Candidate Statement: Fred Carroll - Common Council

The below information is a part of the Eye's Elections 2011 series to provide information to voting citizens and does not represent any endorsement by the Middletown Eye or any of its authors.

Hi, I'm Fred Carroll and I'm soliciting your attention to consider me when you vote on Tuesday, November 8^th. I'm seeking a seat on Middletown Common Council on the Realistic Balance Party, a recently created third party line.

You may or may not remember me from "Bums with Brooms," The Homeless Report (WESU 88.1 fm radio station from 2006 to 2008), but I dare say that I might very well be Middletown's resident expert on homelessness and as such, represent a significant portion of the Middletown community.

Here is a quick review of my six campaign points and thank you for you consideration.

1- Create Designated Loitering Zones (DLZs), an area designed to be both bum-welcoming and at the same time bum-proofing, the hope of minimizing the negative environmental impact of Middletown's ever growing loitering class.

2- Brooms and chess sets everywhere especially at the DLZs

3- Free water

4- Don't sell any more parking lots for a dollar

5- Put spittoons everywhere

6- One more liquor store where the soup kitchen currently is, to decrease pedestrian traffic at the corner of Liberty Street and Main Street.

Health Care For Homeless October 16

From the Middlesex United Way

Middlesex United Way and several local organizations are coming together on Day of Caring 2009 to offer free basic services and health screenings to people who are homeless or may be at-risk of homelessness. Project Homeless Connect will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16 in Chapman Hall at Middlesex Community College, 100 Training Hill Road.

Free transportation to Project Homeless Connect will be provided to Middlesex Community College from locations in Middletown Clinton, Westbrook, Old Saybrook, Essex, Deep River, Middlefield and Cromwell. For a list of pick-up and drop-off locations, visit www.middlesexunitedway.org or call (860) 346-8695.

Project Homeless Connect, a national initiative that began in San Francisco and has been implemented in more than 200 cities throughout the world, is a one-day event that provides immediate access to information and services for people who are homeless or are at risk for becoming homeless. Free services will include haircuts, dental checkups, vision screenings, podiatry screenings chiropractic services and chair massages. Information will be available on housing, energy assistance, employment, education, social services, legal services and clothing vouchers. Breakfast and lunch will be provided, and the first 200 people will receive a backpack with free gifts.

The goals of Project Homeless Connect are to improve access to services and housing for people who are homeless and to engage and increase the community's involvement in collaboratively finding solutions to homelessness.

The event is being held on Middlesex United Way’s annual Day of Caring, a volunteer event that provides local employees with the opportunity to engage in day-long community service projects. Middlesex United Way held its first Day of Caring in 1995 when 34 employees in Middletown volunteered at five non-profit organizations. Since that time, Day of Caring has engaged nearly 3,500 volunteers from local companies and organizations at 330 projects in towns and communities throughout the county.

Homeless counts in Middlesex County

Tonight the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness will conduct their annual counts of homeless people in Middlesex County, focusing on Middletown, Cromwell, and Old Saybrook. This is a "point in time" count, to determine on a single night how many people are homeless. An intensive effort to canvass at one time all possible places where the homeless might be is likely to give the most accurate estimate of the number of homeless, as it avoids selective surveying and possible double counting. Similar methodology is often used by biologists to determine animal populations.

Last year's count found 28 families and 197 single adults homeless in Middlesex County. This represents about 7% of the state's homeless population (in comparison Hartford had 23%, New Haven 19%, and Stamford/Grenwich 8%). Middlesex County stood out however, in having a much higher proportion of homeless spending the night outside of shelters. Our county had 85 households unsheltered (14% of the state's unsheltered population, compared to Hartford's 19 households unsheltered (3% of the state's population). Hartford's sheltered homeless population was far greater than Middlesex County's: 773 households in Hartford (27% of the state's population), versus 140 households in Middlesex (5%).

These Point in Time counts are extremely labor intensive, as large regions must be thoroughly canvassed the same night. The CCEH also collects information from the homeless at the same time, using a long survey that asks about income, race, last place of residents, eduction, military service, health, etc. The full reports for the 2007 and 2008 Point in Time counts are available.

Anybody interested in volunteering to help with the 2009 Point in Time Count for Middletown should meet at 6PM at The Connection Inc. Supportive Housing for Families' office, first floor at 282 Main St. Ext. in Middletown. All help will surely be appreciated.

In Middletown, Mayor Sebastian Giuliano was part of a team lead by Lydia Brewster, who helped found NEAT, and now works for the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness. The team, which included two volunteers, and which was tailed by two reporters, and a TV crew from Channel 61, combed the North End in the Bridge and Miller Street neighborhoods looking for homeless individuals.

On a night when the weather indicated that many homeless had found shelter, or had hunkered down in covered shelter, the team did not identify any homeless in the first hour of its survey.

Home

Ed McKeon's recent post in Caterwauled about the possible silver lining of the current economic mess led me to a fine story in Yes magazine about Dee Williams, self-proclaimed "slacktivist", who is "living large in a tiny house" out West in Olympia, Washington. Be sure to watch the amusing video. What struck me most of all is how attractive the little house is. The story is by Carol Estes.

Dee's approach to life struck a particular chord this morning, given the article in the Courant about the shifting number of beds for the homeless in Middletown. The mayor is holding a meeting today with all the "stakeholders involved with the area's homeless people" to discuss how to handle the possible overflow this winter. Apparently there is some confusion about how many beds the Eddy Shelter currently maintains. (It's not clear if this meeting is open to the public; surely all city residents are stakeholders on this issue. Just a month or two back, for instance, a homeless person spent the night in our vestibule - unbeknownst to us, until I nearly stepped on him at 5 a.m.) One issue that the mayor is raising is why the other towns in Middlesex County fail to do their share in housing the homeless.

Maybe if we took a more creative approach to housing in general, by following in Dee Williams' footsteps, this wouldn't be such a difficult problem to solve.