Pubdate: Wed, 17 Apr 2002 Source: Buffalo News (NY) Copyright: 2002 The Buffalo News Contact: http://www.buffalonews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/61 Author: Frank C. Boncore Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n684/a07.html POOR HAVE A RIGHT TO DRUG-FREE HOUSING For the past 34 years, I have been an employee of the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority, and have worked for eight executive directors. Over those years, I have read several articles in which The News criticized the authority for its maintenance and management policies. We have been called the city's largest landlord on radio talk shows, and the "housing of last resort." Housing Authority politics also has been blasted in the media. Some of the criticism has been deserved and some, I believe, was fabricated to sell newspapers and improve ratings on radio and television stations. But the recent News article, "Public housing tenants evicted on "one strike' rule cry foul," incensed me so much that I had to reply to that nonsense. A single mother, a 10-year Jasper Parrish resident, was evicted because her 16-year-old son was arrested in another apartment for possessing 10 bags of crack cocaine and a bag of marijuana. What was he doing with such a stash? Saving it for a rainy day? I don't think so. God bless Executive Director Sharon West and the Housing Authority for adopting and enforcing a zero-tolerance policy. Civil libertarians have called this policy racist. Nonsense! Race has nothing to do with it. Poor people, minorities or not, have a right to live in drug-free housing. West, through her policies, has worked very hard to turn projects into developments with decent, affordable housing. The evicted tenant said she was forced to move to the drug-infested West Side. Perhaps if the city followed West and the authority's zero-tolerance policies, the West Side would be drug-free. Frank C. Boncore, West Seneca - --- MAP posted-by: Alex