Page 33 of The Reverse Cinderella
Chapter 5
Good morning Mayor Johns. Welcome to 88.5 Student Radio at Uni 5,” Piaget said nervously. It was her first live show and for some reason, Mrs. Brown had set her up with an interview with the Mayor of the city. She really didn’t need the extra pressure.
“Good morning Page, it’s a pleasure to be here,” he smiled toothily.
“Piaget,” she quietly corrected him.
“Excuse me?”
“My name,” Piaget clarified. “It’s Piaget. Like the jewelry brand.”
The mayor gave a jolly little laugh, making his pot belly move up and down. “Sorry about that Pagie.”
Piaget gave a tight smile and adjusted her microphone. She looked at the clipboard full of talking points and chose one at random. “Moving on. I see you have some pretty amazing campaign promises that you are building your platform on. Would you like to talk about your three most important ones?”
“Sure. Obviously, I view education as a fundamentally important…” he blathered on and Piaget mentally tuned him out even while smiling and nodding politely which was all the encouragement he needed to continue. Piaget sipped coffee and made a few notes on her clipboard but her attention snapped back to the mayor as he began to talk about the homeless people in the city.
“We have a homeless problem. Despite shelters, despite clinics and employment assistance there are too many people living on our streets. I plan on tackling this issue head on.”
Piaget nearly choked in surprise. “What do you plan to do, Mayor?”
“I’m offering a great program that will solve a lot of issues. Budgets are constrained. We can’t afford services to those who continuously leach off the system. Money needs to be better spent so I propose that we give each homeless person the opportunity to relocate, paid by the city.”
Piaget’s brain scrambled to keep up at this unexpected turn of events, “So essentially, you’re paying the problem to go away?”
“We’re allocating funds to help them choose a different home. This way they no longer represent a drain on our resources. Plus, after the relocation program is finished we will no longer be giving financial assistance to those without a permanent address. Call it an incentive to use the relocation program,” Johns said. The mayor seemed very pleased with himself.
“You’re kidding me, right? This is some joke?” Piaget couldn’t believe what she had just heard. “You’re blackmailing these people who have mental, health and other issues. Who are at one of the most difficult times in their lives. You’re forcing them to move so that you don’t have to look at them anymore?”
Mayor John gave another jolly laugh. “I wouldn’t call it blackmail. It’s incentive to choose a new path.”
“You’re telling them they can’t get more funding unless they leave,” Piaget felt outraged. “You’re making them even poorer than they are.”
“Paige, the homeless problem is one that is very difficult and I’ve been tasked with solving it,” he talked to her as if she were a little child who was having a hard time understanding a perfectly easy math problem. “This is a viable solution with a win-win scenario for all.”
“It’s Piaget,” Piaget corrected, her voice cold. “And homelessness is not a problem. It’s a symptom of a society that has grown apathetic to those in need of assistance. We should be helping them, not displacing them.”
“There simply isn’t enough money for all the public assistance programs that we have. We need to choose between someone who is chronically on the streets, usually addicted, has mental health issues or the children who need assistance in school, who might have ADD or ADHD and with the right programs can have a bright future. I’m choosing the children. How can we deny our children? And it’s not that the homeless still won’t get help, they’ll just need to move out of our city to find it and we have generously offered the help with relocating.”
“That’s very magnanimous of you Mr. Mayor,” sarcasm crept into her voice and Piaget’s mouth started running without her brain, she was so furious. “Have you even met the homeless people that you are now trying to deport? Who are you going to deport after them? Senior citizens? They’re a drain on our resources too, having all these health and social needs. Let’s throw them on the bus too! Or maybe under it? Who else would you like to discriminate against?”
“Whoa! No one is discriminating against anyone,” Mayor John’s laugh became a little nervous. “We’re trying to help everyone through this initiative.”
“I fail to see how shoving yourproblemonto some other city is going to help anyone. Did you even contact the city where you intend to bus all these people to?” Piaget ignored her student producer Melanie, who was making slicing motions at her neck, trying to get Piaget to shut up. “Are you sure they are willing to take these people in?”
“The program allows the participants to choose the bus route that they would like to purchase,” the mayor explained.
“Well isn’t that nice. Finally giving the homeless person a choice,” Piaget said as she hit the applause button on her desk board and laugher with clapping flooded the airwave for a two second interval. “I have a question, is there no one that will oppose you and your policy of discrimination?”
“Again, I wouldn’t call it discrimination. We are trying to help with an innovative solution.” Mayor Jolly Johns laughed again, his wide girth jiggling with the effort. “And I am as of yet running unopposed. If no one steps up this week, I will return to office after the application date closes.”
“And what qualifications does one have to have to apply for the position?” Piaget asked crisply.
“Well, you should have an interest in your community. Some business or social background is an asset but most of all you need to be willing to listen to your constituents and help them. A dream of making the city a better place to live is essential. All of these qualities I have, and I know you won’t be disappointed with me for another term in office.”
“Is it difficult to apply?”
“Why no, it’s just an online process. Then you need to run a campaign which can get very expensive. Then the best man wins,” Mayor Johns said. By his smile Piaget could tell he felt that was himself.