comments on nickeled and dimed book

**"a.h.steely" g*@mindspring.com**

Sharon, speak when you have been in their moccasins.  I tried to grow food
in the small spaces available to me in rental homes to which my now
ex-spouse moved us.  It was 18 places in 16.5 years.  Any insurance he had
did not cover birthcontrol and I was in a position of abuse that did not
permit me the luxury of trusting him with the children so that I could work
and live on my own with said children.

The neighbors screamed that my tiny gardens would draw rats!!!  The stupid
landlords ranted at me for the same reasons.  When we lived in rural areas
the ground surrounding our mobile homes was too poor to grow much and my
enormous efforts were ill rewarded.

When I was finally able to get free because the children were old enough to
care for themselves while I worked and tried to garden the kids sought our
old life with the abuser who then lived off of welfare and sought support
from me!  Before you run your mouth about how situations could be better if
people stayed in one place, try to stay in one place when the landlord
raises the rent every year and your salary doesn't keep pace.

How about when the mayor of your city decides that an area of cheap rentals
must be torn down for urban renewal...  That happened in the city in which I
now live, Harrisburg, Pa. about 20 years ago.  Those parts of the city where
homes were destroyed are still vacant lots today!  Where do the people live?
Doubled up with others in some instances but in others those people who were
displaced have moved to other cities or are homeless.

No, that was not a Republican but a gay Democrat, Mayor Reed who supported
Ed Rendell.  As for the people who were displaced in Phila. when the jobs
disappeared, are any of you on this list?

Helen Steely
formerly of Phila. and a poor person who tried to garden everywhere I lived.

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