Article 190

Irish and Living with AIDS in New York

“I found out I had AIDS in 1994 when I took the blood test for the Morrison visa in Galway,” said Tomais O Saoire, a 31-year-old Irish house painter living in New York. “I felt that the ground had opened up and swallowed me whole. Everything I had worked for had been destroyed.”
Devastated and barred from returning to the United States, O Saoire snuck back into New York and started a two-year downward spiral of hard-drinking and two suicide attempts, with a seeming death sentence hanging over his head and all dreams of a legal status being crushed. But now with new medicines giving him hope for a long future, O Saoire has thrown himself into AIDS activism, co-founding a group called Irish AIDS Outreach to combat the still-pervasive ignorance in New York’s Irish community about AIDS. In a West Village cafe in Manhattan, O Saoire told his story.
“I come from a Galway farming family, one of nine children,” he said. “My parents were religious, but we still had our freedom.” After finishing high school in 1982, O Saoire traveled around Ireland and Europe. He started his sexual involvement with men after he began work as a painter. “In the 1980s, when I became sexually active, there was no knowledge in Ireland about HIV. There were loads of gay people, but people were still scared of opening up a gay bar or club. There was no protection, no idea of safe sex.”
In 1989, looking for a place to fit in, O Saoire moved to the United States illegally, settling in the Bronx. “Through word of mouth, I found work painting, doing fine finishes and trompe l’oeil work for businesses,” he said.
New York had been one of the world epicenters for the AIDS epidemic for about nine years when O Saoire moved to New York. “There was no education about the AIDS in the New York Irish community then and there still isn’t,” he said. He was still dating women as well as men when he moved to New York, but he eventually lived with a series of men.
In late 1993, while many of his friends had been called back to Ireland for their Morrison interviews, O Saoire was tense that he wasn’t going to get his visa. “When I finally received my notice, I celebrated for weeks on end.”
Back in Ireland that March, O Saoire found himself waiting in a clinic at the University College Galway for the results of his visa medical exam. “The doctor told me to sit down. I thought to myself, ‘Ah geez, I’ve got TB,’” the other medical reason for being rejected for a green card. The doctor told O Saoire that not only was he HIV-positive, but he had full-blown AIDS.
In a state of shock, O Saoire went to the U.S. Embassy in Dublin for his Morrison interview. “There were 300 people waiting, and they kept seven of us waiting for five hours while the rest of the people were processed. Several of the other people in this group were crying. I’m sure some others were in my position.
“When I went into the interview, the woman said, ‘I’m sorry, you’ve been refused [the visa] because you are IV-positive,’ meaning that I couldn’t return to the U.S.”
O Saoire asked the embassy official about the fact he had a job, his possessions and his life in New York to go back to. “I’m sorry, there is nothing I can do,” she said.
Back in Galway, a devastated O Saoire told his parents that he was HIV- positive. “They stuck by me. My father insisted that it was not the end for me.”
A friend referred O Saoire to an Irish head nurse named Seamus working at an AIDS facility in London. “Seamus demanded that I come over and he took care of me, running a battery of tests. I took the blood test four more times, not believing I had AIDS. I thought I was going to be dead in six months time.”
Knowing he was going to be excluded from the United States, O Saoire flew to Toronto, Canada, and called some friends in the Bronx. The friends told him to go to Niagara Falls and rent a hotel room. In less than 12 hours, his friend Mary and her husband John picked him up.
“Through a hard rain wedrove across Canada to a place near Detroit. John dropped me off near two train tunnels and handed me a torch. He told me it was a two-mile walk through the abandoned tunnel along the train tracks to the United States.
“The tunnel was dark and filthy. Halfway through, a train came by in the tunnel next to me, filling my tunnel with diesel fumes. Though I was terrified, I remember laughing to myself that the headlines would read, ‘Irishman Found Smothered to Death Coming Back to America.’”
O Saoire, however, survived. “I came out into an old trainyard. My jacket was ripped and I was shaking, but I knelt down and said three prayers for my safe return. I waited in the rain with some homeless people, giving out my cigarettes, until my friends picked me up. I noticed the American flag was a half mast. I found out later Richard Nixon had died on that day.”
Back in New York, O Saoire’s life fell apart. “The next two years were mental hell,” he said. “I fell into a deep depression. I hit the bars and developed a heavy drinking problem.”
The irony of O Saoire being infected in New York in the early 1990s in that by then, the larger gay community in New York had made tremendous strides in AIDS prevention. Back home in Ireland, groups like the Dublin AIDS Alliance were forming to spread information about HIV and AIDS. The New York Irish immigrant community had seemingly been overlooked by these advances. “There is a lack of education in the Irish community about AIDS,” said O Saoire. “There has to be a rude awakening.”
O Saoire was terrified of being discovered as an illegal immigrant if he went to seek proper medical care. A friend, however, fixed up O Saoire with a false name and social security number, which allowed him to enter the U.S. government program that provides medication to people with HIV and AIDS.
In November 1994, O Saoire tried to kill himself. “I took 100 tablets of AZT [an AIDS medication] and whiskey. I called my friends and told them I’d had enough and good-bye. One of my friends who had my keys got into my house, pulled me out of bed and ran me around the apartment. At the hospital, they forced me to drink gallons of charcoal.” O Saoire allowed himself to be put under psychiatric observation for two weeks. “When I got out, my father and brother came over from Galway. It was their first time to the United States, so I insisted that we go sightseeing.”
Life improved for O Saoire until January 1996, when his friend Hessie was killed by a police officer in the Bronx. “Hessie had been there for me when I was in the hospital. He’d told me at the time, ‘Tommy, there is no need to hurt yourself. There are many people who care for you and their hearts are ripped to pieces by what you do to yourself.’”
O Saoire dove back into the alcohol and started smoking cigarettes and marijuana. He tried to kill himself again, swallowing twice as many pills as the first suicide attempt. Saving his life wasn’t so easy this time. “I was really sorry about what they put me through that time -- they pumped me out.”
O Saoire found the right psychiatric help and was put on the anti-depressant Prozac for a few months. He also joined an HIV support group named Body Positive. “My group is all gay, composed of decorators, architects and news reporters. Many of them are long-term survivors -- some have had HIV for the past 10 years.”
Medical advances against HIV also boosted O Saoire’s morale. Though he has never suffered any of the destructive opportunistic infections common with AIDS, he is taking the new protease inhibitors, which have knocked the presence of HIV in O Saoire’s blood down to undetectable levels. The drug therapy costs roughly $15,000 a year, but is paid for by the U.S. government. “For the Irish who have HIV, I urge them to stay in New York and not to go home,” he said. “This is the place where all the medical advances are.”
Optimism abounds in the American press over the new AIDS drugs. AIDS is not seen as a death sentence anymore, for those who can afford the new drugs. In fact, O Saoire’s own HIV support group has moved from weekly to monthly meetings because the members need less emotional support and want to get on with their own lives. Only time and medical results will tell if the rosy outlook is accurate.
O Saoire got involved with AIDS activism when he heard that Brendan Fay, an Irish gay activist from Drogheda, was setting up an AIDS group in the Irish community in New York. Fay was one of the founders of the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization, a group that has tried to march in New York’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade since 1991, but has been excluded by the Ancient Order of Hibernians who run the parade. After Fay received publicity for his involvement with ILGO, he was fired from his job as a Catholic school teacher.
“I know of dozens of Irish and the children of Irish immigrants who have died of or are living with AIDS,” said Fay. “We are getting together so that people living with AIDS do not have to live in isolation.
“It is not just a gay problem,” said Fay. “We have young Irish immigrants going into the bars and taking off their wedding rings. We also want to deal with women and children living with AIDS. Our goal is to give people the information they need to live happy and healthy lives in New York.”
Founded in September, Irish AIDS Outreach [IAO] now has 14 members. The group is composed of Irish and Irish-American men and women living with AIDS, social workers and several relatives of Irish who’ve died of AIDS. “We’ve set up a phone line and I am getting referrals about young Irish who are HIV-positive with no support, “ said O Saoire. “I tell them, for God’s sake, we are here for you.”
Irish AIDS Outreach has set up a men’s and a women’s support group. The group also plans to coordinate HIV education campaigns and the organize volunteers to help people living with AIDS, and will take part in events around World AIDS Day on December 1st. IAO has planned a community meeting entitled “Stories of Hope in the Time of AIDS” for December 5th at Flannery’s, a West Village bar. “It will be a relaxed environment, with tea and scones, and pints,” said Fay.
Fay said that though he has received a lot of verbal support for the new AIDS group, representatives from the Irish immigration organizations and church groups have yet to attend IAO meetings. One notable exception is Sister Edna McNicholas, an Irish-born nun who works with at-risk teenagers in the Bronx. “One of the Irish immigration leaders said that AIDS is not an immigration issue,” said Fay. “What about Irish immigrants being barred from the U.S. because they are HIV-positive?”
Recently up in the Bronx on Bainbridge Avenue, O Saoire went to the bar D.O’D.s, to speak with the owner Regina and to put up posters for Irish AIDS Outreach. Regina is from Cavan and has known O Saoire since he came to New York. “When I saw him after he came back from Ireland, he was very pale and had lost a lot of weight. I didn’t have to be told it was HIV. I kinda knew,” said Regina. “But he has friends here who don’t care if he is HIV-positive, if he’s gay.”
Regina said that many of her customers still scoff at the AIDS issue. “Men come into the bar, construction workers, and they think AIDS is a big joke,” she said. While Regina is talking, simultaneously serving the lunchtime crowd and dodging beer salesmen, an older customer reads the Irish AIDS Outreach poster on the wall. He makes an obscene comment and sits down at the bar.
To gain more medical benefits, O Saoire has taken part in the voluntary departure program of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, where he is supposed to permanently return to Ireland next year. He plans, however, to stay in New York.
O Saoire is still upbeat about his future. He wants to take his new boyfriend Des back to Ireland for his brother’s wedding in the near future. “My parents don’t know that I’m gay yet,” he chuckled. “Though after what I’ve been through the past two years, I am not afraid of anything.”

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Article 188

A Support Group Thrives in Brooklyn

"If I wasn't in the group, I would be having fights on the street," said Lydia, a fresh-faced 12-year-old who belongs to Project Hope, a Brooklyn support group for teenagers whose parents have HIV. "I was getting arrested all the time. People would step up to me and I would have to fight."
Project Hope is part of the supportive counseling services of the Special Treatment and Research [STAR] Program, an HIV clinical and research project run out of the State University of New York at Downstate in Flatbush. The program runs 10 support groups, serving 250 Brooklyn residents living with HIV, as well as adolescents who have family members with HIV. These HIV support groups are the main source of HIV groups in north and central Brooklyn, including East New York, Bushwick and Brownsville.
The support groups have been funded by federal Ryan White Title I monies totaling $240,000 a year for the past eight years. Along with 24 other Brooklyn AIDS projects, the project was told in November that they would not be refunded, effectively shutting down all 10 support groups.
The prospect of the groups being shut down was a shock to its members. Clients signed petitions in support of the program, wrote their local politicians and spoke at hearings on Ryan White funding. The threats to end the funding brought the group members face to face with what their support groups meant to them, as well as the value of their fellow members in their newly formed communities.
Fortunately, an additional $5 million in Ryan White Title I funds were found in late January. Out of this money, Project Hope and the Brooklyn Group Support Project, the adult support program, were refunded. Though the crisis has passed, the men, women and teenagers who make up the program had a lot to say about their support groups. This is their story.
"When I found out I had HIV 18 months ago, I thought I was going to die soon, I thought I should take a lot of drugs and call it a day," said Altamease Whetstone, a plain-spoken woman in her 40s. "This group is my home away form home. We can talk about stress and depression. We love our group - it is a safe haven."
In a roundtable discussion in a nondescript conference room at SUNY Downstate, Altamease and four other members of the Tuesday co-ed support group bared their feelings. In turns serious and humorous, the members explained how they survive HIV and gain strength from each other.
"I look to the future positively after being in this group," said Simon, a former property manager of Indian descent. Simon tested positive in July 1996, and lost his lover of 10 years several months later. "If I wasn't here, I'd be staring at two walls in my apartment," he said with a faint smile.
"I was very naive when I found out I had HIV in 1991," said Gracie. "I was visiting my boyfriend in the hospital, he had TB. Somebody said to me, 'You know, this is an AIDS ward.' I never went back.
"When I was diagnosed, I was still getting high," said Gracie. "Now I don't drink, I don't get high. Here I can express my feelings. Nobody in my family has HIV."
"My five brothers died of AIDS," said Altamease matter-of-factly. With horrifying effect, her brothers all died in the early 1990s.
"I distrusted people," said Sidney, a quiet man with a dry wit, after he found out his status. Sidney said that a deacon in his church was jealous ofthe fact Sidney could speak in tongues, so he told other parishioners that Sidney had HIV.
"I agreed to come to group," said Sidney, "and I get to know a bit about each person. I still don't talk that much in group, but I've been sober for four months now."

Railing against HIV Stereotypes

Sidney railed against the stereotypes that people with HIV come in contact with everyday. "I eat at my family's house and I wash my own dishes. Then they wash them over again. It hurts when your own mother does that." Sidney said that he was able to bring that pain to group, discuss it, then resolve the issue with his family. "It is sort of like Narcotics Anonymous," referring to the 12-step program, "but it is our own group."
"I haven't disclosed to my family yet," said Nefertiti, a young woman who wore a stylish hat and kept her sunglasses on indoors. A four-year veteran of the group, Nefertiti didn't say much, but kept a watchful eye on the conversation.
Very often, the group's collective wisdom about living with HIV and dealing with the social service bureaucracy is priceless. "The people in this group gave me good information on housing," said Gracie, who is presently staying at a women's shelter while she looks for permanent place to live. Recently, one advocacy group was offering apartments. "The members told me that I had to show up at 7 a.m. and that only 13 people were taken a day," she said. They gave me the information that I needed."
"Margo and Cathy are good for information too," said Altamease of the two staff members who run the group. "If they don't know something, they will find it and relay the information. Many people don't take the time to do that."
"You know, it's not all problems," said Simon. "We have fun here, too." Simon recounted how he didn't know what common gynecological problem, pelvic inflammatory disease [P.I.D.], was, and how with much humor the group educated him.

Honorary Cross-Dressing Man

Margo St. John, a facilitator for the group, also is the target of barbs. "I run both the men's and the women's groups," she said. "The men accept me, but they tell me that I am an 'honorary cross-dressing man.'" The members broke out laughing at Margo's comment.
The group also addresses issues like sexuality. "At first, I was not comfortable coming out as a gay man to the other members," said Simon. "Now I feel accepted sexually."
"In the group, everybody respects each other," said Gracie. "I learned about gays from Simon and I am more tolerant, and Simon accepts me as a female."
At one point, Altamease addressed her old heroin habit. "I'd made myself a pin cushion long enough, so I went on methadone maintenance." Several years ago, she kicked her heroin habit and kicked out her drug-using boyfriend when he wouldn't quit.
"I look at the world differently now... I want to do something constructive." Old associates still invite Altamease to get high, but she has no time for them. "I spend time watching my grandchildren...I've got 15 of them and I love them all. I don't consider myself sick," she said of her HIV. "Sick is lying in a hospital bed."
"A lot of people here would have problems going to support groups in Manhattan," said Sidney, of the possibility that the group was going to be shut down. "There are mothers and grandmothers here that have to pick up kids. There are sick people who can't handle the stress of the trains."
For Sidney, the sheer size of other support groups was a turn off. "I went to this one group, you see. They said to me, 'Hey, sit over here.' We were in a circle of 200 people."
"For me with a new group, I would have to start all over," said Sidney. "I don't think I would open up again. I think that if our group shut down, some members would start getting high again." Many of the adults in the support groups have battled drug and alcohol addiction.

"Only Crazy People Need Therapists"

Margo is also the assistant coordinator of the adult support programs. She said that when the groups seemed doomed in the fall, she scrambled to make a list of alternative programs for people with HIV in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Margo found that most other support groups were connected to a larger program or were for very specific populations.
"At other groups, there services are often linked -- you might have to see the program's therapist. Our program is just group support -- you don't have to commit to a clinic or to other parts of a program."
In the list of other programs that Margo compiled, there are specific HIV support groups for gays and lesbians, ex-offenders and Latinos. Very few support groups seemed to meet the broader needs of the Brooklyn African Americans and West Indians that make up the STAR Program.
Margo, a native of Grenada, has noticed that there are some cultural differences in the way West Indians and African Americans address their HIV status. "I find West Indians to be more trusting and there is more shame when it comes to looking for help -- they think they are begging. They tend not to seek proper services because they think they are not entitled." West Indians also have problems with therapy and counseling. "The idea is that only a crazy person would see a therapist.
"There is a lot of shame --West Indians tend not to tell there family members. HIV is a total secret. Their main release becomes the group."
Amanda is from a small African country that has been torn apart by civil war. She showed up at the office with her two-year-old son in tow. She handed him an apple and sat down to be interviewed. The boy was beautiful, with shining brown eyes and a winning smile that he has gotten from his mother. Amanda and her boy were dressed in their Sunday best.
"I've been in the women's group for two years," she said. "It really keeps me going on with my life. I know I am not alone."

Fighting Isolation and Finding Strength

Amanda came to the United States four years ago with her year-old first child to be with her husband, who is from the same country. She found out then she was HIV positive. Her life is made very difficult by constant strife with her husband. Amanda is isolated outside the group because she has no family here and there very few people from her home country in Brooklyn.
"I've been admitted to the hospital twice. Both times I had nothing, but people from my group came with necessities like underwear and a toothbrush," said Amanda.
"Mom!" said her son suddenly. He handed her the apple, she turned it over and he started chewing on the other side. "In my group," said Amanda, briefly showing her brilliant smile, "sometimes we are happy and sometimes we are crying. Other times everyone is confused if someone is in pain.
"When you sit in the house with nothing to do, you don't know where you are going. When you go back to group, it makes you feel strong."
By going to the group in the hospital, Amanda has been able to coordinate medical visits there as well. In the support program, she has also discussed her options of who will care for her two children if she can't.
"I don't feel comfortable in Brooklyn," she said. "I feel most comfortable in the Star Program and at this hospital."
Sheila Crandles is the social worker who supervises both the adult and adolescent support group programs that are under the STAR Project. "The support groups started in 1988, with a group for the caregivers of children with HIV," said Crandles. More groups were added as needed, including two groups in Creole, men's and women's groups, a co-ed group and Project Hope, the program for teenagers.
"The best thing about the group being refunded was that the members helped do it themselves -- they traveled long distances to hearings in Harlem, the wrote letters," said Crandles. The loobying of wo Brooklyn politicians -- Congressman Ed Townes and State Assemblyman Vito Lopez - were essential in restoring funding to the support groups.
Project Hope consists of three different afternoon programs-Teen Talk, Art Therapy and the Homework Group and has core group of 12 adolescent members. "We meet in the student lounge of the [ Downstate] medical school, so there is no stigma on the kids," said Marianne Gunther, a licensed art therapist and the program coordinator of Project Hope.
"Art therapy provides the kids with another medium to express their emotions," she said.
Recently, using shadow puppet techniques, the kids in art therapy made a video, a kind of "Star Wars" tale, where a young man was fighting evil. "In the end, it turns out that the boy's mother is sick," said Marianne.
The Homework Program consists of help with homework and games for kids nine to 17. "We do some homework, if we are lucky," chuckled Marianne.

Rough Banter and Feelings

On a recent Tuesday, seven teenagers got together for Teen Talk with two adult facilitators. The kids range in age from 12 to 18 years old. Cookies and juice were passed around and the conversation started flying. Topics range from a parent's health to music to dating.
"In this group, I can talk about how my father gets on my nerves," said Taline, a 13-year-old who often comes to group with her sister. "I am glad to get that off my chest."
"I don't feel alone with Teen Talk," said Aaron, a tall, sensitive 16-year-old from Bushwick. Both his parents are HIV positive and he has been attending the group for three years. He talked of the frustration he has with his mother, "She's always in bed and she doesn't have any energy."
The group picks up speed and gets more animated. Mike, a teenager with his hat turned backwards, talked of the group's social element. "We take trips to Great Adventure and have parties."
Mike smiled. "What we talk about depends on how honest SOME people are," shooting a look at Verne, an 18-year-old girl who is the group elder.
Verne took his jab in stride. "We talk about music, fashion, AIDS."
"Or racism and discrimination," said Taline.
"We talk a lot about killing and fighting people," said Richard, a gangly youth wearing a wool hat.
"Some of us EXAGGERATE, and we know who they are," said Mike. The laughter was good-natured.
"Verne is like a sister to me," said 12-year-old Darnell. "Sometimes she chases me."
Aaron asked one of the most important questions of the end of the 20th century: should he continue to pay for his girlfriend on dates, even if he is now broke? His parents gave him some money, but he has spent it all on her.
"Well," said Verne, "sometimes I want to pay for myself," talking of her own dating. "Other times, he better pay."
Teenagers relate better to other teenagers," said Gillian Williams, one of the adult facilitators of Teen Talk. "I'm a combination of a referee and a mediator. I keep the group going."
"The group has really grown together in the past two years," she said. "There is a definite pecking order, though, with the older members commanding more respect." Gillian said that she and the other counselors follow up on individual teenagers who may be in crisis.
"In our group, there are real extremes -- there are kids with psychiatric diagnoses and some pretty well-adjusted kids." Gillian said that one kid was thrown out of junior high school for hitting a teacher, while another kid goes to a prestigious Brooklyn high school.
The family situation of the teenagers is on a case-by-case basis, said Gillian. "About half have no other relatives they can live with." The counselors have talked to some of the parents about permanency planning, what happens if the parent dies. "Some parents have not told their families they have HIV," she said.
For Lydia, Project Hope keeps her off the rough streets of Cypress Hill, where she lives. She usually shows up to all three days of the teen groups, and sometimes she shows up on the other days to talk to the counselors. "My friends say they understand, but they don't. Their parents are not sick."
"For two years before I came to group, I told no one about my problems," said Aaron. "I think if I wasn't here, I would have committed suicide. I know my life doesn't suck. I don't feel like my life is cursed anymore."

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Article 187

Death of the California Suites

An evening walk down the filthy hallways of the Death of the California Suites, a rough and ready SRO housing AIDS patients on 111th Street on the Upper West Side, shows shattered sheetrock piled in the empty rooms and floors ripped up revealing unstable and dangerous subflooring. The remaining 10 tenants out of the original 100 stay locked inside listening to blaring televisions and ignoring knocks on their doors.
The hotel is being gutted and rehabbed, with the remaining residents being forced out, bought out for tiny sums or mercilessly harassed, charged a tenant still in the hotel.
"Presently, strong-arm tactics are being used to harass the remaining tenants," said David Frank, a five-year resident of the hotel. "The fire exits have been locked. Construction debris blocks the lobby and the regular garbage hasn't been picked up for weeks." Frank has filed a six-page affidavit with the SRO Law Project, an Upper West Side advocacy group, charging a repeated pattern of abuse by management, including assault and destruction of his personal property. He as also accused the managers of barring client advocates from visiting the building.
Through the 1990s, the California housed clients from the Division of AIDS Services and Income Support [DASIS] in brutal circumstances. Two years ago, garbage was piled in the halls, menacing drug dealers roamed the stairways and the rooms were filthy, all with the knowledge of the indifferent owners, who collected up to $1100 per month for each single room.
Last year, however, DASIS stopped referring new clients to the hotel after it was established by the Law Project that the eventual owner of the California was Jay Pedalsky, an infamous SRO slumlord who owns at least five brutal hotels all over the West Side.
In mid-February, the California night manager expelled a City Limits reporter and photographer who were visiting a legal resident in the hotel. Another resident had told the managers that the reporter had visited the hotel previously.
"Refusal to allow guests of legal residents into the building can amount to harassment," said Adrian Di Lollo a community liaison for the SRO Law Project.
California Suites has often run afoul of city government. In 1996, the Hotel got in trouble for illegally subdividing its 84 rooms into 99 units. Last November, the hotel received 52 violations of the building maintenance code for illegal construction from inspectors from the city's Department of Housing, Preservation and Development.
HPD is responsible for monitoring potential harassment in the city's SROs. Any plans for major construction by SRO owners must receive "Certification of No Harassment" by the HPD before Department of Building work permits will be issued. After an investigation, HPD issued the California such a certificate on December 26, 1996. The DOB issued construction permits in November 1997. Major construction in the hotel had begun three months before then.
HPD is now investigating charges of harassment at the California. "The agency is aware of recent allegations of harassment at 610 W. 111th St., "said a staement from HPD. "The SRO unit will closely monitor the situation and take appropriate action, including revocation the Certification of No Harassment, if necessary."
Revocation of the certificate could be disastrous for the California owners. The construction permits would be revoked, and the Dept. of Buildings could stop some or all construction in the hotel.
Di Lollo said that he filed Frank's affidavit with the HPD to encourage them to investigate strong evidence of harassment at the hotel. His view of what could be done was pessimistic. "In 14 or 15 years the law project has existed, we are not aware of a Certificate of No Harassment being rescinded from an SRO."
The two managers, Amir Mohammed and Ali Mohammed, gave conflicting stories on the future of the hotel. "We will probably give the building back to Columbia," aid Ali Mohammed, saying that it would be used as a dorm.
"Our real estate manager has heard this before," said Anne Canty, a Columbia spokeswoman of the California conversion, "but this not something that Columbia is doing."
"There are no residents for you to interview," said Amir Mohammed. "Come back in three months and there will be one hundred residents -- the same ones who lived here before."
Reality has not proved Amir Mohammed's statements true. A non-profit worker familiar with the California said that its residents had wound up in other SRO, apartments or "had gotten lost in the system. The remaining tenants have been offered other places to go, but there leaving is based in their willingness and capability to do so." All the remaining tenants are DASIS clients, the worker added.
Frank, however, is no passive victim. "I called the Fire Department about the locked fire exits and broken sprinklers," he said. "Ali Mohammed then called my cable company, told them I'd died two day before, and they turned off my cable."
"Ali Mohammed has given the keys of empty rooms to several nasty drunks, former tenants who harass the present ones. There is drug dealing and prostitution going on in here."
Ali Mohammed vehemently denies any harassment. "Nobody actually gets harassed," he yelled at City Limits. "Conditions have improved. What people told you this?" he demanded to know.
Recently, Frank faced down the two Mohammeds and brought the same City Limits reporter into the hotel. "I know my rights," he told them flippantly. "You can only bar people who are a danger to me, themselves or to the hotel. I will walk him out myself."
In his affidavit, Frank said that Ali Mohammed offered him $250 to move out. He also told Frank that DASIS had ordered him to move out in 48 hours, which turned out to be untrue."
Two thirds of the hotel had been gutted and renovated. Frank gave a tour of the new room he has been moved to. The bathroom was tiled in cheap fake marble, but there were exposed wires all over the room and construction dust on the floor.
Despite the hardships of the California, Frank plans to stay. "This is A great neighborhood. I've lived here for 15 years and all my friends are here. At this time in my life, I don't want to start over."

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Article 186

3 Types Of Espresso Coffee Machines

There are a number of different that you can buy today. These include the manual, semi automatic and the full or super automatic. Below I will be taking a closer look at just what each of these machines are capable of doing.

1. Manual Espresso Coffee Machine

This type of machine requires the person using it to carry out all the various procedures involved in order to brew a great cup of espresso coffee. You will need to add both the water and the coffee grinds as well as controlling the frother if you are making cappuccinos

2. Semi Automatic Espresso Coffee Machine

With this particular machine you will need to start the process by turning the machine on and then pressing a button. Then once the espresso has been made, you will then need to turn the machine off. However with this machine you will be required to ensure that they water reservoir is filled and that there is sufficient beans within the grinder (as some models come with an internal coffee grinder).

3. Full or Super Automatic Espresso Coffee Machine

This machine will produce a great espresso coffee without you having to participate in the process at all. These types of machines come with a fully integrated water system (which is attached directly to a water supply) and a grinder for grinding the beans. With this particular machine all you need to do now is push a button and then the machine takes over and at the end will produce a great cup of espresso coffee. During each process, once the beans have been ground and used they will then be ejected and placed in an internal bin which can then be taken out and the contents removed.

When it comes time for you to find the perfect espresso coffee machine, you will need to determine just how convenient you want it to be. So if you are someone who wants to be involved in every process of making your own great cups of Coffee, then the manual espresso coffee machine is the ideal choice for you.

However if you are someone who just wants to sit back and relax before they start drinking a great cup of coffee then the semi or super automatic espresso coffee machines may be your preferred choice. Also you will need to take into consideration the cost, unfortunately both the semi and super automatic machines can be quite expensive, plus they are quite large as well so may take up more space than you have available.

A great way of learning more about these various types of espresso coffee machines is by going online. There are lots of sites that can offer you reviews as well as offering great discounts on some of the more well known brands available today.

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Article 185

Endowmax Review - Information about Endowmax Herbal Male Enhancement

Men have often wondered if it is possible to increase the size of the penis naturally. Thousands of men are using natural male enhancers, and their answer is yes. Natural male enhancers do lead to better performance, increased self confidence and greater satisfaction of both partners.

easy and safe with Endowmax, a unique formula approved by doctors. Endowmax users have experienced improved sexual performance, sex drive and erection size. Most men have reported a 28% increase in erection size and firmness.

Endowmax is an herbal supplement, totally natural, safe, and recommended by doctors everywhere; it has been used by thousands of men with a high success rate.

The most important ingredient used is L-Arginine, a natural amino acid; it has been scientifically tested to increase genital blood flow and improve sexual performance. The discovery of L-Arginine in connection to penile blood flow represents a break through in sexual enhancement research. Endowmax uses this ingredient along with other advanced ingredients and powerful herbs which has made it one of the most effective products of its kind available.

How does it work? Endowmaxs formula stimulates blood flow into the erectile chambers of the penis at the time of arousal. With time, this large increase in blood flow causes the erectile chambers to expand, which creates larger and stronger erections that last longer.

Although it takes about three months of usage for Endowmax to produce full results, many users have experienced more powerful erections within a few days. Others have seen an increase in penis size within a few weeks. They have also reported greater sexual desire and stamina.

Endowmax may take from three months up to six months at the longest, to produce the desired results. After this period, the chambers in the penis that hold blood, called corpora cavernosa, become expanded and create stronger erections. It is not necessary to continue taking the product after this period.

With Endowmax natural male enhancer, you do not have to bother with time consuming exercises, painful pumps or risky and expensive surgery. It is totally safe and risk free; moreover, the company offers a full money back guarantee if a consumer is not satisfied with the penis enlargement pills for some reason.

Moreover, the quality of erection declines as a result of stress, age and other ailments. Endowmax natural male enhancer addresses these shortcomings in an effective and convenient way.

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Article 184

A Guide For Planning Memorable Wedding Details, Your Own Way

Congrats to you, beautiful bride! Are you ready for the big day? Of course you're not - you just got engaged last weekend and you've only slightly recovered from the excitement of showing off that new princess-cut rock on your hand. You've stumbled across this article because you're overwhelmed and you don't know where to begin. You're thinking, "I'm not a bridezilla! I want my to be happy!" but at the same time, you want everything to be perfect, unique, and memorable.

The details of a wedding are what make its guests think back on it for years to come. Some particular details like save-the-date cards, engagement party/wedding shower/bridal shower invitations, Wedding invita, and thank you cards are particular items that can set your wedding apart from all the others that your friends are planning, regardless of the budget.

Save the date cards: These charming little reminders should be sent out in the mail approximately 4 months before your wedding, if not sooner. They are important if you are planning a destination wedding, if your wedding date is near a holiday, or if you are expecting many people to travel in order to get to your wedding. Save the dates are a convenient, advanced-notice option, and are much classier than an e-mail or a phone call.

Engagement party/wedding shower/bridal shower invitation: The first invitation that will go out is typically for the engagement party (if your family chooses to have one for you). This is usually a simple invitation, chosen by someone other than the bride or groom. Similarly, any wedding shower or bridal shower that might be thrown before the wedding might be entirely planned by someone other than the bride.

Look down at your pretty ring and take a deep breath - no one is going to judge you on your mom's tacky decorations, or your best friend's choice of appetizer. If you can't seem to get your input into the planning of one of your other parties, there is no need to worry about a foiled wedding. The big day is still under your control. If you're truly afraid of what might be planned for you, make sure the planner agrees with you on invitation and party guidelines because although the party may be a surprise, it is still a celebration of your upcoming wedding.

Wedding invitations: The invitation to your actual wedding is going to be a classy yet eye-catching number that allows your personality and the strength of your and your fiance's relationship to shine through, right? Easier said than done. Some people match the colors of their invitations to the color theme of their wedding, while others chose to stay classic with all white or ivory invitations despite the fact that their upcoming wedding might include a rainbow of color coordinates. With invitations, it's easy to keep it simple yet unique - there are hundreds of options available for backgrounds, and once that has been chosen, the font and wording that you pick will complete your distinctive invitation. When choosing an invitation, keep in mind that it will be hanging on the refrigerators of your guests homes for 2 months before the big date - what would you want on your fridge?

Thank you cards: It is proper etiquette to send a thank you card to anyone who attended the wedding, sent you a gift, or both. Also, you don't want to wait very long before writing and sending them. How long did it take you to cash their checks? You've got plenty of time to get away on that honeymoon and relax post-wedding, but when you come home and start ravaging the cards and gifts, be sure to keep track of everything. Standard rule is that you have three months to write and mail those thank you cards with your gifts and guest list fresh in your mind.

Well Bridezilla, I hope these tips helped to calm your nerves a bit. Planning a wedding can be a very lengthy process, but the details that you have full control over happen to be the most fun to shop for and personalize. Throughout your wedding process, there will likely be between 3 and 5 invitations or notifications sent out in the mail to select guests, and these tailored items are what they will look at the most before and after your tasteful and elegantly prepared soiree. Once dates and locations have been chosen, it will take a weight off your shoulders if you order all the invitations and stationary in advance. Plus, you've got more important things to worry about bride-to-be. Good luck in your planning!

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Article 183

It can be very difficult to obtain if you have no credit. The paradox is that you need credit to obtain a credit card or loan, so there’s no real way for you to build the credit that you need. However, there are certain steps that you can follow to build when it is non-existent.

There are a few factors that will help you to look good in lenders’ eyes. The first is your bank account or accounts. You don’t need to have credit to obtain a, so if you don’t have a current account, get one right away. If at all possible, get a savings account as well. By maintaining your bank accounts, you are proving that you can manage money responsibly. Your bank account history can be a vital factor that look at before approving or denying a loan request.

Your employment and residence history are also factors that go into being approved for a loan. If you have a steady job history and have been able to hold down a job for an extended amount of time, this will reflect favorably on lending companies. Likewise, if you don’t move around frequently and have a stable residence, then lending companies will look upon your application favorably. Owning your home, even if you jointly own it with a spouse, looks good to lenders as well.

Having different utilities in your name carries some weight with lending companies. You don’t need a credit history to sign up for different utilities under your own name. This can include an electric or gas bill, telephone, cable, internet, or water service. Having your name on these utility bills won’t improve your credit score but will look good for first-time borrowers.
For those of you who have bad credit, you may want to look into a bad credit secured loan through Totally Money. A secured loan is a loan that is secured against one of your valuable assets; typically, the asset that those applying for a secured loan use is their home. By offering security, you are lowering the risk that lenders take by approving you for a loan, especially if you have bad or no credit. The amount of money you will be able to borrow and your interest rate depends greatly upon the value of the asset that is securing the loan. Secured loans should be used carefully, especially if you pursuing one for debt consolidation purposes. Make sure that you don’t use your secured loan to free up your credit cards only to max them out again. If you aren’t able to repay your secured loan, the asset that you took that loan out against can be sold by the lender to repay your loan.

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