Dear Editor,
Last night, the Inquirer's article, "At PHA: Humiliation, groping, banishment," was passed around ACT UP Philadelphia's meeting. Members include people currently living in PHA housing, people on PHA waitlists, and people currently homeless. Everyone in the group was outraged at the story. But our outrage was not directed at Carl Greene's failures. Our outrage was directed at the assumption, perpetuated in the article, that public housing projects can only be dangerous, dirty places to live.
The article referred to two situations in which employees were forced to work in the PHA projects, suggesting that the conditions in the projects were unacceptable for employees. But if the conditions are so bad for the employees who only work there eight hours a day, then what about the people, especially people with AIDS, who actually live there?
Carl Greene's failure is part of a larger failure in Philadelphia: we turn a blind eye to the conditions in our public housing, our shelters, and our streets. Mayor Nutter presides over an expanding waitlist for homes for people with AIDS, a crumbling public housing infrastructure, and an inept housing authority. It is time he step up and start solving the housing crisis in Philadelphia.
ACT UP Philly
