Charlie Blow has an op-ed in tomorrow’s New York Times with the above title. He writes:
Today’s America — at least as measured by the actions and inactions of the pariahs who roam its halls of power and the people who put them there — is insular, cruel and uncaring.
That seems to describe Madison, WI, pretty well, too.
We’ve learned that in spite of money in the county budget for a permanent day resource center for homeless people, it’s likely that none will exist this year. A little money to existing programs will be enough. Oh, and the Central Library is reopening in September, so homeless people can hang out there in inclement weather. Lovely.
To put it bluntly, all of the people who fall through the cracks: patients discharged from hospitals with nowhere to go; the homeless mother who’s been sleeping in her car with her three children for the last several weeks; the elderly disabled woman who was told to come to Grace when she went to a facility that wasn’t accessible; all of them will have no option this winter other than the library.
For more on the latest concerning the Day Resource Center, here’s what Brenda Konkel has to say.
Yup, I think Charlie Blow has it just about right. Madison, a town without pity.
Preaching Grace on the Square 
That’s pretty shitty. So what’s the problem? Just that the homeless are not a priority?
In a place once known for Midwestern hospitality, Madison has become a sad, sad, shadow of a city that might once have cared about anything but $$$$. I’ve watched and aided from afar as I could having faced homelessness and having gotten the Occupy STL to face up to the fact that “the homeless” were “OUR homeless” once we were decamped. We made it through a rough winter……and by summer, 45 people were where they needed to be to get off the streets. I cringed everytime one of my WI compatriots told me of what the city was doing to the homeless. I spread it far and wide when the city swept up the last of the homeless and promptly took them somewhere sure to thin their numbers. 25miles from town, in WI, in WINTER? Without running water, transporation, or heat? Sounds like a “relocation” camp to me. I cheer you all on in your efforts both those that get “up and out” from the streets and the people who continue, at no small personal, professional and financial risk. YOU can DO THIS! TAKE BACK THE PEOPLES HOUSE!!!!!!!!!