Chicago Alderman James Cappleman (right) and his "husband" Richard Thale (left).
Posted on 03/03/2013 9:41:15 PM PST by Olog-hai
Alderman James Cappleman of Chicago has ordered the Salvation Army to stop feeding the poor in Uptown from outreach trucks, the agency said. …
“He decided he felt the unit was pulling homeless into the area, and he does not want us to feed them,” Capt. Nancy Powers, who oversees the Salvation Army’s homeless program in Chicago, said. …
(Excerpt) Read more at upi.com ...
First off, I’m disappointed that I’m writing this statement in response to what I hoped would be a productive meeting with the Salvation Army Mobile Food Truck Unit. But they decided to storm out of a meeting instead of working with me and my office on new approaches to assist those who are chronically homeless who live in parks and under the viaducts.
I also want to clear up the misconception that anyone would go hungry without Salvation Army Mobile Food Unit. Near where the Salvation Army Mobile Food Truck provides meals there are at least 6 soup kitchens in the 46th ward that provide meals seven days a week multiple times a day. This complete list is always available in my office to anyone in need of it.
If the mobile food truck unit decides to move on and provide their services in another part of the city, one of my staff will make sure anyone who has been relying on this truck for meals will have this listing of places where they can receive meals and will know where the closest shelter and soup kitchen are. No one should ever have to be worried about where his or her next meal will be.
I first approached the Salvation Army Mobile Food Unit after a few months of my late-night homeless outreach in the lakefront parks. I was concerned that the Mobile Food truck was providing a disincentive to those in need to receive sustained help. Our homeless outreach consists of members of my staff, representatives from the Dept. of Family & Support Services, Streets & Sanitation, the police, a representative from Alderman Osterman’s office, and me traveling to the park from 2AM to approximately 3:30AM to offer in-person services to those who live there to see what they need to help improve their quality of life and get them into a shelter and eventually into permanent housing. One of my staff spends about 50 percent of his time serving those in need and can point to at least four people we have helped get off the street. One couple is now in permanent housing and is employed and still comes into our office on a weekly basis to say thank you.
While we were seeing success stories and improvements in quality of life for those in need, we still had persistent chronic homelessness that was centralized in the area near where the Salvation Army Mobile Food Truck provided services. I went to the truck one day last year to have a conversation with their staff and hear their thoughts. They told me to reach out to their boss, Captain Nancy Powers.
I called Captain Powers to hear her thoughts on chronic homelessness and see if there was a way we could work together to combat this problem. I asked what their outcomes were and the information she gave me made it necessary for further discussion. That is when I asked for an in-person meeting.
After 4 months of trying to get a meeting arranged, we were finally able to schedule a meeting for this past Friday, but unfortunately without Captain Powers. When I raised concerns about chronic issues under the viaduct, they wouldn’t provide information that their efforts had a noticeable impact. When I pointed to other social services in the ward that have provided numbers and outcomes of their success, the Salvation Army staff were still not able to respond. After years of the mobile food truck taking one approach without being able to document success, I asked if they could explore other options and different approaches to help get people on the streets into shelter. At this point, they stormed out of my office and said they would take their services where they were wanted. I tried to work with them, but they refused.
Obviously now Captain Powers has changed her mind and has decided to work with us again which I honestly hope is the case. I do believe their hearts are in the right place, but I will continue to challenge the status quo and will continue to strive to end homelessness and hope they will work with me to that end.
My number one priority has always been safety and quality of life. Everyone deserves a clean bed and safe place to live. Everyone deserves an opportunity to get back on his or her feet and get to feel the pride of being able to take care of one’s self. Everyone deserves the feeling of comfort in knowing where their next meal is coming from and not to have to worry about going hungry. Those are my priorities.
I also want to acknowledge just a few of the many social services in the 46th ward that are doing good work and providing needed services:
- The Salvation Army Evangeline Booth Lodge, one of the best-run family shelters in the Midwest.
-Northside Housing, which provides both shelter, supportive housing, and day support services to help stabilize people’s lives.
-Lift Chicago, which provides mentoring and support to help people find full employment.
-Heartland Health Outreach, an organization where I have personally walked clients over to get needed medical and mental health care.
-Inspiration Corporation, for the respectful way they engage their clients to assist them with setting goals for themselves.
When I am asked about my expectations from social services, my response is as follows:
-Their services need to be done in a manner that respects the client.
-Their interventions should be done in a manner that empowers clients to change their lives for the better.
-Their interventions should produce performance outcome measures within a reasonable timeframe.
I look forward to working with Captain Nancy Powers and Salvation Army on where we can together combat chronic homelessness and provide better quality of life for those in need.
Early life and career
A native of Houston, Texas and the son of a United States Army physician and nurse, Cappleman and his twin brother are the fifth and sixth of eight children. After graduating from the University of Houston, he began his career as a teacher, with most of his students being undocumented immigrants from Mexico.[2] He moved to Chicago in 1986 and has lived in the 46th Ward since 1999. He graduated from the Jane Addams College of Social Work at the University of Illinois at Chicago with a Masters in Social Work in 1991.[3] He served two terms as Board President of the Uptown Chicago Commission, leaving the organization in 2010 to run for public office.
[edit]Political career
He previously ran for alderman of the 46th ward in 2007 against six-term incumbent Helen Shiller and was narrowly defeated, polling 47% in the runoff to her 53%. He ran again for the seat in 2011 when Shiller announced that she would not seek a seventh term. In the primary election, Cappleman faced off against ten other candidates, finishing first but failing to win an absolute majority. He therefore faced a runoff against second-place finisher Molly Phelan. In the runoff, held on April 5, Cappleman received 55% of the vote to Phelan’s 45%.[4]
[edit]Personal
Cappleman is openly gay.[5] His partner, Richard Thale, is chair of the 19th Police District’s Court Advocacy Committee and a CAPS facilitator for Beat 1914. After being a couple for over 20 years, the two entered into a civil union on September 8, 2012. Cappleman is one of two openly gay Chicago aldermen, alongside Tom Tunney. However, Cappleman was the first gay individual to be elected initially, as Tunney was appointed a month before being elected in 2003.[6]
[edit]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cappleman
I was born and raised in the Windy City, and unless there is something being put in the water, this is not something that will not sit well with the Chicago I remember..
I keep hearing that we elected Daley Senior so having Democrats is nothing new.. I recall we elected the old man for the method he handled the city, and was more Conservative than most of the GOP today..
I can tell you just like the Chick-fil-A fiasco, these kind of moves will spell doom to the Machine.. The gay agenda is already getting many of the die-hards sick to their stomachs, this is going too far.. WATCH!
Chicago Alderman James Cappleman (right) and his "husband" Richard Thale (left).
I love it. He's alderman of the 46th ward. How about the 47th ward or the 44th ward? I'm sure those would be much more appropriate. Or say, how about the 10th ward ?
Anyone think a Republican could get away with this?
The government doesn’t like competition.
Looks like a “not in my backyard” thinking from the Alderman.
Homosexual limousine liberal.
Faggots. Queers. Abominations.
Perhaps “not in my back door” out of this particular alder(something)?
Salvation Army is one of the most effective and efficient charities in the world.
Knowing that, I really doubt the Alderman is telling the truth.
What's typical is that anyone involved in providing assistance to those in need, is more than willing to accept ANY help in ANY way shape or form.
Manipulation (or attempted manipulation) of said assistance speaks of an agenda, and it's usually in contrast with providing that assistance.
Does the beard indicate which is the “husband”? Aren’t they both husbands?
Referring to the picture in Reply #4, maybe there was an underlying motive for the Alderman’s actions, since the Salvation Army disagrees with homosexuality.
I now pronounce you husband and whatever . . .
Seriously, who the frick could be proud of a track record of a paid staffer who spends half of his ‘day’ helping homeless reach permanent shelter with a track record of helping only four people, at least two of which was a couple? It's not mentioned about how much of a time frame this is, but even if it was just this year alone, that's two people a month, or one person every 14 days. I'm going to guess though that this is a track record over a number of years.
Second, why would the alderman expect the Salvation Army to keep track of things they're not performing? It is a food truck. It distributes meals; not places people in permanent housing. The expectation that they'd keep records on something they don't do, or more significantly, turn those records over to an alderman simply at his request, is hard to believe.
This absolutely has to do with eliminating competition to public employees and targeting the Christian organization. Now why they'd fold up and run, I do not understand. The alderman's opinions mean nothing in choosing where to offer their services. I can only expect that the alderman's lying about this decision to cease support for those they are helping.
Those priorities aren't good enough to be recognized as good works by divine standards.
He's so blind that if he seriously ever considered improving his own quality of life, he would have turned away from sexual perversion decades ago. His life testifies against his principles.
Whenever discerning motives, it's wise to compare against Scripture. Scripture doesn't indicate we have a right to be proud about being able to provide for ourselves. Such is the desire of the unfaithful and arrogant.
Socialists hate Private Charities, that compete with government VOTE BUYING PROGRAMS!
What you mean we still have homeless people under Emperor Obama,can’t be true.
/S
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