Showing posts with label discrimination. Show all posts
Showing posts with label discrimination. Show all posts

Saturday, December 28, 2024

A Crazy World We Live In - Apartment Life

Home!

The world has gone crazy. I honestly believe it has. This is not meant to be a political or religious post. It is just that the more people cry and whine about things such as race, gender, religion, age, etc. the worse our society becomes. I agree some changes are good. Not the majority of them though. They go too far. Crying "discrimination" for every little thing. Yet those same ones crying about it are the ones discriminating against others. Bullying people for not understanding what they are telling them. Or judging people who are disabled and cannot read or comprehend simple instructions. I see it almost daily in the apartment building I live in. Because they make the most noise about certain issues they are the ones who get what they want. Often the whiners are not even participating in the event or activity that they were complaining about! 


Coffee Time!

A man in my building yelled "discrimination" about a group of women who want to have coffee together to talk about our feelings or problems with no men present. Yet they had no plans to be at it. Just to complain about it to the management company. So they can say, "I fixed you girls!" I believe since the management company is saying they are correct it is discrimination, then isn't the whole apartment building discriminating against people who are not elderly, disabled or low income? After all you have to meet that criteria to live here. Men and women are different. Regardless of your sexual preference. It goes beyond the physical body. That is why when women are gathering together they talk different than when men are present. The men joke and talk about politics, sports or news. We talk about our menopause, children, our feelings, relationships, our past lives, etc. It is a whole different conversation when the men are not there. 


My hall

It is one of the problems of living in a building such as this. Supposedly we are living independently in our private apartments. In such a close environment it is important to at least try to get along with each other. Easier said than done. One negative person can spoil the whole feeling of our building. Though we have had more than one since I moved in. As I wrote about previously on this blog, we had an "elderly abuse" situation in the past. That was started with a manager and a small group of tenants who banded together to bully others. The ones left over from that group will at times try to bully other tenants. I find the best way to live with people like that is to ignore them. Social media is good in that way that you can put someone on ignore or delete as a friend. Too bad you can't do that in real life. I do not add to their conversation and get away from them as soon as I can. Best to stay off their radar!


Our Backyard

My idea for a "Girl Talk" coffee hour was not meant to do anything secret. Nothing against the men who live here at all. Just the women in my building getting to know each other better. There have been some that I don't know very well and would like to know better. It is good to have a women support group if you have an emergency or problem. Or just to have others you can talk to or turn to if you have that need. People become so concerned with being politically correct that it overtakes common sense. There are many organizations that separate people by gender, color, religion, age or interests. Are they bad? Not at all. Many of these groups get together to discuss their problems or how to help others. Many communities depend on these organizations to improve the lives of others in need. Which is what I thought I would be doing in my building. The men in our building group together outside almost daily smoking and talking. It is not like they are being kept from any social interactions. In fact, us women were in the process of planning activities for the whole building. Like movie nights, game nights and potluck suppers. Without us planning them they don't happen. 


My neighborhood!

For now we are having our coffee hour in someone's apartment. At least they cannot control what we are doing as a group of women in our own apartments...........yet. It is hard if you lose your rights to get them back again. Even in an apartment building. Once they tell you no it can even show up on your lease. The lease, if you read the whole thing, which I do, only protects the landlord, not the tenant. It only favors them and what they want. That is why I always say someday I might end up living in a camper somewhere. I especially love this particular apartment. If I had to leave it I would have to find another place and I don't think it would be another apartment. It is hard to conform to so many rules after you lived with barely any. At times I miss that. 


My Office

If it was just about me and not the others in my building I could live easily with no personal interactions at all. I am on my computer from morning to night. I would not even get off it at night when I do if it wasn't for my pet rabbit. He likes me to turn it off and go sit in the recliner to watch videos. He really does. I can find a million things to do on the computer. I have many online friends to talk to. No matter the time I can always find someone to talk to. Don't say I don't really know them since I do not know them in person. I believe I know them better through our written conversations than small talk in person. The computer creates an environment where you can live easily alone. Which it has for me. But I do have some friends in my building that I have grown close to. Even if it is just to share a cup of coffee and know others care. Making connections helps each other.  




Copyright © 2024 Kathleen G. Lupole
All Photographs Copyright © 2024  Kathleen G. Lupole


 





Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Low Income Housing



I have been searching for an apartment for my son to rent. Holy cow! How does anyone begin to afford to move into one when they are paying rent on the one they are in currently? What if  they have other bills to pay too? I can understand the landlords wanting to make money off the tenants and all. Yet who can afford the first and last month rent, plus security, plus utilities too???? I mean they are expensive!




In a city near us, Binghamton, NY, which includes several other towns and cities in the surrounding area, there is a college, Binghamton University. So the landlords in the whole city of Binghamton, only want college students for renters. That eliminates a lot of citizens of the area. People complain constantly about everyone moving out of the area. Yet they do everything they can to make people have to move out of the area.




Just a few days ago, our local newspaper had an article about a revival in the downtown area, which is not a safe area, no matter what they write in the paper. The owners put a lot of money into remodeling the lofts of the buildings on the main streets in downtown Binghamton. Yes, they are very nice. These apartments are all very high rent and  not affordable for the typical downtown dwellers.


Why can't a city give incentives to landlords to provide apartments for low income families, disabled, singles and retirees without putting a lot of stipulations into the rental agreements? If you are applying for low income housing, you have to give them access to your bank accounts. As well as, sign all kinds of paperwork saying you will never do this or you have never done that. I understand former apartment referrals to check if they ruined a former apartment or something of that nature.




Low income people cannot come up with a huge amount of money at one time to rent an apartment, so they are left out. If they want to share an apartment with others, usually the landlord will not allow that. Sometimes there are ordinances against people living together who are not related Or if they are getting Social Security Income (SSI) or social services income (welfare), they cannot live with other people. If they do their checks and food stamps will be cut. Makes no sense that if they are trying to get ahead and share housing, so they can buy enough food or whatever, the programs keep them on the bottom. It is easy to see why so many are forced into committing crimes to survive. What other choice do they have? It is easy for someone else to pass judgement on others when they have never worn their shoes. 




I think this is discrimination against low income or disabled people. They do not do this to people with money. Money is all it takes to get into any apartment no matter what your history is. It wasn't that long ago when landlords did not want to rent to college students. The reason being that they party all the time. Well, they still party all the time. Landlords look the other way on that, as long as mommy and daddy pick up the tab for the apartments. A college rental house is rented per bedroom to each student. They may pay a few hundred dollars for their room, and the rest of the house is shared with other students. If I had it within my power, I'd invest in some good quality housing for low income people. Make them proud of the place they live, and maybe things would start looking up for them in other areas of their lives as well. After all anyone, myself included, could end up in the same circumstances. You never know!    








 







Copyright © 2012 Kathleen G. Lupole
All Photographs Copyright © 2012  Kathleen G. Lupole