Word: cage
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Finally, after the situation persisted through the summer, Harvard Real Estate, in conjuction with several homelessness empowerment groups (including Spare Change, Bread and Jams, and Solutions for Work) decided to erect the cage over the grates on Holyoke...
Many are quick to blame Harvard Real Estate for disenfranchising Cambridge's already-disenfranchised homeless community. However, even though the cage is ultimately unjust, Harvard Real Estate made a considerable effort to address the concerns of the homeless. Far from being malicious or hasty, the decision to build the cage was a response to serious problems arising from the use of the heating grates...
...despite Harvard Real Estate's sensitivity towards Cambridge's homeless community, something about the grates is just not right, and all of the parties involved seem to know it. The decision to build the cage was strongly influenced, they say, by the fact that the Holyoke Center's heating system is due to be renovated. This extensive, costly project--which has not yet begun--will greatly increase the efficiency of the heaters, but will also entail the construction of new heat exhaust vents on the roof of the Holyoke Center. The old exhaust vents--those that are now covered...
...renovations are still years down the road, then they cease to justify the policy. A project this far off should not be the critical factor in dealing with such an immediate and acute problem. The cage's advocates are using the renovations to rationalize a solution that is seriously flawed for many reasons...
This instance of collective punishment flatly contradicts the "Fair Treatment Guidelines for Holyoke Center Public Spaces," an agreement worked out by the same groups who authorized the building of the cage. The gist of this document is summed up in these excerpts: "All retail patrons and the general public must be treated equally with courtesy, dignity, and in a non-discriminatory manner...past behavior cannot be the basis for refusing patronage other than to those who have repeatedly not respected these guidelines." In other words, actions of one homeless person should have absolutely no bearing on the subsequent treatment...