San Diego Unseen: An Urban Portrait
Values need adjusting
In criticizing CityBeat’s April 20 editorial, “Obama’s battle plan” in the May 11 issue, letter writer J. Otis Benton’s solution to the economy was “focus on spending cuts.” That is simplistic. A certain amount of government spending is necessary; blanket spending cuts can be deleterious absent consideration as to where, how much and when spending cuts are made.
And Benton’s take that the current mess is due to excess spending on pork is also overly simplistic. Granted, pork is a problem, but wealth concentration among a few, and the disproportionate size of the paper economy are bigger issues. The aforementioned are not sustainable and correction would/should have taken place; when wealth shifts to the top, consumers no longer have sufficient money to support the rich getting richer, nor to sustain the party on Wall Street.
But correction was postponed by credit loosening, resulting in a house of cards that eventually fell. I agree with Benton that back to basics is needed, such as return to government of, by and for the people instead of by and for the wealthy and big business.
Also our value system needs major adjustment. Consider, for instance, that a creator of toxic assets is rewarded far more handsomely than an Einstein. Unfortunately, change is unlikely due to legal bribery of politicians and an electorate with their heads in the sand, oblivious to the fact that with their heads in the sand, their backsides are perfectly positioned to have it stuck to them.
Dan Jacobs, Mira Mesa
I am writing to you because I’ve read several articles you’ve written about the Neil Good Day Center and its lack of funding. You may wonder why a woman from upstate New York has any interest in the homeless of San Diego. The story I am about to tell you will clarify.
My 26-year-old son drove across the country last week, hoping to make San Diego his new home. He arrived Friday, May 6. On Saturday, he lost his wallet “somewhere in the city.” It, of course, contained his license, debit card, social security card, a gas card and $300 in cash. He was, understandably, distraught, not a good beginning to his new life.
Tuesday, arriving home from work, I checked the mail. There was a box, addressed to my son, from San Diego. Yes, his wallet was inside, with all of his cards and, most surprisingly, most of his cash: $294.80. Inside there was a receipt from a post office for $5.20, it was wrapped around the 80 cents in change. There was no note, just a return name and address.
Of course, I immediately called my son. He said he knew where the street was and would go find this man. A “reward” or dinner would have to wait a bit because my son at that point had no access to his meager funds.
I Googled this man’s name, in hopes of a phone number. No luck. I then mapped the street address. You can imagine my astonishment at what I found, as the address is 299 17th Street.
Choking back the tears, I called my son:
“It’s a homeless shelter.” My son drove there, asked around, but no one there at that time knew him. The next day, I called the center. After thinking a bit, an employee said, “Yes, I do know who he is. He comes in once or twice a week to check his mail.” She paged him, but he was not there. My son will keep checking back until he finds this man. I am very happy there is an address where I can send this amazing person a thank-you note and possibly have some future contact.
As I told my son, this is not one, simple event. This is big, karma, pay-it-forward, something you should carry in your heart forever. This is the ultimate definition of honesty, doing the right thing, altruism.
If this is the character of the people who frequent the Neil Good Day Center, I certainly hope there will be funding to keep it open.
Martha Moriarty, Honeoye Falls, N.Y.
Ms. Moriarty will be pleased to learn that funding has been found to keep the facility open for one more year, and then more money will have to be found.
