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Tag: Homelessness

Cappleman the Cruel

Cappleman the Cruel/Image 46th Ward/Enhanced by PV Bella

“When well-meaning residents step in to help, it can slow down efforts of the case manager who’s building trust with their client, and that ultimately slows down efforts to get them into permanent housing…

…The best way the public can help is by supporting the case manager’s role of being the lead support for their client. Instead of providing food and other items directly, it’s much better to donate items or money to the person’s assigned social service agency.” (Alderman James Cappleman/Uptown Update)

“Craft legislation that would allow the City to fine those who give out propane tanks to people living under the viaducts.”

“ I support requiring the viaduct encampments to move to the nearby open space where some other tents are already located to reduce the safety risks for those currently living under the viaduct.“

“My ask to have the viaducts cleared to make it safe for everyone has been denied and I fear it’s only a matter of time when an injury will lead to a needless death.” (46th Ward Newsletter)

Alderman James Cappleman, AKA Cappleman the Cruel, has been trying to eliminate the homeless camps from his gentrifying ward since being elected in 2011. There has been an encampment under the viaduct at DuSable Lake Shore Drive for several years. Cappleman wants it gone. He does not care about homelessness. He wants them out of his ward.

Cappleman does not want the current and future over-privileged pampered residents to see the homeless or their encampments in his gentrified ward. He wants them to disappear. Cappleman’s only solution is removal. He is devoid of humanity.

Cappleman the Cruel does not want “well-meaning” people to assist the homeless directly with food, money, or other necessities. He wants them to donate to “assigned” social service agencies. Well-meaning people should ignore Cappleman. Give whatever they want to whoever they want. No one has a right to tell people how to help others or determine what is best for others. None of those agencies have expertise. The homeless camps would not be so large and entrenched if they did.

Cappleman the Cruel wants the city to fine people who give propane tanks to the homeless. Is Cappleman going to have the Propane Police stationed on-site? Guess what? The camp will start open fires to stay warm. That will create a more significant safety issue. Cappleman does not understand the psychology of survival. People will do whatever it takes to survive, even thumb their noses at an alderman.

Cappleman wants the encampments to move to the open areas of the park. Years ago, when there was a large camp in that area, he wanted it removed because people claimed it was an eyesore. The viaduct provides shelter from the sun, rain, and snow. It is an eyesore for pampered people who want to pass under to get to the lake, his real reason for wanting the viaduct encampment removed. It has nothing to do with the safety of the homeless, drivers on DLSD, or pedestrians, runners, and cyclists traversing the viaduct to get to the lake.

Most alderpersons do not care about public safety. Just look at how dangerous the whole city is. Cappleman does not care about public safety. He does care about getting reelected. He cares about the voters who complain about the camps being a blot on their pristine paradise.

Cappleman claims the homeless refuse cots in shelters. He is right. The people must leave most shelters in the morning. They are back on the street again. Due to space restrictions, they cannot bring all their possessions to the shelter. Why would people even consider a system that only provides overnight comfort, especially during inclement weather? Some refused other types of housing due to various restrictions.

Cappleman claims the homeless do not trust the case managers and other city agencies. There is a good reason for the distrust. They do little to transition the homeless into permanent housing, jobs, and medical or mental health treatments. Many homeless have mental issues and suffer from substance abuse or alcoholism. Those require long-range solutions.

Cappleman has been trying to remove the homeless population from the park and lakefront for years. The homeless are winning. They are staying until this city gets smart. That could be a long while.

Cappleman has no solutions to transition the homeless to treatment, jobs, and housing. He never did. Cappleman is the only alderman who publicly shames the homeless and demands their removal. It is almost criminal the way Cappleman frames the growing homeless problem.

The number of homeless people in Chicago is at an all-time high. The situation is complex due to the various reasons people are homeless. Like poverty, homelessness will not be eliminated. It can be mitigated. No one wants to spend the money for the long-term solutions necessary to reduce homelessness. The NIMBYs do not want facilities to assist the homeless in their neighborhoods. NIMBYs do not want anything in their communities that will help others.

Cappleman does not want to mitigate the homeless problem in his gentrified ward. He wants the homeless gone, out of sight, out of mind. Cappleman is a typical creature of municipal government. He does not want to solve problems. He prefers they go away.

“Well-meaning” people should be lauded instead of condemned for trying to do some good in this city of scoundrels, like Cappleman. They are doing more than Cappleman or the city is. They are stepping in due to the failure of the city.

There is no law against compassion. If it were up to Cappleman, there would be.

Uptown Update is the voice of precious privilege

Image: PV Bella

As we understand it, there are up to 12 different laws being broken every day the homeless encampments stay in place (the Americans With Disabilities Act, Illinois statutes, City ordinances and Park District Code). (Uptown Update)

The anonymous* oh-so-precious overprivileged people at the Uptown Update have their silk knickers in a wedgie over the homeless encampments on Lawrence Avenue under DuSable LSD and in the park between Lawrence and Wilson. There were fires in the encampments, over the past weeks, causing propane tanks to explode.

They probably wrote this piece while sipping their 14-ingredient soy latte, with multiple syrups, whipped oat cream, and sprinkles on top. Or maybe some kind of chai. It must be nice to pound their chests and keyboards with their snooty class privilege. Uptown Update is a shining bad example of gentrification.

For whatever reasons, homelessness is a growing and increasingly severe problem in Chicago. There are other larger and smaller encampments throughout the city. Chicago has been ignoring the mass homeless problem for years. Occasionally, the city goes out with the news media in tow to highlight the issue and show what they are pretending to do about it. The media laps it up and showers praise on City Hall.

The syphilitic parasitics at Uptown Update, like the two aldercritters, Cappleman and Osterman, do not care about the plight of the homeless so long as they are gone, poof disappeared. Voila!

Uptown Update cites laws that are being broken. I bet they do not cite laws being broken daily with abandon by the two-wheeled terrorist cyclists, endangering pedestrians, and themselves. It is also a good bet Uptown Update never cites laws broken by the criminals on public transportation who think buses and trains are their private dining areas or cafes. Many lawbreakers probably live in Uptown.

Who knows? Maybe some or all the anonymous people at Uptown Update are desperados, breaking those laws with impunity. The terrorist cyclists, diners, and sippy cup sippers on public transportation do not follow the law, are not being asked to, and are never cited for their criminality.

While many issues cause homelessness, including alcohol and substance abuse, mental illness, or financial reasons where people give up hope, no one chooses to be homeless.

For decades the city ignored impoverished people. Now, they ignore the homeless. Solutions were offered to mitigate the problem through the decades. None were tried. So far, my enlightened solution has been ignored.

Most shelters fill up quickly before nightfall, and the homeless must be out by morning. Others have strict rules that make it difficult for people suffering from substance abuse or mental handicaps to comply with.

Uptown Update may be fed up and want to give voice to their readers, but who is giving voice to the homeless? All over Uptown, gentrified housing developments are being built or planned, with the gleeful willingness of the aldercritters and celebrated by Uptown Update. Yet, no transitional housing with social, educational, medical, mental health, or other services is being planned or built to assist the homeless. Not in Uptown or the rest of the city.

The prim and proper obsessive diaper sniffers at Uptown Update and the aldercritters are the NIMBY people- NOT IN MY BACK YARD.!!! If there is something that will help someone else, they are against it. They are all for one, one for all, and everyone for themselves.

The final solution the NIMBYs at Uptown Update demand is for the city and state to apply the law- “…drive the homeless from public land.” Where are they going to be driven off to? Are the homeless livestock? Are they advocating for a human cattle drive? Or do they want them driven to another neighborhood, making them someone else’s problem? , it is the right thing to do for the community at large and for the people who are living in extremely dangerous conditions.” Hitler did, and Putin is doing what they thought is the “right thing,” too. They drove and are driving people like cattle to other places. It is called atrocity.

Spare me the faux outrage over the Hitler and Putin comparisons. When you advocate treating humans like animals- driving them- you are no better than those two villains. You are evil personified. I don’t think Uptown Update and the neighborhood residents know who the hell they are. They look at themselves in the mirror and see nothing. If they do happen to see someone, they expect the image staring back at them to say hello first.

Uptown Update and the residents of Uptown are merciless, cruel, and bear ill will towards anyone not privileged like them. After them, everyone else comes first.

*On the Uptown Update site there are no real names of “reporters” on the pieces. There is no name of an editor or publisher. There is not even an About Page. It is a total anonymous publication. Makes one wonder who is really behind Uptown Update, and who they really speak for or promote, and who pays them off. What are the cowards at Uptown Update afraid of? Exposure? Inquiring minds want to know.