Man Evicted From Chicago Drawbridge

They leave a lot out of that story. Wonder why the guy was homeless? Is he a schizophrenic or an alkie? Schizophrenics are a truely disturbing segment of the homeless problem in the US today. Many refuse to take their medications and instead roam our city's streets like feral animals. I feel sorry for them. Its not like they can sit around and make good, rational judgements with all that noise coming in from their fillings in their teeth and the messages from God and the devil and the angels. They can be really scarey when in the full blown throes of paranoid psychosis and sweet as lambs a day later. What difficult lives they lead, and they can be very threatening to the rest of us. You'd think we'd come up with a better answer for them than to have them live under bridges, though. I knew one schizophrenic who did comply with his medications, and he was one of the kindest people I have ever met - always trying to help out folks he met on the streets or in the clinic. This got him into trouble often, because the predators would take complete advantage of him. He was also extremely delusional and used to tell me the most incredible stories. Poor man!

The social services system in this country is so bizarre. It heavily favors women who have children with no father around. Many of these women honestly DO need the help. The Dad may have deserted the family or maybe was abusive and the woman has no job skills. Such women and their children really do need assistance, and I don't begrudge them it for a moment. Then there are those who are obviously playing the system. They have kids just to stay on the benefits. These people sour the picture for everyone else.

Single people with disabilities can get really hit hard. If they had low paying jobs which didn't provide private disability insurance, they're just plain out of luck. SSI pays $579.00/month. Some states will supplement this, but many, including Colorado, don't. No one can live on that sum of money. They have to have a housing voucher to make it. Good luck! The US is busily bombing homes then awarding lucrative contracts to W's cronies to rebuild them in Iraq, but forget about our own people back here in the US of A.

The Iraqi's have Halliburten; we have HUD. Guess who gets the home and the first two guesses don't count. What's THAT all about? Why is Abdul so much more deserving than Joe? At least Joe paid taxes before becoming old and/or disabled. Abdul sure as hell didn't and is probably out aiming a sniper's rifle at one of our soldiers right now.

The housing voucher program is being dismantled. Colorado alone will lose 2,000 vouchers by 2010. Where are folks going to go? That bridge in Chicago is out. Where?

[xoxoxoBruce]

Well, he wasn't stupid.

Inside, authorities found a home more elaborate than the usual warrens other homeless people have created in the city's nooks and crannies. Dorsay had tapped into the bridge's electricity to power a television, microwave, space heater and PlayStation video game system. There he could relax and, on occasions, turn on a Chicago Bears game, invite friends over and pop open some beers.

Whenever he left, he would pop his head out of the hole to look for traffic. Then he would climb out and go about his routine of panhandling or searching for items to sell at junk yards. He also collects a welfare check.

He also apparently had an alternative.

Dorsay's father came by the police station Sunday to take him to his home in Burr Ridge.

Which is why I wonder if he wasn't a schizophrenic, Bruce. An alkie wouldn't have had the agility to leap in and out of there through traffic like this guy did. Schizophrenics will often devise very elaborate living situations for themselves. The one I knew used to wander the alleys and go dumpster diving for stereo equipment. His entire two rooms that he lived in was a maze of electronic devices, cleverly cobbled together. The Dad may not have been able to handle the son's schizophrenic outburts, so that's why his son wasn't with him. I'm just guessing, here. There could be many other reasons for the man's story.