2 homeless men killed in laundromat fire

That shelter, Oak Lawn Community Church, 9000 S.Ridgeland Ave., Oak Lawn, IL is only open on Sundays. On Wednesday the shelters are in Homewood and Country Club Hills. If these guys showed up on the wrong night, someone should have provided transportation to the right shelter. There is no permanent shelter in the south suburbs and the homeless have to find their ways to whatever site is scheduled to provide shelter for the homeless that night. It's an insane system and little better than nothing.

It is time to provide 24 hour shelters/warm havens for those who are homeless. The whole process of there being shelter overnight only makes life hellish for those living homeless. What are these folks supposed to do in the in between hours? They are banned from most public buildings and need to have some place to go when it is so cold/hot.

Pat wrote:

It is time to provide 24 hour shelters/warm havens for those who are homeless. The whole process of there being shelter overnight only makes life hellish for those living homeless. What are these folks supposed to do in the in between hours? They are banned from most public buildings and need to have some place to go when it is so cold/hot.

I agree with you. It never did make any sense to me. I feel bad for the homeless. This is supposed to be such a wealthy country but, then why are there so many homeless.

Gwen wrote:

That shelter, Oak Lawn Community Church, 9000 S.Ridgeland Ave., Oak Lawn, IL is only open on Sundays. On Wednesday the shelters are in Homewood and Country Club Hills. If these guys showed up on the wrong night, someone should have provided transportation to the right shelter. There is no permanent shelter in the south suburbs and the homeless have to find their ways to whatever site is scheduled to provide shelter for the homeless that night. It's an insane system and little better than nothing.

Chicago has 50 elementary schools it claims it needs to close. If that's true there will be 50 publiclly owned buildings to be put to new uses.(Altho I suspect Daley already has developer friends lined up to buy the schools and build condos.)

follow the money wrote:

<quoted text>
Chicago has 50 elementary schools it claims it needs to close. If that's true there will be 50 publiclly owned buildings to be put to new uses.(Altho I suspect Daley already has developer friends lined up to buy the schools and build condos.)

How did you know???

Gwen wrote:

That shelter, Oak Lawn Community Church, 9000 S.Ridgeland Ave., Oak Lawn, IL is only open on Sundays. On Wednesday the shelters are in Homewood and Country Club Hills. If these guys showed up on the wrong night, someone should have provided transportation to the right shelter. There is no permanent shelter in the south suburbs and the homeless have to find their ways to whatever site is scheduled to provide shelter for the homeless that night. It's an insane system and little better than nothing.

If you are truly so concerned you can do something. I'm sure the church would gladly accept your volunteer time to show up every night they are not open to shuttle homeless to nearby shelters.

follow the money wrote:

<quoted text>
Chicago has 50 elementary schools it claims it needs to close. If that's true there will be 50 publiclly owned buildings to be put to new uses.(Altho I suspect Daley already has developer friends lined up to buy the schools and build condos.)

How does this apply to a fire in a suburb called Chicago Ridge?

Blame Daley for CTA not a fire in a suburb.

Really Concerned wrote:

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If you are truly so concerned you can do something. I'm sure the church would gladly accept your volunteer time to show up every night they are not open to shuttle homeless to nearby shelters.

I'm truly concerned about homeless in brutal cold weather. I'd rather see my tax dollars go to shelter them than a false war in iraq, bailing out banks and other corporate welfare. It does not mean I should quit my day job and volunteer for the homeless. One person can not take on the task of the homeless.

Denise wrote:

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I'm truly concerned about homeless in brutal cold weather. I'd rather see my tax dollars go to shelter them than a false war in iraq, bailing out banks and other corporate welfare. It does not mean I should quit my day job and volunteer for the homeless. One person can not take on the task of the homeless.

It Takes A Village

Pat wrote:

It is time to provide 24 hour shelters/warm havens for those who are homeless. The whole process of there being shelter overnight only makes life hellish for those living homeless. What are these folks supposed to do in the in between hours? They are banned from most public buildings and need to have some place to go when it is so cold/hot.

There's actually a Bush-backed program that at least takes a step in this direction; they looked at how much it costs to keep most homeless going through the cycle of ER/police lock-up/shelters that most of them ride through, and then realized it was cheaper to simply pay for a small, sparsely furnished one-person apartment. And once you get them off the streets in a semi-permanent residence, it becomes easier to help them deal with other issues, like joblessness and drug/alcohol addiction.

First I want to say this is a real tragedy when anyone dies, especially in this manner. No one deserves that. However the disorganization of how we as a society deal with the homeless is the problem. You have churches that open their doors to deal with the problem, parishioners pay for it. Knights of Columbus provide so called security and volunteers make sure nothing bad happens. What you get in reality is a disorganized mess with good intentions. I as a resident do not want shelters in my community. My high school coach was killed by stalkers who frequented this type of hand out. Sometimes the homeless have illnesses or are alcohol or drug dependant. Case in point CBS reports Abel Tatro failed a breath test for intoxication at the church shelter. Do we really want our children exposed to this? I for one do not. This system needs to be revamped entirely. Yes I know readers will be upset by my comments however this is a time bomb waiting to explode. You want to voice your opinion about my comments call your elected officials not me.

ct_sosmith wrote:

it was cheaper to simply pay for a small, sparsely furnished one-person apartment. And once you get them off the streets in a semi-permanent residence, it becomes easier to help them deal with other issues, like joblessness and drug/alcohol addiction.

Didn't Chicago used to have something like that? I think they were called SROs (single resident only) or something like that. They were rooms with just the barest essentials. A bed, a small fridge, a two burner hot plate. But heated in the winter. Whatever happened to those, or am I just hallucinating to think that they ever existed?

Ive known Abel Tatro for 20+ years. He was always a very nice person. Even when he became homeless if you seen him on the street he was the most polite and happiest person in the world. I am very disappointed in his family for turning their back on him in his time of need and letting him be homeless at such a young age. His family are very nice people and I am just very upset about the whole thing. He will be missed and I hope hes in a better place now where hes warm and fed. God Bless you Abel.

Im sorry for the loss of my cousin but its sad had to hear it on tv. I dont think his family did turn there back on him there were problems there.No one knows what was happening

Friend of Abel Tatro wrote:

Ive known Abel Tatro for 20+ years. He was always a very nice person. Even when he became homeless if you seen him on the street he was the most polite and happiest person in the world. I am very disappointed in his family for turning their back on him in his time of need and letting him be homeless at such a young age. His family are very nice people and I am just very upset about the whole thing. He will be missed and I hope hes in a better place now where hes warm and fed. God Bless you Abel.

His family were always good to him The Tatro family are very good people i know Im one of them.

I use to work at the VFW across the way and new these people and cant belive this has happened..

oops wrote:

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Didn't Chicago used to have something like that? I think they were called SROs (single resident only) or something like that. They were rooms with just the barest essentials. A bed, a small fridge, a two burner hot plate. But heated in the winter. Whatever happened to those, or am I just hallucinating to think that they ever existed?

No, you're right--SROs have pretty much gone the way of the dodo bird and the dinosaurs, sadly. They were cheap rooms, popular with men down on their luck. Single room, communal toilet facilities. Anyone wanting to see what they looked like can watch the original Blues Brothers movie--it's where Ackroyd's character is living.

Unfortunately, I suspect that those got forced out, partly as the land-boom hit a decade ago, and partly as a result of problem tenants.(Remember when Reagan put a lot of the mentally disabled out on the street? The homeless population went from "men down on their luck" to include a large segment of "men who wouldn't take their medications".)

I think there might still be a few SROs in business, though.

Ooh! Found a link:

http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pa...

A couple other online sites I found with Google indicate that there's a small movement to try to restore SRO housing in cities suffering from large homeless populuations. I suspect the biggest hitch is the old problem of letting the perfect be the enemy of the good--SROs were quite properly called 'flophouses' and 'Skid Row'; few mourned their passing at the time. But they were better than what we have now, and putting a few back in play might provide a way to break out of the cycle we're in.

Hello i do believe the same tax dollars come from this suburb,it is cook county and who likes to spend tax dollars foolishly daily.

Able was changing his life for the better . And Cold conditions existed and no human should be left out in the cold cold because they had a lil few drinks. On cold nights under 40 all should be sheltered from the cold no matter what. This shows how the rich and well off ignore our fellow human beings. Well claim to care but when people are cold no one does nothing.

we used to live across the street from the tatros. we used to see him all the time. there were problems in the family, but i think everyone still loved him despite what was going on. ill miss him even from north carolina. you dont ever want to see something like happen to some one you knew.

vickie tatro wrote:

Im sorry for the loss of my cousin but its sad had to hear it on tv. I dont think his family did turn there back on him there were problems there.No one knows what was happening