July 5th, Brown Water - AGAIN at the Cypress Lodge

Welcome back, My dear Readers, to The Other Shoe! I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable ‘Forth’ and that your animals are safe, too. I know Alexander was quite scared, yesterday, with all the bangs, booms, and pops. I kept him in bed with me the whole day, he was shaking so hard.

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A special ‘Thank you” for coming by today. I took some much needed time off, to rest and recoup. However, I am not happy as why I am writing this article today. The first reason is the obvious one.

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If you are like most Americans you have already viewed the video below. Yes, brown icky water is my first reason for this article today. I have tried my hardest to get this company to treat me (and the residents here) with a modicum of respect. One can only assume that honor and dignity are not in their make. It seems that rather than reason and logic dictates their actions and intent. Rather, it is clear that bullying and indifference best suits this company’s management.

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I have written and reasoned,. I have begged and complained. Nothing has worked to resolve my complaints, and bring fresh clean water to me the residents. On Monday I will be filing a formal complaint with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, it seems, is the only course of action that remains.

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This will take months to resolve, and I will (in the end) win. However, this is not a ‘cure-all’ as this property has been sold. Escrow is closing, from what I am told, in the next two weeks. The intentions of these new owners, nobody knows. However, it is my understanding that they will evict all of us, in order to completely remodel all the units contained therein. That brings me to the second and most difficult topic of this article today.

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Either because of the ‘Bad Water’ or the new owners’ intent. It appears I must move from a place I have called home for the past ten years. At a worst time, this could not possibly have happened. Right now, and for the foreseeable future, I am without the resources to move. Over the past year I have done my best to scrimp and save, pinch pennies and do without. Even today, I am going to make the video for the campaign, but I hesitate to spend the $15 to get my haircut.

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Most likely I will relent and get it cut, because we never have ‘second chances’ at first impressions and with this video I want to make the best impression I possibly can. Though, there is a good chance I will make the video without the much needed haircut. In seven years I have not even allowed myself the luxury of getting new glasses. Medicare will pay for the exam, but not for the glasses. I know, it sounds insane and hard to believe, but fact it is cold and hard as it is true.

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Timing is everything. Is one of my favorite sayings. I learned it on stage, as a young man. Speak your line at the right time, with the right inflection and the whole house will come down with laughter. For any of you that came and saw me in ‘The Man Who Came to Dinner’, one fateful performance, you will remember this “Banjo!” The words of an unknown child in the audience. I had said the word first, and this child (of no more than two) heard my voice say that word and he repeated it, quite loud, and the house did come down... in laughter. Timing is everything.

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This is not the timing I would choose, right now this month or two, but now is when events dictate my actions. I can no longer live in a building that provides brown water, alone. I have a bad feeling, about the investment bankers that are buying this building for seven million dollars. They say they want to turn it into a ‘Senior Building’ but they have not contacted any of the seniors in this building. Not the disabled and not anyone else. However, just three months ago, a similar lot across the street was purchased. They tore down the buildings there, and built condos instead. I fear that eventuality awaits this building, too.

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Therefore, against my better judgment I am about to create, a funding campaign to help me raise the funs I need to find a permanent place to stay. A place with fresh clean water, a place where they provide proper housing for people with disabilities is what I seek. I was really hoping to have Section Eight in place, before I charted this course. However, July 30^th I have an appointment at Housing and Urban Development to (again) apply for Housing assistance. I am keeping my fingers crossed, that this campaign will be fruitful and that when it is done, I will have my much needed approval for Housing Assistance (also known as Section 8).

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The last time that I applied, they had put a freeze on applications due to “budget constraints”. Washington is still gripped in intransigence, but I am hoping that I find that they have funding to help me this time.

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I am not one to put all my eggs in one basket, and hope for the best. So I am starting a campaign to either move me or supplement. In the next day or two I will have everything set, and come to The Other Shoe to announce it has started. I really have no choice. To stay here is to expose myself and my roommate (and Alexander) to rusty foul water, to drink and to bathe. Expose us to the whims and avarice of men I do not know. I cannot predict the intention of the buyers of this building. However, one thing I can tell you.

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If it was something good that was going to happen. Say an improvement in the quality of our lives, one would reasonably assume that they would be happy to share this news to everyone here, or at least those of us that are seniors or disabled and that have been here for a decade. (That would be me and one other resident).

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Rather than wait, hope for the best, and depend on a last minuet intervention on my behalf. I am taking charge, the best I can, of this situation and acting to protect myself and those that I love. Aye, there IS a rub!

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Previously in my life, I have worked for betterment of other people, and then myself. Before, I would have stood and fought for my neighbors and the neighboring children, and then tended to my needs. Not this time, I am afraid. I have filed complaints about the brown water, and I will file one more with State Fair Housing, but I have to put myself (and my safety, for the first time in my life) first.

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I refuse to sit and wait for the other shoe to drop.

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Below is a video, that I made today. It shows the continuing brown water of which I complain. Today I have included proof of when the video is being made. It has become obvious that this management company has deemed, our safety and health come second to their profitability. They are selling this building and then they are done. [This also plays into my reasoning that they will demolish and rebuild. Otherwise the new owners would be concerned about the brown water, too]

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Please, enjoy the video and remember to ‘Like’ and ‘Share’. More now than anytime, now I ask for your help. Help to spread the word, share my work. By ‘Liking’ and article and ‘Sharing’ my posts (be it on Facebook or Pinintrest or any other social media) you help me to Spread The Word! I am most likely to succeed with a thousand people giving just $5 than if I place my hopes and future in the hands of some unknown wealthy benefactor.

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I absolutely hate asking for assistance. I took me nine years to apply for food stamps, simply because I was not raised to ask for assistance. My father made his own future, from the sweat of his on brow. If my family went on vacation it was because he spent the whole year, before, in a hot (or freezing) garage slaving over other peoples' broken TVs and radios. I helped all I could, because I understood that our vacations (and the dictate if we had one at all) all fell to him and what he could do in that garage. I would hold solder or parts in place. I would look for tubes in the attic or metal parts in his cigar boxes.

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So, I am following in my father’s footsteps, and taking my fate into my own hands. When all is said and done, if I end up on the streets. I will know in my heart that I tired! I will make videos, I will post articles, I will notify radio and TV. I will make every effort I can to raise the money I need. I will do everything I can to entertain and share, with the hopes that you will show that you care.

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However, for now just take a look. A look at the water that we, the residents of the Cypress Lodge, have to; drink, wash clothes and dishes and our bodies… in.

P.S. The campaign will be @ Indiegogo dot com. I will share the URL just as soon as it is 'Live' Thank you for your support.

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 [youtube=http://youtu.be/5yCnNPk8COw]

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