211 Passaic Street DESTROYED

[ericmartindale]

A spectacular fire has completely gutted a 30+/- boarding house at 211 Passaic Street, just west of First Street. It happened about 9:30 PM Monday evening 5/8/06.  Everyone got out safe.  The rumor on the street  was that one of the residents was looking under his bed for something, and used a cigarette lighter instead of a flashlight. I  heard this rumor with my own ears, but cannot vouch for its accuracy.

Somewhere on this website I posted a prediction that this exact building, the largest and most notorious boarding house in Hackensack, would burn, and that the fire would be caused by a resident there.  No, I'm not clairvoyant.

It's structurally still standing, but a policeman told me "it's gutted front to back and top to bottom".

Well, it looks to me that it is MORE THAN 50% DESTROYED. That means the city can use legal means to prevent it from being rebuilt.  All the city's boarding houses are 100+ year old wood frame buildings, with wood that is tinder-dry, and lots of careless people to potentially cause an accident. These structures are a danger to the inhabitants as well as our firefighters, and they should all be purchased and leveled. The City of Hackensack cannot allow this structure to be refurbished or rebuilt.

211 Passaic Street has been holding down the whole center of Hackensack. Let's wait till we hear official word that everyone got out alive and unscathed, and then I'll have something more to say.

Hey, we've got all the homeless shelters in Hackensack, don't we?? For once we can put them to good use, and fill them with people who actually are Hackensack residents. I never thought I'd see the day that would happen. Well, here it is.  Expect the unexpected, just like it was written in the "Ode to Hackensack"

[Editor]

Eric mentioned 211 Passaic here  ("Services for the Homeless" topic, last paragraph).

[Editor]

[Editor]

Latest story:  Rooming house residents escape Hackensack blaze

[ericmartindale]

I thought I’d try my hand at some poetry to express the reality of this current event here in Hackensack.

CHURCH OF ALCOHOL

--- By Eric Martindale, May 10, 2006

A church of alcohol across from a church of God,
Selfish minds and selfish hearts, the wrong path they trod

Under the bed, the bottle cannot be found
Don’t have a flashlight to look round and round

A maze of rooms, the timbers are dry
A careless flick of a bic, it leads many to cry

211 is 911, times-a-tickin’
The mansard roof, flames-a-lickin’

Some Black, some White, all take flight
Pumping water, flames fought with all their might

Surely thinking of Hackensack Ford
Men in uniform praying to the Lord

Enter our bravest who lent a hand
Across Passaic Street, the victims stand

Their eyes are sullen, liquor is on their breath
Like a vulture, the copter circling looks for death

On the 8th of May, the church of alcohol burned at its core
Homeless again this day, back to Peter’s Place for the drunk and more

[Hope Donnelly]

All-knowing Eric Martindale, I'm glad to see that you know the hearts and minds of  all those who lived at 211 Passaic Street.   It is because of thinking like yours that nothing will ever change.

[ericmartindale]

Things have changed.... for the better.  I'm a big advocate of improving the housing stock and recycling the old housing stock.

I don't think people of limited economic means should be living in the conditions present at 211 Passaic Street before the fire.   I heard from police what it was like.  Each person had one tiny and really shabby room, and forced to share bathrooms with strangers. What kind of life is that? And paying almost the price of a 500 square foot, one-bedroom apartment. The landlords of boarding houses are predatory, and they take advantage of people who don't have deposits to get real apartments.

The Warner on State Street next to Christ Episcopal was just as bad until the County bought it and fixed it up. Then it burned a year later, and had to be fixed up again.

I'm guessing that you think any housing stock for the near-homeless is better than none, and that these low-end rooms in the boarding houses are some sort of "resource" that will be missed. If that is the case, I wish you were lobbying actively to prevent Rutherford from tearing down "The Maples", which is their huge boarding house near Park Ave (on their equivalent of State Street). I discussed it twice at Freeholder meetings.

I'm the only one who seems to care that suburban towns are ridding themselves of their responsiblity for the poor.

Why aren't all the homeless advocates up in arms about how our Freeholder Chairwoman Bernadette MacPherson (she is also Mayor of Rutherford) plans to rid Rutherford of "The Maples" and probably transfer them all to shelters in Hackensack? 

[Hope Donnelly]

No, Eric, it is not about the housing stock but the opinion that everyone is cut from the same cloth, that their situation is a choice - selfish hearts and selfish minds.    That is as far from reality as it gets.   It is a lack of understanding that sews the seeds for NIMBY.

Housing advocates are up in arms about the Maples in Rutherford and elsewhere.    We spend lots of time trying to convince local authorities, work with the governor's people, our Senators, etc. on trying to find solutions for people who cannot, for a complex variety of reasons, take care of themselves.  "Poetry" like yours hinders anyone and everyone trying to come up with solutions.

[ericmartindale]

Alcoholism is an extreme form of selfishness.  Those addicted care about nothing more than where they get their next drink.

I am not the first person to make that observation, nor will I be the last.

The purpose of poetry is to present a perspective.  Nothing more and nothing less, and not necessarily the only perspective.

[Hope Donnelly]

Anyone who takes the time to research all perspectives on addiction knows it is not as simple as extreme selfishness.

[Anthony]

When I first read the trash that Eric calls poetry, I was stunned that someone could be this cold and heartless.  Initially, I thought it was a sad attempt at sarcasm by Eric.  Reading his responses to Hope, it’s obvious he doesn’t see his error in judgment.

Was it necessary to present your perspective in poetry Eric?  Do you realize you’re mocking these people?  Do you care? 

You say, “Alcoholism is an extreme form of selfishness.”  For someone who presents himself as educated, your ignorance is astounding.  You should thank God every second of everyday that one of your loved ones isn’t cursed by alcohol or drug addiction.  Your pompous attitude towards these addictions is disappointing.

[ericmartindale]

OK folks, I went too far with the "selfish" angle in the original poem.  Here's a relaunch:

CHURCH OF ALCOHOL

--- By Eric Martindale, May 19, 2006

A church of alcohol across from a church of God,
Shattered lives and broken dreams, the wrong path they trod

Under the bed, the bottle cannot be found
Don’t have a flashlight to look round and round

A maze of rooms, the timbers are dry
A careless flick of a bic, it leads many to cry

211 is 911, times-a-tickin’
The mansard roof, flames-a-lickin’

Some Black, some White, all take flight
Pumping water, flames fought with all their might

Surely thinking of Hackensack Ford
Men in uniform praying to the Lord

Enter our bravest who lent a hand
Across Passaic Street, the victims stand

Their eyes are sullen, liquor is on their breath
Like a vulture, the copter circling looks for death

On the 8th of May, the church of alcohol burned at its core
Homeless again this day, back to Peter’s Place for the drunk and more

[Tom]

Eric- I honestly think that you are a disturbed individual and should seek the help of a therapist. You obviously don't see the ignorance in your so called "poetry"... 

Was this boarding house specifically for alcoholics? Do you know anyone who is an alcoholic? Do you understand that alcoholism is a disease? Do you know what it's like to have an addiction? Do you know what it's like to be homeless?

Instead of preaching about the demise of the church of alcohol you should be helping these individuals find another home. Why don't you take one of them into your place? I thought so...

You are a sad individual and you really need to seek the church of god for forgiveness.

[Hope Donnelly]

One of the men injured in the fire has cancer, a colostomy, and is developmentally disabled.  The one who jumped from the second floor window, lost his brother on New Year's Eve - he was hit by a car on route 4.   The family history of both these individuals is very sad, that of neglect, poverty, and mental illness.  When you actually get to know "The Homeless", you realize how much inequality there is in any help that may have prevented homelessness, alcoholism, drug addiction, etc.   The Homeless are individuals with appalling histories.   Most of the ones who are alcoholics were full blown alcohoics by their early teenage years.  Eric, do you know what parts of the brain get affected by alcohol?    (Scientists know - you could Google it). 

Do you know how malnutrition before alcoholism can lead to depression and affect the same parts of the brain that alcohol does - thiamine deficiencies, for example?

Do you know what it is like to be developmentally disabled - which most of the The Homeless are, if they are not schizophrenic, bipolar or suffering from post traumatic stress disorder?   These can all be treated, if you have money and if the system feels you are worth it.    How would you like to leave your doctor's office knowing he or she doesn't think you are worth it?   

[Eric Martindale]

“Tom” asks who am I to judge the residents of 211 Passaic Street?  Maybe I’m some snub guy with plenty of money living a perfect life in a half-acre estate on the hill.  Nope, guess again.  I’ve been down and out and nearly homeless. I lost my home and my investment property, and I rent a tiny one-bedroom apartment in central Hackensack.  I’ve had more than my share of life’s problems. And as a “survivor”, I don’t have such a sympathetic view of people who drown their sorrows in alcohol and don’t respond to all those persons and agencies working to help them to turn their lives around.  Alcoholism is a disease that is entirely curable. There’s lots of resources out there to help these people, and lots of dedicated activists (God bless them).

You, Tom, are speaking out of both sides of your mouth. You blast me as unsympathetic, but in your other post a few days ago, you attacked the citizens of the Anderson Street business district by calling their neighborhood “a slum”.  Those are honest hardworking immigrants, mostly Latino, some African-American, and a few White, Asian and Middle-Eastern. Most of the families are two-parent households. Those are hard-working people that I respect. Why don’t you respect them? You owe an apology to the citizens of Anderson Street.

Tom, as much as you hate my poetry, I was being kind to select alcohol as the primary vice at 211 Passaic Street. That boarding house had a 2-way revolving door connected to the Bergen County Jail as well as the city’s homeless shelters.  They must be in crisis mode down at the Jail because they lost their main place to put paroled criminals who don’t have family to take them in.  211 Passaic Street might as well be a half-way house. Alcohol isn’t the only problem at that address, there was drugs, prostitution, and crime of all types. And out of those 28 units, no doubt there were a few decent hardworking individuals and developmentally disabled folks just struggling to make ends meet. Certainly not the majority at that address. Not even close.

And to “Hope”, I had a close relative who died from alcoholism-related health problems, and I have two extremely close relatives who have developmental disabilities (one who is a victim of the autism epidemic, and another with cerebral palsy whose mind is as sharp as a pin, but he can’t walk or feed himself); don’t even go there by suggesting that I am unsympathetic to the developmentally disabled.

 But how about a little SYMPATHY for the neighbors and the community in central Hackensack who have had to put up with 211 Passaic Street for over 50 years.  How about some SYMPATHY for all the victims of crimes (violent crimes as well as burglary and property crimes) perpetuated by residents of 211 Passaic Street over the past 50 years.  That’s definitely where my sympathies lie.

Do you two, or anyone out there in cyberspace, think that 211 Passaic Street should be rebuilt?