Dear Editor:
I have delayed writing this letter because I continue to be stunned, dismayed and saddened by a recent event and the responses, reactions to it that followed.
On Tuesday, Oct. 21 a line began to form outside of the Elks Club on Washington Street. Folks were sitting there in chairs, as if preparing for a long wait. I was walking by on the other side of Washington Street and my curiosity was aroused. What was going on? Why were people getting in line and for what? I asked and learned that they were in line, trying to insure a place on a list for open, affordable units in Applied Housing. Is that really ever going to happen? I don’t know for certain but do doubt that ever happening. The next day, Wednesday was cold and raining. The line grew, going well past Maxwell’s and perhaps two thirds up 11th Street, when I last saw it. Some had left the line and others had joined. All ages, all races, all ethnic backgrounds i.e. “Huddled masses” yearning, not for freedom, but for an affordable place to call home.
I am not a crying woman but seeing these folks brought tears to my eyes and literally pain to my heart. It was an image reflective of the black and white photos of the Dust Bowl, families with young children standing under umbrellas, a weak protection from the rain. Standing there hoping for a chance to get on a list for an unknown number of apartments.
What was even more painful and shocking to me was the responses people left after the brief articles in the Hoboken Reporter and the Jersey Journal. Things similar to: “My God, they have cell phones, they are not dressed in rags, and some are smiling, Why aren’t they on a line for a job?” How do you know that they are not working? Many have a job, maybe two jobs but cannot afford the rent. Many waited but few were chosen for a list that may well lead nowhere. Many were not from Hoboken but from Jersey City,
To all the smug folks out there, including the Barry boys, I share a line from Shakespeare, “The evil that men do lives after them, the good is oft interred with their bones.” Does Hoboken need affordable housing? I think so. Will someone do something? I don’t know. Inaction becomes an action.
Hopefully,
Rose Orozco