To the editor:
Why are the residents of Steubenville's North End projects fearful of attending the monthly board meeting that is held by the Jefferson Metropolitan Housing Authority?
Is it because when the board finds that the residents have issues, the board cancels meetings and raises the bar as to who may speak at the meetings? Why did the director make calls to some of the residents after a petition was circulated about the lack of a safe play area at the North End projects? If the goal was to intimidate the residents, it worked.
It is very sad that these tactics are being used in 2011. All that these people want is to be treated with some respect. Some of the board members sit on the fence when it comes down to doing what is right by the children of the North End projects. The board has the resources - what would it take to make a playground at the corner of Sixth Street and Franklin Avenue? How can the board members continue to ignore the lack of a play area, the rat boxes that are located on the sides of all the apartments and the garbage receptacles that are right behind the apartments?
Children chasing rats around trash receptacles in broad daylight is a shame. All if you board members are aware of the situation that exists at the North End projects - you just do not care. Those who are overseeing this inhumane treatment of the least of these (Matthew 25) need to check their moral compasses, and if they point south, resign and do the residents a favor.
Keith Dorsey
Wintersville
