Thursday, February 28, 2008

Study: 80% of Homeless Under Bridge Disabled

New Orleans Channel 6 WDSU news reports on a new study which finds 80% of homeless living under the Claiborne overpass are disabled.

WWLTV Channel 4 News reports more details of study.

Their count shows about 150 people calling the camp home.

Surveyors asked 46 questions and 118 people responded.

Nearly nine out of ten are from this area and one quarter was homeless before Katrina.

About 60 percent have become homeless since the storm and have no skills to cope with life on the streets.

Sixteen percent are military veterans. Forty-nine of the 118 have jobs, earning $300 to $500 a month.

In related news, UN experts: US government forcing N.O. blacks into homelessness.

Sunday, February 3, 2008

We will help those people.

In a February 1, 2008 article, Media Matters for America documented Bill O'Reilly's absurd ridiculing of former Democratic presidential candidate John Edward's reference to homeless people living under a bridge in New Orleans.

Included in the MMA article is a video and transcript of O'Reilly saying Edwards is "obsessed with the bridges." Sarcastically, O'Reilly feigns ignorance of the real problem, the tent city under the bridge.

O'Reilly goes on to state that he and Juan Williams would personally go to New Orleans to help those under the bridge if only they knew where the bridge is.

O'REILLY: Just tell me where the bridge is. We will help those people. They can't tell me. OK.

McLEAN: You know what? You know what? Whether it's that specific bridge or somewhere else in America, he's right. There are people who are sleeping under a bridge without a roof over their head. And that's the point.

O'REILLY: OK, Kiki, all you need to do is tell me where the bridge is, Juan and I will go out there and we'll help those folks. OK?

Well look no further Bill. Here are the driving directions from Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport to Canal St and Claiborne Ave under the I-10 overpass.

Let there be no doubt, there are homeless people living under I-10 at Canal and Claiborne.

A group of homeless men saw my camera and scrambled to have their pictures taken by me in the hopes of receiving some cash. All I had was my last $20 bill which I gave to one man who said he was going to split it with the a few other men.

Several pictures I took while leaving the bridge under which John Edwards' brain sleeps alone.