Rewards!
As a firefighter for the city of Cleveland, I have a unique opportunity to observe lifestyles of some citizens who are less fortunate than me. Society has at times referred to these people as financially disadvantaged or poor. I have opportunities to work in Cleveland’s poor neighborhoods. I have opportunities to enter homes in poor neighborhoods during emergency responses.
On one typical emergency response, the fire company that I was assigned to responded on an electrical emergency at a CMHA public assisted housing facility. The alarm came in at around 2:00am in the morning on a weeknight. It was a school night in late spring.
We arrived on scene and located the woman who made the call. She informed me and the crew of the situation and told us she was calling CMHA maintenance on her cell phone. A power line had come in contact with a gutter on the outside of the building and was shorting out. We needed CMHA maintenance to gain access into the locked basement to shut off the power. The woman then went on to tell us that the cable TV man was there earlier in the day installing her cable and that he might have done something to cause the problem. The neighborhood was alive with people and parties. Adults and kids, big and small, all awake having a good time.
I began to question how the residents living at this CMHA complex could afford such things as cell phones and cable TV. I further observed some newer cars in the parking lot. Satellite TV dishes were openly visible on some of the balconies of the housing complex. A number of residents, kids and adults, could be observed wearing expensive designer shoes and clothes, talking on their cell phones.
And from what I have observed on my job, I can report that this is more often the norm, and not the exception. At other public assisted housing complexes, the same things can be observed. The satellite TV dishes in plain view to the public. These are some of the most visible indications that Cleveland’s needy are not really that needy.
I have been questioning how so called financially disadvantaged people living in one of the poorest cities in the country can afford these expensive material things.
While on the job during a typical work day I at times observe people sitting on their porches or just loafing around the neighborhood during the day when most people are at work. Now I am sure that there are some people who work the nightshift or some may be simply on their day off. Perhaps some are walking to work. But since I observe so many people, I find it hard to believe that this is the case. I see kids playing in the streets when school is in session. And I know that they are of the age that they should be in school. Perhaps they are home schooled. In one neighborhood that I occasionally work in, you should see the people out and about at 2:00am in the morning pushing babies in strollers down the sidewalk on a main street in one of Cleveland’s poorest neighborhoods on a hot summer night.
I began to tell my stories to people. Some were amazed that these things actually happened. Others, especially some of my acquaintances who live in the suburbs simply do not believe me. They cannot fathom that things like this actually happen and that I must be just making it up.
I realized that what I was observing was that some financially disadvantaged people are taking advantage of what was once a novel idea by past government leaders to help the needy get back on their feet. The programs that got off the ground in the 60’s were supposed to be temporary measures to get people the help they needed such as food shelter and clothing until they could find jobs and become productive citizens. Since that time, people have learned how to live off the system, without any intentions of ever getting themselves out of their so called dire straits. How long has head start been in existence? Created in 1965, Head Start is the longest-running program for stopping the cycle of poverty in the United States. That’s over 40 years! Shouldn’t it have worked by now? Not in Cleveland.
Now the needy are able to afford not only the necessities of food and shelter, but they were now able to get the luxuries that most other people have to work for.
I decided to call these luxuries “rewards.” What else do you call them? They certainly are not necessities. They are in fact rewards which are given freely by our government which enables folks to live without responsibly or accountability. People not only have the basics like food and shelter available, (which I do support when there truly is the need) but they also have the things that others have to make sacrifices for when working and budgeting their hard earned monies they work for.
I remember reading in the paper about computers with free internet service being installed in public assisted apartments. The reason was for educational purposes. Now come on folks, is this really necessary? I observed a computer room at a public housing complex during a medical run. Yet every computer I observed had a resident sitting in front of it logged onto a gambling internet site playing cards. A resident quickly shut the door after she saw me peering in.
The rewards don’t stop with material items, rewards are given in other ways.
Free health care is provided. Free immunizations are given. Are these necessities? Yes I believe they are. Yet others who work have to give up things like cable television or internet service in able to pay for these necessities. Because they work, depending on if their company offers health insurance, they have to pay for these services whole or in part.
Other examples have included a person calling 911 and telling the dispatcher he is short of breath. And when the ambulance arrives, the patient states that there is nothing really wrong with him other than that he needs a ride to his doctor appointment. Another person called 911 because she had a headache. And when the ambulance arrives, there are several cars in the driveway, but since there is a good show on cable, other family members cannot be bothered to drive her to the hospital. How much do you think that these people have to pay for their $600.00 ambulance ride? A person not on the system will be billed this fee. Hopefully they have insurance or Medicare to cover some of the cost, if not, they pay.
I have noticed rewards at the city schools as well. Tax dollars are used to run day care centers in schools for the student’s children. Why are kids having kids?
Money is spent feeding children free breakfasts and lunches. Feeding children used to be the job of the parent. Needy families actually do get food aid so why are they not feeding their children? In fact, all Cleveland students are eligible for free food at school because supposedly all Cleveland students are needy.
Instead of walking to school, tax dollars provide buses and in some cases taxi cabs to get students to school. And if a student misbehaves and is expelled from riding the school bus, the student will be given bus tickets to ride on the RTA. And who do you think pays for those bus tickets, the parent(s)? No, it is the taxpayer.
Vouchers are given to purchase inexpensive school uniforms, (the uniforms usually consist of an inexpensive plain white or blue polo shirt and dark blue pants), and yet you can observe people receiving their vouchers while wearing expensive designer clothes.
Empowerment zones allow ghetto areas to get new sidewalks, newly paved streets and new home construction (tax abated) in the name of urban renewal, while the working neighborhoods pay the bulk of the property taxes and have to wait for the street improvements.
Empty lots where once stood homes that were neglected or burned down are being replaced with tax free housing. You will find some nice new neighborhoods off of E. 40th and Woodland Ave., nice and new, just right for tax free living. And by the way, two fire companies, Engine and Hook & Ladder 7 have closed due to budget cuts. Fire station 7 is across the street from this new neighborhood. Fire response will be a take a bit longer if there is a fire in this new neighborhood.
Didn’t the last Cleveland school CEO live in a new tax abated condo where she did not have to pay property taxes that would have benefited the school system she managed? Doesn’t the new Cleveland school CEO live outside of city limits in the nice cushy village of Bratenahl?
In a story about welfare in the Plain Dealer newspaper a few years back, a needy citizen was quoted as saying that she had been living in her the public assisted apartment for over 35 years, and that she and was just trying to get back on her feet, but it was proving harder than she thought.
I am trying to find out why these rewards are handed out so freely when city leaders tell the citizens that the city is broke. I believe one reason is there are those in society who for what ever reason, feel that they are obligated to enable these folks. The Cleveland area has an abundance of “do-gooder” politicians and activists who feel that in order to solve society’s problems, people should be given everything they want instead of having them return something to society. Accountability is not required. The do-gooders appease people by giving them their rewards. Others feel that the disadvantaged are simply victims of society and that they are owed these things by the rest of working society. You can easily find letters to the editor in the newspaper where the do-gooders write with their solutions for Cleveland. Many of these letter writers do not live within city limits.
With all these rewards, why would anyone want to get off the free system? Why would anyone living off the system want to look for work? Why should they get married? That would mean responsible commitment. Why not participate in promiscuous sex? The more kids you have the more money you can get from the system. Plus, you can tell society that you are a single parent and therefore a victim. And heck, why be responsible for your children? That’s the job of the Cleveland school teacher.
Cleveland city hall has a sculpture on its front lawn called the "Free Stamp". There could be no better place to erect this sculpture. It is a true self-fulfilling prophecy.
In the realm of alcoholism, words have been coined such as “dysfunctional” & “enabler”. Sounds like the politicians and do-gooders are playing the part of enabler to this part of dysfunctional society. The message is clear. You can live irresponsibly, without accountability, free to make your bad choices and you will be rewarded. Or you can live responsibly by working, getting married first before having kids, taking responsibility for yourself and your family, and you will be handed the burden of paying the consequences for the irresponsible by paying the taxes that pay for the rewards that will be freely given.
It seems at times in this society that the responsible and accountable are penalized for doing the right thing by having to support those citizens who are not held accountable for their bad choices.
Isn’t it time to knock off rewarding the idle? Aren’t people tired seeing tax dollars being spent on those who have taken advantage of the system?
Try explaining to your children why our government rewards people for making bad choices while at the same time teaching them the meaning of a good education, having a good work ethic. Try to answer their questions when your children themselves realize the things you are telling them don’t make sense.
And people wonder why society is so screwed up.
