On 10/7/14, Carl Jarvis <carjar82@gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Carl Jarvis <carjar82@gmail.com>
> Date: Mon, 6 Oct 2014 09:44:03 -0700
> Subject: Housing Rights Group Says HUD Program Helps Wall Street, But
> Hurts small business owners like Archie.
> To: Blind Democracy Discussion List <blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
>
> How many Archie's have been sacrificed on the Alter of Progress?
> Bigger and Better and Cheaper. Or is it? Better and cheaper, I mean.
> Certainly it's bigger. But how do we factor in the loss of local
> small businesses? Where are the numbers showing the added cost to a
> town when the Box Stores move in, and wages are low enough to force
> employees to seek government relief? And how do we factor in the loss
> of dollars that would have stayed in the community if they had been
> spent in locally owned stores? And what about Pride and Dignity? And
> when is the last time you attended a community town hall meeting and
> sat next to Mister First Class Corporate Citizen, eager to do his part
> in supporting his town? These corporations have no loyalties, except
> to their bottom line. Profit. They work for Profit. Profit is what
> drives them. Profit comes before People. People are reduced to
> Consumer. Consumers exist only to be exploited.
> My neighbor some many years ago, had two accounts with Sea First Bank.
> One month she sat at her desk and wrote checks to cover her bills, and
> mailed them off. Being a retired book keeper, she took great pride in
> her ability to keep her records in perfect order. So you can imagine
> her surprise when she began to receive NSF notices. When she went to
> her local drug store the druggist handed her the check she had given
> him. "It bounced", he announced, embarrassing her to tears. She had
> never in all her years ever had a check bounce.
> As it turned out, the bank had used her second account, even though
> the checks were written to her regular account. There had been almost
> nothing in the second account, so all of the checks she'd written that
> month bounced. And Sea First charged her fees for overdrafts. When
> they realized their mistake they advised her to cover the original
> checks with new checks. And they refused to remove the penalties.
> She had thought that the bank might have sent a note to her creditors,
> explaining their mistake. We all laughed about that, later. My
> neighbor drew out her money and took it to another bank. But Sea
> First could care less. My neighbor never got it through her head that
> she was not a person in the eyes of Sea First, nor in the eyes of any
> bank. She, and her money, were there to serve the bank, not the other
> way around. And even worse was the rudeness of the panty waist of a
> bank manager, who drew himself up in the beginning and told her in no
> uncertain terms that, "We do not make mistakes at Sea First". He
> never apologized to her in person. He left that for some lowly teller
> to do.
>
> Carl Jarvis
>
>
> On 10/6/14, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
>> And that reminds me of Archie, who I haven't thought about for years. But
>> I
>> was reminded of him the other day after the trauma of my little corner
>> pharmacy closing without notice. The Rite Aid Pharmacy which,
>> theoretically,
>> will deliver my medication today, (I'll believe it when I see it), was
>> built
>> in a new building that the Village of Westbury agreed to build several
>> years
>> ago. The new building was supposed to have a large discount liquor store
>> and
>> other stores as well. In order for it to be built, a large number of
>> small
>> homes and stores had to be demolished. Among these with a little
>> neighborhood liquor store that existed for years, owned by an elderly
>> African American man whose name was Archie. He was a kind, dignified,
>> knowledgeable man with whom I loved to talk, whenever I went into his
>> tore
>> to buy something. He had an incredible amount of knowledge about a
>> variety
>> of subjects. He had determined that he would not retire, because
>> operating
>> his store and interacting with his customers was the most important part
>> of
>> his life. That is, he didn't retire until the Village was bought off by a
>> developer and agreed to destroy his store.
>>
>> Miriam
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Blind-Democracy [mailto:blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org] On
>> Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
>> Sent: Monday, October 06, 2014 1:12 AM
>> To: Blind Democracy Discussion List
>> Subject: Housing Rights Group Says HUD Program Helps Wall Street, Hurts
>> Homeowners. Duh
>>
>> Just one more example in a growing mountain of examples, telling us
>> very clearly that we are not, "We, the People".
>> Unless one or two of you are members in the Ruling Class...if you're
>> uncertain, just check with your financial managers...and if you, like
>> me, are in "partnership with your bank in the ownership of your home,
>> you are at risk every minute of the day. Any contract you have with
>> any bank will protect the bank's interest, at your expense.
>> Even owning your home is not going to keep you safe. Some 20 years
>> ago the neighborhood I lived in was desecrated by the State of
>> Washington, when it modified the 405 "S" curves. 21 homes were
>> crushed by the Jaws of Death. My once quiet, happy neighborhood
>> looked like a war zone. The heavy hammering by the heavy equipment
>> caused cracks to appear in my retaining walls, and I had to engage a
>> lawyer in order to have them attended to. My lawyer happened to live
>> across the street in a beautiful older brick home. Tiles on his roof
>> cracked, plaster fell off walls and cracks appeared in his basement.
>> Since Renton Hill was riddled with abandoned coal mine shafts, the
>> pounding caused several back yards to drop several feet. One home
>> lost its garage. In every case the State of Washington balked at
>> making good for the home owners. Several did not retain lawyers, and
>> they wound up eating their losses.
>> Beyond that, the county, city or state can condemn your property for a
>> wide range of reasons.
>> While I have seen countless examples of homes being razed for "the
>> good of the community", it's always been the homes and property of the
>> Working/Middle/Lower Class. Find me an example of the property of
>> some member of the Ruling Class being condemned in order to build a
>> sports arena or a new shopping mall. It doesn't happen.
>> The worst case I recall was an elderly lady in the lower end of
>> Ballard, in Seattle. A large supermarket decided to expand into a
>> mini mall. Quietly they went about the neighborhood buying what
>> property they could barter for bottom dollars. These were older
>> Working Class homes and most folks bailed when they had the best deal
>> they could wrangle. But a few folks held out, including the elderly
>> lady. The homes on her end of the block sat high on a bank, with a
>> steep flight of stairs leading up to the front porch. The corporation
>> put pressure on the few holdouts, threatening some, digging up dirt on
>> others, until there was finally only one house remaining. So the
>> demolition crews moved in and the huge land movers took down the hill,
>> leveling the entire double block. Except for one house. There it
>> sat, high above the new asphalt. Its dirt walls crumbling.
>> I don't know what ever happened to that lady or her house. Of course
>> no one was ever going to pay her for it. I used to shop at that super
>> market, from time to time. But I never set foot on its ill-gotten
>> property after that.
>> I haven't thought about that lady in over 50 years, but it still
>> brings a lump to my throat.
>> I have to say, I do not understand how some working class folk believe
>> that the Ruling Class cares one whit about them. Sure, they look sort
>> of like the rest of us. And they even talk sort of the same. They
>> even joke with us, and promise us all sorts of crumbs from their
>> tables. And at night they bed down together just like we do, except
>> they bed down beneath silken sheets in homes that will never be seized
>> by the state. And as they settle in for the night, they even chuckle
>> about the poor little suckers who slave to make their life so
>> wonderful.
>> Well, enough of this drivel. This sucker is going to bed. Beneath
>> cotton sheets. In a home that could be condemned tomorrow. But I
>> never look down on my fellow working class members. We are the real
>> back bone of whatever is left of this nation.
>>
>> Carl Jarvis
>>
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