Tick Tock Sheptock

As many of you know and others are about to find out, Franklin shelter closed this morning. The men were put out for the last time. The moving crew was there by 8 AM taking out the dining tables. The men were more or less made to go to the 801 East Shelter. I received word from a former Franklin resident who just moved to CCNV that CCNV has now opened up another section so as to accommodate the Franklin residents. (I will need to stay at 801 East for at least a night, due to my things having been moved there. I might need someone to drive me and my things from 801 East to CCNV if they have room for me.) There is a rally on the steps of the Wilson Building (at 1350 Pennsylvania Ave.) at 3:30 PM today, September 26th. There is a sleep-out in Franklin Park (13th and K streets, NW) beginning at 5:30 PM today. A few tents will be provided. (I'm sorry that I can't be there, as I must track down my belongings as they are moved to 801 East.) The teach-in at Franklin Park is still goi...

It's official. Tonight is Franklin Shelter's last night. (We need to change that. Let's protest/squat.) The last of the men will be moved out of Franklin in the morning. Many will be taken to the 801 East Shelter (also known as the MLK, Jr. Shelter) on the grounds of St.Eelizabeth's Hospital, in spite of the fact that they don't want to go there due to it's location and brutal security guards (the latter reason having been mentioned at the June 12th ICH meeting). The housing sweep that was supposed to take place this morning did not. It will take place at 801 East on Friday. Someone told me that it got moved due to a Catholic charities/Franklin employee lying to DHS and saying that there were people outside of Franklin protesting this morning. No one protested this morning. I would've been there if they had. (Let's have a few protesters go to 801 East in the morning, if possible. I'll be squatting at Franklin.) The sentiment among the...

I am sorry to say that the Franklin situation has taken a turn for the worse in that 2 employees, James Rolle and Garland Caraway, have begun to perpetrate some bold-faced lies which are designed to create emnity between myself and the other Franklin residents and could lead to anyone who might believe them turning violent against me. I have published this post so as to let people know, just in case anything goes down. You can also help to correct their lies. This morning as I was leaving Franklin Shelter, Franklin staffer and Catholic Charities employee James Rolle started in on me by saying,"You know that you're the reason that they're closing this place?" Sitting beside him was the 500 lb. employee named Garland Caraway. (Garland was the one who tried to prevent Councilwoman Yvette Alexander from entering a government-owned building on 9/11 so as to see first-hand that the building is not nearly as decrepit as Mayor Fenty makes it out to be. He also told me th...

NOTE: Men are being put on the floor to sleep at the NY Ave. shelter, while the city is shutting down a much-needed shelter (Franklin Shelter). This makes absolutely no sense. Then again, what decisions of Mayor Fenty do?! I'm at no shortage of bad things to say about Mayor Fenty and his administration. However, I promise to try to keep this post short, as that won't be easy. I'll begin with Patricia "Pat" Handy. She is the least amiable, most obnoxious homeless outreach coordinator on the face of the Earth. She allowed her attitude to show through during our first encounter. She had come out to the hospital to assist a certain 88 year-old homeless woman in finding a nursing home temporarily and to begin casework around finding her a more permanent residence once healed completely. Pat handy exhibited very little tact in dealing with an elderly woman. She made no secret of her frustration, as this elderly woman had a hard time making up her mind, due to b...

On september 16th, the DC Council held its first legislative session in 2 months, having just returned from recess. I was quite pleased to see the interest that they have taken in the issue of homelessness. ((They postponed the beginning of their recess in July by 2 days in order to create emergency legislation around the transfer of the Gales School Bldg. to the Central Union Mission (C.U.M.).)) Then, as they returned, one of the items on their legslative agenda was the impending closure of the Franklin School Shelter. And so their recess began and ended with the creation of emergency legislation for 2 homeless shelters. The day began with a large rally that was orchestrated by Empower DC, a non-profit that does grassroots organizing around the issues that affect everyday people. It highlighted issues related to homelessness, affordable housing, using public land for community needs rather than giving it to private developers who can make a profit off of it and labor unions. Ther...

NOTE: I added more details and a couple of new items to this blog on 9/14, several days after posting it. If you think that you're seeing a new detail, you are and you're not crazy. Just thought you'd want to know. First of all, I apologize for not posting more often, as I realize that many people want to keep up with the Franklin School Shelter situation as it unfolds. However, things have been quite hectic lately. Those of us who are working to keep Franklin School open as a shelter are putting in long hours (pro bono, of course) and I've been short on time. While much has been going on since my last post, things have been especially hectic for the last couple of days. Check-in for the night usually goes from 4:30 to 5:30 PM. However, as I arrived at Franklin around 7 PM on September 10th, having gotten a bed reservation, I saw that people were still being checked-in. It would eventually go until 9:30 that night. The reason for the long check-in was that resident...

Read the following message from Mayor Fenty. Make what you will of it. I think that he is vague, uninformed and detached from the process. He thinks that "Mayor knows best". Nonetheless, he has stated some promises that we can hold him to..... --- On Thu, 9/11/08, Executive Office of the Mayor (imailagent) wrote: From: Executive Office of the Mayor (imailagent) Subject: Email from the EOM (Intranet Quorum IMA00569336) To: ericsheptock@yahoo.com Date: Thursday, September 11, 2008, 10:26 AM Thank you for your feedback regarding the closing of Franklin School Shelter. I understand your concern about the closure of the facility and its impact on clients as well as the surrounding community. The District Government is committed to reducing the need for large-scale emergency shelters, such as Franklin, by providing permanent housing with a continuum of care that includes outreach, social and mental health services. This approach is intended to address the root causes of homeless...