Shawn Chittle spoke with LES Jewels on Avenue A last night. Jewels reports that he has been sober for 123 days, and is getting some support from local officials in getting a room at the Lee, the low-income housing development and training center on East Houston and Pitt Street.
Also, he says, he misses Bob.
16 comments:
please don't continue bobs stupidity and romanticize this scumbag. He is a blight on the neighborhood, uninsterestng and worthless. Guys that seem to find his antics interesting should question themselves. He should be shipped back to wherever the fuck he came from so people can walk around without worry of being accosted by is idiot.
So many poor people overdose in the park yet this rat survives. I would like to see a hawk carry him over the river and drop him in.
There is no there there.
nice to see joel p on the up and up was doing a good job down by wall street Rather have LES JEWELS than Latte poodle walking YUPPIES
i would gladly trade 100 les jewels to see less yuppie a-holes walking around the hood.
our neighborhood has become so appalling on friday and saturday nights that i am embarrassed to bring dates around.
seriously.
Speak for yourself, Anon 9:03. There is obviously something compelling and even charming about Jewels or people wouldn't care about what happens to him, despite his antics. Yes, it would be good if he stopped pulling his pants down, but you know what, the man has problems. I'm very sad that others have OD'd but still glad that Jewels is not among them. In the words of Jeremiah, he is our Alpha Crusty.
Also calling Bob Arihood stupid is not going to win you a lot of friends.
Congrats to Joel on 123 days sober.
The only way to look down on somebody is to help them up.
Good luck to Jewels
Congratulations to Jewels on 123 days sober, nice to see him trying to turn his life around.
1. Bob hardly romanticized Jewels.
2. It's always a good thing when someone tries to better their life and sober up. Would you rather he continued his antics?
123 days + is great and I hope he continues to stay sober. It's admirable and rare. Glad he's taking action to make change in his own life. Kind of hard to be against that
I'm glad to see Jewels staying sober. Here's to another 123 days.
If I shoot drugs and stay drunk and high most of the time, pull out my penis in front of kids in the TSP playground, block traffic and harass taxi drivers, attack people with a cane I don't really need to walk with, go in and out of jail regularly on six month "skid bids", and then claim that I'm sober, will I get a free apartment too?
OH NO WON'T SOMEONE PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN
Travis, if Jewels is given a social-services apartment, doesn't that mean you'll see him on the street *less*? Just say you dislike the guy personally and don't try to make this into an argument about welfare and real estate, please.
Back to "the kids," you know how every time we bitch here about pukey frat boys and WOO!!! girls and 50 bars per block, some chump has to interrupt with "This is New York City/the East Village; if you don't like it, move to New Jersey/the suburbs/Ohio."
Well, this is New York City. If you don't like seeing homeless people with addiction problems (and occasionally their penises), move elsewhere.
PS, it's "Bickle"
Easy to say LvV, when you're not one of his victims. Ask the guy Jewels seduced at a gay bar who he beat with his cane, breaking his eye socket as he tried to mug him outside the guy's apt. Or ask the parents of kids who he's exposed himself in front of. Or the various people he's assaulted over the years.
What a character, eh?
This ain't personal -- I happen to think there's something very wrong with rewarding scum like Jewels for bad behavior. There's nothing endearing about him or people like him.
Fair enough, Travis. (Although, "seduced at a gay bar"? seems a tad fan-fictiony)
I'm not saying Jewels is an upstanding citizen or even a lovable scamp. Just that he is a person, not a "rat" or worthless (per Anon 9:03), and no more a blight on the neighborhood than the Diablos and Shaouls and the WOO!!ers. It *is* NYC after all, and in my opinion if you can't handle seeing the dark side of society, maybe you shouldn't be here.
I had a family member become a "street person" and die out there though, and it makes me upset when people act as if such people are the equivalent of trash and/or are beyond or not worthy of attempts at rehabilitation. Even if Jewels did bad things before, he deserves a chance to make amends and be better. No one has to be his friend either way, but he's entitled to a chance to change.
But I hear you.
insomnia sucks :(
I'm curious about the hatred of "yuppies" on this site. I admit, I am technically a yuppie, I do work at a nonprofit but I’m young and professional and I’m pretty sure you could peg me as such from a mile away. However, I love the neighborhood, I patronize local businesses (both longstanding and new), volunteer with the Girls Club, and very rarely yell "woo hoo" (and that is only when I am sober and genuinely happy). Am I really the worst thing that could happen to the EV? I know that you want the neighborhood to maintain its character, but what does that mean for the new residents? Unless we are artists we are not welcome?
5:25, this is a thread about a well-known EV street person with addiction problems who is bettering himself. Yet you chose this particular thread to off-topically whine that people may not like you ... and then wonder why people may not like you.
I too have a good job (thank the stars) and look pretty "professional" most of the time. EVers have had jobs in the straight world for forever now; we're not all artists (and guess what else: many artists have day jobs!). When I read about yuppies, yunnies, "neighborhood destruction machines," I know I'm not one of them. So what do I care? Only you know why you're taking the term personally.
http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2007/08/young-urban-narcissists_08.html
"Why aren't I entitled to this neighborhood? I have money! Doesn't that mean I should have a say, regardless of whether or not I'm actually a stakeholder or that I care or even know about what's important to my neighbors and this community? Ew, homeless people!"
LvV:
Jewels can redeem himself, but why does that entitle him to a FREE apartment on top of everything else he's already been getting from the system simply because he's CHOSEN to live on the street?
He's an able-bodied 42 year old who has lived badly. Nice for him to decide to stop getting fucked up and hurting people, but WHY should he get FREE housing that a disabled or elderly person needs?
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