It is because of this lethergy we would like to meet up with people on this board who would be possibly interested in learning more about Fort Hancock. Fort Hancock is an old decommissioned military base situated in Sandy Hook NJ and has long been abandoned. Its been sitting there pretty much not doing anything for decades. One click on this link and you will see for yourselves that the opportunities to house and employ hundreds of austistic people of all levels in a safe convenient sheltered environment are totally self evident.

http://www.thefortatsandyhook.net/news.asp?newsID=18

I had the pleasure of seeing Fort Hancock a few years ago,{its open to the public as a curiosity} and I was struck by the thought that it had not been turned into a facility for the handicapped.

Why has anyone never considered making Fort Hancock a self supporting community for the autistic/disabled?? My husband and I wondered why this could be. With NJ having a 20 year waiting list for group homes {and so little support from the DDD….I recently had one case worker tell me…”wow…you ask really hard questions!!” and another one told me that if I want more results I should cry on the phone} it’s amazing to me that no one has thought of Fort Hancock and its 10,000 person facilities. Now, Im not suggesting we put all 10000 autistics in one centralized location {that Would be pretty scary}but this ex military base could easily take care of several hundred people right off the bat.See for yourself…there are dozens and dozens of darling Victorian cottages, all identical… ….all sleeping up to 5 people…. just sitting there empty.They are deteriorating but still in good shape, and in a beutiful private setting just off the coastline.

Why not create a self supporting gated community where retired parents or caregivers could could live with their handicapped relatives or charges?? I believe in addition to the housing I saw dining facilities, kitchens, recreational and manufacturing facilities.. a hospital ..a museum..a bakery…machine shops, retail stores…classrooms…. gardens..a movie theater, a swimming pool..a bowling ally..nature trails…the possibilities to keep the autistic population employed and busy and productive within an appropriately sheltered setting are limitless. How fantastic it would be to utilize this beautiful area for housing our children and giving us all some much deserved relief.

It could save the state millions of dollars and relieve untold hundreds of people from the burden of caring for their children alone. Perhaps, well managed, the place could become profitable should a company care to invest in some sort of light manufacturing. Being in the vicinity of the Jersey shore bustrips to local places for entertainment and shopping would be easily available to the residents as well as possible off site job opportunities to the appropriately functionaing. Please, can anyone advise us on how we could possibly approach the public/press with this idea?? Start a grass roots movement??? get the ear of someone who cares??? Someone with political pull???{Mayor Bloomburg of NYC and his friends just spent 250 million dollars on a global anti smoking campaign….couldnt he be persuaded to do something a little more useful with that cash????} How many of you parents would offer to buy a cottage outright from the government and fix it up on their own with the provision that their child, and an aide, lived in it in perpetuity?? In a community shielded from most of the dangers of the real world, where a few moments walk put you in school, work or a recreational facility??? How many parents, if we all pulled together, could contribute and donate our various resources to create this world for our kids, a world whose infrastructure already exists, but just needs a little TLC???
In addition to housing the autistic population so many employment opportunities abound for perfectly capable productive people who are slightly handicapped and just need a gentler pace of life to help them succeed….{like my cousin, 54 and forced into early retirement by rhematoid arthritus. But if she was four minutes from her job and didnt need a car this ex hospital administrator would be perfect!!!!}

Please consider these thoughts for Fort Hancock. You know the drill…There are over 5000 autistic people in NJ waiting for services that this state has scant means to fulfill, {and lets not get started on the Alzheimer’s community, wait til us Babyboomers start hitting 70}and we feel this idea has so much potential to help it’s most vulnerable citizens …our children…achieve a life of productive dignity.

Anybody with us????

Respectfully Yours,

Tara and James Terminello

Taraterm2aol.com

The associated yahoogroup
http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/NOEWAIT/

Partial text
(…)
The Frank Melville Supportive Housing Investment Act of 2008 (H.R. 5772) was introduced April 10, 2008 to increase the number of housing units for low income persons with disabilities by:

Reforming of the current Section 811 production program to remove bureaucratic barriers;

Transferring the “Mainstream Voucher” program to the Section 8 program; and

Creating an innovative demonstration project that will build an additional 2,500 units of affordable housing every year. Units built with the demonstration program funding will be integrated into the community – truly fulfilling the promise of the Supreme Court’s Olmstead decision and helping to reduce waiting lists.
(…)
——————-
They are asking people to contact representatives to co-sponsor and to state support for the bill.
They have a powerpoint showing the relative cost of a 1-bedroom apartment to SSI payments.
http://capwiz.com/thearc/utr/1/GCFJILTOZF/JZEZILTRTR/1992069921