Hamilton Indigenous Housing

I’ve heard many arguments as well as bitching and whining among the Koo Ga Da Win Mantou female tenants yet not so much from the men.  We seem more complacent and laid back, or at least that’s what I thought. *snickers* ;) A few days ago on a rather hot humid sunny afternoon three of us guys were sitting in the front bench area shooting the breeze until one topic came up about the Postal workers. All of a sudden the conversation became heated…one was arguing how great they are and the other saying they’re a bunch of lazy bastards. Cheryl Trudeau was also there puffing her brains out (she was on her cigarette break). So here we have it folks I’m standing nearby trying to calm down these two men. One guy threatened physical violence while the other guy shouted out profanity.  It was INSANE and I thought fuck this…I’m going to my unit and since Cheryl is on the payroll let her handle it. :P It’s funny, these two stubborn men will not be talking to each other for a while over ...

Wow….Koo Ga Da Win Manitou Housing Complex has reached another all time low my friends. There’s a anonymous note posted on the bulletin board saying those tenants who have a computer are NOT allowed to use the computers in the community room and no explanation why. There a few things wrong here, first of all what if a tenant has limited or no internet access or their computer is not working. Should they be banned?  I say no. These old model Dell computers were donated by the good citizens of Hamilton and I'm sure they would be surprised to know how they are being managed. The community room and it’s facilities should be open to all tenants regardless if they have use of a Desktop, Laptop, iPad or Blackberry. For once I would like to see a rule posted from the office that made sense. :P Update Oct 1/2011  Since this rule has come in place I notice there are only a few regular tenants using the computers and what are they doing you ask?  playing poker games lol...the...

IMO Denise Maracle is Koo Gaa Da Win Manitou’s best employee. She’s been here for awhile and does a good job on what limited resources are available plus is an awesome and inspirational person to talk to.  If UNH gave out awards/plaques for best employee of the year Denise would have my vote. :) Now on to the outreach newbies.:)  Lorraine Brown has a sparkling personality and I got the impression she’s there to help and it’s not “just a job”. Charles Jacobs…is the baby in the building…..yep I kid you not…he’s younger then us tenants. lol.  That being said he’s a joyful person always laughing with the group and helpful and supportive. OMG! With all this sweet praise I’m dishing out on this post you'd expect to get a toothache. Eh? :D Seriously I'm concerned….I’ve seen some great staff come on board then one day they’re gone, maybe they got fed up with the HSC 's asinine policies and quit or they were thrown under the bus.

Hello readers, It’s been over a month since my last post. I’ll bet you thought there’s peace and harmony in the land of Koo Gaa Da Win Manitou eh?  Well not really. The topic today is about Ingrid Nosel, the housing coordinating ***** (a meaningless job title). A few weeks ago I gave her a call, we had a heated discussion over a request I handed in to the office last month. What were the results of my application you ask?. Nothing…zippo..a big fat zero.  Not even a letter of explanation on the progress of my request. I’m totally disappointed in her lack of action.  I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, ie: one time she said to me. "We take complaints as a grain of salt" in other words "Don't bother us if you have a dispute we don't give a shit"  :( Here we have a woman who sits in a small dark dusty basement office all day long, never comes out and mingles with the tenants. She has a spy camera monitor in her office…Hmm I wonder if she can get the...

We had a tenant/staff Easter dinner a few days ago. it was the first time I really had a good time interacting with my fellow tenants. And I made potato salad for the gang. :) Ingrid was there so this gave me the opportunity to ask her a question, whenever there's a function going on why do they take pictures of us without our permission, Are we being exploited?  Used for propaganda?. All of a sudden her face got serious and she replied they are shown to the supporters of UNH's and if we don't want photos taken we have to ask.  I was taken back by her response, where I come from people ask permission first. :P

Well folks at the last minute we got a note under the door the tenant meeting was cancelled due to Ingrid being sick, but we went ahead with the pot luck luncheon.  I had a good time...finally we all got the chance to chit chat with the new outreach workers, I must say they both have potential.  Jan Porter & I have a private chat the day before and talked out a few issues.  I didn't want to attend the meeting with a chip on my shoulder and possibly freak out in public. :P  Out of all tenants in the building only 6 (including myself) showed up for the meeting.  There are many reasons why this happened, but I'm going to save that post for another day.

I was at the library today and I ran into the guy who lives in 1A.  I asked politely what happened Saturday morning at 4:30am and he replied he girlfriend woke up and had a panic attack and was freaking out. she ran out the hallway and pulled the fire alarm in hopes of calling for help. In hindsight he realizes he should have done more to calm her down.  I told him there will be complaints from other tenants about what happened and it would be a good idea to explain his side of the story to Ingrid.  Personally I don't have a problem with the man, he seems genuine.