Word: caged
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...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...
...worst aspect of the cage on Holyoke is its symbolic value. While it may not have been the intention of either Harvard Real Estate or the homelessness empowerment groups to "sweep the problem under the rug," that was certainly the result. Too often, we all have a tendency to deal with the deep problems of poverty and homelessness by pushing them away, out of sight and out of mind. I say with some confidence that every single person reading this editorial, at one time or another, has responded to a beggar's plea with a feeling of resentment...
...cage on Holyoke Street is in exactly this spirit. It does not solve the problem of homelessness in any way; it merely removes the problem from our sight. One cannot help but think that the decision to build the cage was somhow influenced by the subconscious hardening of hearts that we have all experienced...