| Home Calder Calls the Police Archived by the National Library of Australia Homeless Hot Gossip 5 Latest 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Oldest Fan Mail The Adelaide Gossip and Rumour Column (from 17 June 2007 to 28 November 2007 Send your latest insights to [email protected] The most recent message appears at the top. Updated 28 November 2007 Blood and Violence at Fred�s Van I saw a bunch of drunken Aborigines (and toddlers) walking towards Fred�s Van declaring that they were off to "settle some scores", but I still went, and there was a another similar number of drunken Aborigines, and it was on for young and old. One non-Aboriginal woman got smashed to the ground, while just standing there, and the boots started on her head, so I went over and someone helped me and we rushed her to safety. The Fred's volunteers arrived and went ahead regardless, but eventually when it was a full-out barney with people being bashed with tree branches, cups and bottles flying everywhere, and a young Aboriginal woman with a very nasty head wound, they had to pull out ... it was impossible to continue, but they still waited for the Police and I helped them clean up, but they couldn't serve food still ... it was just too dangerous. And you say the violent ones and trouble makers still have a "right" to get a meal? They just make it impossible for the majority of well-behaved ones to get food. No one is obliged to continue under those circumstances. There were 15 to 16 children from about 18 months to about 6 there, in the middle of all that, and at risk of serious injury or worse. The Fred's Van crew that you so mercilessly hammer at times, will all be back tonight, tomorrow night, and Sunday, as usual. You claim that Cappo and the Adelaide City Council want the trouble makers out of the City, why not? Most nights the RAH has a line of people who get stabbed, shot, bashed in the City by the drunken, drug sodden thugs that roam our streets, and maim and even kill. One guy got stabbed 14 times on Sunday night, and the blood-stained thug wandered into Coles to buy lollies. Last night was deliberately planned, as many such nights have been. I've been watching with anxiety as it builds up, and most of us know it is coming. On Monday night (Salvos), I was told that a white gang turned up and one guy was robbed of his wallet. What about the quiet ones that want a meal and then go off quietly into the night? Why should the thugs, and bullies and mayhem-ists be the ones that have rights (to riot, threaten, abuse, terrorise), rather than the ones who really deserve help? Last night the trouble makers had lots of alcohol, including the bags from inside the wine casks. If they can spend so much on alcohol and drugs before they get to fred's, how come they have the "right" to a free meal, and often prevent others from having one, who lack the resources? You told me that you don't mind violence, but I notice that you quietly remain in the background when it happens�" Dr �X� 19 November 2007 Paranoid �Allan�s� sneaky trick against Frank Jones The paranoid �Allan� simply cannot restrain himself. He arranged for a psychiatrist to visit Frank at his van behind the ************* offices. Frank escaped with 15 minutes to spare. Frank thought initially that it would be a good chance to prove he is sane. He appears sane. But the paranoid "Allan" of Street-to-home was probably trying to have Frank "certified" so voluntary housing would become incarceration-style housing via the Public Trustee. That's my guess based on observing these "short fuse" types. 20 November 2007 Accidental Social Exclusion Uniting Care Wesley is taking control of Christmas Hamper Distribution. This is to stop people collecting multiple hampers from its various welfare outposts. They also now require a Health Care Card. This will exclude those homeless not getting the dole or a pension, said a client from Byron Place Community Centre, he being in exactly this position. Those people living outside, and exclusively from church handouts and rubbish bins, will be even further excluded, he told me. It forces people to tap even further into welfare dependence, he continued. The client says Byron Place Community Centre is making special arrangements for him so he will get a Christmas Hamper. "But what about those who won't speak up?" the man asks. "They'll simply miss out." 19 November 2007 Frank Jones rejects inappropriate housing The paranoid �Allan� and Frank Jones inspected a flat near Kilkenny. Frank rejected it due to the lack of carport to lock up his van. He also said people would be disturbed by him playing his banjo. Why doesn�t Street-to-home and the paranoid �Allan� simply offer Frank a medium density two-bedroom unattached unit with a lock-up carport. These units are frequently offered by HousingSA and are built with disability aids like ramps, wide-doors and handles and railing. Frank, 74, already requires some disability aids so he would easily qualify. One MACHA insider told me it is government policy to offer �shit� to homeless people. Another person said Street-to-home has very little credibility with HousingSA so can't pick and choose. Personally, I think the Street-to-home employees have very little understanding of human nature. The good thing for Frank, at least, is that Dot Casey at HousingSA in Flinders Street is handling his case. 19 November 2007 Frank's Bibles : The True Story Frank Jones returned his Bibles to the Coastlands Christian Community Church because one of their volunteers at Fred�s Van told him to get to the back of the queue because he�d already been through once. Frank had already got one �chicken stick�. Frank told the fellow that those in front of him had already been through, too, but the fellow wouldn�t listen. Frank rejoined the end of the queue and eventually got another four �chicken sticks�. He also returned their Bibles in anger and humiliation. Frank might have been the oldest person there; and certainly the most genuinely homeless. 19 November 2007 Frank Turns in His Bibles A regular at Fred�s Van said that last weekend when Coastlands Community Christian church was serving food Frank Jones gave back his Bibles. The reason has not been stated and I�ll try to get an update from The Man himself. My informant said that some people �wind-up� Frank, 74, to exploit his explosive personality [for malicious entertainment]. Frank, if this analysis is correct, actually becomes the victim while appearing to the world to be the verbal aggressor. 16 November 2007 Third Reminder for Bill Watson Bill Watson�s Personal Assistant told me she would begin work today researching Trans Adelaide�s policy on allowing can collectors with their trolleys to board trains. She said Bill was �in a meeting�. At first she said she would do it today or tomorrow then changed it to today. This means Bill has sat on my letter requesting their policy for six weeks and done nothing. 16 November 2007 Government Secrecy Who or what is this �Common Ground�? It�s constantly promoted by the Minister for Destroying the Housing Trust but who actually controls it? 16 November 2007 Greg Calder�s Mental Condition At Professor Ian Gibbins's lecture last week in Adelaide: Body, brain and the new science of communication: turns of phrase, figures of speech, the neuroscientist said that when a person watches someone perform an act the same parts of the observer�s brain fires up as the person who commits the act. Does this mean that those who watch pornography and violence have the same mental experiences as the perpetrators? As an actual perpetrator how would Greg Calder, the Manager of Street-to-home, and formerly with ACIS, mentally experience his career with its history of manhandling patients? Would his mind experience all his �controlled violence� as if he were a chronic thug? Or could his mind override the aggressive imprinting with a consciousness that he was simply �doing a job� and didn�t actually want to hurt the patient? 16 November 2007 The Mystery Device Revealed A feminist group was giving bags of toiletries to those attending the Homeless Health Day. My bag contained a long, round black tube. �What�s this?� I asked Ray, the diabetic, as we sat under the Teen Challenge umbrellas. It appeared to be a plastic herb grinder for people living outside. �It�s a miniature dildo,� Ray exclaimed while trying to turn on the motor. It wouldn't start up so we asked an old man for a second opinion, seeking his wisdom in these matters. �It�s a f**king dildo,� he said, affirming Ray�s belief. But he couldn't start the motor. At this point we sought the advice of a woman walking by. She looked at the herb grinder and pulled the top off revealing a tiny toothbrush and a white package. �What�s this white package,� I asked her. �It�s a tampon,� offered the old man. 16 November 2007 The Dominant Animal Last week I went to the Homeless Health Day in Whitmore Square, Fred�s Van in Gawler Court and the Ian Gibbins lecture: Body, brain and the new science of communication: turns of phrase, figures of speech at the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra hall in Hindley Street. All three events offered free food and drink with the latter providing alcoholic drinks. The first two events were attended by �homeless style� people while the latter�s patrons were academic and administrative folk. The behaviour at all three events was similar except in the latter where those who hogged the booze and food pretended not to be doing that. In all three events there were people who missed out because they didn�t want to degrade themselves in the scrimmage. 16 November 2007 Bullet Proof Tits A smiling young woman in tight jeans and a white T-shirt walked by me during the WestCare meal on Friday. She was carrying handcuffs, pepper spray and a pistol strapped to her belt. Her bra seemed unusually bulky as if made from Kevlar material. Later one man admonished another for talking to the police during the meal. "But I like the police," the first man protested. "If anyone sees you talking to them they'll think you're an informer," his friend warned. From the former Editor 12 November 2007 Frank Jones talking about the paranoid "Allan" "He's promised me the world but we'll see what comes out of it," says Frank Jones, 74, quoting the paranoid "Allan" of Street-to-home. "We're looking at a place in Kilkenny tomorrow," Frank adds. "He - [the paranoid "Allan"] - says I don't have to take it if I don't like it." Frank Jones speaking at a free meal in Hindmarsh Square near where those public toilets used to be before the Council bulldozed them to increase property values for the developers across the street. 12 November 2007 "PJ's Triumphant Return �PJ� arrived back last night. He snuck into the queue at the Teen Challenge meal, late as usual, no ticket but still got a container of meat, vegetables and rice. He says he had a heart attack and was in hospital for four weeks. It seems to have done him well apart from a further wait loss down to 62kg. �PJ� is quite tall. He showed us the tabs stuck onto his chest where they plug in the heart monitor electrodes. Quite a few people were very happy to see �PJ�: like a long lost brother returning from afar. 9 November 2007 �Desperate, not clever.� A man living outside discussing small-time criminals who manage to commit small crimes every day, year in, year out. Those living outside tend to be less forgiving of those committing crimes than the general public. There is, to some extent, a strict behaviour code. That is why so many �homeless� people bear scars and injuries. 8 November 2007 Letter-to-Trans-Adelaide Saga From the former Editor The receptionist at Trans Adelaide in the Railway Station said she will be contacting General Manager Bill Watson�s personal assistant about the letter I wrote six weeks previously, in which I asked him for their policy on can collectors with trolleys using suburban trains. She said they hadn�t done anything since the last time I was there, (also asking why they hadn�t replied), because they weren�t sure whether a letter in my surname was a �b� or a �k�. Also, she asked, was the letter addressed to �The Manager� or �Manager� of Trans Adelaide. This would make a big difference, she said. I said it was addressed to the Chief Executive Officer. This appeared to stymie her and she repeated the �Manager�, �The Manager� line. It wasn�t clear whether they intend to reply about the issue of whether one particular can collector can get back on the trains with his fridge trolley or not. Previously, guards twice refused him permission to board the Outer Harbour train in one night. Nothing was clear but the receptionist smiled at me and I smiled at her. Meanwhile, just outside her office one of the turnstile gates has been out-of-action for weeks and rumour has it the equipment is so old that Trans Adelaide is trying to get used parts via eBay � without success. On another turnstile the light has been busted for one year. 7 November 2007 Failure with Teen Challenge Teen Challenge and the Jasmin Restaurant got their numbers wrong at last Thursday's meal in Hindmarsh Square, despite issuing tickets. At least three men with tickets, who waited half an hour, didn�t get meals. They were the polite men who wait at the back of the queue as distinct to the �pushers� who want to be in first. 6 November 2007 Dealing With the Devil Ian Cox from Hutt Street Centre said they're negotiating with Macquarie Bank for funding of its homeless services. Macquarie Bank runs on an economic model that is strangely similar to the Mafia. The former takes over a profitable corporation then forces its takeover victim to purchase its managerial services at premium rates. This reduces the corporations' profits but Macquarie bank thrives. The latter, the Mafia, also "take over" target industries then insist that in return for "protection" and "managerial and political skills" the business pays up big. In both cases the victim corporations are not "sucked dry" but maintained so as to produce long term income. 6 November 2007 Not For Profit Groups "�at the end of the day we're a not-for-loss organisation as well." Ian Cox of the Hutt Street Centre speaking at the 26 October, 2007 HomelessnessSA AGM. 6 November 2007 HousingSA You can tell the Social Inclusion Unit don�t have their feet on the ground regarding �social inclusion�. Getting rental housing from HousingSA may take ten years on the waiting list but if you ask them to advise you a few months before they�re about to offer you a place they say, �no�. You get a letter out-of-the-blue saying to respond within 48 hours. It�s like a psychological war where they�re trying to create the maximum pain and injury. All that talk by �the next Pope� (Business Class), about social justice, is simply �talk�. 6 November 2007 The Hard Sell? School students were collecting money for the Daughters of Charity and the Hutt Street Centre last Friday. They didn�t stand quietly on street corners like St Vincent de Paul collectors. Instead three of them would approach a person to make the request. It wasn�t totally passive collecting. Two men soldiers in uniform were right behind the students. The soldiers were collecting for breast cancer �research�. 5 November 2007 MacDonald's Environment That obese woman who collects money �for the environment� in the city is frequently pigging-out on junk food outside MacDonalds. Other times she�s sitting on the footpath drinking coffee from disposable cups and licking the lids with the full length of her tongue. It's the licking that upsets me. 5 November 2007 An Unhappy Loser An old man punched me in the SkyCity Casino last week. Some of us went from Fred's Van to the gambling den for free coffee and the free comedy performance. Head Office recently told the Adelaide Casino to cut costs so they removed their water cooler. The old guy was shouting that the bar staff wouldn't give him a glass of water even after he'd lost $3000 that day. He ended his tirade by punching me in the shoulder then ran down the escalator. Then I shouted that the coffee was horrible. The Casino has replaced their quality coffee and insulated cups with cheap and nasty brands. The cups are simply plasticised paper thinner than milk cartons and too hot to hold comfortably. One woman dropped her coffee down the front of the machine. The coffee is atrocious and the computerised sugar dispenser is faulty on each of the four new machines. 5 November 2007 Different Opinion to Street-to-Home? "I'm not a great fan of transitional housing," said Sally "Our Sal" Langton, the new Chair of HomelessnessSA, and an employee of Spectrum. She said homeless people need "roots" to grow, to thrive and that transferring them from one place to another stands in the way of that growth. 5 November 2007 The Frank Saga Frank Jones, 74, living in his van, told the paranoid "Allan", of Street-to-home, that the latter couldn't provide any housing because Street-to-home doesn't have any stock. "They go on the waiting list like anyone else," Frank said to me at the Jasmin Restaurant free meal. Frank said the paranoid "Allan" claimed he worked for the Department of Health and that he had "influence". "Allan" couldn't guarantee anything, Frank said, and that he might be forced to seek private rental if he didn't get anything before Christmas. 5 November 2007 From the Former Editor Aged Vegetable Soup I was camping near Norton Summit from 1999 to 2002. One night someone dumped six boxes of rotting animal guts nearby. The guts were dumped to simply dispose of them or, perhaps, it was a tactic to discourage �homeless� people from camping in the area. Eventually the neighbours complained of the stench and the police forensic squad arrived in force to investigate whether the odour derived from a chopped-up human body. The incident fled from my mind until last Thursday night when Fred�s Van were giving away cans of food and I got vegetable soup. The recollection occurred while I was eating it. The flavour didn�t seem right. It triggered my recollection of the rotting guts incident. The soup tasted like the guts smelt. It put me off eating for two days. People wanting to lose weight might consider the canned food at Fred�s Van. 5 November 2007 From the former Editor Glenside Sell-Off "We're the catchment for a failed mental health system." Ian Cox of the Hutt Street Centre speaking at the 26 October, 2007 HomelessnessSA AGM. Posted 2 November 2007 Death Notice John Monopoli of Port Adelaide killed himself last week. A woman told me he hanged himself. Another said he�d been overdosing on doctor�s pills for quite some time. He tried to get into Glenside Psychiatric Hospital but they wouldn�t let him in. John was desperately lonely because he didn�t have a wife. �There�s the perfect woman for me,� he told me last year while we waited for a bus on Commercial Road. His dream woman was very, very short. John was also of short stature, maybe 115cms, but he had what people described as �a big heart�. John, also known as Andrew, once worked at Farmer Joe�s in Port Adelaide and when he retired the owner gave him �apples for life�. People never spoke badly of John; he might not have known that. Picture 1 November 2007 Frank gets the crowd hopping A witness reports that two people wanted to �bop� Frank Jones last Saturday at the Gawler Court Fred�s Van run by Coastlands Christian Church. The witness sounded like he felt like punching out Frank as well. One complaint against Frank is that he talks like he knows everything and tries to takeover. Two other gentlemen yelled at me at the Teen Challenge meal in Hindmarsh Square just for talking to Frank, aged 74. Frank creates a stimulating atmosphere to the extent you're glad you have ambulance cover. I wonder how the paranoid �Allan� from Street-to-home reacts to Frank. Let�s hope his isn�t easily agitated like his short-fuse boss, Greg Calder, who turned violent last year after �someone� took his photo. 30 October 2007 Homeless Health Housing Day The Homeless Housing Expo Health Whatever day is at Whitmore Square on Tuesday, 13 November, 2007 starting about 10am. This event is a highlight on the homeless social calendar. There will be free food and knick-knacks like faulty pens and slices of watermelon handled by people carrying a minimum of fourteen diseases. Plenty of interesting social workers attend this yearly event and make all kinds of rash statements for which then spend the rest of the year back peddling. Will the short-fused Street-to-home manager turn up? Calder running amok would make a good youtube file: �Here�s Greg trying to grab the camera. Here�s Greg running to the Wakefield Street Police Station claiming he�s been threatened by a shutterbug.� 30 October 2007 From the former Editor Disappearing Social Inclusion Money "�we're not seeing any new housing options coming in for our client group�" Ian Cox of the Hutt Street Centre speaking at the 26 October, 2007 HomelessnessSA AGM. Posted 29 October 2007 A Sad Sight It was a sad sight seeing people who "work with" homeless-style folk apparently more comfortable talking shop with government bureaucrats than with those from their client base attending the AGM. 29 October 2007 Jodi Jumps Aboard? Jodi Kirkby was at the HomelessnessSA AGM at the Pilgrim Church meeting room last week. She's the Greens candidate for Boothby in next month's federal election. She said she didn't think the State Government spending a billion dollars on South Road was good use of that amount of money. Her leaflet said the Greens support better public transport, affordable housing and dental care assistance. Then she said she had to catch a train home and was last seen laughing with two Street Socceroos as they walked down Pirie Street. 29 October 2007 The Resurrection "He looked like a corpse," said Sally "Our Sal" Langton, of Spectrum Housing for disabled people. "Our Sal" was talking about a homeless man who arrived on a Gopher electric scooter. She saw him six-months later: "In walked this handsome man�I thought he was someone's support worker, but he was the Gopher man." This change came from having a stable address for six-months. 29 October 2007 Mr Peter Bagdi refused entry to Casino The Adelaide SkyCity Casino prevented Mr Peter Bagdi from entering its North Terrace Casino last week saying his strange chequered shorts weren't "dressy enough" and that their length should end below his knees rather than just above. Earlier this year the Casino got the Liquor and Gambling Commission to ban Peter Bagdi for three months after he passed notes to staff saying he believed terrorists were laundering money through the Casino. They tried to extend this ban indefinitely but Peter's advocate and supporters argued at the Commission Hearing that Peter should be allowed entry because he wasn't a problem gambler, he likes eating cheap meals, he goes there to interpret the esoteric symbols on the pokies machines and that he wants to start up a textile factory. They added that Peter was imaginative and inspirational but declined the opportunity to mention that Peter does his jogging and workouts in the Casino. The Commissioner determined in Peter's favour, but the Casino is using the "too short, shorts" argument to prevent his entry. Peter says he's going to get some longer shorts and that World War 3 may erupt soon and we'll all be fried to a crisp. 29 October 2007 Picture of the Glow Cafe where the Social Inclusion Unit spent 588.50 last. This isn't a large amount but it would be interesting to see what was purchased and for whom. 25 Octonber 2007 Teen Challenge Fallout The Chef from the Jasmin Restaurant said that some of the people at the free meal in Hindmarsh Square didn�t appear �homeless�. Frank Jones, 74, who was living in his van last week, offered to help choose the �real homeless� by handing out the tickets only to those who appeared genuine. This would effectively sideline Ricky of Teen Challenge so he got his strapping brother, Rangi, to turn up at last Thursday�s meal, to �sort out� Frank Jones. Frank might have heard this. Everyone from the previous week turned up except Frank who is arguably the most genuine �homeless� person. Perversely, tragically the �crackdown� netted just one person � the wrong one. 25 October 2007 Language Use Social workers substitute the word �excluded� with the word �disengaged�. �Excluded� apportions blame to the majority who �exclude� the minority, in this case, those who haven�t adequate housing and security. So the social workers use language that exonerates the majority. 25 October 2007 Robert and �the next Pope� Robert, aka "Shorty", was pictured with David Cappo (Business Class) in a recent edition of the Social Inclusion Commission newsletter. �The next Pope� was pretending to sell Big Issue Magazine alongside the genuine Vendor, �Shorty�. David Cappo plays his �one of the boys� personality for the media but behind the scenes he�s an upper class cleric overseeing a program to semi-institutionalise the �homeless� class. 25 October 2007 The Next PopeMobile When John Paul 2 went on tour he used a PopeMobile, quite often little more than a bullet-proof glass box on the back of a ute. Considering that �the next Pope� travels business class on airplanes then would he settle for the back of a ute. 25 October 2007 Flow Downs Effects from "Social Inclusion" "� [homeless] concerned about their autonomy being removed�" A phrase from a bureaucrat at the ShelterSA Homeless Forum. Posted 25 October 2007 Tauto Sansbury "Tauto Sansbury has been talking about it [homelessness] for 36 years - [and getting paid] - he'll talk about it for another 36. years. Allan �Big Al� Campbell at the ShelterSA Homeless Forum 25 October 2007 West Terrace Camper "I'm homeless in my own land� I left school at the age of 7 from racism, lived in the parklands, (West Terrace) at 12� I had to steal to get food in my own land� I come from the tree of respect." Clara Campbell at the ShelterSA Homeless Forum 25 October 2007 Social Inclusion Commission Expense Accounts Dear David Cappo, Would you be interested in a recorded interview about the Social Inclusion Commission expenses as noted in the report in The Adelaide Advertiser of 22 October, 2007. I would like to ask you about your personal expenses while travelling overseas and within Australia. Also, about the Glow Cafe bill of over $500; the cost of the photographer who takes your photos that appear in Social Inclusion Commission literature; rough sleeper homeless statistics for the Adelaide CBD; reduced privacy of personal details for those living outside; your professional relationship toTheo Maras plus a number of other issues. I seek this information for publication on the website www.geocities.com/homelessaustralia If you would like to discuss this request I can meet you at Catholic HQ, your office in the State Administration Centre or at Fred's Van on Thursday nights. Yours sincerely, Norm Barber PS What really fascinates me is why the Social Inclusion Commission is so secretive. What don't you want us in the homeless community to discover about your activities? 25 October 2007 Housing Trust Shrinkage Ciarian Synnot, from the Community Housing Council of SA said that the government is pressing the large community housing organisations to provide increased low-income rental housing in the future. It would require the usually church-based groups to borrow money for construction off their own backs. Mr Synnot said new constructions will be ��substantially funded by a selloff of public housing stock.� 25 October 2007 **************************************** "The system strips people of their children...The system breaks up families." Clara Campbell at the ShelterSA Homeless Forum posted 23 October 2007 ******************************************** Big Al's Prescription "The world needs more dreamers who can put their dreams into action." Allan Campbell at the ShelterSA Homeless Forum Posted 23 October 2007 ******************************************** Fan Mail - New 23 October 2007 The Glenside Hospital Sell-off "�some [patients] at Glenside have been there twenty to thirty years�when they're moved on many people�become homeless." Dorothy Belperio, Richmond Fellowship 22 October 2007 The Glow Cafe Expense Account The Social Inclusion Commission spent $588.50 last year at the Glow Caf� at 98 Gawler Place, Adelaide. Father David Cappo of the Social Inclusion Commission spent $23,243 of taxpayer money on travel last year and flew business class. He stayed at the Hillgrove Hotel Leisure and Spa when in Ireland last year. From Freedom of Information material obtained by The Adelaide Advertiser 22 October 2007 ShelterSA Homeless Forum The Homeless Forum at the Pilgrim Church yesterday was loaded with interesting speakers, but what engaged us who have lived outside was the slide show by the white fellow from No Pulgi, of places where people sleep in the Adelaide CBD parklands. There was one fellow�s campsite that contained a pitchfork to fight off intruders. We could relate to this stuff because it was culturally relevant. 17 October 2007 The "next pope" and the "industrial prince" A reader asks whether one of the buildings mentioned in the post below was built by one of Theo Maras�s companies. Is Theo profiting by disenfranchising general park users, particularly those living outside, while being touted as an �industrial prince� by David Cappo: �the next Pope�? Cappo certainly walks through murky water as Social Inclusion Commissioner. 17 October 2007 Invisible Land Theft The southwest grass area of Hindmarsh Square, opposite the current RAA office, once included public toilets. They were bulldozed. Why? It was determined by the Adelaide City Council that they detracted from the view from the hotel and expensive flats recently built across the street. Property developers complained the toilets lowered property values. The Council bulldozed the toilets. This had no affect on those living in the flats because they could use the park then rush back to their own toilets, if necessary. But it did discourage poor people and visitors from the suburbs from using the park because they had few options especially on the weekends, and everyone knows how filthy and humiliating the computerised toilets are on the other side of Grenfell Street. So the bulldozer got rid of both the toilets and the people who previously used the park. The park has, in effect, become a semi-private park for the apartment and hotel dwellers: public land has become semi-private land. This "theft" is called social exclusion: excluding certain classes of people from prime parklands. It's going on all over Adelaide. The Social Inclusion Unit, a section of the Premier's Department and headed by the Catholic Monsignor, David Cappo, is doing the same: pressuring the church agencies, especially Catholic organisations, to reduce their services, kick people out of homeless joints, in order to discourage them from being in the inner city area. It's a subtle but devastating process. (Go Back To Photo) 16 October 2007 Afton (Surveillance) House Redevelopment (latest photo) They've painted the red bicks on the main building in a tinted version of Housing Trust Cream. They've added brown to the paint: is this philosophical symbolism? Inspired Recipe No 6 The Trouble with Theo Maras (Kalamaras) by our Anonymous Informant "One thing i know about that pig kalamaras is that before his own son began making films he offered "assistance" to an up-coming filmaker (Murali Thalluri) in the form of a free lease in some empty offices kalamaras owned. Either towards the end of thee free lease period or just after it ended the filthy pig "developer" handed Thalluri a bill for $3500 for "air-conditioning" expences. " And the Adelaide Review article about proposed flats above the proposed Bus Station... "That story you quote (entry 9 October 2007 below on this page) from the AR [Adelaide Review, 28 September-11 October Issue ] is edited quite strangely, Maras has obviously said something not fit for print at least in their [Adelaide Review's' ] heads. Perhaps you could interview the fat pig himself? It would be interesting to know exactly why he is involved in "common ground". He is certainly anything but a benevolent builder - or benevolent anything for that matter. My own reading between the lines of that article is that he wants to get his hands on assets at a cheaper than market rate price, but I think that's what all of those creatures are always up to. The "things" and people behind such entities really are quite vile when one looks into it." 15 October 2007 Trouble at Teen Challenge The Chef from the Jasmin Restaurant was ropable when he spotted one man in the food queue in Hindmarsh Square last Thursday. �That coat must have cost $200,� he said, doubting that some of the people there were �homeless�. The Chef was worried Teen Challenge was giving the tickets to anyone. He accused people of simply turning up because the curry was good: he was right on this last point. The Chef took his complaints to the venerable retired cook, Frank Jones, sitting in the hand painted van in which he lives. Frank said he could do a better job determining who deserved the free food and the Chef agreed and went back to the restaurant. Frank then advised Ricky of Teen Challenge that next week he would be taking over. The quiet Ricky became unusually talkative saying it was a Teen Challenge operation and he�d get his brother, Rangi, to �pull the rug under Frank�s feet. The Chef returned with two employees carrying the food then stayed to observe each person getting the food to see if they were homeless. He looked at me suspiciously but my association with Frank got me through. What he didn�t like was some with multiple tickets collecting food for �friends and relatives�, etc. The $200 coat fellow turned out to be okay; one person said he was a gambling addict now homeless and just returned from Melbourne after a disastrous gambling campaign. Another man not questioned later told me he pays $190 a week rent from his single Centreline benefit and that rent was going to rise 20% in the near future because of higher property values. In the end the Chef decided Teen Challenge would continue issuing the food tickets. There were complaints from two clients of Hutt Street Centre who said Frank Jones always wants to take over. 12 October 2007 Street-to-Home �Allan�, an employee of Street-to-home, has conned Frank Jones into signing a document that allows �Allan� to legally contact Frank�s personal doctor, HousingSA and Centrelink in preparation to offering Frank somewhere to rent. Frank doesn�t want to be near drug addicts and mental patients or in Elizabeth because of the type of people that live there. �Allan� didn�t tell Frank his last name despite gaining such intimate personal information about Frank. �Allan� didn�t even provide Frank with the address of Street-to-home. 12 October 2007 Barmera Scam Artist Games (an anonymous email forwarded to Norm) From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: Meeting up with you - re Norm Barber - 10 Oct 07 Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2007 13:46:32 +1030 Hi John Green Dear Brother in Homelessness We would like to catch up with Norm Barber. He is has been annoying a lot of people and we'd like to show how much people can annoy people who do what he does ... kick people when they are down. We know he goes to Disability Information Services (DIRC) in Gilles Street, and from tomorrow we will be photographing, from a car, everyone who goes there and we will show people the photos till we find which one he is. He goes to Fred's Van on Thursdays and to other places, so we will wait for him there. We are going to follow him around, taking photos, pointing him out to people as a dole bludger, trouble maker, and bully. Some might get mad. We will pciket his home, when we follow him there. We are going to stir up Members of Parliament about him, and point out that he keeps on insulting the City Council, so maybe they will start followiing him around to stop him taking photos of their tollets and maybe shove his head down one and flush it. We'd like to meet up with you and chew the fat and you can tell us what you know about him, where he goes etc. We'll be in contact and perhaps on Thursday night you can be near Fred's and we can meet up and you can point him out. Then we'll tell everyone at the Fred's crowd what he is doing to the good name of the homeless and maybe they will make sure he never comes back. Maybe tar and feathers. When we get out our "War on Homeless Wars" website, we will let you know and you can gather stuff on Norm and feed it to us, and we'll drive him out of Adelaide. Down with Norm Barber Down with "Homelss Wars" Down with scumbags Good on you Mate, keep up the fight. The Serb Brothers "Don't bother us and we won't bother you, but watch out bothersome people" 12 October 2007 Anti-Psychiatry Group in Rundle Mall The Citizens Committee on Human Rights (CCHR) has a stall in Rundle Mall today and tomorrow. They�re distributing pamphlets such as, �Child Drugging: Psychiatry Destroying Lives�. The CCHR was founded by Scientology and the famous writer, Thomas Szas, who wrote, �The Myth of Mental Illness� and other books. The stall cost $616 in rent to the Rundle Mall Management for two days plus $200 for compulsory insurance. The CCHR contains Scientology members but a rule is that within the CCHR Scientologist are not allowed to promote Scientology. A sign on the Rundle Mall stall clearly indicates the CCHR was founded by Scientology. A man at the stall said that Methamphetamine hydrochloride (ICE) is similar to the psychiatric drug Ritalin. Given that the Social Inclusion Unit promotes psychiatric drugs to �control� homeless people then Commissioner David Cappo is somewhat similar to a drug dealer boss. Is this a farfetched comparison or does it have comparative legitimacy? 9 October 2007 Theo Maras�s Message to those living outside ��here is your opportunity to come to the avenue of Common Ground; by the time you graduate from Common Ground, you�re in the real world, and you�re out there standing on your own two feet.� I wonder if Theo has ever lived outside in a city like Adelaide. From the Adelaide Review, 28 September-11 October Issue 9 October 2007 Blacks Only �You�re white; you�re not welcome here.� A white fella reported this response when he went to the free Friday lunch barbecue in the West Terrace Parklands. The Aboriginals have essentially reclaimed this land from the white underclass. This is the barbecue that used to be held near the children�s playground on Glen Osmond Road but the children and their parents using the playground equipment were offended by the drunken brawls and swearing so the barbecue day moved to West Terrace. 9 October 2007 Erica-on-the-Street An elderly Canadian couple made a hasty retreat back to their hotel in Hindmarsh Square next to the RAA office. Erica complemented her coat and opened it up and there was a gold ingot hanging from her neck. Erica didn�t mean anything offensive but the old couple became worried when they realised we were �soup kitchen� types. 9 October 2007 Slack Trans Adelaide General Manager Bill Watson, the manager of Trans Adelaide still hasn�t replied to a letter asking for clarification of their policy on can collectors boarding trains with their fridge trolleys full of bags of deposit cans. The letter was hand delivered so he can�t say he didn�t receive it. 9 October 2007 Ken heads for Anglicare Ken Henderson of WestCare near Whitmore Square has switched jobs to Anglicare at Elizabeth. It was discussed amongst others how he could bear to be around Elizabeth-type people. One person came up with the answer: he grew up in Elizabeth and was used to them. He is also Pastor at the Baptist Church and lives there. While Ken was waiting for the job interview an Anglicare client came up to him and asked him to unlock a door. "Ah, WestCare," the man remembered where he'd seen Ken. 8 October 2007 PJ Fire A new shrub has been planted in the Gawler Court, Adelaide where the burnt tree was removed after **** poured meths on PJ's blankets and food then torched the lot last year. 8 October 2007 The other Alcatraz Frank Jones, 74, living in his van, was supplied with a rental flat by HousingSA last year. The rent was cheap. This tale initially sounds like a happy story within a benevolent welfare system, doesn't it? But because Frank was living in his van at the time they sent him to those blocks of flats on the corner of Henley Beach Road and Marion Road in Brooklyn Park. Some are managed by MACHA, others by HousingSA. One MACHA employee said of the flats, "They give us the shit." He was speaking of the quality of HousingSA units being transferred to MACHA, who largely house homeless people. Frank began living in one of these flats still managed by HousingSA. He said he experienced 14 unpleasant incidents in 21 days. One was some drug dealers telling him they'd torch his van if he told the police what they were doing. Frank moved back outside and now Street-to-home are acting as if Frank was the problem for not adapting to living with the drug dealers and psychiatric patients dumped out of Glenside while still paranoid. Frank doesn't have a history of drug use and lived in a stable marriage for most of his adult life, but because he began living outside after his wife died they classified him in that non-homogenous "drug addict/psychiatric patient/ \criminal" grouping. 8 October 2007 Fred's Van Someone at Fred's Van made the observation that most of the volunteers were very old or very young: the former soon to be too frail to continue while the latter were there temporarily as "work experience" or part of their religious education. One Fred's Van "volunteer", there must be a more deserving and complimentary word to describe him, has had a serious heart attack and last Thursday was wearing a black patch over one eye. A woman, blond and wearing glasses, is also another "solid as a rock" worker at Fred's Van. They never preach religion but through their example seem to embody the qualities to which many aspire. 8 October 2007 Cash Converters "Mostly junkies with stolen goods," said a former Cash Converters employee describing people who sell stuff to them. 8 October 2007 Teen Challenge Meal Mentioned at the Casino Adelaide stand-up comedian, Bowley, said last week that his father was so mean that when he took his kids to a restaurant it was the "soup kitchen" in Hindmarsh Square. Two people in the audience had just been there. The comedian didn't mention the food was from the Jasmin Restaurant frequented by the Indian and Pakistan cricket teams when they were in Adelaide. 8 October 2007 Cleaner now unemployed Most people will remember those public toilets in the park across from the current RAA office in Hindmarsh Square, Adelaide. They had two cleaner/attendants at all times. You could see the men's cleaner reading a newspaper in his office as you entered the male toilets. After the Adelaide City Council bulldozed these toilets and removed the rubbish bins this same cleaner became unemployed and instead of being a cleaner he now goes to the pokies. He also gets a free meal from Teen Challenge in this same park just in front of where he used to work. He suffers anxiety and high blood pressure because he doesn't have any productive labour. 8 October 2007 Social Inclusion Unit Strategy in Action Ian Cox has kicked Frank Jones, aged 74, from the Hutt Street Centre for a further two months. Frank lives in his black van on Adelaide city streets. Readers of this column remember that Ian Cox, the Manager of the Hutt Street Centre, kicked him out for one-month in September after Frank was �horsing around�. Frank was pretending to punch someone he has known for four years. That guy didn�t complain but Hutt Street Centre employees Brenda (Esmerelda) and Phil, the ex-cop took the initiative to complain to Ian Cox. Street-to-home, of 15 Bentham Street, Adelaide and who also operate out of Hutt Street Centre, have offered accommodation to Frank if he undergoes �treatment�, and allows their employees entry into any accommodation gained through them. Frank won�t bow to these conditions so at 74 is being refused housing. Frank won�t go to Byron Place Community Centre for showers or to use that laundry because he says the place is too dirty and full of drug dealers. Frank is looking a little bedraggled. The above treatment of Frank represents the strategy of the Social Inclusion Unit and Monsignor David Cappo in which homeless people are denied cheap or free food, showers, laundry, a place to rest during the day, even housing so in their desperation will be more amenable to having their lives legally controlled by Street-to-home. But doing it to a 74-year-old man living in an old van seems a little cruel. 5 October 2007 Scam Artist Welcomed at Hutt Street Centre While Frank Jones is denied services at Hutt Street Centre fraudster John Green is welcomed with open arms. Green, originally from Barmera, is a career criminal who defrauded a volunteer of $600 at Byron Place Community Centre; a church worker at WestCare for $100; a mildly disabled man at the Disability and Information Resource Centre for $1400; and Kevin Naughton, the media advisor for opposition leader Martin Hamilton-Smith, of an undisclosed amount. Green has 26 convictions for fraud and forgery and spends many hours a week at the Metropolitan Hotel pokies room (corner of Grote and Pitt Streets in Adelaide). Yet he is welcomed at Hutt Street Centre while Frank Jones is banned. 5 October 2007 Blood on his Hand �I�d shake your hand but it�s covered in blood,� said the tall fellow to Wanda at Fred�s Van last night. 5 October 2007 Father Crappo A new title given to David Cappo by a new reader of this gossip column. 5 October 2007 Inspired Recipe No 5 Howard Williams on the War Path �Its time for a New Start,� says Howard Williams, advocate for the homeless, on his Adelaide City Council election poster taped to the window of that Greek barber shop in Whitmore Square. It�s time to get serious, adds Arni Rossis� on his election poster in another window. 28 September 2007 Brain Damage �He�s got brain damage,� said a man at WestCare, about someone behaving badly. �Yeah,� responded a white woman who says she�s an Arab, �He fell on his ass.� 28 September 2007 Pyne in Election Mode Christopher Pyne was touring WestCare while we were eating lunch today. He has promised money for treatment of co-morbidity, which means you�re killing yourself slowly in many different ways like eating too much sugar or smoking too much. �Isn�t that humanity?� asked Chris, the scrap collector. I meant to yell at Pyne, or at least shout out that the Social Inclusion Unit shouldn�t get a cent, but was listening to someone more interesting. This person said someone broke into Westcare�s cold room during the night and stole a car load of food. 28 September 2007 Improved Fish at WestCare The cook, who thrives when addressed as �Chef�, has begun cooking the fish properly. Two minutes in the oil instead of ten as before. She has also added bush lemons to brighten up the flavour. But she�s going on holidays for two weeks and we�re all deeply worried. 28 September 2007 Latest Homeless Statistics No Longer Available Remember the city �homeless count� where the numbers of primary homeless in the Adelaide CBD was counted at three homeless centres. The number was 82 plus another fifty who refused to comment. This was compared to the �official� Social Inclusion Unit number of 37. The Social Inclusion Unit coerces the three homeless centres to do a homeless count every two months. When its employees �get� the homeless centres to collect these details they emphasise their (Social Inclusion) accountability to people who supply these details. The statistics are collated by Social Inclusion then sent back to the homeless centres. But, surprise, surprise, after these figures were compared to the �official� 37 figure in this column dated 23 July 2007 http://www.geocities.com/homelessaustralia/hotgossipverylatest.html the Social Inclusion Unit changed their tune. The August total has been kept secret by the Social Inclusion Unit, even from the agencies that supplied them. 24 September 2007 Frank �horses around� then gets kicked out of Hutt Street Centre �For horsing around,� Frank said. �Ian Cox sent me this letter saying I was banned for September. He didn�t say if I could go back after that but it would be considered.� Frank says he was pretending to be trying to punch a disabled man, �horsing around�, he says. Frank is 74. We won�t say more about Frank in case Street-to-home attempts to hunt him down. �I knew nothing about life until by wife died six-years ago and I moved to Adelaide to live with the street people,� Frank adds, as the conversation unfolds. 24 September 2007 Julian Disney Julian Disney spoke at the ShelterSA Annual General Meeting last week. He was inspiring in that he explained the basis of the housing shortage: federal and state government policies. This was refreshing compared to David Cappo's attitude to homelessness: those living outside or in bad circumstances are mentally ill, criminals, victims of "abuse" and should be treated as such rather than for their primary need of shelter. 24 September 2007 Trans Adelaide Trains Guards wouldn�t allow Phil and his can filled fridge trolley on the train one night. He pushed it to Bowden and tried to board there but the guards again wouldn�t let him on so he pushed it home to Woodville Gardens. Strange that the guards allow drug dealers, drunks, drug addicts on ICE, thugs and everyone else but not the well-spoken Phil. You�d think �the next Pope� and the Social Inclusion Unit would be up-in-arms over this. Sorry, just kidding; they wouldn�t be interested in the slightest. "Social Inclusion" is simply a euphemism to cover-up what they're really up to. 24 September 2007 Core Promises Did anyone ever hear the Premier of South Australia say that Glenside Hospital would never be sold. Well, the government announced 42% of the land will be sold and a smaller hospital rebuilt. David Cappo, (the next Pope), says he hopes the bulldozers will be in there by Christmas. 24 September 2007 Erica-on-the-street �Erica�, aged 70, and living in a HousingSA unit, wasn�t seen in the homeless scene these past four months. She cracked her neck and was in hospital then stayed for four-weeks in Glenside. �They fill you with drugs,� she said. It was an unhappy return to the scene. Some guy at the Teen Challenge meal in Hindmarsh Square yelled at her so much and she didn�t get any food last night. She didn�t want to go to Fred�s Van because she was feeling bad at being yelled at: Her first night back. This was an example of how psychiatric drugs had dulled her survival instinct and she made some small social miscalculation. The �homeless� scene is far too dangerous in which to make errors. This is how psychiatric drugs can actually put a person at risk where previously they would have survived without incident. 24 September 2007 Can and Plastic Collectors A recurring complaint amongst can collectors (often known as bin scabs), is that the general public fail to see them as humans making a living from collecting rubbish that they sell as recyclable material. People look at them with disgust but fail to recognise that these dozen or so men in the Adelaide CBD are doing what most of the rest of us say we should do, that is, reduce our waste load that we dump into the environment and increase our recycling. 24 September 2007 Urine Rumour has it that a certain derelict soaks his money in urine then dries it out before spending it. 24 September 2007 Photography Student A photography student was at Fred's Van asking people if she could capture their images as part of her photography course. 24 September 2007 Government Forces Aboriginals into Dangerous Situations A Commonwealth Government employee told me that the federal government was kicking Aboriginals off the dole if they stayed in their outback communites. The government was ordering them to move to the town camps around Alice Springs, Darwin, Tenant Creek where violence and degradation was rife. Those who refuse get kicked off the dole. The government uses the argument that there aren't enough employment opportunities in the remote communities. Yet unemployment isn't available for most black folk in these larger towns so what is the point of forcing them to move to the more dangerous bigger towns. Sinister thoughts comes easily. 24 September 2007 Kidney Stones Angelo, in his fifties and on a disability pension, has been shifting his body around to try to relocate the kidney stones that cause him to wake up vomiting. He is on the long waiting list for surgery but no one at the Royal Adelaide Hospital will say anything. The health system has partially collapsed. 24 September 2007 No Thanks A man asked Tony Roach of the St Vincent de Paul Society for the legal name of their society so he could name them in his new will. Mr Roach didn't reply. 24 September 2007 Mark Parnell 24 September 2007Greens MLC Mark Parnell became jittery at the ShelterSA Annual General Meeting yesterday. A man three rows back accidently kicked a chair. Mark jumped noticeably though his entourage remained calm. 20 September 2007 The Cause of the Housing Shortage Those attending today�s ShelterSA AGM in Adelaide heard that $25 billion had been put into housing by the federal government: $3 billion went on rent assistance and first homebuyer grants and $22 billion on tax relief for richer people who invested in housing. The speaker said the government, by providing housing investment as a tax haven, prompted the huge rise in house prices, which has increased mortgage payments for everyone. This happened because investors rarely built new houses but instead purchased existing housing. The speaker also said that a 100,000 of the million people facing rent and mortgage stress was due to the decline of the public housing sector especially in South Australia. The Minister for Destroying the Housing Trust, Jay Weatherill, was on holidays and sent his apologies for not attending the meeting. 19 September 2007 Inspired Recipe 3 Inspired Recipe 4 Housing SA Ripe for Corruption Many clients and advocates dealing with HousingSA realise how open it is to corruption. Lack of accountability to clients; an opaque waiting list; anomalies like housing going to less desperate clients while others wait for years; selling of blocks of government houses to developers rather than put them up individually for auction. It all leads to a corrupt HousingSA that may be infested with people like Douglas Norris of the New South Wales Housing Commission who placed people in vacant houses if they paid him bribes. And who is the watchdog of HousingSA? It�s the lame-dog State Ombudsman: underfunded, undermotivated, useless. South Australia needs an Independent Commission Against Corruption that could also investigate how so much money for �homelessness� gets chewed up by bureaucrats like David Cappo and others in the Social Inclusion Commission. 17 September 2007 ****************************************************** ShelterSA Annual General Meeting, Methodist Meeting Hall back of the Pilgrim Church in Flinders Street, Adelaide. Wednesday 19 September 10am-12noon ****************************************** Wanda and her sister "I don't have any friends; I'm all alone; I'm strong." Aboriginal woman at Fred's Van. She kicked a white fella sitting on a bench eating food. It was a high powerful kick. He told her to get away. She broke a branch off a tree and whipped him a few times before her sister broke up the one-sided fight. "Do I always have to be a referee?" her sister complained, with some pride. 17 September 2007 The Next Pope's Influence? (Galloper the Innocent) "Hutt Street is getting dominant: If you let them they'll stand over you. If you don't go their way they kick you out." A client speaking about Hutt Street Centre. 17 September 2007 Death of Diane Hodge Diane Hodge died on 3 September 2007. She was aged about 61 and lived in a hostel in Semaphore. Diane was a pleasant, inoffensive woman who never expressed bitterness about the cards that life dealt her. She used to attend the Cottage Kitchen in Port Adelaide where not a few people are sad that she died. 17 September 2007 Words can mean almost anything Below is a section of Cappo's writing in black, from the Adelaide Advertiser of 12 September 2007. I've written in red the possible interpretations of what he might really mean. "�We know that many people who use homeless services are housed. These people also have needs that must be met but government resources must be focused on those who are most vulnerable." At any point in time most of the homeless culture have a roof over their heads. People repeatedly move in and out of homelessness. Creating artificial divisions between people currently housed and those outside is an attempt to destroy the homeless culture, that is, isolate people further from their peer group. "Over the next four years, tough decisions will be made by government, council, inner-city support agencies and other key organisations." Stopping government funding to church-based homeless organisations that refuse to share personal client details with coercive government agencies. "As a community we have to support this effort to not just deal with homelessness but stop it." Cappo frequently comes across as a prosecutor vowing to stomp out criminals rather than a bureaucrat offering help to those living outside. There is enough government accommodation to house all those living outside in Adelaide within a month, but Cappo isn't about housing. This is a ploy. What he is really about is the re-institutionalisation of the homeless class. 17 September 2007 Lesbian Social Workers? Gale from Chat and Chew at the Wesley Care Port Adelaide was saying her daughter wants to stay longer at Gale's house than her one weekend per fortnight access. Gale couldn't keep her any longer or else the government paid foster mother would get the FamiliesSA social workers to stop her from visiting Gale altogether. 17 September 2007 The "Lost" Wallet John Green of Barmera "found" a wallet in Adelaide. It contained a dozen plastic cards and a considerable amount of money. The owner's Driver's License listed a Goodwood address. Green took the money for himself and later blew it on the pokies. He could still have placed the moneyless wallet and cards in an envelope and posted it to the owner, but he said the Driver's License picture indicated the owner was probably an unpleasant person. He tossed the wallet and cards into the rubbish. Green shouldn't be considered harmless, either. He "lent" $500 to an angry homeless man last year then tried to manipulate him to attack another man whom Green had duped for $1400. The mildly disabled creditor was trying to regain the "one-week loan to buy a car for my son" and Green was trying to have him beaten up. 17 September 2007 Home |
