Detroit's 'Walking Man' Walks On

[FrodosPet]

https://news.vice.com/article/detroits-walking-man-walks-on

By Charlie LeDuff

February 17, 2015 | 12:35 pm

If you want to work and you're black and you're a blue-collar guy from Detroit and you don't have a car, chances are you've got to take a bus to whatever suburb it is where they're hiring. Because they're not hiring in Detroit.

But the busses only go as far as the mall, because they don't really want your type of guy walking around in the suburbs — unless you're shopping for walking shoes.

~ snip ~

More than $350,000 in donations poured into a GoFundMe account set up for him. A local Ford dealership gave him a flaming-red Taurus loaded with options. But the well-meaning dealership may as well have painted a bull's-eye on the hood and attached a vanity plate that screamed: Come get me! I'm rich!

~ snip ~

After that, everybody knew him. And everybody wanted something. The neighborhood started showing up on his porch with their palms out, though Robertson has yet to receive any of the money. His girlfriend — the one who owns the house and charges him 200 bucks for the bedroom — demanded a payout, he said. So did her ex-husband who lives with them. So did her adult son who lives with them. So did the other dude who lives with them.

~ snip ~

The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

[Liberal In Texas]

1. Poor sod.

Like winning the lottery...suddenly everybody has their hands out.

[FrodosPet]

7. In "The City", you are lucky if that hand is not holding a knife or gun

Murder charge in case of missing "lottery winner"

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/murder-charge-in-case-of-missing-detroit-lottery-winner/

DETROIT - A young man has been charged with murder in the death of an 86-year-old man who disappeared after telling people that he won a lottery prize.

Quanzell Hood was charged Friday with first-degree murder in the death of Arthur Neal. The 20-year-old is in jail and will appear in court Saturday.

Neal's body was found last Sunday in a vacant Detroit home, about six weeks after he disappeared. Hood is accused of killing Neal while trying to get money from him.

~ snip ~

[FrodosPet]

2. The Electronified Walking Man...Walks On

[Chathamization]

3. If the township had bothered to fund adequate public transportation, he and many others would have

benefited tremendously (if I recall right, there was a large township in the middle of his commute that decided they didn't want to fund bus routes, which is why he's had to walk). Instead the solution is to leave everyone else to suffer, and to give this guy a big one time payout that's going to be a hassle to manage (much better to have a stable flow of income than a huge lump dropped on you and then nothing).

Charity like this seems to be aimed more at making people feel than actually fixing the issues. Worse, it can make people think it's OK to ignore the underlying structural issues.

[Fumesucker]

4. No one could have foreseen that coming...

[MrScorpio]

5. Wingers love to harp on why individual charity is so much better than a tax-based commons...

This is why we need the commons.

[nilesobek]

6. The less you have the less you have to worry about.

I really admire this man for his determination to make it to work no matter what. I've been in those same shoes and would love to walk to work with him.

[FrodosPet]

8. He seems like good people - Kenny G cd notwithstanding

I am gigantically pissed that he had to pay nearly $900 a month for a ROOM, not even a house.

He deserves MUCH better. As do all the good people in Detroit who are victimized by both the neighborhood gangsters and the suit and tie gangsters.

[nilesobek]

9. Yes and they are turning poor people's water off in Detroit too.

Growing up here in Central Idaho our water bill was 1$ a month for unlimited water. When I saw some copies of Detroit water bills online I gasped. At least half of all the bills are interest money!

[FrodosPet]

10. There is more to that story

A lot of the shutoffs were to abandoned houses and buildings, where the water was just running and flooding. Those shutoffs were a good thing - many billions of gallons of water was being wasted.

And there are assistance programs that helped a lot of people get their water back on, or to keep it on.

For the most part, the The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department does a very difficult job well. Unfortunately, the City Of Detroit has had some incompetent people in its government over the years.

[nilesobek]

11. Thanks for the clarification.

I always thought Detroit was awash in water being next to the Great Lakes. I understand that water systems need maintenance and that worker's salaries need to be paid. I think the government should nationalize all municipal water systems and provide water for free, but that's just me and my opinion.

It gets so cold there with the pipes freezing and thawing I bet there is a lot of leaks and floods.

[FrodosPet]

12. Unlimited free water is a BAD idea

Like you stated, salaries have to be paid. Energy costs to run the pumps. Water mains and sewer lines need to be repaired.

The only way that we could have nationalized "free water for all" while controlling water waste is to have a rationing system. And then that would lead back to the problem of people running out of water before running out of month.

[closeupready]

13. The racism in this article stinks to high heaven.

[FrodosPet]

14. So does the fact that Rochester Hills doesn't have bus transportation

And so does the fact that the people surrounding him are dive bombing the poor man's pockets, when he hasn't even gotten the money yet.

"Crabs in a barrel". Sigh.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/black-womens-health-and-happiness/201103/crabs-in-barrel-syndrome-will-it-ever-end

[closeupready]

15. Agreed.