re the recent articles regarding the new homeless shelter which is to open on Sunrise Boulevard: Much attention has been directed to the homeless population currently living in ``Tent City.'' Some of the articles dwell on the negati ves, such as that those who need the shelter the most will not want to live there due to the rules and the curfews.
The city of Fort Lauderdale has allowed Tent City to exist for five years. I have lived there before, sleeping on a piece of cardboard on the asphalt. I believe my former homelessness qualifies my views on this subject.
The window of opportunity to better yourself is virtually nonexistent.
Basically, a person is ``permitted to exist.'' Tent City, while the security personnel do an admirable job under challenging conditions, is a den of crime and rampant drug and alcohol abuse. For the most part, those living there have very f ew rules and limited structure to live by. The new shelter must have structure in order to give every individual every chance to become a productive member of society. While there are those who want no structure to live by, I truly believe the greater percentage of the homeles s population desire it in their lives not only to enhance their physical self, but also their spiritual being and self-esteem.
I am currently a resident of Broward Outreach Center in Hollywood. The center here not only teaches about addiction and negative behavior, but gives us hope in learning new life skills and in their Recovery Principles.
I have had talks with Allen Reesor, who is the director of the center, and Steve Werthman, who is the director of Homeless Initiative Partnership, and the level of compassion and empathy for those less fortunate truly astounds me.
The Broward Coalition for the Homeless is doing a magnificent job in an arena that has been neglected for many years. I want to say thank you, not only to them, but also to the Broward County Commission for passing the penny gas tax to help fund this effort. It is greatly appreciated by those of us who have been less fortunate. Again thank you to all those involved for moving in this positive direction. I truly believe the new center will produce productive members of our society. Thank you , Broward County, for giving us a chance.
GARY LINDENBERGER
Hollywood
I am ashamed and embarrassed that on July 4, Independence Day, the Sun-Sentinel, chose to print the shopworn ramblings of Amy Jones Hamilton, who, as usual, showed her loathing and unbridled contempt for her less-fortun ate fellow man (woman and child) by disdainfully filling her diatribe with scathing misinformation.
The Homeless Assistance Center was never intended to and never will ``fulfill the legal requirements of a `safe zone'.'' Only those formally enrolled in the HAC program, for which Hamilton has ``always known that a majority of the tent ci ty residents would not be appropriate,'' will legally be allowed to be fed, bathed, clothed, sheltered or to take advantage of the ``help through the system to self-sufficiency.'' If there are 200 `'appropriate'' tenants at the center, that me ans there are as many as 5,800 (inappropriate) human beings who will have nowhere to be regularly fed and given a new lease on life. (And, I am quite sure that officials, with the lack of compassion of Ms. Hamilton, will make it next to impos sible for care-giving organizations to supply these needs.)
Hamilton's comments were so full of hyperbole that I should not attempt to dignify it with an answer. But, for the sake of a lot of very nice people, people who are trying very hard to get their lives back on track, I had to respon d. In fact, a large number of your very own Sun-Sentinel street-corner vendors would not qualify for admission to the HAC because it would be against the rules for them to leave at 4 or 5 o'clock in the morning in order to sell your newspape r. So, why don't you stand behind your sales force and stop giving your valuable editorial space to praise a very weak program with unrealistic goals?
This is time when what they;do is less important than what they are not doing. Not providing a real safe zone will only result in violent lawlessness. Does South Florida really need more of that? ROBERT M. SEMAK
Fort Lauderdale