Poverty Kills. Again

"The world is a vampire, sent to drain
Secret destroyers hold you up to the flames..." Smashing Pumpkins.

On the night of April 1, fire destroyed a wood frame house at 1138 Whitesboro Street in Utica, NY that served as a group home for eight people with mental and physical disabilities. Two escaped with their lives, and the clothes on their backs.

In a USA Today story, Fire Chief Russell Brooks said the home was "not inspected for several years." Somehow the house had fallen under the radar. It was classified as a hotel/motel, when in fact it was a rooming house.

Although smoke detectors are required in every bedroom, not all the bedrooms had smoke detectors installed, and several had dead batteries.

County, state social service and mental health officials do not regulate the home.

"Neither the 1138 Whitesboro St. residence nor other rooming-type homes in the neighborhood owned by Donna Marano of Cold Brook are licensed formally as group homes," Oneida County Social Services Commissioner Lucille A. Soldato said. (Utica Observer-Dispatch)

The people living in the group home might have been part of the Utica Rescue Mission's representative payee program.



Under the Representative Payment Program SSA can authorize certain types of organizations to collect a fee from a beneficiary's monthly social security check for providing representative payee services. These organizations are called "fee for service" (FFS) representative payees. FFS payees receive $35 per client as of December 2007, or $68 per client for individuals with a DAA (drug and alcohol addiction) condition. The fee does not include annual cost of living adjustments effective in January 2008. source: www.ssa.gov/payee.
The house was located a block away from the Utica State Hospital for the Mentally Ill, on a street with several such group homes.
Three people lived on the first floor, and five on the second. Four of them died in the fire, and one is hospitalized, with burn injuries.

One of the victims, was from the Albany area. The body of Nick Roberts, 42, is being returned to Albany for burial this week.

Marie Fleischer, 75, also died after firefighters rescued her from the burning building.

Two others perished in the fire. The body of Michael Mallace, 42, was found after the fire was extinguished. Jonathan Rebeck, 59, remained unaccounted for and is believed to have died in the fire, according to a story in the Albany Times-Union.

Another resident was taken to Upstate Medical Center's burn facility in Syracuse.

The Utica Observer Dispatch called it the worst fire in seventeen years. It is being investigated as a possible arson.

Marano, the building owner, said the two-story house served as a group home for disabled, formerly homeless, and "troubled" residents. "They had nowhere else to go," she told the Utica Observer-Dispatch.

Fire didn't kill these people. Disabilities didn't kill them. Addictions didn't kill them.

Poverty killed them. They are casualities of America's class war.

Rest in peace, precious ones.


Update: William Brooks, 48, was released from the Syracuse hospital on Friday.

~~~

Attribution: This post was cobbled together with information gathered from local, state, and national news reports: USA Today, the Albany Times-Union, The Utica Observer-Dispatch and information provided on the Social Security Administration's website. Although writing these stories is as natural as breathing to me, I have to support myself with wage slave jobs...I do what I can with the time and resources allotted to me.

An Unholy Alliance

February 10 was a dreadful day in the great Tundra Land of upstate New York. It started out sunny but cold. Then it started to snow, then it stopped for awhile, then it started up again. It was windy, and the wind was icy. The dry powdery white stuff deposited a thin and deceptive dusting over the treacherous ice. Which inspires me to ask:

Why the hell don't you businesses, property owners and YEAH--churches (!) clean the @#$%^&$#@%^&* sidewalks in front of your properties? Do you want people to slip and fall and sue you???? Do you find it acceptable that mothers are pushing their babies in strollers in the streets all winter long because the sidewalks are treacherous??? Do you find it acceptable that disabled folks on scooters are riding those scooters down the streets instead of on sidewalks????

As I said, February 10 was a dreadful day. I had to buy something at the dollar store, so out I went into the frozen mess. As I hurried along the dry covered walkway in front of the shops, I saw a tall young man slip on the ice and fall in the parking lot. I watched him as he got up and I thought: I have to be careful out there. I didn't find what I was looking for at the dollar store, so I headed home. As I stood on the sidewalk waiting for cars to pass, I saw one of them do an S-shape on the slippery surface of the parking lot. This is the parking lot I had to cross to get home. About halfway across, I slipped and fell. The pain was immediate, in my hand, elbow, and tailbone. I got up and walked; limping to the sidewalk on the outside of the shopping center parking lot. I made my way home, three or four blocks away. I thawed out.

Two hours later, the pain had ramped up, way up; and when the owner of the building came home, I asked her if her daughter, an RN, was home so I could call her and get some free advice. When my friend saw how much pain I was in, she insisted on driving me to the emergency room. She'd have to leave me there, she said, but told me to call her when I was ready to go home.

I got to St. Elizabeth Medical Center at 6 PM. I was finally released at 10 PM or later. I walked through the doors on the emergency room with one sleeve on, one sleeve off. My boots, which my friend had shoved onto my feet, were untied. The pain in my elbow was off the charts, screaming out loud pain. On the smiley face scale of 1-10, it was a twelve. The techs x rayed my back and elbow but didn't bother with my hand. Ten days after the fall, it's my hand/wrist that hurts most, when I open a door or try to pick up something with that hand, or lean on it.

The nurse at St. Elizabeth wheeled me to the doors and sent me on my way with a sling, two Motrins--after I'd asked for them five times from five different staffers--and some folded up sheets to prop up my sprained elbow. The diagnosis: sprained joint/tear in ligaments.

Discharge instructions : Arrange for a follow-up appointment with my doctor in 3-5 days. St. Elizabeth's warm and friendly scheduler at the clinic gave me an appointment for the 21st--11 days later. Thanks a lot! You know who you are, Miss Friendly.

Other instructions: severe sprains often need 3-6 weeks of immobilization to heal completely.
I need both hands to do my job so this puts me out of work and out of money. A fall on the ice brings my already low income to zero. That was an expensive trip to the dollar store.

Now I don't know how much those white hospital sheets are worth, but I sure as hell wasn't expecting the bill that arrived promptly on February 20th, even before the pain has faded away. St. Elizabeth is a non profit Catholic hospital, and in 2006 it got a nice little chunk o' change--$350,000-- from the government, according to a Senator Chuck Schumer news release.

Brother, can you spare $74.63???

With no choice in the matter, I was born into a Catholic family, raised in the Catholic religion, well schooled in the life and times of Jesus, the man who dispensed free health care to the poor, who distributed free food, and said: "Whatever you do to the least of my brothers, you do it to me."

This unholy alliance between a profiteering wealth care industry and a Catholic hospital bears no resemblance whatsoever to the Jesus I was schooled in, and I'll tell you this:

Get behind me, Catholic wealth care pretenders. You sent me a letter threatening to turn my $74.63 bill over to a collection agency, abill that started out $37.32, that you doubled after the fact! What was it that Jesus said to the loan sharks in the temple? Get the #$!! outa here, or words to that effect.

To the faithless, loveless Catholic religion I say: I rebuke you.

To my next of kin, and friends I say: when I'm dying, and breathing my last breaths, keep me OUT of hospitals, especially Catholic ones. Keep those black clad Catholic priests away--far away-- from me. The only religious figure I want anywhere near me as I prepare to leave this world is a genuine saffron or maroon robed Buddhist monk or nun. They don't need to speak English. Compassion is a universally understood language.

Unfortunately, so is greed!

In 1992, as I began my VISTA ( Volunteers in Service To America) year here in Tundra Land, Bill Clinton was running for president. In 1992, this upstate city was economically depressed, with a manufacturing base on life support, a large population of poor people, and a lot of low wage jobs.

It's now 2008, the manufacturing jobs are almost non existent, the boarded up buildings are many, the service and retail jobs pay minimum wage to formerly well paid factory workers. The county office building is crowded every day with poor people lined up for Food Stamps, Medicaid, and cash assistance-- most of whom work for their poverty level incomes.

How in%#!! can a full time worker be poor enough to qualify for Food Stamp?? Follow the money trail. There are tax breaks for companies that hire the poor--and keep them poor.

Here's a thought: pay all workers a LIVING WAGE, tied to the cost of utilities, housing, medical care, day care, and groceries in the region they live in. Then they could buy what they need directly with their own money, and not have to go through third party poverty pimps to access health care, affordable housing, food, day care, heating fuel. Poor people in upstate NY stand in more lines than the folks in the former USSR.

This city, and my country are in a recession, whether BushCorp cares to admit it or not.

Things haven't changed much in 16 years; they just got worse.

You know you're living in tough times when WalMart, the "low price leader," jacks up its prices.
Bottled water is 74 cents this week, up from 68.

But, as a sign on a Teamster picket line said: "Tough Times Don't Last, Tough People Do."

"Go with your gut," said a young co worker.

I'm going with my gut (and the Teamsters). My gut tells me CHANGE is long overdue.

The Rackets: Shark Attack II

In our criminal justice system the accused is presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law, and even after being convicted and sentenced to life in prison or death, an inmate can appeal a wrongful conviction, can fight to clear his or her name. It might take years, but eventually even a wrongfully convicted lifer can get the decision overturned. And that's a good thing.

In the credit reporting racket, however, you are presumed to be a deadbeat and errors on your personal credit report are presumed to be fact until or unless you can get the credit reporting agencies (CRAs) aka credit bureaus to:

1.investigate the items you dispute, and

2. delete and/or correct errors on your personal credit report. And therein lies the problem. To dispute errors on your credit report you first have to get a copy of your credit report. And if the credit bureaus refuse to give you a free copy of your credit report-- which you're entitled to once each year, how can you dispute the wrong information on it?


In the credit report rackets, there's no court appointed lawyer to represent you against the faceless machines running the three big ones: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.

Information in a credit report can be used by landlords, potential employers, banks, and mortgage companies to determine your credit worthiness and decide whether you'll get a job, an apartment, a mortgage, a car loan, a credit card. Outdated negative information/wrong information can negatively impact your life, to say the least--which is why consumers are advised to get copies of their credit reports at least once a year. The U.S. Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA) requires the 3 major credit bureaus to provide every person one free credit report per year.

The last time I received a credit report from Experian was in January, 2006.

In 2007 I figured it was time for a new one, because I knew there were accounts on the old report that I'd paid in full and/or were wrong. I called the toll free number --877.322.8228-- for free annual credit reports and requested a copy of my free annual credit report. If, as Experian claims, a copy of my credit report was provided to me in the past year, it wasn't sent to me: I never got one.
In July/August I printed out request forms from the internet http://www.annualcreditreport.com/ and mailed it in, again requesting my free annual credit report from each of the Big Three. Thereafter began a game of mail tag and stonewalling that has continued through November. The preferred avoidance tactic they use is that they needto verify "proof" of my address/ social security number. So I sent them copies of my paystub with my name, social security and address printed on it. After this the CRAs sent me back letters asking for the same documentation I'd already sent them.
Consumers are entitled to a free credit report if they've been denied credit within the last 60 days based on information provided in their credit report. So I applied for a credit card, got turned down based on information provided by Experian, and sent Experian a copy of the denial letter within 60 days. It was at this point that Experian switched its avoidance tactic to the excuse that they have to "verify" my mailing address and social security number. They letter tagged and foot dragged me for the next 60 plus days, until the credit denial time frame expired. Then Experian reverted back to its "we already sent you a credit report this year" letter.
With a few days remaining in the year 2007, still I've got no credit report this year. At this time, Experian continues to falsely report at least four debts that I paid in full over one year ago, could have discharged in bankruptcy, but chose not to, and have receipts to prove it.
Additionally it's probably reporting a judgment against me that was subsequently voluntarily dismissed with prejudice by the collection agency (Asset Acceptance) when my lawyer made it aware of its "mistake," and yes I can prove that too.

There are at least five negative items on my credit report that Experian and the other racketeers refuse to let me get copies of so I can dispute the WRONG information, information that the CRAs freely provide to third parties. For whomever is viewing my credit report--the same credit report the Big Three refuse to give me copies of--here's the real deal:
University Community Hospital emergency room bill --paid in full November 2006. I have a receipt.
University Community Hospital charges not covered by insurance. Paid in full 2005 I have a receipt.
Emergency room physicians bill. Paid in full November 2006. Yes, proof I have.
Back rent owed due to job loss in September 2001 (that's seven years this September). Paid in full. Receipt, proof. Yes.
Judgment for plaintiff Asset Acceptance in breach of contract. (what contract?) Voluntary dismissal with prejudice. Copy of court document available upon request.
Where's the due process in this scheme? There is none. This is the economic equivalent of Guantanamo. The consumer is guilty because the CRA's and the money grubbing vampires/raising old debts from the grave past their natural demise collection agencies say so, and the "accused" is denied access to the so called evidence of the debts/mistakes and is denied the opportunity to clear his/her name or otherwise defend him/herself against these predators.

If the health of our economy is so dependent on consumer spending as is claimed, then why are consumers treated like criminals with no rights? It's enough to make an honest citizen want to be an anarchist...(tea party, anyone?) http://infoshop.org/

Update: From the depths of some swamp there now emerges a new predatory collection agency that sends one of its parasitic letters to my family's home. It's addressed to a person with my misspelled last name and the wrong first name. The letter states I owe $198.00 and change and these lowlifes are willing to settle for $59.60. So I check an old credit report dated 2002 and find a matching account number linked with a different name that is "scheduled to be reported until 2003." Which makes this account number seven years old in 2003. Which makes it more than 11 years old now. It's past the statute of limitations for every state. Furthermore the original account is some kind of mobile phone account. This is known as "re-aging" an old debt.
Well, guess what. I've never had a phone contract. I use only prepaid phones, and always have.

And this too will be reported to the FTC. http://www.ftc.gov/

All you carpetbagging, speculating, real estate flipping, predatory lending (barely)legal loan sharks: haven't you done enough damage-- to the economy; to thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of people's lives; to communities, to neighborhoods?

It's a New Year comin' on. Why don't you predators all get honest jobs somewhere like the people you victimize and terrorize and stop being parasites that suck the life out of poor and working class families?

Happy 2008--to everybody except the parasites and poverty pimps! May you rot in substandard housing with no heat.

FCRA 605 "No CRA may make any consumer report containing (4) accounts placed for collection or charged to profit and loss which antedate the report by more than seven years."

FCRA Part 603 "Prohibition against circumventing treatment as a nationwide consumer reporting agency."