I got there late and got stuck in the hallway so I could only hear what was going on. The gym isn’t a gym was ridiculous, but not as bad as Frimark butchering the names of the people who signed up to speak.

It wouldn’t of mattered if you git there early unless you got there real early.

I got there a little more than 10 min. before it started and I was like gosh they should have the meeting in the park!

By the looks of it, I am glad I fell asleep and missed the meeting. Does not seem like anything, if anything, was done

It was a brilliant display of public involvement. There is another issue looming on the horizon which goes hand-in-hand with the homeless shelter and which will require an equal outpouring of public involvement, that being the expansion of the R-5 district. For those of you new to all this, an R-5 is the tallest and most dense building a developer can build in our town. Right now, the area for such development is limited to a “core” area in Uptown. The proposal before the Council is to widen that area to include areas well beyond Uptown, all the way up to and even into the surrounding neighborhoods. The net effect could be to turn Northwest Highway into a canyon and the center of town into our version of Manhattan. Is this what we want for our town? I say no, but I need help, lots of it. Call the mayor and your aldermen and tell them enough is enough.

I wanted to get this information to your website. Sorry if the comments is the inappropriate arena. The following is a letter to the editor I’m sending to the papers today. Please feel free to investigate yourself. Thanks!

Dear Editors:

I was floored to discover that the City of Park Ridge was negotiating with a bank (CenTrust) to build on the empty Napleton parking lot on the corner of Northwest Highway and Meacham, across from the Napleton Cadillac building. The plans include cutting new curb access on Northwest highway and drive-thru lanes. Anyone who has driven in the area and is familiar with traffic patterns knows this will effectively turn the residential streets of Meacham, Cedar, and Elm into drive-thru lanes too.

Not only is this an ill-thought-out plan, it is also completely contrary to what the citizens expect and what the City Council and (former) Mayor adopted for the area. The Uptown Master Development Plan, available for all to see on the City’s website (see https://www.parkridge.us/assets/Upfinalplan.pdf), clearly shows this land to be used for “transitional residential,” which is defined as condominiums or town homes (p. 16). It is not to be used for commercial at all!

If that’s not bad enough, I learned the same day that the City was talking with CVS Pharmacy about putting in a store and parking lot across the street on the site of the former Napleton Cadillac property. This too is addressed in the Uptown Master Development Plan. That land is to be used primarily for town homes.

As citizens we have to ask ourselves: who is this benefiting? Whatever answer you find for yourself, one thing is clear: it is not benefiting us. Just because the current developer is no longer interested in building town homes on the site doesn’t mean that the City can step in to help Napleton sell their property to any available buyer.

No one who lives near uptown, no one who uses Hinkley Park, and no one who is concerned with the character of Uptown wants a car-traffic-heavy (and perhaps 24-hour) drug store like CVS on that spot. Neighbors and park users do not want the bank across the street. These two businesses seem to mainly benefit people driving through town. Neither are pedestrian-oriented.

And neither of these is supposed to be allowed under the Uptown Development Plan, which was unanimously adopted and amended into the Comprehensive City Plan in 2002 (p. i).

The same Plan lists two of its primary objectives (p. 3): 1) Maintain Uptown as a small, compact, and well-defined geographical area, and 2) promote a pedestrian-oriented shopping environment.

Both the CVS idea and the bank violate both of these primary objectives.

I don’t think we as citizens can allow major decisions about the character of the City, the traffic safety of our streets and parks, and the quiet altering of long-time plans to be made in back rooms, restaurants, or golf courses and then later be presented to the citizens as the new plan. The citizens have a right to expect our elected officials and City employees to follow the Plan as adopted, to keep the citizens posted on developments, and to act and communicate with full transparency so that we can see for ourselves that they are acting in our best interests.

The Uptown Development plan is clear: Uptown commercial development is not supposed to creep further up Northwest Highway. The Napleton parking lot is supposed to be residential. The Napleton Cadillac building across the street is supposed to be condos or town homes.

Stick to the plan, Park Ridge. It’s what the citizens want.

Steve Kopka
Park Ridge, IL

I was at the meeting Fr. Morello walked out of a few weeks ago but couln’t make this one. But a couple of St. Paul parishioners who were there (anti-PADS) said that Morello brought some of his own troops (Mrs. Garvey, Mrs. Humm, etc.) The council did the right thing this time, but don’t think this is anywhere near over. They’ll try to hijack the P&Z process to water down the special use standards for homeless shelters, make sure PADS doesn’t have to be a co-applicant, and then pressure P&Z to recommend it and the Council to approve it. Despite the 7-0 vote monday night, they’ve already got Bach, Ryan and Carey locked and loaded, so all they need is one more vote.

Has Bach already polled his 30 neighbors on this?

I’m interested in knowing of any conflicts of interest that the Planning & Zoning Commission members may have. The city lists Anita Rifkind, Aurora Abella-Austriaco, Tom Provencher, Alfredo Marr (chair), Milda Roskiewicz, Joseph A. Baldi, Louis Arrigoni, Cathy Piche, Carrie Davis (staff liaison), and Ald. Schmidt (council liaison). Are any of these members Fr Carl groupies?

anonymous on 07.24.08 12:37 pm:

good question. but don’t forget that they were all appointed or re-appointed by frimark, so a better question might be whether they are frimark groupies who will do whatever frimark tells them re the pads shelter.

anonymous on 07.24.08 12:01 pm:

You forgot to include Allegretti as the 4th alderdunce ready to approve a PADS shelter, judging by his comment reported in yesterday’s Journal.

BUt at least DiPietro recognized that the health and safety of our community is more important than transient homeless, and Schmidt is dead-on right when he says that we shouldn’t be taking what other communities do and concluding that it’s right for us.

Just saw the PR Herald-Advocate article by Ms Advocacy-Journalist-Johnson, “What restrictions could permit require?” and I almost got sick! She states that Planning & Zoning CANNOT require criminal background checks because it is not a zoning issue. Well who can, St Paul poster child, Swaboda? This is a problem for the entire community; there are so many adjustments to protect criminals and seemingly nothing to protect residents.

It was acting CP&D Director, Carrie Davis, who made that claim. Ms. Johnson simply “reported” it.

However, I too thought it was rather remarkable. I also wonder where things like zoning issues, liquor licenses, and basset training intersect…it would seem to me to be similar in nature as to what the city can require of a business operating in town.

This plays to a point I made in a different forum. I have not seen Ms. Johnsons article yet. My mail comes late in the evening but I look forward to seeing it.

Everyone seems to think that somehow this was going to kill the whole deal. I believe that the review process is good and SPC will probably have to make some changes. But I do not believe that the zoning/permit process can put in place “unreasonable” requirements that SPC would have no chance of meeting. Therefore, does this not simply delay the inevitable?

The Archdiocese, SPC, and many Fr. Morello devotees seem to already think a special use permit process is “unreasonable”. I’d be prepared for a host of “unreasonable” accusations to be leveled at anything that may require SPC to do anything except open their doors to the PADS organization. However, as much as such claims can be wailed from the roof tops, that does not make the claims of “unreasonable” necessarily reasonable, nor regulating a business operating in town unreasonable.

It will all be so interesting to watch!

 *edited* to make words match thoughts.

Alpha:

I agree with what your saying. I mean there is unreasonable and then there is unreasonable. I am sure there will be complaining and politicing on both sides.

I guess what I do not think they can or will do is come up with criteria that will be impossible for SPC to meet and therefore kill the deal.

Creating a “Catch-22” is not the purpose before the Planning & Zoning commission.

As you stated earlier, the process may “delay the inevitable”; I would add, and hopefully regulate the living daylights out of it.

To add more on the meeting,

Was anyone suprised about the TV stations being there?

Also while I’m sure the PADS situation was the main reason why it was crowded, looking at the PR wbsite there seemed to have been a lot of other things listed more than I’ve read concerning previous meeting which probably contributed to it.

Wonder how often you get that many people at a meeting?

With so many people there I was a little bit concerned taht there might of not been enough police there to controll the crowd.

You never know when a crowd will get out of hand.

Does Fr. Carl read PWD? I found a great quote for him: “Jesus once talked about making friends with one’s accusers on the way to court (Matt. 5:25-26). Today, he might tell a church to make friends with neighbors before meeting with the local zoning board.” from http://www.christianitytoday.com

Anonymous:

Proof your comment that the homeless, as a group, are criminals. Let’s see some evidence, rather than baseless assertions.

Todd Stull

Mr. Stull,

Were you addressing your comment to Anonymous on 07.24.08 3:23 pm? That is the only comment that mentions “criminals” and “homeless” together.

Regardless, perhaps you will take the time to read:

http://home.att.net/~r.s.mccain/homeless.html

The article cites many studies you can take the time to explore for yourself.

Personally, I don’t believe Anonymous was implying that the “homeless, as a group, are criminals.” Rather, a request for thorough background checks was seemingly being dismissed out of hand, and the reference was to how that is a protection of criminals who, as more honest homeless advocates will confess, do use the shelter systems.

Todd.

I have a few unrelated questions. Do you mind answering them?

In 2003 Journeys from PADS to HOPE had an Outreach Program directed by Adam Rappaport. The program was based on the Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) process, which attempted to intervene with the street homeless in northwest Cook County. I understand that a professional clinical team would go out to where the most severely mentally ill (“usually schizophrenia or bipolar disorder”) homeless reside: “forest preserves, shopping malls, train stations and in their vehicles” and work to bring them into the PADS system. It is my understanding that the program was ended in 2005. Why was the formal Outreach Program ended? How can PADS guarantee helping any chronic homeless individuals currently in Park Ridge? What success rate can our community expect, primarily because we’ve been told that the main reason for opening a PADS in Park Ridge is to help our homeless street people? (Note: both quotes from Journeys from PADS to Hope 2003-4 brochure & website.)

Oh – yet another question. Your staff has indicated that most guests to PADS shelters are employed and must wake early to use public transportation to get to their places of employment. It seems this would bar them from ever utilizing the services available at the HOPE Center which is only open weekdays from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM, especially considering they use public transportation, carrying all their belongings, and all this possibly in bitter weather. Please explain limited the hours that social services are available to employed PADS guests

Alpha Female,

Personally, you can try to whitewash the bigotry on this blog if you want, but it won’t change the fact that the stereotype is staring you right in the face. You know, for someone with your particular Internet handle, I would expect you would be less of a coward, in that you might actually sign your name to your thoughts.

Yes, there are people who have been convicted of felonies and misdemeanors who use the PADS shelter. Just as there are people who have been convicted of felonies and misdemeanors who live in Park Ridge in homes and are your neighbors. Is that honest enough for you? So, are you suggesting that once you are convicted of a non-violent crime, you no longer deserve help? Very compassionate of you.

Are you going to trot out the same tired argument, that once a shelter opens up in Park Ridge, everyone is going to be at a higher risk of nasty horrible things? Prey on fear if that’s your thing. I would think you would have the motivation and intelligence to know that’s not going to happen. There are many non-violent felonies and misdemeanors that people can be convicted of – writing bad checks for instance.

Here’s the deal – we don’t let people with violent felonies stay in the shelters. Is it possible that somehow someone gets into the shelters with a violent felony? Yes. Their stay will be very brief. I am highly motivated to make sure this happens because 1) I want to know who the people are that I am dealing with on a daily basis in the HOPE Center, and 2) Believe it or not, I care about the safety of everyone, including you. Our background checks are done by a local police department, who of course, has access to local, state, and federal databases. Thorough indeed.

Of course, some of your Park Ridge neighbors have violent felonies on their records. And do you cry wolf whenever you are walking the streets of Park Ridge, afraid of them, Alpha Female? Of course you don’t. Or maybe you do walk around Park Ridge constantly in fear. But couldn’t you have have decided to pick on someone else besides the most vulnerable people walking the face of the Earth? Or do you only pick on people who, by definition, have very little to fight back with?

As for fingerprinting – we have neither the money nor desire to implement fingerprinting. Why? Because that is hardly foolproof either. If someone decides to lie about their identity at the time of the initial fingerprinting, then all the background checks in the world aren’t going to make one bit of a difference. You and I both know that. In fact, I was just talking to an FBI friend who told me some interesting stories about how fingerprinting has some serious flaws. As physical evidence in a criminal case, fingerprinting is useful. As a panacea to prevent people from creating false identities, it will fail just as surely as any other tactic.

However, what fingerprinting will do will tell my clients when they walk into my office, “Hi, Welcome, We are here to help – Oh by the way, we are also going to assume you are a criminal or are planning to be.” Lovely. Let me try that the next time I’m talking to a Park Ridge woman who just got the crap kicked out of her by her husband and is seeking refuge in the PADS shelter.

Here’s the reality – you already have homeless people in Park Ridge. Most of them you don’t even really know because they are trying to stay invisible. They are ashamed, or depressed. You may (or may not) have a couple of people who are known alcoholics who are homeless in Park Ridge. They may panhandle, get intoxicated in public, or look big and scary. So get your police to arrest them, and then funnel them into treatment after incarceration! Because I can tell you they will not be using our shelters for very long even if they opened up, because active users of alcohol (and much more rarely drugs) are not allowed into the PADS shelter.

As for us “creating” an issue by shipping people in to Park Ridge – here’s another reality check. If you are using drugs or alcohol so much that it’s contributing to your homelessness, you don’t have the motivation to move from town to town. You are going to stay where you already are.

Todd Stull

Despite the self-righteous drippings from your exceptionally long-winded response… Thank you for your response. It will be very helpful as the process moves forward.

I am personally bemused by your “compassion”. The twisting and convoluted nature of your “compassion” and those you choose to deem “deserving” of your glorious benefacation is very entertaining.

Mr. Stull, you are nothing if not a very “special” character.

Todd,

Do you volunteer at any homeless shelters in the evenings? I’m just curious because you said you wanted to know about who you are dealing with at the HOPE center during the day.

Todd,
Mental Health Courts and station adjustments use various creative methods to assist substance abusers and mentally ill chronic homeless get a second chance; and I agree that these policies are needed because incarceration is not the best solution. But these policies hide actual crime rates from the public.

Also substance abuse is a crime. D. Hewitt, Exec Dir PADS Elgin was quoted in the Elgin Pioneer 12/12/2007 “65% of clients at the Elgin PADS have some mental illness or are dually diagnosed with a substance abuse problem” Do these guests only abuse legal drugs?

According to the 2008 report – Mental Health: Report of the Surgeon General, there is only “4 – 8% mental illness in the general popultion”

“Illegal drugs destroy lives and endanger communities. One of our most important responsibilities is to protect the public – and illegal drugs pose one of the biggest threats to public safety.
(Office of the Governor, R.R. Blagojevich, July 17. 2007)

anon 3:34:

Thanks for the statistics. I am not sure what they are intended to prove. Can I ask something? Are you surprised??? Is it shocking that the percentage of mental illness and/or substance abuse is higher in the homeless population then the “general population”. My anwer to that would be….duh!!!!

If PADS came to town as an organization that provided, shelter,food and assistance for just families that had been forclosed on none of this would be an issue. Guess what? This is not who PADS is. We can all poke holes in PADS all we want (I will grant you that it is not all that hard) We can talk about background checks, and who get paid what…etc…etc. Let’s pretend they “fix” all these things. As long as they are an organization that services the entire homeless community there still will be LOUD objections.

In terms of your last quote, taken to it’s extreme that would mean that we should not ever help anyone with an addiction issue, EVER. I am not sure of the context of the quote, but my guess would be that it was aimed at stopping the entry, sale and distribution of drugs – not stopping people from providing assisting to those who are struggling with addiction issues.

Lastly, as a general rule I would not recommend using Governer B. as a source to support any argument, but that’s just me.

Todd,

I am simply surprised that you have repeatedly, in this posting, in past postings and at the PR workshop meeting, tried to imply that drug use among the chronically homeless population (your clients) is equal to that of residents of Park Ridge. It is statistically higher in the CHRONICALLY homeless population and you should stop making misleading statements
.

Todd –
Are you dating Jennifer Johnson????

Mr. Stull:

Welcome back. Frankly, from what we’ve seen of the PADS program, it appears to suffer from the same shortcoming critics raise about chiropracty, psychiatry/psychology, and the major pharmaceutical companies: It’s focus is on treating, not curing – which is great…for the job security of the treaters.

But since you’ve chosen to stop by, perhaps you will do us the favor of answering the questions we asked in our posting “Going PADS-Less” (7/14/08):

1. Did PADS alone transition 39 clients out of homelessness; did HOPE alone do it; or did all 39 of those clients go through both PADS and HOPE before transitioning out?

2. Were those “309 clients in the past 6 PADS seasons” only PADS clients, only HOPE clients, or both?

3. When PADS talks about giving people “a life of hope and independence,” does that mean that those people have moved from homelessness to home residency, or is this just some meaningless warm-and-fuzzy mumbo jumbo?

4. How many of those 309, if any, have returned to the PADS program?

5. How many of those 309, if any, remain in the HOPE program?

We’re waiting.

I am a resident physician at Loyola. I volunteer at Oak Park Pads. I would definately NOT recommend it for our town. If you all want stats, studies let me know. I have posted before on the stats and what the Pads ‘clients’ are like.

Very nice of Todd to stop by for a visit. I wonder if he could give a big hello to “sell-out” for us.

Mr. Skull,

You said that you don’t let people with violent felonies stay in your shelters. Try to see this issue from my point of view: I don’t know you and I don’t know if you’re concerned about this town, so I need more than self-righteous statements to understand your screening process. This is you chance to increase your credibility – just give me facts – HOW do you keep violent felons out of your shelter without fingerprints/background checks? The more you dodge the question and revert to intimidation, the less I trust you and Journeys from PADS to HOPE.

Also, if someone with violent felonies on their record attempts to come in to a PADS shelter, what happens? They’re turned away? Great. Where do they go? I’m assuming they would just hang on in the community where the PADS shelter is. So, PADS not allowing them into the shelter doesn’t help with the overall community concerns.

With regard to your statements regarding physically abused women: That is what Wings in Des Plaines addresses, which many of us support.
As for assuming one is a criminal because they are asked to be fingerprinted: My husband is in the financial industry and has been fingerprinted too many times to count, never once did he feel insulted.
Additinally many nanny placement services offer fingerprinting to potential employers as an additional security measure.
I dispute your notion that fingerprinting assumes criminal activity. I think its a legitimate means of verifying ones identity.

Alpha Female – Thanks for dodging the issue of who you are. I am special! Super! Thanks for asking!

Sunshine – I don’t volunteer at the PADS shelters. I work for Journeys; ergo, when I am at the shelters, I am paid.

Anonymous @ 3:34 PM – I am not aware of substance abuse per se being a crime – clearly, possession of illegal drugs is a crime. I’ve stated in the past that there are people who use Journeys who also use illegal drugs. However, that is the exception. If you are homeless and don’t have much money, and you have a substance use problem, you don’t have enough money to keep up a heroin or cocaine habit. You might have enough money to smoke crack or cannabis, but you probably have enough money to drink alcohol as it is cheaper overall. The more important point is that those who have a substance use problem are usually self-selected out of the PADS shelters because people who are under the influence are not allowed in. I am going to look at the Surgeon General report you quote. That does not jive at all with other reports I have read.

Anonymous at 4:54 – Of course statistics about drug use and mental illness are rife with error. So any statistic that I or anyone else quotes should be taken with that caveat. Two main reasons for that are that (1) self-reported drug use is under reported because people are embarrassed/fearful to admit that, and (2) it is a lot easier for a drug user (like a lawyer in Park Ridge with a home) to hide their drug use, because they have the privacy of a home. Clearly, someone who is homeless does not have that luxury. Finally, I don’t try to imply anything. When I want to say something, I say it plainly. Drug use among chronically homeless individuals is probably higher than among the general population. If you want to discuss particular drugs that are being used, let’s parse that out. The most common drug used by this population, in my experience, is alcohol, something that is legal and that many non-homeless use. I know this distinction is hard for some to follow.

PublicWatchdog @ 6:18 – Thanks for having me! I do so hope you don’t start denying my comments like ParkRidgeUnderground has. He/She/It has gone on lovely little diatribes about freedom of speech, exchange of ideas, etc., and then he/she/it has decided to lock out all of my comments and (this is funny!) has set it up so every time I try to submit something, a pop-up comes up calling me an idiot! I guess fear makes you do dumb things.

My focus is on curing and treating. However, there is only so much I can “cure” about a biochemical change in the brain brought about by organic changes (schizophrenia), being sexually assaulted or watching your friend’s brains get blown out in a war (post traumatic stress disorder) or getting fired from Motorola because the telecommunications field is volatile (depression). We all have limitations and I wish I had more resources. To answer your questions:
1 – I don’t know, we haven’t gotten our data broken down in that way. If people are using PADS, they are by definition using the HOPE Center, although it is likely some of those we helped transition out only used the HOPE Center.
2 – Again, that is a valid question. Again, by definition, if you use PADS, you are required to access the HOPE Center (except for the rare case where a client uses PADS for less than a week). At the very least, all of these people used the HOPE Center.
3 – Nice set-up for the question! Well done! Not.
Most people who go from homelessness into a place to live enter apartments. They can’t afford to buy a house, and there are far fewer rooms for rent in houses. The lack of affordable housing is a major issue in the suburbs.
4 – This is an area of data analysis that I want to work on. I don’t have an exact number or percentage for you. I would say somewhere along 10% of people return to us.
5 – What is your definition of remaining in the HOPE program?

Young Physician @ 8:08 – So much for First, do no harm, eh?

Anonymous @ 10:55 – Well considering you can’t even get my name right, I have little faith that you will understand my clear statements about background checks.
We do background checks. We use a local police department.
We don’t do fingerprinting. If someone wants to create a false identity, fingerprinting is no more a guarantee against that than what we currently do. Fingerprinting will stop a lot of people from using our services because they are already ashamed they are using us, and fingerprinting will reinforce their feeling that they are already a criminal for being homeless or near homeless. Didn’t dodge the question, and not trying to intimidate. I am going to tell you directly that I don’t appreciate the tone of your comments or your inability to spell.

Todd Stull

Toddler, tsk tsk. Complaining and telling lies again. Some people got no good home training.

Mr. Stull:

Thank you for your attempts at answers to our questions. 

Re your introductory comments, what you describe sounds pretty much like conventional psychiatric/psychological counseling, not simply getting people out of homelessness. Which means that, realistically, you’re in the treat-but-don’t-cure business about which we have previously expressed our skepticism. 

1. If you don’t have your performance data broken down between your PADS and your HOPE programs, then – under the theory that you can’t manage what you aren’t measuring – you aren’t effectively managing either program.  That’s an “F.”

2. What do you mean by “required to access the HOPE Center”? What does “access” mean – show up for 10 minutes once a week, once a month, once a year?  We’ll give you an “incomplete” on this one.

3. There was no “set-up” – we used the term “home” (as in “homeless”) rather than the term “house” because we wanted to include an apartment or even a room in a rooming/boarding house. So now that we got that straightened out, can you please answer our question: “When PADS talks about giving people ‘a life of hope and independence,’ does that mean that those people have moved from homelessness to home residency, or is this just some meaningless warm-and-fuzzy mumbo jumbo?”  That’s an “F” for now.

4. If you’re guessing at your rate of “recidivism”, you’re not managing properly (see No. 1, above). That’s another “F.”

5. As for our definition of “remaining in the HOPE program,” we would consider it as continuing to receive those services either provided or coordinated by the HOPE program.  Now can you answer the question?

Park Ridge Underground – You can’t even take criticism on your own blog. I think regular readers of yours will know that I am hardly shy about speaking my mind, whereas you get to control the comments on PRU because they go into a queue. I was commenting quite regularly on your blog, and all of a sudden, bam! I couldn’t comment anymore. Because you shut off a voice you didn’t want to hear. Tsk tsk indeed.

And, if you are going to make fun of my name, do something more original! Put some passion into it. You could call me Toad, Toad Stool, Stall, Bathroom Stall, etc. Not only are you a poor rhetorician, you’re unimaginative too.

Todd Stull

Gosh Todd, I am feeling real comfortable about having you come into the community, via your role as an active employee (and manager, right?) in PADS / Journey to HOPE, as I read all of this.

I don’t think you are helping your cause.

Mr. Stull,
Could you address the questions at 7/26 2:21 PM? I”d be interested in learning about the outreach program and the HOPE office hours. Thanks

We are very flattered by all the attention you are giving us here on the Pub-dog’s blog, but we must insist that you now turn your attention to the questions that people here have posed to you. Enough about us already!

For the record, the only comments of yours that we haven’t posted, maybe two?, were submitted a long time ago and it is our policy not to post comments that are full of either libel or bullshit or both. Your IP is NOT blocked. Try again Toady. But this time, try not telling lies.

Mr. Stull,

I guess I didn’t ask clearly enough. Do you spend any regularly scheduled evenings at any PADS shelters?  I think maybe you are the one dodging things here.

I also can’t believe that you would be taking pay for any evenings you spend at any shelter while everyone else is volunteering their time after their busy days.

Like a pissed-off teenager who isn’t getting his own way — Thank you, Todd Stull, for your boldly unprofessional showing on this blog.

Folks, this is the kind of doubletalking, in-your-face screw-youness for which PADS can be counted on.

Another reason to add to the list of why to keep PADS out.

To Todd STULL, from Anonymous on 7.27 10:55 PM:
I have noticed your effective writing skills and am impressed. Thank you for pointing out my inability to spell without any sensitively to the limitations I am working to overcome. Do you criticize your clients as well? Your tone is hurtful as you continue to avoid clarifying my background check with fingerprinting concerns. HOW do you keep violent felons out of your shelters without fingerprints?

PRU @ 11:48 – So, after accusing me of lying, you admit that you did block some of my comments? So, I wasn’t lying. But you were.

As to the tone of my postings – after the outright lies and insults that have been directed at me, again and again by blog posters in Park Ridge, and at community meetings, you’ll understand why I am going to challenge lies and misperceptions about Journeys from PADS to HOPE with energy. I’ve been called a liar, someone who doesn’t care about others, unprofessional, and all sorts of other nasty things, by people who clearly know little about what my agency does, based on how they distort the facts. The clients I serve deserve to have the facts set straight.

Publicwatchdog – I did answer your questions. They weren’t what you wanted to hear. I realize there is nothing I can say that will please you. I’m OK with that. Anyway, clients using the shelters are required to access the HOPE Center at least once a year. Staff conducts a yearly thorough intake that takes between half an hour to an hour on average. At this point, their information is submitted to the police who do a background check. If they do not have violent felonies, they are allowed to use the PADS shelter. No one forces them to come in from then on. They are adults.

You’ve inspired me. Come to the Journeys annual meeting in August, and hopefully I’ll have that info broken down by HOPE vs. PADS effectiveness.

For some, hope and independence means assisted living, or LTC nursing care. For others, it means apartments. For some, treatment facilities. It all depends on individual situations.

I wasn’t guessing on re-entry to our program. I was giving you an estimate, without having the numbers right at my fingertips.

By your definition, all clients that enter into home situations remain clients of Journeys from PADS to HOPE. 100%.

PR Resident @ 8:20

Clients who are turned away are transported by the police department to a shelter or facility that would accept them, or given a train ticket to get into Chicago.

Response to Todd Stull – I agree, WINGS is worth supporting. However, they are very often filled to capacity. So they end up turning away people. When they do, we offer shelter.

I guess we will have to respectfully disagree about the fingerprinting issue, as to how helpful it is. I will point out that the issue of your husband being fingerprinted for a job is materially different than a client looking for shelter.

Anonymous @ 1:13 – You’re right. I’m sorry. I got testy. But this is not the first time someone named Anonymous has referred to me as Mr. Skull, along with various other insults. Please excuse my sensitivity.

We get background checks from police departments. They tell us who has violent felonies. The minute we find out someone has a violent felony, a list goes out to all PADS sites saying do not admit this client. If such a client shows up, the police are called and they are escorted to a more appropriate location. We also require state photo IDs at the time of intake. To get a state photo ID you need to present birth certificate, SS card, and other types of documents like DD-214. When we run clients with the police, they check DOB vs. full name, race, and sex. If they are not in the database the police use, they are also denied entry.

Sunshine – This is my job. I regularly put in more than forty hours a week, and those hours are often spent at PADS shelter. Last year, I did not have a regular schedule, but this season I plan to. Our volunteers do deserve kudos for their volunteering. That doesn’t take away from either of our work.

Palmer – The outreach we do involves going to libraries, train stations, forests, and street locations to either contact people new to us and let them know we exist, or to work with people who we know to find them housing or address whatever issue is hindering their advancement. We also work closely with police departments to save taxpayers money – for instance, we will help clients avoid getting arrested for loitering, or help move clients from locations where 911 calls are being sent. It’s a win win for everyone in those cases. The HOPE Center is open from 9 AM to 4 PM Monday through Friday. We would like to expand hours at some point, but as of yet, it is not financially feasible. Please feel free to email me at the address located on http://www.padstohope.org so I can answer questions more in depth in needed.

Todd Stull

Entertaining as always, Mr. Stull.

At least you answered Sunshine’s question this time, and now it’s clear to everyone that you have not committed to being a regular volunteer at one of your own shelters…but you “plan to”.

You’re not just “special” Mr. Stull, you’re hilarious, and quite adept at “playing the victim”.

As for me personally, if I have to choose who to trust regarding the truth of your attempts to post comments on the U’ground, I’ll trust PRU. They are concerned for Park Ridge first. They have stated that they have not blocked your IP but did choose to not post two of your comments. That sounds more truthful than anything I’ve seen come from you.

 *edited* for spelling, because Mr. Stull seems to have a “clinical reaction” to misspellings and I don’t want to upset him. 

Todd throws an unprofessional prissy hissy then has another prissy hissy about being called unprofessional? What an idiot!

I’m just wondering Mr.Stull how involved the Pads and Hope center are with state of Il agencies that fund and regulate the shelter and case amnagement system.

I say this because agencies from the state are very clear in their program deliverables. Let’s leave the shelter portion out for a moment because it has been very clear so far that you don’t or can’t answer questions regarding PADS as they are somewhat separate, (even though you derive your funding as a “whole”.

State of Il clearly states that all participants in the emergency shelter program will provide case management, which I guess you do, but also states that clients(participants) will have access to management services outside normal business hours of operation. So tell me do you hand out your cell phone to comply with this requirement? Since your funding doesn’t cover additional hours. Perhaps those of you who’s lifes passion is to help those less fortunate could stop paying themselves so gerously and use the money to comply with minimum state requirements. Just a suggestion.

Mr. Stull,

I am not certain this is the best forum for communicating with you given all of the back and forth you’ve had with the crowd here recently but I don’t know a better way where the so many interested in this Park Ridge PADS discussion can possibly see this and, hopefully, your response.

You must be aware that the Park Ridge City Council recently referred to the city’s Planning and Zoning committee the job of amending the city’s zoning ordinance so that any individual, group or entity desiring to open a homeless shelter in Park Ridge would be required to submit to the city’s zoning ordinance special use application process.

St. Paul of the Cross has publicly stated that if required by the city they would comply with the special use application process.

At the recent PADS “information” event you attended at St. Paul of the Cross I asked you a question about this matter of special use. The question was: if asked or required would PADS be a co-applicant on a special use application with SPC and / or the Archdiocese for the purpose of opening a PADS at SPC? Your answer: we’ll need to talk to the board (of directors) about that.

Much time has passed and I wonder if you have an answer. What’s requested is a simple a yes or no answer and, please, do not tell me what you have done or haven’t done in the various other communities where PADS operates. As was said a few times at the most recent Park Ridge City Council meeting where the PADS matter was subject of much discussion: what matters is what will be required, or not, by the City of Park Ridge given Park Ridge ordinances and procedures.

Under the assumption that the city does amend it’s zoning ordinance as has been discussed, and if SPC indeed does submit an application for special use at the site, I would submit that if PADS were a co-applicant with them then you could quell much of the debate going on over the whole issue of a homeless shelter in Park Ridge.

For if the special use process was allowed to take place unencumbered and if all of the parties involved sat so that their ideas and procedures in terms of operating a shelter could be vetted and approved, with all of the issues that have been debated around public safety, guest management and etiquette, etc. settled, who could reasonably argue?

SPC has said that if required they will submit to the special use process. Tell us, if asked or required, will PADS co-apply?

Dan Knight

Curios – Journeys does not receive any state funding. Therefore, state of Illinois regulations in this matter do not apply to us.

Dan Knight – My answer is still the same as at the meeting at St. Paul. That decision is out of my hands. My personal feeling – I hope your community finds a workable alternative to the PADS shelter. With foreclosures and negative savings rate/negative lending market, you will continue to see a lot of people on the edge of losing their home.

My last suggestion to anyone interested in these matters – volunteer at PADS or a different shelter. Clearly nothing I say will change anyone’s minds. Might as well experience how much we all have in common with “clients”.

Todd Stull

Thanks for your response Todd. I did some further reading into the state statutes and I see why you don’t get funding from the state. Because they have found that the “prevention of homelessness” as “opposed to providing temporary shelters” is far more cost effective. So I would imagine that programs like our own Center of Concern, would be a more feasible and acceptable recipient of state dollars. In addition, would have no problem adhering to the regulatory process, which is probably another reason you don’t get state funds, too much bother, those pesky rules and regulations would reqire real work with real results.

Your hopes for our community Mr.Stull, are very telling. First by implying that Pads to Hope is our only savior in these tough economic times, but also that your organization may be unwilling to comply with our zoning process. Thanks for the well wishes just the same.

About Todd’s fingerprinting statement on 7.28 8:40 AM, it is in contrast to a statement on the Illinois State Police website http://www.isp.state.il.us/ (“criminal History” in Agency Links).

TODD: “If someone wants to create a false identity, fingerprinting is no more a guarantee against that than what we currently do.”

ILLINOIS STATE POLICE: “It is not uncommon for criminal offenders to use alias names and dates of birth which could adversely affect the results of a non-fingerprint based search of the Illinois State Police’s computerized criminal history record information files.”

Who ya gonna believe??

chirp……chirp……chirp…… can you hear the crickets?!?! The silence from Journeys from PADS to Hope is deafening.

This New York Times article reports a substantial decrease in the homeless population and says that the shuttling homeless strategy is not effective, just as Curious 7-29 at 7:31 AM posted.
U.S. Reports Drop in Homeless Population:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/us/30homelessweb.html

Just saw some homeless at the summit square shopping area today.

1 was acting strangely.

It’s easy to see why so many in toen are concerned.

This guy should be insitutionalized.

also I just read the Advocate and mentioned someone threw some big object through a window at St. Paul.

Yet another response to Mr. Stull: I would love to volunteer at a PADS shelter. However, the whole idea of a PADS shelter came up after their season ended, giving me no opportunity to do so prior to the opening of one in my town. Additionally, my children have been students at SPC for years and I have never seen any mention of PADS in any school handout (and BELIEVE ME they hand out plenty of papers) prior to Fr. Carl’s decision to host a PADS shelter at SPC. I’ve seen fundraisers for St. Benedict the African, Our Lady of the Angels, we’ve collected unwanted Halloween candy for our military in Iraq, we’ve collected mittens, hats, winter coats. I’ve never seen PADS mentioned, not even once until the last week of school.

Please take a look at the PADS summer schedule in DuPage: http://www.dupagepads.org/documents/July2008sitebrochure.pdf Glen Ellyn has 3 sites running 3 days a week accommodating up to 50, 65 and 90 people each night depending on the site. So many show up, PADS states they have implemented a lottery system. The guests go from Wooddale, Lisle, Bloomingdale, Naperville, Wheaton,etc. Obviously, PADS started smaller, but the system of grouping together “Du Page”, “Northwest Suburbs” and shifting the guests around make for some large numbers. Clearly, this organization’s goal is not to help Park Ridge with the 6? 10? 20? homeless that we should and can care for, BUT include us in the Northwest Suburbs “locations”. What is really going on here? How did this turn into “for or against PADS”??? Does anyone really believe this is about the homeless in Park Ridge any more?

As you look at the PADS DuPage link, keep in mind that Glen Ellyn and Park Ridge have a lot in common:
GE is 6.6 sq miles – PR is 7.3
GE has 27,000 residents – PR has 37,000
GE med income $77,800 – PR $78,000
GE home value $416,400 – PR $454,000
GE 70% residents are families – PR 74%

Things they don’t have in common:
PR borders Chicago – GE 27 miles to Chicago
PR is well connected to public transportation – GE not so much

SPC Parent 8-2 8:44 PM is right – what is happening in GE can easily happen here.

Oh – I found the info on Park Ridge and Glen Ellyn at http://www.city-data.com

Mike:

First of all I congratulate you on you ability to diagnose someone so quickly.

Second, sorry but the closed the mental health facilities.