Housing Works Protests in Brooklyn Heights Against AIDS Funding Cuts

I am all for protests and having a voice to the issues that matter. Making noise in front of someone’s home and following them to work is wrong and bordering on harassment.

There are proper ways to protest cuts to services.

Thanks to the first two whiners for NIMBYism at its finest.

Breast cancer and prostate cancer doesn’t have as loud a voice? I must have imagined all those people donning pink or all the relays for life walks or all the three day Avon walks…

AIDS is still a worldwide epidemic. One could argue we have it sort of “under control” here, but until there’s a cure, it’s still a major need for HIV/AIDS funding. Not to mention that if you’re poor, surviving is much less likely.

I too was trying to sleep this morning when I heard the protest. I’ll deal with 5 minutes disruption of my life.

Miky, and bkheightsgal,

I’m not too happy with the neighbor-waking, noisemaking of the protesters. I think it’s awful that sick people who need their rest are woken up for–I won’t say “no good reason”, but–maybe thoughtlessly. In a press release apparently jointly issued by Housing Works and a group called VOCAL-NY, the board chair of V.-NY is quoted as saying:

“Now that people like me are the face of AIDS, it feels like Doar is willing to destroy a safety net that was put into place at a time when HIV/AIDS wasn’t associated with poverty and people of color.”

I guess she thought that people living on a nice block need their consciences raised, without considering exactly who was supporting the Housing Works store a few blocks away. Sigh.

I remember when people were walking into Housing Works on Montague complaining about the obnoxious noise of the Verizon workers on strike down the street. It’s never good to alienate people who might already be on your side!

I’m not sure how this protest was organized–I’m on the HW mailing list for sales & events, and I’m in the thrift store multiple times a week as a shop volunteer, and I heard not one request to participate. This blog post was actually the first I’d heard of it!

But as some kind of local face of Housing Works, though my avatar is faceless, I would like to apologize for the annoyance. I love the thrift shop, and I’d hate for it to suffer due to the tactics of some people whose jobs and whose lives may become much harder if or when those cutbacks happen.

Not nearly as annoying as the film crews taxpayer dollars are funding.

Thanks David,

Just to be transparent, I don’t live on that block where the noise was occurring.

Just the other week I was in the Housing Works shop to buy a picture frame and had a nice feeling about the shop.

I just feel as though, post OWS, people that are protesting are sometimes resorting to the wrong tactics. Nobody should be bothered at their home. It really crosses a line. In our society, with internet bringing all kinds of information to the people, boundaries are being crossed.

Why couldn’t these people just stand outside Doar’s office? That would be appropriate.

I am a native NY’er, not a NIMBY as one commenter stated. I love the noise that we have in the city. I love babies but hate the “Don’t make noise because you woke my baby” nonsense.

There is a way to protest injustices and this wasn’t it.

David your response is the classy antithesis to the behavior of this group. Thank you.

Just to be clear, I spend a very significant part of my private and professional existence assisting people and communities in dire need. Accuse me of NIMBYism or racism (implied by the lunch counter comment) all you want, but I suspect (without knowing for certain) that I do more on a daily basis to help human rights than you do all year long.

Further, I am not afraid of noise. I live in New York City, after all. Horn honking, trucks, people yelling, etc. are part of my daily existence.

That being said, when at 7 in the morning someone finds the need to bang a drum and blow a whiste for a prolonged period outside of my window, I draw the line. It frightened my sick baby to the point that he was inconsolable. And as any parent will tell you, there is no surer way to make an enemy of a parent than to assault that parent’s child.

This does not mean that I don’t care about AIDS or the poor. It does mean, however, that someone’s opposition over a policy dispute does not trump my right and my family’s right to the quiet use and enjoyment of our home early in the morning. I would like to point out, further, that this is a policy dispute. Nobody, as far as I can tell, is interested in saying that the government has no role in helping AIDS patients. This is about the type and level of help. There are civil ways to make that point. And if civil paths are exhausted, there are more dramatic ways to make that point without catching up a number of innocent bystanders (who otherwise, incidentally, might have been sympathetic to your cause).

And since a number of commenters here are in the business of drawing outrageous conclusions and comparisons, I will make one of my own. Your insistence that infringing the rights of any innocent bystander is worth it provided that the injustice you oppose is a greater evil is only a few steps removed from the rationale that permits fanatics to fly planes into buildings and blow-up cars, killing the innocent bystanders.

Ultimately, when the spring rolls around and we clean out closets, I will find another cause to which to donate our belongings.

I’m with you Miky – a time and place for protests – reminds me of the Verizon strikers…..

demonstrating in front of an individual’s residence, not their office, is over the top, what next?

@Miky and others
We can support the charities and causes if our choice without condoning the thugocracy tactics of personal intimidation used here.
We find that the Plymouth Underground Thrift Shop, run by Plymouth Church, at 75 Hicks Street is a great place to donate and to buy.
Plymouth has been contributing to neighborhood organizations of all denominations, senior center, nursing home, and homeless shelter, among others, for more than a century.
All funds are completely accounted for and information is publically available.

Regardless of the cause or fund cuts, it is outrageous to go to someone’s home and follow them to work harassing them. I wish police had gotten involved. What’s next? A bodyguard for this guy? Whatever your political leanings are this is wrong. I have contributed greatly to Housing Works and am rethinking my next contribution to them-completely crazy tactics.

I am glad that the level-headed types are speaking their voices.

And Clarks thank you for correctly pointing out exactly what NIMBY stands for. It’s good to know someone knows the real meaning of the term.

BOTTOM LINE…. MAKING A SCENE IN FRONT OF SOMEONE’S HOUSE AT ANY HOUR is harassment, following someone to the subway is border-line stalker, RIDING on the train with them to work while screaming is just psychotic. anyone who thinks this is normal needs to get their heads check. ALSO why all this hate for someone who was SIMPLY saying all the noise woke up their child? a person going through chemo-therapy? that doesn’t make you an idiot, just a un compassionate person. that’s really all it comes down too. Maybe you’re not a mother, a father.. someone with a child who would have any idea how hard it is to get a baby to go to sleep let alone stay asleep.. maybe you’re someone who has never been affected by cancer or known someone affected. Maybe some day you will be, maybe you won’t.. but jumping down someone’s throat for a fairly logical reason for being upset just seems cruel.

I will never contribute to Housing Works again. I happen to know Robert Doer and his family, and they are very fine people. They do not deserve this kind of treatment. Keep work related issues at work. It’s pretty simple. Their neighbors don’t deserve this, nor does he. Everyone is entitled to do their job and go home.This is harassment. If I had seen this, I would have called the police, and I happen to personally disagree with this policy.

Happy to see voices of reason make themselves visible on this thread. This battle should have been fought where it was started..the steps of city hall. I am sure the extra liberal lugnuts on here wouldn’t be so open-minded if antigay fundamentalists bumrushed larry kramer’s or christine quinn’s homes.