I’m starting to wonder if this is endemic to Tenderloin Housing Clinic. This also smells like unreported paid lobbying to me, paid for by your taxes
context: a recent meeting about the Mayor’s new Community Justice Center
I wasn’t at this meeting but this post comes from SF Met blogs
with a choice excerpt (this stuff has got to be taped sometime, and I’ll gladly upload an mp3 of it, just to show that the stupefying belligerence is not a figment of our imagination. I’ve totally heard things like this before)
Tonight that obnoxious role was filled by two employees of Randy Shaw’s “SRO Collaborative”. These two 20 something know it all guys did the usual “collaborative” mic hogging technique, and took their time lambasting every possible positive outcome that could possibly arise from the CJC.
I immediately knew we were all in trouble and going to get a tantrum like scolding for being there when the first of Shaw’s warriors, the chubbier of the two intoned ” I really tried to come here with an open mind”… which we all know means exactly the opposite.
They ripped into a litany of cliche’d complaints & asinine analysis of a program that doesn’t even exist yet. It didn’t take long for the CJC to be called a “War On The Poor” and then the THC employees complained that beer in a bar costs $5 which is apparently way too much. They loudly & belligerently bemoaned & bellowed out loud at their own preconceptions without anyone else allowed to speak but them.
While I may have occasionally agreed with some of his points, and appreciated his passionate beliefs in the THC’s vested interests, these paid reps likely did more in actuality to harm their cause than they ever will do to assist people. Amongst the couple dozen people they thoroughly alienated tonight might have been some future allies, and instead of being articulate spokespeople for an under represented population, they only managed to present a disgraceful and arrogant display of ball hogging that any sports fan might find offensive.
Taking from the public speaking school of pointless blowhardiness, the SRO Collaborative duo took a generally quiet room of reasonable neutral adults and within minutes were able to create lifelong enemies, and degenerate the situation into a veritable shouting match. As many people began muttering under their breaths, a few left and others even resorted to telling the two guys to sit down & stop disturbing the proceedings. Shaw’s mighty minions eventually sat down, and seemed quite pleased with themselves, while dozens glanced over at them warily as if to wonder what the hell they really were trying to accomplish.
hint > one of the obvious reasons why THC employees would be so arrogant about this is simple. Much of the quality of life ‘crimes’ would directly affect their own clients
in fact, if evictions were a part of that process, much of their buildings would be empty within a few months, and they can’t have that
response from Jeoflin Roh
It disturbs me that the Community Town Hall Forum at Koret Auditorium (Tuesday 15 January) presenting an extraordinary coalition & cooperation of City departments with the effort to build a Community Justice Center that, of all the community folk who spoke there were two, just two who didn’t get it. Instead of adding to the dialog they stood at the microphone and lectured the City leaders on the dais, and everyone in the audience, about how this effort would “criminalize” homelessness.
It particularly disturbs me because these two were representing the Central City SRO Collaborative. I am one of the three people who fought like hell to establish the CCSROC, and I remember, the night before we were actually funded, sitting in the office of Anne Kronenberg, who is a high mucky-muck in DPH, which was to lord over the funding, when she warned me that putting the org in the hands of Randy Shaw of Tenderloin Housing Clinic notoriety was possibly a big mistake. Because he’d turn it into a political arm of his growing empire of “handling” homeless & housing issues, to the tune of millions per year out of the General Fund, just to foster his agenda. And he did.
Keeping homeless homeless is Randy’s business … it maintains the status quo, which maintains the millions coming into his coffers. And through his charms he indoctrinates these young folk, just out of college and with no experience of which they pretend to speak, into fostering his agenda.
If any one of ‘em had actually researched what CJC is trying to do they’d know that it’s about DECRIMINALIZING homelessness, and providing options while keeping offenses off record.
It disturbs me that what was originally meant to be voice of the poor and too often disenfranchised Tenderloin & SoMa SRO residents has reduced to rebutting the very City efforts that would serve the population they pretend to represent. It both disturbs and disgusts me.
Jeoflin Roh
only thing I have to add now is that I keep hearing about this so called ‘war on the poor’ that Tenderloin Housing Clinic paid reps keep repeating
well, I’m poor, so how come I don’t feel like it’s a war on me? Could it possibly be that I actually don’t cause unnecessary nuisance? Don’t crap all over the place, don’t smoke crack, don’t try to break into my neighbors rooms and steal stuff, don’t generally TRY to be an asshole just because it fills up boring days.
Could it possibly be that I try to be aware there are other people on this planet besides myself?…You know, little basic things like that. Things that Tenderloin Housing Clinic can’t seem to grasp