Grinch of the Year:
Fred Ford and Al Holiday

Dear Editor:
 
As per the cover article in The Saginaw News on December 10th  (Fed: Housing leaders owe $573,324) I would like to share these thoughts.
 

People like Fred Ford and Al Holiday not only fuel society's attitude of low income people and the welfare system, but have as little regard as possible for the recipients' health and safety. As leaders of the Housing Commission, they are supposed to look after us.
      

As an example, I moved into one of the five-senior/disabled hi-rises, Rosien Towers in 1991.  At that time, there were constant problems with the elevators, the heating and fire alarm systems, as well as lazy staff members. 
 

"Is this what it's like to get old?" I wondered.  I applied to and moved into Lakeside Village in 1998 because of the heating/air system there, plus I felt that I would be better off.  Wrong again.  At that complex, there were no visible sprinkler systems anywhere in the building, residents were constantly burning things up in their kitchens, and even there a poor fire alarm system existed, plus the fact that the entire building was drywall.
 

 I applied to return to Rosien Towers and moved back in 2001 - back to no heat or fire safety.
 

Just prior to Troy White making his disappearance from the housing commission, at a meeting at Rosien Towers, I asked him if he'd ever lived in a cold building where safety was a low priority.  I will never forget the look on his face.  He referred me to the Maintenance
Supervisor, who was also at this meeting.
 

 I asked him when these problems would be taken care of and he responded with a smirk, "When I get the parts ordered." 
 

Those words really tripped my trigger! 
 

Nothing makes me angrier than words such as these, when parts should have been ordered years earlier!
 

 I made two appearances at City Hall about these problems.  I had an off-duty police officer deliver a letter to the main fire station about the inadequate state of the building's fire
Alarm. I called the State Fire Marshall and emailed HUD about the Housing Commission's poor management. 
 

I would be sent HUD surveys and I'd retype the questions in bold black ink. When I took them to the post office, I'd ask how much these surveys would cost me if I had to pay the postage.  I was told that they'd cost me close to three dollars.
 

I also shared copies of these HUD surveys with you, Mr. Martin, and strangely enough, not much later, we began to make progress with improving our living conditions.
I am a retired school bus driver, so naturally I'm concerned about health and safety.  I was also raised to respect my elders and to abide by the Golden Rule.

Sherry Tucker
Saginaw

PS: On Jan. 8, 2007, I will become Rosien Tower's Association President and have attended nearly every board and quarterly meeting since I moved back from Lakeside Village and still have every note I took at these meetings.

What 2006 Has Taught Us

Editor, The Review,


In looking back at what I'm thankful for in 2006', for one thing I am thankful it's over. Call me a curmudgeon, if you'd like - but I'm "this way" only because I inherited a Pleistocene brain, you know, the brain that survived the ice age.
 

It was my great grandfather 1000 times removed who said, "I'm outta here" - just before the winds blew and the snow came and all them trusting cave dwellers became neanderthal-sicles. Thank HIM for my snarliness.
 

What can I say for Pete sakes? I live in a traumatized city with an "oh gosh-good golly-tazer-enhanced City Council who rides rough-shod over compassion and good sense in a burnt-out Mercedes.
 

But I've got to admit I find their hostile formality just a tad sexyŠooh, baby!  But it doesn't stop there, no-sirree-bob-almighty. It starts at the top, yes withŠ W.
I swear that if there were as many things sticking out of us as Bush shoved in, we'd be a nation of porcupines. Yeah, you heard me right.
 

My advice to your readers for 2007? Get over it and get with it.  Read more books and remember the lessons learned from the Velveteen Rabbit and Everybody Poops. Be real. Join a fundamentalist church or the Peace Corps - do something with your lives and remember to Work (not too hard), Love (your brothers and sisters) Spend (your cha-ching at White's Bar), and Support Our Troops (coming home).

 

Caveat: The above attempt to alter your thoughts and perceptions in no way reflect upon the editorial policy of Review Magazine nor the views of at least 153.5 million Americans.

Peace,
Bo White

                                               
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