[GPSCC-chat] Fw: The Way of the World
Caroline Yacoub
carolineyacoub at att.net
Fri Sep 13 18:57:31 PDT 2013
Wow! For those of you who like numbers, here's a whole bunch.
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Tony Ciampi <t.ciampi at hotmail.com>
To: "chuckjagoda1 at gmail.com" <chuckjagoda1 at gmail.com>; Brian Good <snug.bug at hotmail.com>
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Sent: Friday, September 13, 2013 5:23 PM
Subject: RE: The Way of the World
Here are statistice you might be interested in:
Federal Minimum Wage: Pay before taxes (40hrs per week)
1965 1.25 $200 per month
1970 1.60 $256 per month
1975 2.10 $336 per month
1980 3.10 $496 per month
1990 3.80 $608 per month
2000 5.15 $824 per month
2010/11 7.25 $1,160 Per month
One bedroom Apartment in Palo Alto
1965: $87.50 to $130.00
1970: $115.00 to $165.00
1975: $125.00 to $150.00
1980: $385.00 to $400.00
1990: $600.00 to $775.00
2000: $1,200.00 to $1,600.00
2011: $1,100.00 to $1,650.00
Percentage of a Single Person’s Minimum Wage Income
Used On Housing Cost
In 1965 43.5% to 65.0% of income to Housing Cost
In 1970 44.9% to 64.4% of income to Housing Cost
In 1975 37% to 44.6% of income to Housing Cost
In 1980 77.6% to 80.% of income to Housing Cost
In 1990 98.8% to 127.4% of income to Housing Cost
In 2000 145.6% to 194.0% of income to Housing Cost
In 2010/11 94.8% to 142.2% of income to Housing Cost
Palo Alto Housing Costs:
In 1965 a 2 bedroom house cost $23,000.00
In 1965 a 4 bedroom house cost $36,000.00
In 1965 a Machinist earned $8,500.00 a year
In 1965 a Custodian earned $5,100.00 a year
A Machinist’s yearly salary was 37% of the cost of a 2 bedroom house.
A Machinist’s yearly salary was 23.6% of the cost of a 4 bedroom house.
A Custodian’s yearly salary was 22% of the cost of a 2 bedroom house.
A Custodian’s yearly salary was 14% of the cost of a 4 bedroom house.
In 1975 a 3 bedroom house cost $61,000.00
In 1975 a Delivery Driver earned $7,200.00
A Delivery Driver’s yearly salary was 11.8% of the cost of a medium quality house.
In 2011 a 3 bedroom house costs $1,200,000.00
In 2011 a Delivery Driver earned $22,000.00 to $30,000.00 a year
A Delivery Driver’s yearly salary is 1.8% to 2.5% of the cost of a low-end quality house.
A person’s yearly income of the cost of an average house in Palo Alto went from 22% to 11.8% to 2.5% of in the last 45 years.
References: The “Palo Alto Times,” the “Palo Alto Times-Tribune,” the “Palo Alto Weekly,” and “Craigslist”
Mark Johnston, the acting assistant housing secretary for community planning and development, estimated that homelessness could be eliminated for a cost $20 billion annually. The housing department’s budget for addressing homelessness is currently about $1.9 billion. (37)
$20 billion is slightly less money than Americans spend on Christmas decorations, according to an analysis from ThinkProgress. (38)
National Security:
Cost of the War in Afghanistan: $654 billion
Cost of the War in Iraq: $814 billion
Money spent on Department of Defense for 2013 and counting: $488 billion
Money Spent on Homeland Security Since 9/11: $712 billion (39)
If we were to redefine Homelessness as a National Security Risk then $20 billion would look like a bargain.
http://paloaltofreepress.com/how-america-is-solving-its-homeless-problem/
Tony
________________________________
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 2013 12:29:52 -0700
Subject: Re: The Way of the World
From: chuckjagoda1 at gmail.com
To: snug.bug at hotmail.com
CC: bjpd1 at gmail.com; amy.hortonnewell at americanbar.org; andy_burnham at pbc.org; arthur at huffingtonpost.com; bhushans at aol.com; bkenny5678 at gmail.com; cruiserterry at aol.com; drpesto at hotmail.com; edie.keating100 at gmail.com; ericdiesel1 at yahoo.com; ethicsearch at americanbar.org; fred124c41 at yahoo.com; gailt1225 at earthlink.net; geoff.browning at stanford.edu; georgehmills at sbcglobal.net; grchippendale at yahoo.com; hobredo at gmail.com; homeless at americanbar.org; jfriedenbach at cohsf.org; joy.sleizer142 at gmail.com; katie at vcfp.org; kdotson at cohsf.org; lindamartinet at yahoo.com; lmalatorre at cohsf.org; lsa1o at aol.com; lynn_huidekoper at hotmail.com; marycklein at yahoo.com; mcarrera at cohsf.org; minorities at americanbar.org; neighborshelpingneighbors2013 at gmail.com; paloaltofreepress at gmail.com; pboden at wraphome.org; peter.koelling at americanbar.org; prgreg at stanford.edu; rachell1 at stanford.edu; ricktoker at yahoo.com; selbytelecom at gmail.com; t.ciampi at hotmail.com; waynejdouglass at gmail.com; wdaley at chp-sf.org;
yvonnekenyon66 at yahoo.com; mzelkha at ivsn.org; peacenut99 at yahoo.com; perrysandy at aol.com; carolineyacoub at att.net; tnharter at aol.com; tyler.haskell at bos.sccgov.org; kristina.loquist at bos.sccgov.org
Thanks, Brian.
There are good, moral, conscientious, conscience-driven, public spirited people alive and well in the land. They may not be of your generation, but they are active. You hear them at StopTheBan meetings, in front of the City Council, and last night before the Human Resources Commission.
We asked the HRC why they haven't taken a stand on Palo Alto's brand new instrument of exclusion--the horrendous and draconian Vehicle Habitation Ban, which, if we don't turn the recalcitrant and very wrong-headed City Council around, will forever stain the benevolent reputation of Palo Alto.
We asked them (actually this was me) how this conflict between haves and have nots, between those who have profited from this greatest ever transfer of wealth from poor to rich and those whose jobs will never come back, between housed and unhoused---how are these NOT human relations issues?
I asked them how, when the City Council has several times asked why this issue (vehicle habitation) has not been referred to the Human Resources Council, the HRC has taken no stand on the ordinance.
I told them I know homeless women who are not going to go into any shelters because they fear them more than the abusive relationship they are fleeing in the first place. These women only feel safe at night when they can lock the doors of their car. And you (the HRC) are letting the City take away their cars. Go home to your wives tonight and tell them that's what you did for women and the world.
A homeowner named Selby was most articulate as were Aram James, Stephanie Munoz, a homeless man whose name I don't know, Mila Zelkha, and Lynn Huidekoper.
We told the HRC that the CWGTF should have input from the people they were trying to help. Mila explained how she had started a conversation with service providers and it was like a "trade organization." She hoped the City would start its own task force and discuss these issues.
A man from the County came and explained all the housing programs and the money and the relations between agencies. But what he couldn't explain was how the subtraction of temporary shelter at the County level--the armory in Sunnyvale is to be closed after this winter and replaced with 47 permanent houses--and at the City level--Palo Alto is closing access to Cubberley's bathrooms and showers and parking and outlawing sleeping in vehicles--he couldn't explain how these measure are helping to solve the problems of homelessness in any way.
When Aram asked him if the closing of Cubberley was a help or a hindrance to solving homelessness, he said it wasn't helping.
I believe we made the point that taking away shelter BEFORE replacing it with some other shelter is poor procedure. The man from San Jose (Bob Colci?) admitted after the meeting that asking him to surrender his car without having a replacement in hand was not a good deal. He seemed to get the connection between him giving up his car without a replacement in hand and car campers being foreced to give up their vehicular shelter without any replacement.
As with our speeches to the City Council, these seem to see the gaping logical problems with their "solutions," but seem unwilling to actually reconsider them.
We are clearly dealing with a situation where a decision was reached (unsheltered people must be discouraged) and then shoring up began after the decision had been made. The shoring is pretty shoddy and very vulnerable to Constitutional criticism, not to mention human decency values.
Such behavior is most similar to addiction. A person keeps reaching for a toxic substance as if it were life itself, when it is really destroying him and he knows this and cannot stop.
I cannot imagine how the City Council thinks this VHO won't go down in flames and lots of expense. Yet they pursue and defend their chosen non-plan even though it will damage them, the City, and the legacy of all of us who let Palo Alto commit this offense against grace and humanity.
Chuck
On Fri, Sep 13, 2013 at 10:20 AM, Brian Good <snug.bug at hotmail.com> wrote:
Back in the 70s a friend of mine lived in a low-rent rooming house in North Palo Alto because that's
>what he could afford on his pay as a janitor. If this isn't the house, offered today as a single-family
>home for $2.4 million, it might as well be. http://245ramona.com/welcome.html For 40 years the
>City Council has aggressively pursued policies to facilitate kicking low-income people out of rooming
>houses so that rich people can occupy multi-million dollar homes.
>
>The agents who are offering this property have degrees in computer science, civil engineering, and law.
>http://245ramona.com/contact.html Two of them were educated at public expense in state universities.
>With their skills, they could be helping to make the world a better place. Instead, aided by the Palo Alto
>City Council, they are engaged in the trivial pursuit of providing nice housing to rich people who already
>have housing.
>
>We've all heard about the Greatest Generation, that fought the Nazis and made the USA great. I'm
>disgusted with my generation, the Shittiest Generation, that has made this crumbling world the way it
>is.
>
>
>
>
>
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