tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15887184.post116482249705367364..comments2023-10-11T05:17:09.763-04:00Comments on Athens Politics: Final DebatesUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger119125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15887184.post-1165501555846064512006-12-07T09:25:00.000-05:002006-12-07T09:25:00.000-05:00Sorry to be so long getting back on and answering ...Sorry to be so long getting back on and answering the question posted about how AHA could be better, and why it should be compared to private sector housing management.<BR/><BR/>There are a lot of ways that AHA COULD be helping it's residents, but is not. Those homes that they're rehabing and then selling to their residents are only sold to people who can get a mortgage! People who can already qualify for a mortgage and who have saved up a down-payment. Which doesnt' help the people who are in medical bankrupcy...<BR/><BR/>AHA has a huge staff, including a department called admissions and occupancy, which does an annual examination of each resident, to make sure that AHA gets .30 of every dollar the tenant makes. In rent. Recently, AHA has almost completely removed the subsidies they were giving residents for untilities, so now the bills for residents are comparable to those for anyone, up to several hundred bucks a month. <BR/><BR/>AHA does NO education for its' residents, all of them should be taught and encouraged that they are entitled to an account at the Credit Union, and taught how to manage a checking/savings account and their money. <BR/><BR/>AHA's "resident services" department does NOTHING but run the individual neighborhood groups, and the larger intra community council. Other than that, their job is to screen all residents OUT of getting referrals to social service agencies in town. The word is that the Ark and food bank, etc. were getting too many people from public housing, so AHA created a system whereby every resident who is in need of extra help, say for the new extremely high utility bills, has to go to resident services who will most often lecture the person on how they really could have budgeted for the unsubsidized bills, and deny them access to the social service structure that might help them. They do give referrals for food stamps, but<BR/>other than that, if you go to resident services for help, actual cash, or food (they limit referrals for food boxes to twice a year) you will be told no. They warned everyone when they removed the gas and electric subsidies that there would be no access for those who needed it to any help outside the authority. Unlike citizens who don't live in AHA, who are eligible for heating assistance every year. Certainly AHA residents qualify for that help income wize, but they're being denied access to it.<BR/><BR/>AHA has a huge staff, some of them maintenance and rent office, which I consider valid. Also, admissions and occupancy, valid, they have to prove every year that they've earned the federal money they get for each and every tenant. But, in other areas, where resident services could really be making a difference, addressing truancy, obesity and healthful eating habits, smoking cessation, offering books and book bags to residents who are attempting to attend school or classes... offering a matching fund for those people so as to incentivize continuing education... creating a real section 8 program so that the poor aren't segregated into cesspools of poverty and crime... There are funds available out the yin yang for creative housing solutions... i don't remember who posted somehting about some section 8 program that the AHA has something to do w/, but that is wrong. There is a number to call for Section 8 housing, no one ever gets thru that line, they only take applications to file applications about twice a year, and the AHA has nothing to do w/those folks. AHA SHOULD take responsibility for a local section 8 program, set up w/HED. <BR/><BR/>AHA above all should be finding incentives for local developers to include affordable housing in each of their developments, whether apartment or single family housing. Until we stop segregating these folks they will never see how other people live. Those citizens who are literally living intergenerational poverty, who show up at age 18 at the admissions and occupancy office wanting to move out of their Mom's apartment and into one of their own, IN AHA, are never getting a chance to see life outside one of those projects!!! I think if the poor were integrated into the community, subsidized by section8, they would see how the other half lives, and as a huge benefit would be spared the stigma and shame of living in a housing project. Kids never outgrow that stigma, except a very few, like Charlie and Pete Fair (who runs the maintenance and rent offices), or even George Maxwell, who grew up in Broad Acres.<BR/><BR/>Charlie Maddox has had a blast being on the board of the AHA... some people are upset that when he goes on trips to conferences, he takes his whole family along. At our expense! And Rick Parker has won a bunch of awards nationally for his work w/the AHA. But we shouldn't be fooled by that. He has just managed to maximize the amount of money he has to run his staff... in otherwords, if there's a funding stream out there, he figures out how to meet the criteria of the funding and snag it for the AHA. Which is all good, except that it hasn't resulted in anything tangible for the residents of the AHA.<BR/><BR/>And frankly, I do think they should have to explain why they needed that multi-million dollar headquarters, and all those staff, several of whom write grants (which should be handled by HED) and the "no you can't get any help with that" department, should have to prove their worth to the residents of AHA. If Century 21 or any other property management company can run thousands of apartments w/an answering machine I think AHA should have to be efficient too. <BR/><BR/>Then there's the fact that they legislate morality by disincentivizing marriage, and forbidding cohabitation of unmarried couples. If a couple gets married, both incomes count, and suddenly they're paying full market value for the substandard housing provided by the authority. That market rate rent is ridiculous, by the way... my apartment was listed as worth 386$ a month. But I maintain that no student in their right mind would pay that much for a 400 square foot cinder block w/pink linoleum apartment with a galley kitchen that doesn't even have room for a table in it. Also, none of their apartments include a dryer hookup, the logic having been that poor people have time to hang their clothes out on the line... only a couple of their complexes have central heat and air, and where they do, they installed the LEAST efficient systems for that...so NO student in their right mind would pay their "market value" on their places. That's just a number that the AHA uses to draw down federal funds.<BR/><BR/>Just one more pet peeve, the AHA doesn't recycle, or even make it possible for residents to recycle. I have never understood why not... there are folks that come around to the dumpsters every day and pick out the cans, but residents should have to recycle, period.<BR/><BR/>okay, I'm done.<BR/><BR/>aquariusrizingAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15887184.post-1165436140137960322006-12-06T15:15:00.000-05:002006-12-06T15:15:00.000-05:00Alright! even though those posts weren't really in...Alright! even though those posts weren't really in the spirit of the contest I congratualte Blackfin_day who has just won a free taco at Taco Bell on the corner of Alps and Braod street. <BR/><BR/>(Open nightly until at least 2 AM, Taco Bell has a reputation for satisfying even the most discriminating drunkard.)<BR/><BR/>Post your address and I'll send you $.79 TODAY!Gordon Lambhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16182514797162372787noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15887184.post-1165435659801002212006-12-06T15:07:00.002-05:002006-12-06T15:07:00.002-05:00alsoalsoAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15887184.post-1165435640596402212006-12-06T15:07:00.001-05:002006-12-06T15:07:00.001-05:00goodgoodAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15887184.post-1165435628724727912006-12-06T15:07:00.000-05:002006-12-06T15:07:00.000-05:00areareAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15887184.post-1165435616527984172006-12-06T15:06:00.004-05:002006-12-06T15:06:00.004-05:00BarberitosBarberitosAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15887184.post-1165435601818858562006-12-06T15:06:00.003-05:002006-12-06T15:06:00.003-05:00atatAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15887184.post-1165435589345956932006-12-06T15:06:00.002-05:002006-12-06T15:06:00.002-05:00tacostacosAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15887184.post-1165435575946884202006-12-06T15:06:00.001-05:002006-12-06T15:06:00.001-05:00fishfishAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15887184.post-1165435562643558912006-12-06T15:06:00.000-05:002006-12-06T15:06:00.000-05:00thetheAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15887184.post-1165435547572835662006-12-06T15:05:00.001-05:002006-12-06T15:05:00.001-05:00althoughalthoughAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15887184.post-1165435513124898112006-12-06T15:05:00.000-05:002006-12-06T15:05:00.000-05:00kindkindAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15887184.post-1165435491802736832006-12-06T15:04:00.002-05:002006-12-06T15:04:00.002-05:00chickenchickenAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15887184.post-1165435475002768292006-12-06T15:04:00.001-05:002006-12-06T15:04:00.001-05:00friedfriedAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15887184.post-1165435459585539622006-12-06T15:04:00.000-05:002006-12-06T15:04:00.000-05:00thetheAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15887184.post-1165435431121466782006-12-06T15:03:00.002-05:002006-12-06T15:03:00.002-05:00especiallyespeciallyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15887184.post-1165435411269611432006-12-06T15:03:00.001-05:002006-12-06T15:03:00.001-05:00tacostacosAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15887184.post-1165435395886340602006-12-06T15:03:00.000-05:002006-12-06T15:03:00.000-05:00likelikeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15887184.post-1165435379115222372006-12-06T15:02:00.002-05:002006-12-06T15:02:00.002-05:00reallyreallyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15887184.post-1165435356204259712006-12-06T15:02:00.001-05:002006-12-06T15:02:00.001-05:00IIAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15887184.post-1165435340544107572006-12-06T15:02:00.000-05:002006-12-06T15:02:00.000-05:00BoyBoyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15887184.post-1165434813710298472006-12-06T14:53:00.000-05:002006-12-06T14:53:00.000-05:00Oh, yeah, if this comments thread gets to 150 post...Oh, yeah, if this comments thread gets to 150 posts I'll buy the 150'th commenter a taco!Gordon Lambhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16182514797162372787noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15887184.post-1165434690219343152006-12-06T14:51:00.000-05:002006-12-06T14:51:00.000-05:00I don't know this dude Snowden but for a pr/market...I don't know this dude Snowden but for a pr/marketing/ guy he sure doesn't do a good job of 'relating to the public' a'la "public relations".<BR/><BR/>He's been very rude on here and I must conclude he's a mean man.<BR/>Mean! Rude! A bad DUDE!Gordon Lambhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16182514797162372787noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15887184.post-1165434559340036682006-12-06T14:49:00.000-05:002006-12-06T14:49:00.000-05:00Is "suburban chaos" more a character, an act, or t...Is "suburban chaos" more a character, an act, or the real deal? I can understand it if this is a character, meant to take advantage of viral media to generate interest in a product or a project, but I can also understand this as a real deal thing, too.<BR/><BR/>Also, I wonder about the refrain that we should "debate the issues" and point out what Heidi did right or what Charlie is doing wrong. That's clearly one way of getting free feedback from the community on what ways the campaign needs to change or continue to get across its message. What to emphasize or to let go.<BR/><BR/>But perhaps that's just too cynical to think.Polusplanchnoshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09326187382121725749noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15887184.post-1165424024024874142006-12-06T11:53:00.000-05:002006-12-06T11:53:00.000-05:00I concur with ryanetics. I hear that Snowden is h...I concur with ryanetics. I hear that Snowden is halfway decent at business but he's definitely pissing it away on politics, which he's not any good at. If I were him, I'd specialize more.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com