A Thank You Note To The Homeless

Of course I am being facetious but I have to agree with Sue-Ann that it sticks in "my craw" that money that should go to helping the individual on the street is going to promote the homeless industry. Sue-Ann points out there are homeless people sleeping in view of the mayor's office and she might want to take a walk along Edward Street and take note of the bedding, etc. along the side of the Edward Street transitional housing/shelter project.

So, who gets the money?
By SUE-ANN LEVY

Sitting on my desk here at City Hall is a nice little 2007 calendar produced -- for the fifth year in a row -- by the city's homeless department and paid for out of your tax dollars.

The calendar features the pictures of 12 kids together with their thoughts on what they'd like to be when they grow up. On the back is a list of phone numbers and websites to access for emergency, social and rental housing.

Pat Anderson, manager of partnership development in the Shelter, Housing and Support division, told me 5,000 calendars were created at $1.60 per copy or $8,200 in total.

She said their intent is to send the calendar out to shelters and agencies that "interact with homeless people.

"It is not a fridge magnet ... it has really important numbers to refer to," Anderson said.

A contact who received the calendar "unsolicited" in the mail said the postage was $1.78 -- a cost not included in the $8,200. My contact wondered, obviously tongue in cheek, whether the homeless would be using the calendar to shelter their heads from the rain (and snow.)

While the dollars to produce this year's version came out of the homeless division's general budget, this is the kind of thing that sticks in my craw after hearing a long list of city officials and homeless advocates moan last fall about the need for more funding from the federal government.

What is the date........