By now, thanks to extensive television and newspaper coverage, I'm sure that most folks have heard about the near riot that occurred yesterday - Wednesday, August 11, 2010 - in East Point, Georgia when an effort to pass out applications for subsidized housing went awry. The problem, as I see it, occurred when the East Point Housing Authority (EPHA) was told to expect 10,000 people and instead had three times that many to get an application to get on the waiting list. The reason for such a large turn out? There were two reasons: 1) Since subsidized housing (more commonly known as Section 8 housing) is funded by federal money, it must be opened to anyone who wants to apply and not just to residents of the municipality where the application is being made available; and 2) The last time the EPHA had allowed potential residents to sign up was 2004. Combine these two factors, add temperatures in the upper eighties to near ninety degrees and you have the recipe for chaos.
The bright side of this potentially ugly incident was the response by the City of East Point. Not just Housing Authority Director Kim Lemish and her staff, but the police department and the fire department as well. All three agencies took steps to see that a potentially bad situation was diffused and that the people standing in line were able to get the application they had come for. By mid-afternoon yesterday the crowd began to disperse having received the prized application and, despite the ugly pictures and news video coming from the parking lot of the Tri-Cities Plaza Shopping Center, no arrest were made. And, despite rumors to the contrary, there were no deaths and only minor injuries -- the majority of those being heat-related.
GOOD JOB EAST POINT!
Until next time . . .
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