Dammit.

[madamesilverspurs]

My building has a security entrance, you need a key to get in. Company has to ring your doorbell so you can ask "who is it" before buzzing the door open. Somebody keeps punching out the intercom, though, it hasn't worked in months. Last year some guy mugged one of the tenants in the parking lot, stabbed him and stole his wallet, then tried to escape by running in the front door and out the back door; he didn't know about the security door inside, and his victim was able to lean against the outside door while he called 911, meanwhile the bad guy kept kicking the glass until it spider-webbed and pushing doorbells until some idiot buzzed him in. He's never been caught. Then somebody broke the hinges on the replacement door so that it wouldn't latch and lock. Finally got a new door a couple months ago.

Went out to get the mail a few minutes ago, and somebody had just chucked a huge rock about the size of a bowling ball against the door. It's a mess. Again.

If I had my druthers, I'd move. But those of us who rely on Social Security, those of us who get housing assistance, we don't always have a say in where we live. The next block over has been known for years as a place to go to get drugs of any kind; we've had our share of police chases through our parking lot, bad guys jumping the fence in the mistaken notion that our cops haven't done this a thousand times. Some of the locked mailboxes are routinely busted open. Now and then somebody messes with the lightbulbs in the outside lights that illuminate the parking lot all night; it's no fun to come home after sundown on such nights, I'm lucky to have friends who will walk me to my door, wish they could be there when I've driven myself.

There are reasons I bug my senators about Social Security COLA rules. My representative is useless (one of the ones who just voted himself smarter than my doctors), so I bug those reps who actually listen to us. I'll keep right on bugging them. I want to make sure that SOMEBODY on Capitol Hill understands that we vote, even if we can't bend sufficiently to reach our non-existent bootstraps to pull ourselves up by. We still deserve the right to choose a safe place to live.

Sheesh.

[RKP5637]

1. And this is just the type of America the republicans would love to have

for everyone. Each day to me anymore is just a bunch of WTF's. I've never seen a country working so hard to take it to the bottom of civilization. I literally dread getting older. I'm convinced I will just end up dieing on the side of some street.

[SheilaT]

2. Any chance you can

(or would be willing to) find a couple of roommates and therefore be able to afford to live in a better place?

[madamesilverspurs]

3. Thanks for the thought.

But the last couple of attempts ended badly, with me left holding the very expensive bag. It took nearly two years on the waiting list before I finally got assistance, and the first thing they tell you is that you can't have roomies. Rock meets hard place.

Anyhoo, my rant was meant to emphasize that we need to change the narrative away from blaming the poor for the effects of greed now plaguing the country. I do appreciate your thoughtful response, by the way.

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