Category: Life in the Big City

R.I.P.

~ susie ~ 6 Comments

http://youtu.be/nZlCTcqdaug

My friend Lyn (aka commenter Shadgirl) killed herself Saturday night, an hour or two after she left my house. I just found out when I tried to call her and her sister-in-law answered her phone. She took all the pills she had and climbed into the bathtub, where the guy she was breaking up with found her.

I’d spent the day with her, helping her work out a budget and prepare to have a cleaning lady work on her house this week. You know how it is when you’re depressed — you can’t seem to get started on anything, and I was trying to help. Turns out she was about $500 in the hole every month and didn’t know what she could do about it. She was making plans to get a new roommate after her ex left, but nothing was final yet.

She was on Zoloft. I don’t know if that had anything to do with it.

We’d known each other since high school. I can’t say I’m completely surprised, but I can’t quite believe she’s gone.

Killed in front of her mother

~ susie

Northern Liberties is a trendy area a few miles from me:

A 26-year-old woman was killed Sunday night when a gunman shot her in front of her mother and stole her purse in Northern Liberties, police said.

Police identified the victim on Monday as Amber Long, of the 1700 block of West Ritner Street in South Philadelphia.

She was shot once in the chest around 10:25 p.m., while walking with her mother along Front Street, near Poplar.

Police believe two assailants followed Long and her mother on foot for about two blocks from Fairmount Street as the women walked to their car from the Spring garden street El Station.

Long’s mother had been visiting her daughter, police said, and they had parked their car near Front and Ellen Streets, near where Long’s ex-boyfriend lived.

We are damned lucky

~ susie ~ 2 Comments

The whole mess didn’t ignite, like the previous train wrecks carrying crude:

A CSX train carrying crude oil and sand derailed on a bridge over the Schuylkill River in University City overnight.

The Coast Guard said the incident happened at about 1 a.m. on the Schuylkill Arsenal Bridge, which crosses over the river from University City to Grays Ferry south of the South Street Bridge.

The two-locomotive, 101-freight-car train was traveling from Chicago to Philadelphia, according to CSX. Seven freight cars — six containing crude oil and one containing sand — derailed, the company said.

There’s no indication any materials are leaking from the derailed cars, the Coast Guard said.

Poverty thinking

~ susie ~ 2 Comments

Painful neck
When I was at the chiro’s yesterday, one of the other patients told the doctor she couldn’t get Obamacare, it was too expensive. “Talk to Susan, she knows all that stuff,” he said.

She used to have insurance, but lost it. Then she was in a car crash (hence, the chiro) and they discovered a large tumor in her chest. “I couldn’t get insurance because it was a preexisting condition. So it’s still there.”

I asked if she applied for an ACA subsidy, etc. She said she’d done all that, but it was still too expensive. All she was eligible for was a bronze plan, with a huge deductible. I asked her how much she made ($12,000, two children) and the light began to dawn. “Oh,” I said. “You’re one of those people who should be getting Medicaid, but got screwed when Corbett rejected the Medicaid money.”

I turned to the chiro. “You see? You see why I don’t vote for Republicans? It’s because people like her always get screwed.”

He countered that Republicans just legalized marijuana in New Hampshire. “Yeah, well, Republican priorities,” I retorted. “Healthcare versus getting high.”

The woman said, “My application didn’t even include my fiance’s income, because we’re not married yet.”

“There’s your problem,” I told her. “If your fiance’s income puts you above the poverty level, you should go get married. Just go to City Hall and do it, have your big wedding later. That’ll put you in line for good coverage and a big subsidy.”

She looked shocked, but said if it would help, she’d do it.

I don’t know how ordinary people (who don’t follow politics for a living) navigate this system. If you’re having trouble, use one of the (appropriately named) healthcare navigators. You might think you’re screwed when you’re not.

Desperado

~ susie ~ 3 Comments

http://youtu.be/OEX5m5gT6D0

A few nights ago, I had dinner with our blog host.  I told her I’d lied to her about my life. No surprise.  Living an artificial life and manipulating people all through life has caused me to trash everyone I ever met and loved.  Currently (notwithstanding the advice of two friends that it was a bad idea to have someone move in for financial reasons), my “pay my bills” old boyfriend is leaving. Being economically at his mercy has been an awakening.  I am now 12-stepping my way back, planning a trip back into therapy, and looking forward to getting real — whatever that means.

That night, I dreamed I committed suicide.  I woke up and laughed: “Hah, a rebirth!”

Still, the Eagles song “Desperado” plays on in my head.  Lyrically, it hits the mark.

A real mystery

~ susie ~ 2 Comments

Richard Davies: Walter White

Do they have a Walter White on staff? I don’t have a clue:

WHERE THERE’S smoke, there’s fire.

And in the case of one Roxborough fire station, where there are noxious fumes, there’s a major problem. But what that problem is, and how long it will keep the station shuttered, remains a mystery to those close to the issue.

“The Fire Department is reluctant to give us information,” said Joe Schulle, president of Local 22 firefighters union. “As far as we’ve been told, there’s no timetable for reopening the station.”

The station is Engine Company 66, which has sat unused on Ridge Avenue near Shawmont since Dec. 18, when one of its workers was taken to Roxborough Memorial Hospital after becoming dizzy and light-headed, Schulle said.

Shortly after the incident, the union was told that an investigation by the Environmental Protection Agency turned up higher-than-normal readings of a dozen chemicals not typically used in the process of fighting fires.

“Stuff like chloromethane, names that are tough to even say,” Schulle said. “We’ve seen carbon monoxide at stations before, but never this stuff, to my knowledge.”

Schulle requested a copy of the EPA’s report to find the exact source of the chemicals, among other information he says is vital to union members. As of last night, he’s had no luck – even after filing a Right-to-Know request with the Fire Department.

Out in the cold

~ susie ~ 3 Comments

Hungry
How cold is it? One of the local reporters did that trick where you wet a T-shirt, then show it a few minutes later when it’s frozen solid. But I was feeling restless from being trapped inside the house, so I went out for lunch today.

As I was driving through the Port Richmond Shopping Center to get to Girard Avenue, I saw the same homeless guy I did last week, only this time, he was standing near the entrance lane on the other side.

I remembered him because he was so much more well-spoken than most of the beggars in my neighborhood, and it struck me at the time, “This is a guy who’s not used to being poor.” He stood there with a shovel and broom, holding a sign asking people to hire him to shovel snow. (Anyone who’s ever been poor knows you have to go knock on doors.)

Anyway, while I was eating lunch today, I made a mental note to stop by and see if I could take the guy to get some fast food, where he could come in from out of the cold. Some places won’t allow homeless people inside, but some will. But by the time I drove back, he was gone.

Hopefully he’s somewhere warm.

Tiny homes for the homeless

~ susie ~ 2 Comments

Interior painting

Back in the 60s and 70s, it was all the rage to knock down or rehabilitate SROs (single-room occupancy hotels), but like most redevelopment projects, it merely displaced people who couldn’t afford a real place to live. This is something that makes more sense, but with the current economy, I don’t know how they could possibly build enough of them to deal with the number of now-homeless people:

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Madison officials are working to get the city more housing for the homeless.

The Wisconsin State Journal reports (http://bit.ly/1gyZyQO ) Occupy Madison Inc. hopes to buy a parcel of land so it can build “tiny houses” for the homeless and then park eight to 10 of the houses there.

The 98-square-foot houses have a roof, insulated walls, a compost toilet and sink and are on wheels. Currently, a tiny house parked on a Madison street must be moved every day or two.

The city’s Community Development Authority, meanwhile, is assembling a site for a housing project with 50 to 60 efficiency units and case management services for homeless residents.

Local aldermen have expressed concern about both sites, but details of both proposals are still being worked out.