[EVG photo at the St. Joseph House]
From On the Bowery, Questions About the Catholic Church’s Shifting Mission in The New York Times today. A passage about the St. Joseph House on East First Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue.
Gerald Howard ushered a few men at a time inside. Once homeless himself, he has lived at St. Joseph House for several years, and helps the ministry in welcoming the needy.
“The hipsters, yuppies or whatever name you call them have been infiltrating this neighborhood,” he said. “They’re gentrifying the area, and I don’t think the homeless are part of their equation. I think, for them, out of sight is out of mind. You don’t see them. You don’t talk to them.”
7 comments:
Last week I saw several members of Generation Selfie taking selfies in front of the crime scene on West 4th Street where 3 cops were shot and a fugitive sex offender was killed.
I saw the same thing in SoHo when the FBI crime lab was digging out a basement looking for the remains of Etan Patz, I have yet to see them taking selfies with any homeless people, since apparently they are nowhere as cool as a crime scene.
I once heard one of these nouveau narcissists tell a homeless person who had the gall to ask him for a dollar "Sorry, I don't have a dollar, I just spent 200 bucks on dinner."
Keep in classy Generation S.
My favorite (I use the term loosely) is when I'm on the bus or subway, seated near a solipsistic 20-something absorbed in their cell phone, and a senior citizen, often with a cane, gets on and stands near them; they don't even bother to look up, much less offer a seat, so then I get to haul myself up, bad back, bad knees and all, and let the elder sit, while the young'un ignores it all because hey, old people, what the hell do they matter anyway? I can only hope in 50 years the same thing happens to them - often.
As.someone who's been homeless I feel Gerald is.correct. The homeless are ignored but only during the day. At night packs of drunk 20somethings regularly rob/assault/urinate on the homeless all over NYC. The nypd could care less. These people will steal a backpack that has everything a homeless person owns and its part of their drunk fun. Lose your apt and you become a subhuman. I was never bothered by the long time locals. Its amazing how helpful lower income people are to those on the street. Its a shame Bloomberg closed the drop in centers and now the nightmare shelter system is the only option. Thank God for the catholic worker people. I used to get breakfast there.
I'm mid 20s, and apparently fall under "generation selfie." I'm full of love and compassion for the homeless around the city, I wish I could do more to help and I know I'm not alone.
That being said, when you have anecdotal evidence of a case where you saw some members of my generation behaving poorly, and you attempt to lump us into one category, you're not helping anybody.
Too many times have I seen "older generations" with their heads buried in their phone, playing stupid games or taking pictures... not standing up for the elderly on the bus or sparing a dollar for the homeless because they're too self absorbed.
I don't believe it's because of their age, I believe it's because they didn't have parent's or mentors to teach them manners a long time ago. Or maybe they just forgot in their older age!
Sometimes I wish the commenters on this site would just get a damn clue about how ignorant they sound. Some people in this neighborhood rock, some people suck. Younger people partied loud since before the East Village existed. We have the hipsters, you had the hippies. You grew up hating jocks and preps, we hate our finance bros and, well, we still hate the preps. Life is going to go on, keep the EV weird.
Dear Anonymous- When I ended up in the hospital I didn't realize that was "anecdotal" evidence. When I saw friends who'd been robbed (they like to take one shoe and leave the person with one- guess that's supposed to be funny) or had their cardboard condos urinated on while they were inside I didn't realize that was "anecdotal" evidence. Go visit the Bowery Mission or NYC Rescue Mission and acquire more "anecdotal" evidence. You are totally clueless as are most when it comes to the harsh reality of being on the street. The post is about the neighborhood gentrifying and losing homeless services. Did you read the article? A place that I went to that provided showers got closed because the new residents don't want the homeless around. The idea is to get rid of any services in hopes that the homeless or working poor will leave the area. There is also A super fancy condo building going up next door. But that had nothing to do with the place closing. It was one of the few places where one could shower in the AM - which is important if you're trying to get work and its either 5 degrees or 100 degrees out. You are ignorant. The most dangerous sight for a homeless person is a group of intoxicated bros who grew up watching bumfights. It is because of their age because they are the ones drinking till 3am and roaming the streets. 99.99% of the time its drunks your age doing the damage. Its not a bunch of 50 year olds roaming around and pissing and wooing. Of course the Post doesn't cover these crimes and the NYPD wont take crime reports about these incidents. Sorry for ranting but most 'housed' folks really don't understand the reality of life on the street in NYC. Its something I wouldn't wish on anybody.
3:41 here-
Pardon me 5:03, I was directing my comments to Giovanni and Gojira, not to you.
I should have been more clear on that; I don't doubt your hardships with drunk 20 year olds or the mayors office making life more difficult for your friends.
Sorry anon I just get aggrivated by the criminal behavior that gets ignored. The situations I referred to happened in 2010. Its only getting worse thanks to the Bloomberg policies. Some grieve for Mars bar . I grieve for those who lost their apts and are in a horrible spot.
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