Park Bench Voters

[Towntalk]

On the PBS program This Old House, the project involved recycling materials from and to the project house.

I haven't checked out their web site on this project, but it seems to me that for a group looking to start up a business in building materials that this would be a good start.

There are for example businesses that buy old radiators and restore them for resale as well as doors and fireplace mantels.

Others buy old wooden flooring, recondition it and sell it at a fair profit.

Habatat For Humanity also accepts certain items from remodeling jobs such as sinks and vanities.

[AllanY2525]

I think that the new president (whether Obama or McCain) should re-create the
"Work Program of America".  It was a huge success in its day - and helped bring
the country out of the LAST depression by putting MILLIONS of Americans
BACK TO WORK until other jobs were available.

I can still - to this day - walk through older neighborhoods and occasionally find
a slab of concrete sidewalk with the embedded, oval stamp bearing the "WPA"
logo - a testament to a government program that actually worked in its time.

Providing training to people whose jobs are gone doesn't help, UNLESS they are
given a JOB to USE the skills they've been taught it's a waste of time.

[AllanY2525]

Towntalk,

I agree with you, in that it is truly a sad sign of our times when the United States wants
to try and take care of the rest of the world, while things are literally falling apart here
at home.

Although we cannot force homeless people to live in shelters, etc, it is an utter DISGRACE
that this nation (arguably the wealthiest one on earth) turns its back on those who need
help the most - people who are living RIGHT HERE in the United States.

They estimate that we are spending over eight hundred MILLION dollars, a DAY, in Iraq.
If we took our expenditures for Iraq for even one MONTH, and put them to use ON OUR
OWN SOIL, for programs such as homeless shelters, JOB programs, SCHOOLS, etc...
just think how much better things might *POSSIBLY* be here at home.

If we had taken the total amount of money spent (so FAR) on the war in Iraq, and
deposited it into the Social Security Trust Fund, what kind of effect would that have
had on the impending avalanche of retirees brought about by the baby boomers'
generation?

Just thinking out loud here...and, of course, totally my opinion - right or wrong.

:/

[Towntalk]

How many street people will actually vote, and given their life's circumstance, how could they make an informed decision?

As a supporter of such organizations as the Rescue Mission and the Salvation Army, if we would give them the support that they need, there would be no reason for people to live on park benches, or over heat grates, or abandoned buildings.

It's a sad state of affairs that anyone in America would have to live under bridges, on park benches, or in abandoned buildings.

Reports tell us that many of these people have mental health problems or on drugs, yet organizations such as the ACLU tell us that it's their Constitutional right to live that way even if it kills them.

[AllanY2525]

I think the city could have set up an official registration and polling
place for those who do not have a permanent address.  This temporary
registration and polling place could have had some mechanism for
accurately identifying those who wanted to vote (but were homeless
or had no address of their own - ie: living with someone else on a
temporary basis).

Some kind of photo ID, using birth certificates, social security
numbers, and past id's. 

An expired drivers license or state issued ID could be considered VALID
for voting purposose.  The fact that the ID has expired
does not change the validity of the holder's identity.

You know what people often say: "Once you're in the system..."

A couple years back, a Youngstown Police officer stopped me on
Elm street for a bad tail light - it totally amazed me that the
city of Youngstown STILL had records of the last driver's license
I held in the State of Ohio before relocating to Maryland - OVER
TWENTY YEARS AGO !!  I almost had to laugh when the officer
asked me "is this still your current address" (WHILE looking at my
Maryland license...)

The fact that they even HAD this information on my former address
after so many years had passed really threw me for a loop.

[rusty river]

Is it just me or is Jennifer Brunner 100x times worse than Ken Blackwell. And I think we all know how bad Blackwell was...

Well personally, I think it's just you. If that statement was made in reference to the article below, I'm a little confused, because Brunner was the DEFENDANT in the challenge to Ohio voter ID laws, and I'm assuming that you support those laws. I am interested in what you base your opinion on though. If Brunner was even half as bad as Blackwell, we would have had the Ohio GOP relentlessly denouncing whatever alleged ill actions of her office throughout the past couple years, considering the media frenzy the Dems stirred against Blackwell.

And wouldn't it have been a more reasonable ruling to allow the  homeless to claim the address of the park itself or the address of the local parks department or offices instead of something absurdly vague like benches?

[ytowner]

Is it just me or is Jennifer Brunner 100x times worse than Ken Blackwell. And I think we all know how bad Blackwell was...

[Towntalk]

Never underestimate the minds of some judges. Don't be surprised if there are judges that would equate park benches to apartments in an apartment house or flop house.

Remember that the ACLU went to court and won when cities rounded up homeless people and put them up in shelters when the weather was subfreezing.

The courts ruled that street people had the Constitutional right to freeze to death and the police had no right to protect them from themselves.

[Why?Town]

of course it was a stupid ruling. everyone knows that park benches don't have addresses.  I'm pretty sure telephone poles do though.

[Towntalk]

Sarge, it's not you, its the people who end up sitting on the benches of our courts at every level.

The judge in question without any Shadow of a doubt made a very stupid ruling that should be taken to the U.S. Supreme Court ASAP.

Can you see it ... the state will have to issue state ID cards to the homeless and their address will look like this:

Joe Jones
Number 2 East Park Bench
Wick Park
Youngstown, Ohio

Over the years I've read about looney court decisions, most of which came out of California, but this decision tops them all, but rejoice and be exceeding happy for this is what you spent so many years in our armed services for, so we're told.

[The next thing we'll see is a court ruling that says that the city must provide proper bedding for the park bench dwellers.]

[sfc_oliver]

Is it just me or does Ohio need to rewrite their voting laws starting with a blank piece of paper?

[Elmo-Ytown]

If you need ID to vote... and you need proof of address to get ID... Then how do people listing park benches as home address even vote?

[Towntalk]

Judge rules Ohio homeless voters may list park benches as addresses
http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/10/28/ajudgerule.html?sid=101