Strikes Rutger Street thread on Faultlines

[Clipper]

Strikeslip has a thread posted to his Faultlines blog this morning about the UDN article describing the Rescue Mission proposed program to house recently released inmates and to transition them back into free society. strikeslip.blogspot.com. Click on the UDN banner at the bottom of the page to read the article on UDN page.

That is fine for AREA inmates, that have been released, but any other inmates should be "transitioned" right back to where they came from, and not dumped onto Oneida Counties welfare rolls, and rehabilitated with Oneida County Taxpayer's money.

We have become an area supported on the employment front, by prisons and corrections jobs, but we DO NOT need to become the NY State center for half way houses and transitional programs for the enormous number of people that are released from those 4 facilities over the period of a year. It would not take long for the area to be overly saturated with paroled inmates. Just the sad fact that the recidivism rates are high, would doom the area to even more crime than we already have to deal with.

We cannot raise a city from the ashes of the past few years and bring any kind of "renewal" to the area, by populating the area with people that are struggling to find a place in society, and most likely will be living on public assistance programs while they transition.

As far as the historic area surrounding Rutger St and the mansions, THAT should have been dealt with long ago by the city zoning board and the area should have been designated in such a fashion as to have precluded such a thing.

Maybe it is time for the City to donate some property somewhere else in the city to the mission for such a project.

[bobbbiez]

Clipper, don't know if this has changed, but at one time, inmates paroled had to be released back to their own areas. That policy might have changed but up till now I haven't heard anything has changed. Maybe someone here can enlighten us on that issue.

[Clipper]

I would like to know also Bobbbiez. The article seemed to indicate that there was concern as to where they would be from, and what their crimes were. The biggest concern seemed to be the historic significance of the neighborhood, and the transient activity from such a project, as well as a desire to know what these people had served time for.

Did you read both Strike's blog post and the UDN article? Interesting stuff, as usual. Thank you Strike!

[bobbbiez]

Nope, won't have a chance right now. The wardens are getting restless. Don't have much time left here. Will as soon as I can.

Strikeslip is usually pretty knowledgeable on things and right on the mark, so I do try to keep up with what he post.

[Clipper]

the wardens are getting restless? Gotta do that wireless router and laptop in the john thing, or else just take the laptop to the couch, haha.

[dgriffin]

And then there's this:





State cost-cutting will lead to early release for some prisoners


N. Y. budget will expedite early releases at prisons


www.buffalonews.com/nationalworld/state/story/631098.html

[Ralph]

Nice.......time to go stock up on shells I think.

[Clipper]

Heck Ralph. I stay stocked up on shells. It makes very little difference actually. If we are not up to our asses in "former inmates", we are still up to our asses in those that are doing the crimes and haven't been caught yet. Our streets are already filled with druggies and dirtbags, and we really don't need to import any more into a specific area of the city, but as far as their criminal activity is concerned, there most likely would not be any marked difference in the eye of the average citizen. Our neighborhoods are already filled with crack heads and meth addicts, who would kill you for a ten dollar bill, or rob a C store for enough to buy a rock or two.

[Ralph]

I just hate to see our city being used as the dumping grounds for every piece of retched refuse the prisons eject.
Maybe that sounds unfair, but with the type of crimes most seem to be in for and the recidivism rates, I feel that is what we are becoming.....especially that particular area.

I have no qualms with giving folks a fair chance at re-entering society, but I want to know what their background is and that there is a fair distance between them and the general population.

Stuffing them on the fine line between the neighborhoods and downtown is just asking for trouble no matter how you look at it.

[Clipper]

I still would like to know if they are from this area or just being dumped out the gate and brought to the mission, when they are originally from Downstate or some other area.

When I had my business I hired a parolee. He was an excellent worker. I helped him to get back on his feet, and the only inconvenience for me was that I had to contact his parole officer if we were going to work outside the county overnight.

I helped him to develop a work ethic, and eventually was proud to give him a good reference when he successfully was hired as a custodian at the House of Good Shepard. He worked his ass off, and he managed to pass the background check requirements to get on at the HGS.

I would not however have hired a person that was convicted of a violent crime or a weapons crime. I worked at night in the floor maintenance business, and during the day in people's homes cleaning carpets and doing smoke and water damage remediation. My people had to be trustworthy and bondable.

Rutger St is not the place to develop a program that is going to keep a revolving door for inmates fresh out of prison. They should be housed away from neighborhoods with children, and away from such places as senior citizen housing or playgrounds. They need to prove themselves and to GRADUATE back into neighborhoods and into society in general. It is a tough transition, and many do not make the cut, and re-offend.

[concerned]

This has been going on since 2002. When an inmate goes into transition they are already processed through Public Assistance for back pay, food stamps, medicaid and they get new furniture and clothing through Rev. Martin's foundation along with a place to live. Parker House would take one or two into that house , usually they went into emergency shelter( anyone going into emergency shelter is automatically sighned up for public assistance since this is the way Rescue Mission gets its money to operate the shelter as well as Parker House. Parker House bring in $ 200,000/year for the transition inmates, how else are able to fund that operation.

[fiona]

Is anyone aware that the Rutger Street debacle has taken on an antagonistic face, and that there are currently several lawsuits to force the Mission to release information about the nature of these parolees crimes? The Mission states that this info is private and that there are no arsonists or sex offenders in the program, but, how do we know??? Also, there is an ongoing debate, beteween the Landmarks Society and the Mission. The Landmarks Society, after years of litigation, was finally able to purchase no's 3 and 4 Rutger park the Conkling House and the Munn House. They are in the process of restoring then, as well as Rutger Park. The Mission has or will purchase the Swancott Home, no 2 Rutger park and they are bound and determined to house transients there. This is a filthy mess. I, for one, an absolutely and totally against housing any transients in Rutger Park!!!!! Rutger Park is a National Historic zone and DOES NOT NEED A HALFWAY HOUSE IN AN ITALIANATE MANSION NEXT TO A VICTORIAN MUSEAUM! There are plenty of houses on Rutger Street and elsewhere that can be utilized for this purpose. The Mission is intent on saturating the area with it's clients because the area is directly behind the welfare building. I hope the residents of Rutger Street rise up and say: "Enough is enough! We're not taking this anymore!" I myself have a background in Sociology and Social work and I can tell you that that area is only few steps away from becoming a "Tenderloin" if this continued influx of the criminal, the destitute, and those " camp followers" who travel with them is not checked.

[Clipper]

What the Swancott home did to the mansion that it occupied is a travesty in itself. It would take years and a ton of money to restore THAT building to it's former grandeur. It was not what one would call a "Premier" nursing facility even in it's heyday. I used to deliver Oxygen tanks there years ago, and to stick your nose in the front door was like sticking your nose close to a bar room urinal

[Ralph]

Being in there myself I have to agree with Clipper on that place.
Gutting it to the studs would be the best hope.....and then that might not be enough!

But I do agree with Fiona on the tenderloin region idea. The area of South Street one block away is the best know prostitution spot in the city. It may ebb and flow into other areas, but always goes back to that general geographic area.

It needs to be nipped in the bud right now.

[concerned]

I do know that anyone is welcome in there emergency shelter. I know that at times there are inmates that are released from downstate but travel up to Utica in search of greener grass. I think a more stable program is what the Mission was trying to address. Apparently the 90 day inmate re-entry into society program works. I have talked to some of the inmates on the CENTO buses who are going around applying for jobs in various places in Utica. I don't know why food service jobs and health service jobs are so high on there lists. I was talking to one gentleman just a few days age and he came off as very well educated. That might have been a con job, but since I worked 10 years as a teacher in our upstate prisons I can usually spot a con job. Rescue Mission does keep there grounds very clean and I have to say the programs in Parker House are very strict. There are built in mechanisms in place for anyone who brakes even the simpliest of rules--like waking up late in the morning, not attending a meeting, etc.