To Comfort The Afflicted
And Afflict The Comfortable

To Comfort The Afflicted And Afflict The Comfortable

Tuesday, February 18, 2025

Observercast

Come Monday, Some Of These Veterans Could Die In OKC

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The attached article by Oklahoman scribe Steve Lackmeyer deals with homelessness, an issue currently dividing Norman as well. Many of the “street people” are veterans who deserve better than what they are getting so what is the problem?

It’s the usual. NIMBY or Not In My Backyard.

Even though the proposed tiny houses solution outlined in Steve’s column makes sense on many levels, voices that usually are in the forefront of saying yes to the least among us rallied on the ‘not here’ side and the solution for at least some homelessness in northeast Oklahoma City went down in flames.

Ironically, the promoter or this plan has found success elsewhere with decision-makers finding places in their cities that unified area residents, the unhoused, and community leaders. Together they welcomed the “tiny homes” proposal with open arms.

Is the now-rejected initiative in our capital city the only site that could make a dent in the growing challenge of a place for people, including the mentally ill, drug addicted, veterans, elderly and plain ol’ people down on their luck, to live with a roof over their heads? Nope. But do you expect folks up in Nichols Hills, or midtown, or wherever, to clamor for a shot at a couple dozen tiny houses anytime soon.

And certainly not before this Monday when a Blue Norther is scheduled to blow through our state, and dozens of others that make up America, bringing record cold and the likelihood that some of our neighbors, mostly unseen and unknown, will freeze to death in camps a little like Oklahoma experienced during the Depression.

Sounds extreme and unlikely I know. Well, drive over to NE 4th Street and MLK and take a look for yourself ,but you’ll have to work your way past salvage yards, recycling operations, vacant land and noisy interstates. Those piles of cardboard, wood, tarps, rocks, rope and no hope you will see have fellow citizens living within them and come Monday, probably ice or freezing water as well.

And 19 blocks north, on NE 23rd Street, there will be another group of Okies meeting in opulent offices, clean and airy committee rooms with porters bringing them coffee and staffers solving other problems for them. They are called legislators and these decision-makers are sitting on about $4 billion of your tax money which most likely will first be spent for a Stitt-pushed tax cut for mostly our wealthier citizens.

One could say the Republican lawmakers in charge of these decisions don’t care because they don’t know about NE 4th Street. Maybe so, but much more likely they do know … and don’t care and the proof will be they will adjourn this coming May without doing a damn thing about their unseen, unheard and certainly not valued fellow Okies.

Imagine that.

Cal Hobson
Cal Hobson
Cal Hobson, a Lexington Democrat, served in the Oklahoma Legislature from 1978-2006, including one term as Senate President Pro Tempore.