[Mpls] 24 hour shelter approval

[David Strand]

and Thank You!!!  Thank You Margaret and all of the
activists who worked so hard to press forward these
very necessary changes.  I'll never forget my
frustration working with homeless glbtiq youth in
Michigan and seeing the state throwing kids off the
foster care roles and into homelessness to supposedly
save money.

In MI, I remember making a case before cold hearted
bureaucrats for such a change after working with a
teenager who had full blown AIDS and was living on the
streets.  He kept getting so sick from not being able
to stay indoors in the winter that one winter he
recieved more than $3 million in care that his doctors
agreed he would not have needed had he only been able
to stay in the shelter during the day as well as at
night.  He had been kicked out of the only local
housing option specifically for teenagers because it
was a religiously based organization(though it
recieved government funds) which said he broke the
rules against pornography because he had a copy of
"the Advocate", a glbt news magazine which is far from
pornographic(in Minneapolis you can buy it at many
grocery stores and food coops).

This victory should be celebrated on humanitarian
grounds but for those out there who are "fiscally
conservative" this change should be reason to cheer
for the financial savings as well.  This change to
local shelter policy will no doubt save public
healthcare dollars spent on frostbite, pneumonia and
other problems linked to excessive exposure to the
cold and perhaps enable those dollars to be spent on
preventitive care reducing future expenses as well.

David Strand
Loring Park



--- m1r3201 at aol.com wrote:

> I have spent time these past couple of days thanking
> council persons for 
> their approval for the revision that allows homeless
> shelters to have flexible 
> hours.
> 
> I have just recorded the City Council segment where
> Council Member Schiff 
> describes the rationale and need for this revision
> when he presented this to the 
> full council today.
> 
> His concise, insightful and well-informed comments
> put any of my efforts to 
> describe the need for this revision to shame.His
> obvious care about how people 
> struggle in our city was obvious.
> 
> Likewise, Council Member Lisa Goodman, in the Zoning
> and Planning Committee 
> on Thursday, spoke with compassion and passion
> combined with obvious knowledge 
> and insight into the issues faced by persons
> experiencing homelessness.
> 
> To all the Council Members, thankyou. 
> 
> Also, sincere thanks to Mayor Rybak, Commissioner
> McLaughlin and Commissioner 
> Gail Dorfman.
> And my own personal thanks to Dean Zimmerman and
> Robert Lilligren.
> Two men I have come to care about and respect. I
> continue to regret that they 
> had to run against one another.
> I would prefer both of them on our council.
> 
> Pardon me if I am a bit emotional in this post. It
> has been a grueling few 
> years for those of us on the Decrim Task Force who
> believed that dialogue, 
> respect and working with our public officials would
> create change.
> 
> Peace,
> Margaret Hastings
> Kingfield
> 
> 
> 
> 
>  
> http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/
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