The folks from the Capital City Diner asked me to pass on their thanks to all who donated to the fund to help out the server who was shot by some teens who stole his backpack after his shift was complete. The benefit drew quite a crowd, and Councilmember Harry Thomas, and ANC Commissioner Tina Laskaris came out to lend their support. Here's the note, and some photos they sent along:
We sincerely appreciate all the support during this stressful time. Thanks to our neighborhood's generosity, we've raised around $2000 to help Wade as he recovers. The overwhelming amounts of support and encouragement make me proud to live in such an awesome community and we can't thank everyone enough.
Matt Capital City Diner
The newly set up outdoor patio has a great heat lamp.
37 comments:
Great news all around
"Great news all around"
...except for the tiny fact that Wade got shot.
For those of you who riduculed me for even suggesting modifying the welfare program..read this from today's post. Glad to see they're finally doing something about it. Passing this bill will do wonders for Trinidad.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/15/AR2010111507284.html
Interesting article. I guess Barry and Alexander (?) are doing this now that they are re-elected or is there some side political motivation here because the know it wont pass?
Get rid of Clarence Carter Clarence Carter hoo-wee Clarence Carter?
Just to make it seem like they dont always just look for free stuff for their constituents?
Why does Tommy Wells care enough to oppose it?
That lady who quit her job to take care of her kids better have kids that are doing well in school because she watches over them and better not be just dropping them off at 8:00am and picking them up at 6:00pm
It seems they're doing this now because of the budget shortfall.
Blessing in disguise if you ask me. The welfare system has been abused for way too long and is the main reason a lot of the neighborhoods in DC remain sh*tholes and crime ridden.
I'm shocked that DC hasn't done this sooner and I find it very strange that Wells is opposed.
I was shocked to read this as well. Ro said the other day on this blog that welfare in DC was already reformed and gave me the impression that the system did not need any change. Hmph go figure
What is Wells thinking?? Hell, they should cut it to one year. Two years max.
The feds cover their welfare for up to 5 years. Anything longer than 5 years is the responsibility of the state. In this proposal it seems they're basically proposing not giving them any extensions once the feds stop footing the bill.
Wells is for anything that employs a social worker. That is how he has always made his living...leaching off of poor people.
what are the chances of this bill getting passed?
None. Because Tommy Wells will not move it out of his committee. No doubt Barry and Alexander knew that they would never have to vote on it. It's just talk to make you feel better. This City Council has no guts to take action.
I never thought I'd side with Marion Barry and against Tommy Wells. Tommy, what gives?
When I was a kid, my family camped out in national parks all the time. Once we asked a park ranger why we couldn't feed the bears. He told us that if we did, they'd lose the ability to take care of themselves.
Duh.
Is this any different than a system that encourages perpetual dependence on government handouts.
Remember: Don't feed the bears.
Tommy Wells should be held to task for this.
Even Marion Barry, champion for forty years of the 'welfare without work' mantra, can no longer defend it.
Since DC has no work requirement and the surrounding burbs do, welfare recipients go forum shopping, coming to DC for our welfare benefits.
We end up supporting the welfare load for the entire region.
That was acceptable I guess back when we weren't facing a half billion dollar budget deficit.
But now when we are going to see severe cuts in even basic city services, we really have to ask ourselves why we are willing to take on the poor for the entire region when we can't afford even basic city services for the rest of us.
The worst part? Marion Barry is absolutely right. Welfare without work ends up harming the very people it is supposed to help.
I'm a bit shocked that Wells has taken this position. He recently sponsored a bill saying that the homeless had to be DC residents before they could get services, because the burbs were dumping their homeless here and we could no longer afford it.
Well, the burbs are dumping their welfare load on DC, and the cost for that is many times over the cost for homeless services.
We're talking about hundreds of millions annually here, not just in direct welfare costs, but in increased crime and incarceration costs (it costs over $100,000 a year to incarcerate someone), etc.
Wells needs to be called on this idiocy.
His claim is that the bill will mean people will be dumped off welfare immediately, and that subsidized daycare will suffer.
Ok. If that's true, amend the bill so that it goes into effect in, say, two years. And use the savings to supplement daycare and job training.
It's not rocket science.
I wasn't sure if the sun would come up this morning when I realized I was taking Marion Barry's side over Tommy Wells.
Wells needs to know his constituents do not support his stand. Extending welfare is a drain on city finances and doesn't help the people it is supposed to help.
How can we encourage this bill to move forward?
Actually the bill should be expanded, and modified.
It should preserve funds for subsidized daycare and job training.
And it should not go into effect immediately for those that are already past five years of non-working. It should have a years grace period.
But it should end direct payments to able-bodied applicants after five years if they are not really working.
For all types of welfare.
Currently the proposed bill only covers TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families), a form of food assistance, basically.
The real reform needs to come in public housing. There have been non-working people in DC public housing for decades now.
This is an issue that I think a lot of Well's constituents care deeply about. We just always imagined it'd never be embraced by Marion Barry and such, so it would have no chance.
Now that Barry and others have come out in favor, there's no reason for Wells to be holding it up.
This is the type of issue that can remove a politician from office in the next election.
How can we encourage this bill to move forward?
I don't know. Has anyone else written to Wells and asked him to support the bill, or at least to clarify his position? Or is it all feckless anonymous kvetching on a blog forum?
"Wells, Thomas (COUNCIL)" ,
Hillman? You seem to have a lot to say on the matter; why not direct it at Wells' email?
I think this may be the (very, very) beginning of the end for welfare in DC. District residents have been trending upwards for years now--I think the median HHI is now something like $80k.
That means there are a lot more middle-class residents in Wards 7 & 8 who are tired of crime and violence. That's certainly becoming the case in the rest of the wards of the city.
If you ever want to see someone with absolutely zero tolerance whatsoever, watch a panhandler try to hit up a middle-aged black woman, and you'll see what I mean. It's not pretty.
Anyway, there is a tipping-point at which the pool of voters on welfare and other forms of public assistance cease to be a powerful voting block. At that point, these programs rely solely on the goodwill of the middle-class. And unfortunately, the whole welfare industry in DC has been engaged in a multi-decade PR campaign to alienate as many middle-class voters as possible.
I agree with oboe. hillman, you should write to Tommy Wells.
To think they almost cut street car funding a while ago instead of cutting welfare. Sometimes I wonder what goes on inside the minds of these people in charge.
But I'm glad to see they're taking a step in the right direction finally.
When I was a kid, my family camped out in national parks all the time. Once we asked a park ranger why we couldn't feed the bears. He told us that if we did, they'd lose the ability to take care of themselves.
Duh.
You don't feed the bears because they develop the taste for human food and will break into cars and campsites to get it, basically rendering your analogy irrelevant. You're trying to pretend that your opinion is "folksy wisdom" when it isn't even true.
Before passing this I'd like to know exactly who it effects and what the savings are. Currently DC's at ~10% unemployment; are there jobs available for them?
Hillman is ABSOLUTELY correct. This is the type of issue that should cause councilmembers to lose their seats if they choose to ignore or shoot down this bill.
When I moved to DC, I was a raging liberal but after living here for a few years, I see why conservatives want to crack down on this type of thing. I'm tired of seeing people in section 8 housing sit on their front porch drinking a beer while watching me as I leave for work in the mornings (probably learning my schedule so that they know the best time to break in) and seeing those same people still sitting on their porch when I get home. It's insane.
As Hillman stated, I agree that it should also be expanded - so that the government limits the number of kids it will write checks for. Let's stop incentivizing people to have babies that they can't care for.
Actually oboe, if you think about it his analogy is even more correct after the point you just made.
Welfare recepients who would otherwise be homeless are given a "taste" of money, just enough to survive. By doing that, you're enabling them to want more which often leads to criminal activities such as drug dealing, stealing, mugging, etc.
MJ-
I hardly think its fair to use the current unemployment rate in DC to justify years and years of system abuse. As mentioned in the article, it will take the joined efforts of all DC agencies to make this work and help people find jobs.
Before passing this I'd like to know exactly who it effects and what the savings are. Currently DC's at ~10% unemployment; are there jobs available for them?
That's easy. They can rake leaves. Or pick up trash in alleyways. After all, we're already paying them, right?
Those who can't rake leaves can report to a job center and do piece-work. Hell, make wallets.
Currently they're getting paid to do nothing. They *have* jobs. That's their job. What they need are *tasks*.
From the linked WaPo article:
As part of federal welfare reform, states are expected to develop programs to help able-bodied recipients work at least 20 hours a week. But Clarence H. Carter, director of the Department of Human Services, said several thousand recipients cannot meet those requirements.
Here's DHS' excuse as to why we never folks to account:
He said there is a one- to two-year waiting period for job-training services. Carter also said, "The challenge in the District is that many of the customers we support are not functionally literate enough to get jobs."
Of course, we have a jobs program for District teens every year, where we lay out huge amounts of cash in exchange for make-work programs. Why can't adults be required to do the same?
Meanwhile, here's what they do in Maryland:
At the hearing, the District's TANF program was contrasted with Maryland's. Although the state has a population of more than 6 million, only about 25,000 Maryland families receive benefits, all but 10 percent of whom are removed from the rolls in five years or less.
Stacy L. Rodgers, a deputy secretary for the Maryland Department of Human Resources, said the state immediately assesses a recipient and matches the person up with federally funded job training and potential employers. If a recipient refuses to abide by a government-imposed plan "to achieve self-sufficiency," Rodgers said, Maryland terminates his or her benefits.
"We'll work with you as long as you work with us," Rodgers said.
There's a reason why, when folks are thrown off the rolls in MD, they just scoot over the state line into DC where they know they'll be taken care of forever, no-strings-attached, by the citizens of the District.
It's a great deal for MD (and VA). Of course, it has--and continues to--cripple the District.
"Currently DC's at ~10% unemployment; are there jobs available for them?"
Yes.
Ask any restaurant owner. They are literally begging for decent workers.
You can make decent money waiting tables in DC.
And it can lead to restaurant management, at a very decent salary.
And ask any contractor or developer. Again, literally begging for construction site workers, from the very unskilled grunt labor to more trained carpenters, etc.
And often these jobs start at $20 an hour and more.
With real on the job training potential.
It's just that some currently getting welfare consider these types of jobs beneath them or too much actual work.
I'll never forget talking to several of the supervisors when the ugly office buildings next to Union Station went up a couple years back.
They were under DC mandate to try to hire locals, so they went next door to the homeless shelter (Gales School).
They were basically laughed at and told that actual physical labor was demeaning.
Yes, there are real hurdles. Like daycare. And substance abuse.
But those issues can be resolved.
But those that suggest that there are no jobs for welfare recipients in DC ignore the very real huge housing and service industry boom we've had in DC for the past 10 years.
Not that it really matters, but Tommy Wells knows how I feel.
He's a terrific representative for our area on so many issues.
But on this one he's failing us miserably.
"There's a reason why, when folks are thrown off the rolls in MD, they just scoot over the state line into DC where they know they'll be taken care of forever, no-strings-attached, by the citizens of the District."
Forum shopping for benefits is very common.
Add to that the fact that in MD or VA (particularly VA), you are far more likely to be visited by school officials if your child is truant, far more likely to face real police presence if you are known to deal drugs, far more likely to have actual investigation when you are clearly living beyond your means by working off the books, etc.
And suddenly DC with it's unlimited benefits and very slim chance of anyone actually following up on you, and you've got a mecca for welfare benefits.
I got a younger brother that is habitually either homeless or cashing in on various welfare programs (usually through the women that he dates).
He will absolutely tell you that welfare forum shopping is quite common amongst his group of buddies.
He gets a job only when he can't latch onto a woman that can support him or when a locality makes panhandling and living off the dole unattractive for him.
As much as I love the city of San Francisco, I blame them for ruining my little brother. He took advantage of their extremely liberal welfare and panhandling culture (for a while they were actually handing out cash 'paychecks' to the 'homeless' in city parks, and they made it legal for the homeless to literally sleep on your front steps and in your front yard), which allowed him the free time to get himself hooked on heroin and a few other choice drugs.
It was only when his public dole options dried up that he cleaned himself up.
Look, it's quite simple. Many of these people are perfectly able to find jobs but they choose not to for fear of losing their stable monthly checks from the government.
I too am sick of these young bucks in baggy trousers moving from PG county in droves to buy t-bones and big screen TVs with their welfare checks, it's an outrage.
I'm willing to bet that there hasn't been an influx of poor people from PG to DC in the last 10 years; it's flowed the other way.
MJ- the problem is that even though people originally from DC move to PG county, they still come back to their old neighborhoods to buy drugs and make mischief.how many times have you heard of a crime being committed and witnesses/police decribe a vehicle with Maryland tags speeding away from the scene?
If we didn't have a revolving door at the police station after someone gets arrested and there were actual penalties and consequences for breaking the law, perhaps we could clean up some of the crime.
Hillman,
it really isn't that simple. Right now jobs are much harder to get. I recall Scott from the Argo telling me the first thing he looked for on a job app. was a college degree. He had bus boys (some full time, some part time) with BAs working for him, as well servers and bartenders with MAs and MBAs. So when the more educated start dipping into the job pool traditionally populated by the less educated, it just gets harder for those on the bottom.
I can't speak for Scott's hiring preferences, but every construction guy I've ever talked to in the 15 years I've been in DC say they much prefer to not hire higher educated people, as they tend to get better white collar jobs and move on.
Ditto for the seven or eight restaurant / bar / retail owners I know.
I just had this very conversation with a restaurant manager that runs a place up on U St. He's constantly on the prowl for bartenders, wait staff, kitchen help, etc. And he much prefers they not be college or beyond just waiting tables until they find something they like better.
I absolutely guarantee you that I could find a construction or restaurant job in DC within less than a week, with a high school diploma or less.
Let's not forget that at the height of full employment in DC (a few years back) there was still around 15% unemployment (reported and unreported) in Wards 7 and 8, primarily from a permanently unemployed percentage of people that simply did not want to work.
Great News! I just heard on the news that Walmart is building 4 new stores in DC by the end of 2012, bringing new construction jobs and long term jobs.
On to the next excuse...
Inked:
We are overlooking the obvious here.
The military is hiring. And has been pretty much continuously for the past 40 years or so.
It's a bit ironic that so many people actually come into DC (in particular, to the bases and facilities East of the River) because of their jobs in the military, yet right across the street from them are DC residents who complain that there are no jobs.
You know, except for those literally across the street.
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