2008-06-24T03:07:00Z opencongress.org tag:opencongress.org,2007:/person/comments/400036 2008-06-24T03:07:00Z tag:opencongress.org,2008-06-24:/comment/27856 Anonymous This is what happens Rep. Boehner when the Government cuts off people's unemployment and when the economy is weak and there are no good paying jobs. Is this the vibrant American economy that I hear the Republicans talk about so much? L.A. seeing more people living out of their cars By CHRISTINA HOAG, Associated Press Writer Mon Jun 23, 2:48 PM ET LOS ANGELES - Having lost her job and her three-bedroom house, Darlene Knoll has joined the legions of downwardly mobile who are four wheels away from homelessness. She is living out of her shabby 1978 RV, and every night she has to look for a place to park where she won't get hassled by the cops or insulted by residents. "I'm not a piece of trash," the former home health-care aide said as she stroked one of five dogs in her cramped quarters parked in the waterfront community of Marina del Rey. Amid the foreclosure crisis and the shaky economy, some California cities are seeing an increase in the number of people living out of their cars, vans or RVs. Acting on complaints from homeowners, the Los Angeles City Council got tough earlier this year by forbidding nearly all overnight parking in residential neighborhoods such as South Brentwood. But some people are just crowding into other parts of the city, including the seaside community of Venice, where dozens of rusty, dilapidated campers can be seen lined up outside neat single-family homes. The stench of urine emanates from a few of the vehicles, and some residents say they have seen human waste left behind. "They're nasty and gnarly," said Venice resident Jeff Scharlin. "We've heard about drug dealing and prostitution in them. I've never seen it, but visually they're a blight and they take up parking space." In Los Angeles, as in many other cities, it is illegal to live in vehicles on public streets. But the law is not easy to enforce. Police have to enter a vehicle to find signs that people are living there, such as cooking or sleeping, and occupants often refuse to answer when cops knock. An easier way is to restrict overnight parking. In L.A., a first offense carries a $50 fine, and subsequent violations can cost as much as $100. Parking-enforcement officers often give vehicle owners a warning and tell them to move on before issuing a ticket, and that usually solves the problem, said Alan Willis, a city transportation engineer. But other cities in the area are not as lenient. "I had my motor home towed in Culver City. It cost me $500 to get it out," said Desiri Hawkins, who lives in a small RV in Venice. "I got ticketed in Santa Monica and had to go to court." Tourist states with temperate climates, such as California and Florida, have long been magnets for the homeless. Los Angeles is the nation's homelessness capital, with an estimated 73,000 people on the streets. A survey of 3,230 homeless people last year in Los Angeles County found nearly 7 percent living in vehicles, according to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. "It's trending toward an increase," said Michael Stoop, acting executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless. "People would rather live in a vehicle than wind up in a shelter, and you can't stay on a friend's couch forever." People living out of their cars or campers tend to be more well-off than the homeless on the street. They usually have jobs or disability checks that enable them to maintain an old camper but do not allow them to afford rent. "For more working-class and lower-middle-class people, the car is the first stop of being homeless, and sometimes it turns out to be a long stop," said Gary Blasi, a University of California, Los Angeles, law professor and activist on homeless issues. Some Venice residents are clamoring for overnight parking restrictions. But parking limits in oceanfront neighborhoods are problematic because the California Coastal Commission requires communities to accommodate surfers, fishermen and other early-morning beachgoers. "The complaints are getting louder and louder," said Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl. For years, some cities such as Santa Barbara, Calif., and Eugene, Ore., have accommodated people who live out of their vehicles. Activists in Venice are looking at some of those ideas. Santa Barbara, for example, allows vehicles to stay from 7 p.m to 7 a.m. in church and city parking lots. Knoll said she can barely afford to drive around with the rising price of gasoline eating away at the $950 monthly disability check she receives because of mental illness. She said she is also sick of police waking her up in the wee hours by pounding on her vehicle with their nightsticks, and she is tired of fighting with residents who call her "lowlife scum" and hurl other insults. "We need somewhere we can have a safe haven, where we won't be harassed," Knoll said as the wind from a passing car rocked her RV. "I never thought I'd be living like this, but I'm stuck. This is it for me." 2008-06-19T19:37:45Z tag:opencongress.org,2008-06-19:/comment/26820 Anonymous Close the Enron loophole and bring the price of oil down! 2008-06-19T19:37:16Z tag:opencongress.org,2008-06-19:/comment/26819 Anonymous You cut benefit extensions by half for the unemployed but will spend 165 BILLION in Iraq supporting this fool of President? The Republican Party needs to get it's priorities straight and take care of their own citizens for a change. Stop giving Ohio the short end of the stick. 2008-06-16T14:36:31Z tag:opencongress.org,2008-06-16:/comment/25794 Anonymous Middle class America wake up! A vote for a Republican is a vote for your own demise. Is war moral or do the Republicans just use religion to sell out the well meaning and good folks of America? Remember in November!!!!!! 2008-06-14T22:43:54Z tag:opencongress.org,2008-06-14:/comment/25541 Anonymous Veterans are coming back from Iraq with a shrinking job market and inflation. John Boehner voted no on HR5749 and in turn shut many veterans out of the American dream they have just defended for all of us. Don't let her forget how wrong he was and how unemployment extensions should have been passed in the original economic stimulus plan. Let him know this issue is an emergency and that Washington needs to pass legislation to help the hard hit American worker and Iraq veteran NOW!!! 2008-06-13T17:45:32Z tag:opencongress.org,2008-06-13:/comment/25096 Anonymous Read this link Ohio and find out why we must get John Boehner out of Congress. He is wrong for Ohio! http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_viewpoints_unemp_ins_Shierholz 2008-06-13T09:54:16Z tag:opencongress.org,2008-06-13:/comment/24850 Anonymous We are displeased with your NAY vote on H.R.5749. Please be aware that unemployed Republicans won't be voting for you or anymore. The most upsetting idea you and your Republican Cohorts presented is that a person would be eligible for a year of unemployment benefits after working only a week! That is VERY misleading, it is degrading, it makes it seem like a person wants a handout and would be eligible for a large amount of money, when that is NOT the case. People need to know the truth. The truth is each state has eligibility requirements and stipulations for earning a certain amount in a certain period of time in order to be even eligible for any state benefits. If a person qualifies, the amount of the state benefit is only about 1/3 of your previously salary, and depends on the total amount earned while working during the approved look back period. In ILLINOIS for example, you need to earn a minimum of $1600 in the look back period which consists of 4 quarters. Therefore a person who worked part time for one week and earned $1600 in that week would only be paid $50 a week for 26 weeks. Is $50 a full unemployment benefit to you? For this little amount of money, you and the other Republicans who voted NO have jeopardized this legislation while millions of people are suffering in these hard economic times because they can't find work. We are not happy with you or the other Republicans who voted NO, and want everyone to know. 2008-06-12T20:37:55Z tag:opencongress.org,2008-06-12:/comment/24493 Anonymous Ohio will not forget you voting no on HR5749. And we will get somebody to run against you next. You betrayed your state and we will not forget it! 2008-06-12T18:53:59Z tag:opencongress.org,2008-06-12:/comment/24419 Anonymous Stop the partisanship. Your party are out of touch fools! 2008-06-12T17:25:02Z tag:opencongress.org,2008-06-12:/comment/24336 Anonymous Your a digrace for America! Your opposition to HR5749 is embarrasing for your state. I hope you are unemployed someday. 2008-06-12T17:10:54Z tag:opencongress.org,2008-06-12:/comment/24315 Anonymous OHIO NEEDS UE EXTENSIONS!!! WHO DO YOU SERVE OHIO OR BUSH? STAND UP FOR THE PEOPLE NOW!!!!!!!! 2008-06-12T17:10:46Z tag:opencongress.org,2008-06-12:/comment/24313 WashingtonGirl Representative Boehner, Please reconsider and support HR5749. The American people are hurting badly. The current administration has done nothing to stimulate job growth. Wages and benefits have shrunk. Through no fault of our own, many of us have found ourselves out of work. It is a difficult economy. We are not slackers. We want to work. I have never been unemployed in my long career. This has nothing to do w changing the energy policy. All that takes time! The unemployment numbers are much higher when you count the folks who have been forced to work part-time, and those who no longer receive benefits. You are ruining McCain's chances this fall!! We will remember this! Posted back in February: Keith Hall, the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics: Hall conceded in his testimony Friday that the labor market was weaker than suggested by the decline in the unemployment rate. He pointing to an increase of 637,000 workers over the past 12 months who have part-time jobs but would prefer to be working full time. He said the bureau's broadest measure of the unemployment rate, one which counts as unemployed both those part-time workers who want full-time jobs as well as those not searching for a job at the moment but who are interested in finding work, now stands at 8.9%, up from 8.1% a year ago. 2008-06-12T02:45:23Z tag:opencongress.org,2008-06-12:/comment/23581 Anonymous I can't believe you opposed HR5749. You are a scumbag and the people know it now. We might be down on our luck now but you always be a disgrace of a human being. Ever stand up for the middle class in your whole life or just sell them out? Republicans are done in November for a long time not just a couple of years. A long time. The people just wised up! vote for HR5749 tomorrow. The people are watching. 2008-06-08T18:11:52Z tag:opencongress.org,2008-06-08:/comment/21387 Anonymous For GOD's SAKE - have COMPASSION on AMERICAN WORKERS who have through NO FAULT of their own lost their JOBS and are not getting rehired!!!!!!!!! Pass S.B. 2544 or the War Bill or SOMETHING to extend unemployment benefits!!!!!!!!! What kind of country lets AMERICANS lose EVERYTHING and sends money OVERSEAS to people who have OUR jobs there??? 2008-02-29T06:08:10Z tag:opencongress.org,2008-02-29:/comment/1698 lerichards  Lawrence E Richards 7272 Landsdale St. Brooksville, Florida 34601 Law_richards@yahoo,.com 352-585-5466 Why are Citizens being attacked? Mar. 01, 08 Nothing in this world is more alarming then the fact that U. S. Citizens are being attacked and done harm by the U S Government Satellite Program. I was attacked while in Ohio early last year, March and April, after some traveling to Oklahoma, and on to Amarillo, Texas. Apparently, this torturing started before my trip West, for I suffered substantially, prior to that time, not realizing what was happening to me. Throughout 06-07 winter, October until my journey West in March, I suffered an agonizing experience of an equal consequence. At that time, I consider it much more evil and more deadly, for it was done within my home, day and night, while sleeping, while eating, while using the bathroom. You may ask “how can a person be harm, tortured I would say, within their home and not be able to defend themselves.” My understanding was revealing when I thought back to how Russia, in the Cold War, beamed energies into the United States Embassy office building in Moscow, Russia. It wasn’t until some time that the administrations in Moscow realize what was happening, mainly because there was no way of knowing what was happening to the individuals while on duty. I don’t remember the details of the occurrences, but apparently the people there at the Embassy became sickly and this bombardment of energies hindered their work. Could the government in this country, pick out individual citizens who may have irritated a few people, doing them harm? The only reason I’m able to protect myself from this tormenting affect, is my understanding of what actually happened in the Embassy in Moscow. Beams of energy at a specific frequency converging at some designated intersect, namely me while minding my affairs here in my home, tormenting and doing me harm. I’m sure you are extremely hesitant about even thinking such a thing is happening. Yes, this was my first thought when Satellites defense technology came to mind, “is it possible?” “Could it be, someone like me, am under surveillance, attacked by such high tech equipment?” No Way! I thought. But, after weeks of suffering its affect, I discovered truly, satellites are involved. It was recent I’ve been able to pinpoint the exact direction of those invading my privacy, remembering the U S Embassy in Moscow, Russia. I decided it would do no good to contact the Police Dept. “Where’s the harm?” “Where’s the evidence?”—only those who are involved would understand such uncivilized tactics. Spying and harm goes on today and now. Are you willing to believe such evil, is happening, is going on in my home? The End.