 years have done all they could to create this low income situation and have exacerbated the issue by flooding the town by accepting all comers on the Section 8 program and by fostering low income growth. They further add to this by failing to create decent paying jobs with benefits so as to provide an opportunity for the low income folks to pull themselves up off the bottom. Our so-called leaders seem to be satisfied with ghetto creation and keeping a segment of our citizens sedated with hand-out programs which will never stimulate any desire to improve one's life.

I find it ironic that on one hand, city hall goes after the fed money hand-out programs, stimulating the growth of low income in this town, creating this "we don't have enough money to fix our house" situation, and on the other hand, we read about this "feel good/do something good for the less fortunate" story that tries to remedy what the city has helped build. ???? If you want to lessen the impact of low income and lessen the number of people who can't afford to keep up their property, stop providing an atmosphere where low income is fostered and stop inviting any and all low income to the city. It ain't rocket science. JMO

I have participated in these kids of rehab projects.  In my experiences, we have worked with elderly fixed-income individuals who have been in their homes for years and who do not have the financial means and/or physical ability to make the repairs. 

Our neighbors qualify for such a program. I guess during the fall a similar program didn't have enough ppl to help out raking leaves and doing yard work for older ppl. So my wife and I just helped out and cleaned up their yard. I didn't mind at all. I don't see the program as a bad thing at all and I am glad that people are out there helping out older folks on a fixed income.

viper/Vet, the welfare programs of Sec 8, cash for babies, heck  even the often abused food stamp program have really come into focus due to the Great Recession and the use/waste of taxpayer funds.  What should be clear to all but the most ardent liberal is that the bleeding heart programs of LBJ's Great Society have done little to "cure poverty" but have created 2-3 generations of people  who seek to live off the labor of others, blame society/"the man"/the rich for their lot in life and rarely lift a finger to help themselves. 

Vet and Bill.. you guys are right. The side effect of LBJs programs was creating people who just depend on the system and abuse it. Things don't seem to be getting any better. I could understand a govt handout for a short amount of time to get you off your feet... but not 10 years or more on the program!!

Vet...I totally agree. I can understand that the city needs the cash, a lot of cities do right now. BUT....there are better ways of doing it. Section 8 in the short term may provide some needed income, but it will drive away the good people (core) of the city. I have seen Section 8 spread like a cancer in other places, especially in California. The higher end places start to move away from the bad sectors (which were once good places)..then move out all together. It is sad that it is going on here. I know that I am pretty new to this area, but I can see the potential this place has. It doesn't have to be that the east side of town can be better than the older part of town. The town as a whole can be a great place. Starters would be to really scale back the Section 8, which would help the city image. Instead of just investing in art (which is ok on a small scale at first), it would have been better to promote entertainment businesses. No matter how bad the economy is...people will pay to be entertained. If the cinny state deal does work, it would be great. People at this point need to become more educated. Public schools need revamped (which would happen if there were less Section 8 to deal with).. The list goes on and on. This stuff isn't impossible. Things just need to be managed better, which is the root of the problem and has been discussed on other posts. I hate to see this once proud town go downhill. The whole reason why I moved here was to fix up my old house, with our own cash, and fix up a little area of my own. In some respects, I can see others around me following suit, which is pretty cool.

The real lesson from the whole "Great Society" experiment is that, even with the best of intentions, it's difficult to know how something will work. Just because it sounds like a good idea, doesn't make it a good idea. Unexpected consequences occur when an idea isn't thought thru. Proof of that notion is all around Middletown. I was a child in the 60's and lived in Franklin then, but my aunt lived in Middletown and visiting her and going to downtown was really like going to the big city. I'm not sure it's so much outsiders as it is the apathy and the me, me, me, attitude now. Can you imagine what would happen if there were a REAL war or natural disaster? IMO, we've had it good for so long we forgot what it takes to get there. Will we ever get it back or even more important, will we ever see a day where community is more important than self?

acclaro- I agree with your post and would like to clarify my message if I may.

I'll use some of your comments.

"On the contrary, it has been the consistent 'lifers' who wish not to give up their power, their sense of entitlement,......"

"The problems in Middletown are on the shoulders of 3-4 generation families who have lived in Middletown for 50 years or more, or their parents, grandparents. They are like a company that cannot recognize a paradigm shift, nor desire to do so. They want to keep Middletown as it was, and take care of themselves".

As I see it, there are the people you describe above who are the culprits in all of this. Their stubborn, protective, won't let go attitude is destroying the town. Agree.

There is also a "sub-category" of those people in town.....

There are also people who have lived the majority of their lives in Middletown (might have left town for a few years and came back), including me and people like Spider and perhaps 409, who disagree with what these "old guard lifers" are doing to this town. I (I won't speak for Spider,409 and others)am in the category of the "lifers" but have enough sense to know that they are wrong and the town needs to be fixed and re-invented from a steel town to another venue and I certainly know that we are in desperate need of some competent leadership on council and in the city building. What we have now is a joke. I also have a desire to see my hometown live again and recover from it's current condition. I have no other motive other than to see it run properly and the people enjoying a decent life here.

The OUTSIDERS.....

Then, there are the people who "came later" AFTER the "good times" and have no basis of comparison to go by as to how well this town was run and how pleasant it was to live in years ago (as you recalled at the end of your post). I call these people "outsiders" simply because they were not involved in the town at the time it was prosperous. Some of these "outsiders" occupy the city building and are currently screwing this city up big time with their decisions and direction from the lifers. The term "outsider" is not meant to be derogatory as much as it is meant to mean not associated with the prosperous past and not necessarily introduced to the "climate" or "flavor" of the town. The outsiders, like Kohler and Gilleland, have made the decision to take instructions from the lifers. Perhaps they are intimidated by them, don't know.

Vet, I have read enough of your posts to know how much you admired Middletown and are distarught of what it has become. Like you and others, Mike Presta, etc., I came back to Middletown in the late 1980 range. I was extremely hesitant to move to Middletown then, because Armco was down, it had changed hands, and you could see the decline in the city then. Today, I am in shock how the rapid demise has occurred, particularly after the hospital left, Fenwick, and the execs at AK, and of course, the close downs of many mills, and so forth.