Rethinking the demolition debacle....

See update below.

PEORIA, IL -- Four days after the city of Peoria demolished Peg Pendell's home (see stories below) here are my thoughts:

1.  This was a serious human rights violation and a discriminatory act against the disabled or confused. To demolish a home of two low income, mentally ill or confused disabled residents that was not apparently dilapidated, without serious attempts made to help the residents, should never be done.  Some city officials have told reporters they tried to help Pendell and her adult daughter.  But how?  What exactly did they do besides drag her into court?  They have never said. 

2. Officials claim that Pendell was a hoarder and the house was filled with junk, and filthy. That's troublesome, but also a recognized sign of mental disturbance or confusion, OCD, obsessive-compulsive disorder. In other more enlightened cities, task forces have formed to help in these situations, according to a fascinating and thoughtful story in the New York Times.

3. Pendell and her daughter were given less than four full days notice before the bulldozer arrived, at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, June 30.  They got the notice on the previous Thursday afternoon, a time when they had no money and no way to fight it in court the next day. Pendell said lawyers would not call her back.  Then the weekend rolled around. People in this situation should be given much longer, at least 10 working days, not weekend days, to mount a last effort to seek help, clean up and stop the demolition.

4. Instead of calling the Red Cross or other agency to help Pendell and her daughter, the city called the police, who arrested Pendell an hour before the demolition was scheduled, on traffic warrants, and took her to jail. Then the police refused to allow her daughter or anyone else enter the house to remove  last minute items including medication.  Pendell said two cats were in the house. Their fate is now unknown. Did they escape? Or were they crushed?

5. What happened to Pendell and her daughter was equivalent to a fire or tornado destroying her home, only it was an act of the city. No one and no agency stepped forward to help. So agencies help only the "worthy" as they define the term?

6. Pendell says there are over 100 houses on the city's demolition list, many abandoned, so why was this one selected? Inquiring minds want to know. And why was June 30 selected?  Could it be that officials knew Pendell would get Social Security and pension checks on July 1, which would help her fight back? 

7. A study of human history reveals that societies always create scapegoats. Was this demolition debacle a form of scapegoating by an insecure middle class community?  Just asking.  At least they didn't accuse her of witchcraft.

Pendell was released from jail July 2, Wednesday evening, and picked up her daughter from a crisis center.  They are now living on a houseboat in a marina. At least they're not homeless. Yet.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

 

Update 7/8/14:  In an email Peg Pendell writes that hers is a neurological disability not a mental health disorder. "It's not OCD.  It's an inability to organize what possessions we have, no matter what the quantity or lack of "stuff," due to a perceptual disorder, damaged "executive functions" including some form of apraxia, and some mood-scale issues that can be mistaken for depression but aren't."  She's had head injuries and strokes and needs seizure medications, she said. 

Peoria City Council member Beth Akeson said she tried a few years ago to organize a task force in Peoria to deal with situations including hoarding and other things that annoy neighborhoods.  But no one would step forward, and the effort went nowhere, she said.

My reaction:  there's no money in it for the helpers. The bottom line is that these are medical conditions, requiring medical personnel who rarely work for free.  Someone needs to fund it, including a good diagnosis with medications that are appropriate, then a visiting nurse to help. Given the cost to the city for these situations, this night be cheaper.

     E.H.

Comments

[vonster]

Are you no publishing my comments?

The place had been an eyesore for years.

[vonster]

So you live in Macomb now, eh?

[Elaine Hopkins]

No, don't live in Macomb.
My husband taught at WIU
for nearly 40 years, and we visit Macomb weekly to see friends, etc.

[jessica taylor]

To vonster, regarding comment of July 8, 2014, on "Why are you no publishing my comments?" If every "eyesore" in this city were torn down, what might it cost financially, and what might it cost the occupants? What planet are you from, anyway? Elaine said there were 100 other houses on the demolition list, and some of them may have needed to be demolished. Besides, how would you define an "eyesore," and how would you decide what gets torn down? Is your own house an "eyesore?" Your attitude certainly is! I know, how about if you move to Macomb!

[ronald ebies]

OOoooh, my eyes are so sore, demolish it, get rid of it, tear it down! I just hate looking at that Wal-Mart on University, and there are pigeons at the courthouse, so tear it down! That old red City Hall next to the new Civic Center is an eyesore--tear it down, with everybody still in it!

[jessica taylor]

Wait a minute--I know that word "eyesore," and it's straight out of a certain Inspector's mouth. "Vonster" is the Inspector Himself!!! GUILTY!
Nobody else I know ever uses the word. He's tooting his own horn, here. Can we hear from some real people instead, please?