ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (ANS) -- There was loud knocking on the young man’s apartment door, but in a heavy sleep he didn’t hear it.

When Paul Fields finally woke up and went outside on that cold winter morning a few months ago, he saw that three of the neighboring apartments in his small complex had been red tagged by Albuquerque's Safe City Strike Force due to reported unsafe living conditions.

Paul’s neighbor came to his door, talking loudly and visibly upset, and said that she and some of the other tenants in the complex had 24 hours to vacate their apartments. The Safe City Strike Force had struck again.

In a recent interview, Paul told me that he was panicked, and his understandably angry neighbor was already beginning to pack up her belongings while making calls trying to find a place to stay.

Paul learned that he had a week before the Strike Force would come back to inspect his apartment. While it looked like he may also have to leave, he still hoped to make the required repairs and be allowed to stay.

A week is a long time to be able to live in your house or apartment after a visit by city code enforcement or the Strike Force. Albuquerque homeowner Joe Calkins was given just a few hours to leave his home, and a Central Avenue Motel was ordered to close down by the end of the day.

During the next week, Paul began trying to get everything fixed up, hoping that his painting and plastering efforts might satisfy the inspectors when they returned next week. However, worried because of all the work involved and thinking where he would go if he was thrown out, he didn’t sleep for a couple of days.

Lack of rest is a very dangerous situation for someone like Paul who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, also known as manic depressive illness. Any dramatic change in the life of one diagnosed has the potential to push them into a psychotic break.

Paul’s mother, Carol Fields, who also met with me, said, “Paul was spiraling up and becoming manic. He had been stable, but he was talking really fast and not sleeping well, both signs of the manic phase of the illness. There were (even) some messages he left on my voice mail that I couldn’t understand.”

Paul said, “I was scared I wasn’t going to have a roof over my head. I had thoughts of living on the street.”

When city officials returned, Paul said he wasn’t allowed to stay in the apartment while the inspection was carried out. He got his dog and went outside. His worst fears were soon realized. His apartment was red-tagged.

Paul said when the apartment closure occurred, a million things went through his mind. When Carol heard about it, she said she was trying to figure out if she could scrape together enough money to place her son in a motel for a week. Carol prayed a lot, but said she didn’t sleep much and was very worried.

“It was stress city,” she said.

Paul made it through the next few weeks with a lot of prayer and support from his mother, but both were totally exhausted.

He said, “The hardest part was worrying about my dog, Daisy, and not knowing if I was going to have a place to stay. I came close to having a psychotic episode.”

Contrary to what former Safe Strike City Force Chief Pete Dinelli told local media recently, Paul told me there were no social service professionals present when those three apartment units were red-tagged and no one offered any help. In addition, no one directed the residents to any available resources.

Carol commented, “And people who live there don’t have a very large support system.”

Emphasizing how concerned she was about Paul, Carol added, “I know Paul, and I could just feel when things were going wrong. It was an upheaval for all of us. I didn’t know how to get things worked out. No one should have to go through this.”

Carol said she definitely understands the need to keep apartments and motels in good condition, but is troubled by how the city treats people living on the periphery of society.

She said, “I’d like to have seen the city contact us with social service agencies who could have provided help. If they are doing that, it’s a well kept secret.”

Even though Paul’s mood swings have been stabilized for many years with medication, Carol added reflectively, “I definitely feel Paul could have had an episode.”

My Thoughts

Sadly, Carol, I agree with your conclusion. Paul could have suffered a psychotic episode which might have resulted in his inability to work, or in some cases even more insidious behavior.

If that had occurred, Paul, or any of the other individuals caught between a rock and a hard place by the activities of the Safe City Strike Force, would have been blamed. That is just not acceptable.

My question is; why wait for such a scenario to happen? It’s time for us to realize that these strong-arm tactics by the City of Albuquerque, which while supposedly designed to protect people, do so at great cost to those same vulnerable individuals.

The City of Albuquerque needs to consistently provide targeted residents of red-tagged homes, apartments and motels with the social service assistance they need and deserve. Failure to do so will further intimidate and traumatize these already desperate people as they attempt to deal with forced eviction from their very modest residences.

Is such a modest request too much to ask city officials? After all, the people who live in buildings which attract the attention of city officials, usually only do so because they lack the financial resources to live elsewhere.

Jeremy Reynalds is a freelance writer and the founder and CEO of Joy Junction, New Mexico's largest emergency homeless shelter, http://www.joyjunction.org He has a master's degree in communication from the University of New Mexico, and a Ph.D. in intercultural education from Biola University in Los Angeles. His newest book is "The Face of Homelessness." Additional details are available at http://www.HomelessBook.com. Reynalds' upcoming book is "We All Need a Little Help." It will be released on October 3 2008. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For more information contact: Jeremy Reynalds at jeremyreynalds@comcast.net. Tel: (505) 400-7145. Note: A higher resolution JPEG picture of Jeremy Reynalds is available on request from Dan Wooding at danjuma1@aol.com.