Author: James Shearer
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Chelsea is the tip of a corrupt iceberg
James Shearer Spare Change News Hello boys and girls, when last we spoke I told you a little about the corrupt Chelsea Housing Authority Executive Director who was making a tad too much moola that the state didn’t even know about. As I said then, it seemed that no one is minding the store. But…
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Detox Made Difficult
James Shearer Spare Change News A couple of weeks ago I spent the better part of two days trying to get a friend into a detox program. For those of you who have no idea what that is, it’s a place where people who are looking to get off of drugs and/or alcohol go first,…
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Observations
James Shearer Spare Change News As fall closes in, I have been watching a few things. Maybe you have, as well. 1. This whole Occupy thing. The Wall Street protests have finally reached Boston, big-time. The protests, which started off as a small rally at an area of the Greenway near the financial district, have…
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Moving On
Moving On The mark of a great leader is knowing when to stand aside and let others lead. No, I didn’t get that saying out of some book or hear someone say it. These are my own words. And it is with these words that I begin my seventh and final year as president of…
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Some of us just need housing
James Shearer Spare Change News Many of you no doubt have been following Spare Change News editor Tom Benner’s three-part series on Housing First, and it has been a good and informative series. But for me, on a personal and professional level, there are still some things that need to be addressed. No, not by…
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One Step Up and Two Steps Back
That old Springsteen tune has been going through my head all week. As many of you know I’ve been homeless for the last 5 months or so. I’ve done a lot of couch surfing and the like, hoping upon hope that something would come through. Nothing did and it was time to embrace my biggest…
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MY WTF MOMENT
I came upon a couple of items last week; both had to do with the Department of Public Welfare (DPW) and the State legislator, ITEM ONE. A couple of weeks ago the state legislator voted to ban welfare recipi¬ents from spending money on liquor, tobacco products and the lottery. Also, store owners are not allowed…
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No Time to Party
So Osama Bin Laden is dead. Finally, after 10 years the families of everyone who died on 9/11 can feel a sense of justice and begin to heal. That’s who I thought about when I heard the news, the over 3,000 victims and their families. I felt no need to go out and celebrate. I…
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Robbing Peter and the Silent Majority
In the last edition of SCN there was a story regarding the Governor’s new budget. One of the new proposals for this 2012 budget is “to reduce the state’s reliance on shelter and move towards a system with a housing first approach that will provide greater self-sufficiency while using resources more efficiently.” While this all…
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The Myth Exposed Part 2
Boston likes to think of itself as a liberal city. As a matter of fact, Massachusetts as a whole loves to think of itself as a liberal state. We take great pride in it. We beat our chests about it, and always vote democrat. We make up our own rules and generally thumb our noses…