Questions | Answers |
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¿ What scarred you for life? | The one thing I will NEVER forget is a young girl who hung around on the weekends. I had a suspicion that she was younger than 18 but she claimed she was 18. When I asked to see her ID, she showed it to me and it looked legit (holograms and what not) and said she was 18. I come in one weekend and ask where she is because she was not around. It turns out she was a runaway who got sucked into the sex trade which is rampant in Ohio and was shipped down to Columbus. Guys were passing her around upstairs for 10 bucks a pop. She was 14. I felt fucking horrible for not trusting my gut. I guess I will tell you something else since I already posted something about a young girl who was a a runaway and was passed from guy to guy for 10 dollars a pop. Another instance involved another prostitute. She was legit mentally handicapped, could barely function. She started showing up towards the end of my time there. She was passed around as well but I believe her rate was 5 for sex. Apparently she was having a heart attack and a guy just put her in the elevator and pressed the down button so she would come to the lobby. The elevator opened and she was obviously in need of help. I laid her down and called an ambulance. It turned out it wasn't a heart attack but she turned out to be alright and showed back up later that night. |
Since when is the sex trade rampant in Ohio? | Toledo is a huge hub for interstate human trafficking. I will find some stats if I get a chance. I'm not insulting Ohio, it is just that you can get to somewhere like 75% of the country within 24 hours from Ohio. http://www.examiner.com/women-s-issues-in-toledo/recent-study-cites-toledo-as-fourth-worst-city-nationally-for-human-trafficking-offenses. |
Did you make friends with any of the people there and what did they think of you? | Oh yea of course. There were about 150-200 residents there. I tried my best to help everyone. When I first showed up they thought I was a cop because I was white. There was a guy James who would come and mop the lobby every night at 3 AMish. We built a pretty strong bond. I helped him make a resume and he eventually got a job because of it. I found out that he had never eaten out at a breakfast restaurant so I took him to breakfast one morning after I got off and he had a blast. The funny thing was he ordered a burger and fries for breakfast. There were plenty of people I made friends with they were usually older than me though. |
What can you tell us about your views on systemic problems? That is, on a macro scale, what problems do you see with the overall system (i.e., the governmental response to poverty via the policing system/war on drugs, welfare system, social services, education, etc) that have impacted the lives of people where you work? Do you have a sense of what changes could be made to improve these people's lives over the long-term? | As with anything else on the macro scale it all comes down to money. These residents cant afford to pay 1000+ dollars of rent every month so they are ignored. Columbus is also trying to gentrify the west side where these projects are so they are in talks to blow this building up because they dont make money off of it. The police really could give two shits about this place. I called the police plenty of times and it would take them an hour or more to show up. That's what pissed me off the most. They would show up, write things down and leave. Even if we had video footage they would say that a detective would be there Monday to investigate and the detective would never come. This happened twice. If you do not have money you are fucked. The fucked up thing is that say a person who is paying 20 bucks a month in rent gets a job. Their rent immediately goes up to about 460 dollars a month. Most jobs residents got were minimum wage so how are you supposed to work you way out of the system when the system keeps taking any money that a person makes. I do not see a wide spread change such as tearing the building down and giving residents housing assistance working for everyone. I talked to residents all the time about how life could get better and it seemed like a more micro approach would work. |
460 dollars a month? I live in Columbus and that's more than I pay... Is that comparable to other apartments in the neighborhood? | I am not sure. From what I saw while I was driving around that part of town there are not too many other apartments. The location is ideal though. Downtown Columbus is a half mile away. Like I said rent was on a sliding scale, however I did not dig deeper into how they decided those rates. |
Did anyone ever lie about if they had a job to keep their rent down? | Yea...I even advised a few to do so... |
What was the racial makeup of the residents? | Racial makeup=80% black, 19% white, and two mexican guys. |
Was there ever a time where you saw someone being treated unfairly or being taken advantage of because of race, age, ethnicity, etc? If you saw this, did you ever feel compelled to do something about it? Could you have done something about it? | The Housing Authority (CMHA) really treated these people like dog shit. Most residents barely paid rent. Rent is paid on a sliding scale so some residents paid like 20 bucks a month but that might have been 50% of their net worth. Anytime ANYTHING went wrong in their apartments (flooding, heat not working in the middle of winter, AC not working in older residents apts in the summer) residents had to wait until monday. I did my best to hound them until they sent someone out. Sending someone out meant paying overtime and they were too cheap for that. Maybe three times they sent someone out in the year I was there. I tried to help and have basic mechanical skills but I am limited in my abilities to help. |
So you saw a lot of misery. But with 150-200 people there, and you with a (remarkably) open compassionate attitude, I'm guessing you also saw some good people trying hard to make good lives. Can you recall some things that pleasantly surprised you? | Oh yea there were plenty of people who just had slipped in life and they were working hard as fuck to make it back in their lives and when bad shit happened to them I just felt horrible because I knew they were working. One big success story was that guy James who mopped the floors, he helped out anyway he could around the building. Whenever pipes would burst he would be there to mop up the floor and put buckets down. He would wash and wax floors. He got back on his feet. Got a job. And because of all of the work her put in around the building the building manager actually paid his rent for a year. I would say 2/3 of the residents were hard working people who either were injured or just kept fucking up and ended up there. |
What was the most dangerous situation you were put in? | There were plenty of times I had to defend myself. One time in particular a couple was walking into the lobby to go up to their apartment. Another couple came up behind them (who did not live there) and tried to snatch the ladies purse and beat up the guy. I hopped over the desk and had to "L" the one guy out until he agreed to leave. I saw his lady Friend reach into her purse and pull out a knife at which point I let them go. They left and I called the police. I believe they were caught later. I HATE bullies and to see that just pissed me off. |
What is "L"? | It is a choke hold. Looks almost like a sleeper hold. One arm goes across the throat and the other one behind the head. It immediately shuts off the airway. |
"L"? | Sorry it must be something we called it growing up. |
Kill niggers. | The funny thing is, the couple who was doing the robbing was white.. |
What? o.o. | I explained it above, it was a chokehold. I am sure it has many names. |
Its a TJ Strongbow lol. | Styx is the Gweatest Amerwican Wock Band, and the only Weason they caught a bad Wap was cuz most critics were cynical Assholes. |
*cwitics. | Damn autocorrect. |
What was the biggest moral decision you had to make there? and how great was the racial tension between you and the majority black population there? | Moral decision....that is a tough one. I would say always just trying to remain unbias no matter how shitty a particular resident had treated me. I was threatened pretty much on a weekly basis. I just brushed it off. But the next week they would usually be apologetic (and sober) and would ask for some kind of help. There wasn't too much racial tension. It wasn't like they hated me because I was white. Once they got to know me and realized I had grown up in Baltimore and was not just some rich ohio state student they started to accept me. However I was called "cracker" and "honky" on a regular basis and I had to explain to them that this wasn't "the jeffersons" and those words dont sting anymore. |
What was the craziest thing you saw? | There are a lot. I wouldn't say this was the craziest. I mentioned my craziest in a previous post. A particular resident was really off the hook. Let's call him E. He was addicted to crack and would wander the streets all night and just steal from people (how this guy survived this is beyond me) but he would show up every night with a cart full of stolen goods/shit he found in the dumpster and try to sell it to me. I started calling him Bubbles but he didnt get the reference. The craziest thing was probably this twenty something year old guy who had alot of women in and out of his apt. One day during the day shift (I wasnt there but saw on camera later) a girl came and started arguing with him in the lobby. He beat her within an inch of her life. Closed fist punches and everything. Once she was on the ground he booted her right in the jaw. Teeth and blood were everywhere. When I had gotten to work I noticed the stain and asked the working second shift what that was and he said it was the womans blood. |
"He just waltzes in there, and becomes the king of the carts. What the fuck does he think I'm supposed to do? " | Yea man I am from Baltimore, so any chance I get to quote the wire. I take it. I actually did a project at OSU which involved videos and references to The Wire... |
What is the story that you would most like to share with us? | There are plenty of stories. There was alot of crazy stuff there. I mentioned some already. One story that comes to mind was with this resident nicknamed Frog. He was hooked on crack. Right before I left he got hooked on bath salts which is a rising craze among addicts because it doesnt show up on piss tests. He attempted to commit suicide and almost jumped but the fire dept saved him. While I was there two people jumped (1 survived). Two guys died from medical reasons. One guy died from going fishing on a boat while drunk as hell and falling in the water and did not know how to swim. A lot of misery there. |
What do they do with bath salts and how does this get one high? | Haha I am still learning tryin to figure it out. From what I have been told you snort em and it is just like a coke high. I hope your not gonna go out and start snorting haha, shit will fuck you up. |
Was there a housing police force that policed the area? If not, was it just the city police force? | Yea, they came by usually once a night. But they were pretty much rent a cops even though one was cool and former Air Force. They were not armed. Pretty much stopped by every night around 2 AM to take a shit in the employee bathroom haha. |
>One day the cop arrested CT for a humble. Do you mean that the cop's intent was to humble CT, or is "humble" some kind of slang for an amount of drugs or something like that? | Its slang, sorry its habit. It means a minor misdemeanor charge (i.e. disturbing the peace etc.) |
What is the drug scene like in a project high-rise? Is it run of the mill crack and impure heroin? Or since it's Ohio is meth a big deal? | Not much meth. Mostly crack and heroin. We had dealers come in and pay residents to move in with someone else so they could just set up shop in an apt and people would go right there. They would usually last a couple of weeks and word would get out and they would either leave or be kicked out. Like I said the police were useless. While I was working, there were two big drug guys everyone would go to for their shit. One used to be a cat burglar who would pay hookers so he could go down on them (not the other way around haha), and the other was more of a stone cold dealer, never talking unless he needed too and people respected him. |
1) Did the residents ask you for money/handouts? 2) Did you ever give money to residents? 3) Ever get mugged/robbed or items stolen while on the job? | 1.)ALL THE TIME! haha. every night it was "hey john, you got a dolla?" Usually people would come with four quarters and ask for a "hard dollar" because the dealers didn't like change 2.) No, I would sometimes give change for a dollar if i knew they were using it for laundry 3.) No but someone did put nails under my tires so that they would go flat. One of them did, I was lucky all four didnt. I was careful to keep all my stuff locked up and my car within sight in the parking lot. |
>Hey john, you got a dolla | I need dolla dolla....dolla is what I need. |
Did you ever have to take the witness stand in court for something that went down during your shift? | After that attempted robbery the columbus police took my info but I was never called. The guy who was working during the beating of that woman was asked to be a witness but turned it down. He was changing jobs soon and didnt want the hassle. |
Good luck, and congrats. My wife's an LISW, MSW, from OSU. edit I had asked first if graduation was in June, then remembered OSU is switching to semesters, from quarters, and it all made sense. You going to go to grad school at OSU? | No. I am moving back to Baltimore and going to grad school at the University of Maryland. Not at OSU. They are still on the quarter system so technically they have 3 or 4 graduations a year. I planned it so I graduated this quarter so I can get a jump start on getting a job. |
This is off topic but I'm thinking about joining the military to help pay for college. Are you happy with your decision to do so? | I do not regret the experience. I do regret not being more prepared to handle my recruiters. The GI Bill was def worth it but make sure when you go in you are doing what you want to do and not what your recruiter nudges you to do. What branch are you considering? |
<3 BC. | Moi aussi. |
Did you like Seattle? | Loved it..I was a lacrosse coach on bainbridge island...I have a lot of great memories out there. |
Were the police shown the video evidence? what did they say about it? What is the reasoning behind them not making an arrest? | Yes they were shown evidence...they said I detective would be along Monday to investigate further....no detective showed up....it happened multiple times. |
Jeez. How many justified arrests were made while you worked there in comparison to all the crime that was going on? | Honestly, one. A guy named E who I compared to Bubbles from "The Wire" was arrested one time for selling stolen goods. It was some shameful shit. Cops were there almost every weekend but no arrests were ever made. |
Sounds weird.. but has someone ever died while you were working? Natural or otherwise? | Oh shit...I almost forgot. This did happen. I think my second month working there. A woman came in looking for her brother. I called up to his apt but there was no answer. She said that no matter what he always had lunch with their brother every saturday and he had not shown up or answered his phone. I got a sinking feeling when she said that. I called the police (this had to happen for me to go into someones apt without their permission) they came and I opened the door and saw this guy laying there. He was dead and I had to go down there and console his sister and nephew. |
Oh man, that sucks for them. You ever find out what it was from? | He had heart problems. I asked around and people told me it was a heart attack but I never saw a medical report or anything. |
So what's the solution? | There is no solution really. I could take it on a case by case basis but it is up to the people to want to change. Believe it or not some people loved that existence and did nothing to better their situation no matter how much I tried to advocate for them. They would just keep making excuses. It's sad really. |
If you had the capability, would you dust off and nuke the whole site from orbit? | No haha, although after some rough nights I wish I could. I did joke that we should somehow get the drug dogs into the building for a surprise raid and I would sit outside in a lawn chair drinking beer and laugh at how many drugs are thrown out the windows.. |
My dad worked at a liquor store across the street from the projects, he always had a gun on him, in plain sight did you do the same? | No I never carried a gun. I am pretty good with my hands (boxing, wrestling etc.). I know the corner store workers by the projects here had a gun. A guy came back pissed off because the store owners pulled the gun on him for apparently no reason. I didnt believe the guy at first but I could see how distraught he was. I felt bad for him. |
Which do you think comes first; homelessness or addiction? | Addiction definately. Most of the residents were referred there from a local shelter called the faith mission. None of the ones I talked to that used to be homeless were clean while they were homeless. |
Sorry, read through a little bit more and wanted to ask another question. You're from Baltimore, where the drug trade and problems with the city was much publicized by The Wire (and David Simon in general). Then, you worked in Columbus, which I think most people would be surprised had a ghetto at all. Anyway, do you think the publicity of Baltimore's inner city helped it? Does Columbus struggle to get help/resources because of an out of sight/out of mind mentality? Or, do you think it has no effect at all? Lastly, I'm assuming you're white because of your white flight comment. Did race play any role in how the tenants treated you? | The only thing "the wire" helped was to open up people's eyes to a society they had no idea was 10 mins away from their fed hill rowhome. I have not seen any reform or resources thrown to the west side of Baltimore since the wire came on the air although the ports which were focused on in season 2 seem to be doing a little better. Columbus's west side has its own reputation which is very well known. Politicians know about it. However right now it is going through a gentrification process. A casino is being built and I believe 2 public housing complexes have been destroyed (dont quote me on that figure, I know of one for sure Riverside Bradley). The projects that I worked in are scheduled for demolition but the date keeps getting pushed back so who knows. Some resources such as section 8 housing vouchers are being thrown their way but besides that there is a long way to go. FInally race did play a big role at first and in time that dwindled. At first they assumed I was a cop because I was white, and then people took a long time to warm up to me which I expected. After they realized I was not just some rich Ohio State University kid whose mommy and daddy paid for everything they warmed up to me pretty quick. I said before that racial terms like Honky and Cracker and Whiteboy were thrown around but they never affected me. |
So, I notice a lot of negative questions, which is normal, but as someone who spent years living in and around the projects I always was impressed by the underground economics of the place. The residents are seriously very ingenuitive and find interesting ways to make money (fixing things that are FUBAR, getting ppl. free cable, making homemade meals for lunch etc...). What are some interesting ways you saw people making money? Also, as far as gangs go, did you notice the gangs and other organizations helping to police the community, or in your eyes were just making everything worse? | Oh many the economy of the projects was amazing. You nailed it. People would make money doing anything. Some people would clean your apartment. There was one guy who would fix your car, another who would wash it. Women would do your hair. One sign I saw hung up offered to actually bathe people (this included a foot scrub and cleaning behind the neck haha). There was always a way for people to make money. As far as gangs go, there was not too much activity in the actual project. Dealers were there, however gangs were not their muscle at least in the building. In the surrounding communities they were active. However the dealers did try to help the residents. They bought a TV for the lounge area, they would order the boxing fights and throw parties, and they would order pizza for random people and sometimes even pay peoples rent. However if you got in debt to the dealers you better believe you would do your damndest to pay them back. As long as you were on their good side you were fine. However, I have digressed. To your question of self policing, most of the time this is what happened. People would fuck up and others would either help or punish whoever was involved. Police were called quite often but it was mostly for minor squabbles. I hope I answered your question. |
Did any of the statues or props in the inner city houses come to life overnight? | Naaa I dont think the golden tablet was there...probably stolen by one of the fiends and pawned. |
To my knowledge there is really only one true high rise projects in Columbus, by osu east? Is this where you worked? Assuming you went to osu, how would you compare where you worked to the section 8 around campus? | The one I worked at u can see it from 315. It is called sunshine terrace. I'm not sure if there are others..its on the westside by mt carmel west. I did not hang out too much by the on campus housing I live up in Dublin. So I can't compare. |
Also a question. ive done work with at-risk kids in these kinds of projects. Are there any programs in place by you to help keep the kids off the streets, and out of the whole poverty cycle? | There were not any kids in these projects except for maybe those that visited on weekends. We had one little guy call 911 and hang up in the lobby and all kids of cops and fire engines showed up. I do work with at risk youth at my internship and there are alot of programs to help them get off the streets. Two are LiFE Sports and Camp Mary Orton's Wilderness bond program. Both can be found online.. |
Why is it relevant that you're white? | Its not. I was just putting it in the title to get people's attention...it worked. |
Did you ever have any homo erotic experiences with any of the people that lived there? | Aaaaaaalllllll the time....jjjjjuuusssstttt kkiidddiiinngg....there wasnt too much man love but I knew for sure three gay guys who lived there....its not exactly the most welcoming demographic. |
Were there any kids growing up there? | No..kids would visit on the weekends and stuff but there were no kids living there. |
Mine is..... | Nice...just recently discovered the band I love their shit. Although you could be a Dicken's lover haha. |
Why did you feel the need to call out that you are white? | Gotta be honest on this one. It was kind of a big deal with people around here knowing that I was a white guy working in a predominately black housing project. I could care less either way but it was just habit I suppose.. |
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