James Olson, who in one breath describes himself to be a homless Park Ridge resident,also claims to carries a drivers license which identifies his last address as CHICAGO. Simply because he chooses P.R. to sell his wares IN NO WAY makes him a P.R. “resident” Slight misleading statement on his and the newspapers part.

By the way has anyone out there ever sent a letter to the editor. In my experience, you must identify yourself with a name, adress and phone#
and someone from the paper calls or e-mails you to verify that it was indeed “you” who wrote the letter before they print it. Where do you suppose
James was contacted for verification? What address and phone# or e-mail do you think he gave? Makes you wonder doesn’t it?

I am not sure what you ment by the “whoever you are comment”. You also use the word “purports”. Perhaps you have some inside information that would suggest that the letter and/or article in the Journal were the result os someone other then Mr. Olsen.

Just to clarify, he does exist. I do not know his life story but if you go to Starbuck’s with any regularity, you have seen him. He is one of the two regular Streetwise vendors.

Again we are back at the “risk” issue. One side sees people who have fallen on hard times and the other sees addicts, drunks, and mental illness. The homeless population includes all of the above. It just depends on which part you want to focus on.

There is a part of your article that I find particularly thought provoking. You reference the fact that data is available (including pictures) of sex offenders and no such information is available on the homeless population. This is true, but one group has been convicted of a crime. Being homeless, in and of itself, is not a crime as far as I know.

You seem to be suggesting that there be a database that is publicly accessable for all who register for the PADS/Hope program or any shelter program for that matter. I am going to have to chew on this for awhile but my initial read is that that is not appropriate.

Do we also want access to a database for anyone who has ever received treatment for mental illness? or alcohol/drug treatment? I am not a lawyer but many of these are currently confidential records.

Even if we were to have these databases, we would be relying on a system that could not even keep a mentally ill young man from buying guns to use in shootong fellow students at Va-Tech.

Th search continues for a risk free homeless shelter. Good luck with that!!

yes, i guess we should accept as gospel anything that someone claiming to be a homeless person says. after all, there’s no chance that he was put up to any of this by pads or the prma, is there? and after what publicwatchdog printed about dwight esau doing public relations for tim schuenke, there’s no chance that esau’s doing the same thing for frimark, is there?

i spend a lot of time in uptown, and i do not recall having seen mr. “olson” around there, so i have to wonder exactly where he’s been hanging out – and why, if he’s been hanging out in other towns, why he is so hepped up for a pads shelter in park ridge.

Mr. Olsen was seen being “coached” by Fr. Carl on what to say at the last meeting. I believe he was also one of the 2 homeless men interviewed on TV when this first hit city hall saying ‘he doesn’t think there should be a shelter in a school.’

Mr. Olsen won’t be so happy when he has competition UPtown selling his wares!

Another ploy by the PRMA. Yes there are all kinds of people including bad and good in all areas of life. But there are stats and agreement even from PADS that the homeless have higher risk factors than the general population.

This is about safety and limited risk – not backdoor politics, exceptions, and all about PADS. THis is about any shelter operator!

E.E:

I certainly understand the suspicion about the paper and HF but I find myself in the odd position of vouching for the fact that that a person exists. You don’t know me so I guess I could be making this up, or perhaps I am working with Mr. Easu, but Mr. Olsen does exist and is in Uptown on a regular basis.

I have a Starbuck’s addiction (untreated) and I see him there at least 4 times a week. Most of the time I go there for coffee at approximately 7 AM. I am not all that good at estimating time but I would guess that he has been selling Streetwise at that location for about 2 years. The other gentlemen who sells Streetwise at that location has been there since I moved to PR 5 years ago.

Have you seen him or is he just something I imagined??

A1:30,

I patronize a different Starbucks in PR than do you, but not as frequently as I used to.

5 years and 2 years selling copies of Streetwise? Are these more “success stories” of how homeless programs and particularly PADS “successfully transition people out of homelessness?”

Alpha:

As you well know from my previous comments, my post above was not intended to defend PADS or PRMA. There was a comment made about “claiming to be homeless” and also intimating that the the man had not been seen. I felt obligated to report that he does exist and I see him all the time.

If you also recall from our previous dialogues, I am the one that has maintained that any program that services the “entire homeless community” will always have what many would deem a low success percentage.

As I have said before, the percentage of people with addiction issues, as an example, who ever achieve and “clean time” even in a perfect/supportive environment is extremely low. Why would we expect it to be any different, or anything but lower when a person is homeless? Many seem to think that it is all PADS fault. While I would not call myself a fan of PADS, I am also realistic about the population that we are dealing with.

By the way, while being a Streetwise Vendor might not match a conventional definition of a “success story” I think as an organization they do very good work.

I’m not a lawyer but I have a legal question. Frimark is so terrified of PADS suing the City for not doing what they tell him to.

But how about if a PADS “guest” checks into Public Works and gets hurt. Something falls on him/her, a boiler blows, the heat goes off, he/she gets attacked by another “guest” (which seems downright ordinary in PADS places). Or a “guest” gets sick from food served by the volunteers who screw it up despite their expertise gained from the vaunted high quality 2-hour PADS instruction? Or more likely a “guest” contracts AIDS, TB, MRSA – all multiple times more prevalent in homeless populations? This could be deemed to be so predictable by the City and hence something that a reasonable provider would have a responsibility to safeguard “guests” against.

Then the guest sues the City as owner and contractor? After all, the City is contracting to do this because PADS doesn’t want to. Or a volunteer gets hurt and sues? I see a lot of deep pockets companies and people refusing to be on contracts because of potential legal liability. Here the City is rushing to take legal risk in order to keep PADS and PRMA from it. The Agreement posted here says that PADS won’t sue the City. But PADS can’t commit for its “guests” who aren’t signers. I would assume that the City is fully liable as the owner and provider of the facility and the signer on the contract? Would the PRMA churches be liable? How about the Vatican whose idiots started this whole thing? A post earlier said there was no legal entity called PRMA, so would that shield them from liability. I would be willing to bet that PADS won’t be liable, but would they?

Worse yet, how about if a “guest” actually does what we’ve all been sweating. A “guest” attacks or molests a kid? Who gets sued?

I’ve been wondering why PADS is so terrified of licensing. Could it be that they are so adamant about not being licensed so they don’t have any legal liability?

Sorry if it’s a dumb question but I really was just wondering. Seems like the City might be avoiding a nuisance suit from PADS that would get thrown out pretty quickly and opening itself wide to legitimate claims from everywhere else, including parents whose concerns they are so contemptuous of.

Anon at 10:29 – If Mr. Olson is who I think he is; he has NOT been hanging around the Starbucks for 2 years. He has been around there for more like 6 months. The black dude who I suspect is being hassled by “Mr. Olson”, has been around for more like 4 or 5 years.
Quick questions too: If Mr. Olson is capable of writing letters to the editor of newspapers why can’t he find a job and work with Center for Concern in finding housing? He sure looks able-bodied.

Mr. Olson said in the letter to the editor (probably written by uncle carl himself) that we have 6 sex offenders registered in pr. Exactly. They are registered, you moron, we know where they live, we know their names. Talk about fear mongering, you little weasel uncle carl. What a stupid and pointless argument.

seems there were 2 posters using hmmm as their i.d. Copy cat!

hmmmmmm#1
Have a nice day!

Re the Update, this would be a good opportunity for the PRMA and Frimark to get hold of the Center of Concern and try to work out something with them to give whatever resident homeless we have in Park Ridge some temporary/transitional housing.

Hoover,

I believe the COC already does that via temoprary apartments, which by the way needs to go through an extensive process and valid proof of hardship and need, they also have conditions of proof of securing emplyoment, and if these conditions are not satified they are removed from the temporary housing. I understand, that actually happens quite infrequently. Most of the people who go to the coc need the help, but are willing to help themselves.

Catholic charities also provides these types of temporary apartments, but I understand they are focused more on “families” with children. They do have a drop in “soup kitchen” and clothing closet in Des Plaines, along with a huge list of other social service programs includingadoption services, the Holbrook center for emotions vehavior disorders, and a servivors of those who have lost loved ones to suicide.

These may be great places to give your support to.

Excellent points, Hoover and FYI, which we are happy we made back in June (“A Great Time To Support the Center of Concern” 06.16.08) when we encouraged financial support for that “organization already in Park Ridge and serving the residents of this community with a proven track record of effectiveness” instead of support for the carpetbaggers from Palatine known as PADS Inc. and its ineffective model of rotating scattered-site shelters.

Today’s Advocate reports that Frimark is saying that PADS “got fed up with the scrutiny placed upon the organization by Park Ridge.” I think “scrutiny” is a very good thing, so let’s consider this a positive accomplishment rather than the negative thing PADS, Frimark and the PRMA view it.

I can change my “handle” if preferred. However, just to clarify I’m not a copycat (curious term I rarely hear outside of conversations between my 3 and 5 year olds) – I used the handle weeks ago. But am not emotionally attached to it and will gladly hand it over – no biggie.