These
services can be helpful. They are meaningful to keep our communities
coherent during this time when the President and cohorts refuse to lead.
But the large picture shows that rents in New York City
are too high and have been for many years. Except for NYCHA and a
smattering of other subsidized entities, people can't afford the rent.
So while all the activity to help people is admirable it is not going to
be enough. Ever. The city is not viable for the 15 dollar an hour 30
dollar an hour or 40 dollar an hour wage earners who can't get public,
subsidized housing. What is left are market rents and every new building
says "Luxury"on it. That is what passes for decency. If I can't afford
to live in a luxury building, then I should live without an elevator,
washer and dryer, dishwasher, and as I get older suffer the indignities
of not being middle class anymore due to the lost wages from Covid.That
is why there are some things I can't do. One is volunteering.
Volunteerism is now based on outmoded ideas of philanthropy which have
proved inefficient. I believe strongly in paid positions. Volunteerism
seems a quaint response to very deep problems. Please read Anand
Giridaharadas' book "Winner Takes All". It is a primer on why giving as
we know it is tainted to such an extent that it encrusts the very
systems of giving with more veneers of decency when in fact it lets the
status quo of givers secure. This anchors the super rich in their
positions. Real estate is one of those bastions.
I
believe that businesses should make profit or why do business? However,
avarice is what undermines all the good deeds ( and there are many )
that organizations do for their communities. Hence, it is bandaids on
scratches until the whole body is just pasted together and hopefully
survives.
While I applaud those who take their
time and energy to perform good deeds encompassed in volunteering which
does make one feel better, it is temporary and lets the really hard
issues stand.
The bottom line is this. Our
Federal Government has abdicated people. The idea to let Covid rise to
the point of mass infection to create herd immunity is insane for
contemporary society with science and society that has a working public
health infrastructure. That's what happened in 1918 because we did not
have medicines. That is when many of our institutions of giving rose up
to help. Most of them rose up from a white middle and upper class with
religious affiliations with real concern for the tragedy around them. It
is time to break the class systems of racism, and poverty the class
ceiling if you will and change how we do things from giving to nurturing
to front loading our social structures to housing human beings instead
of warehousing them.
I support the sentiments of our
local agencies but they are in a rut with wheels spinning because they
can't or don't really address the lack that people have at this time. At
best it is piecemeal. People will grab on to what if anything is
offered, but I urge our organizations to look deeper and start to at
least verbally address reality. Many people can not pay rent, do not
have jobs and an adequate safety net. It is hard to tackle real
problems. We usually go for the easier ones. But when so many people's
lives are hard, is it a service to ignore their reality to make nice
instead of defeat what nice stands for?
The
real estate market in New York City has the largest rental market in the
United States. Because of a combination of their greed and abdication
of Federally funded support thousands of people have left the city and
along with them the tax dollars
The real estate lobby has deep
pockets, they are feeling the hurt that they have inflicted on others.
That won't change their ways. Only laws will. Who will push for them? We
have thousands of empty luxury apartments yet people leave the city for
more affordable housing elsewhere. The city is now hollowed out and
should not return to the way it was in the negative ways I have
mentioned but in more meaningful sustainable ways. Is luxury
sustainable?
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