ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Monday, March 10, 1997                 TAG: 9703100087
SECTION: EDITORIAL                PAGE: A-6  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LORETTA THOMAS

TV ISN'T A FRILL FOR THE POOR

REGARDING Rob Tonkinson Jr.'s March 2 letter to the editor, "TV shouldn't be subsidized for the poor":

I was financially secure for most of my adult life. Now, I'm on the other side of the fence, so to speak. My husband's permanent disability and my limited salary potential have given me three years of firsthand experience living in rent-assisted housing.

Like Tonkinson, I used to think that people who accepted subsidies for rent, utilities, medical care and food weren't entitled to ``goodies'' that others could afford. There are people, skilled in milking the system, who manage to qualify for public assistance, yet also seem to want for very little in their lifestyle. Such freeloaders are wrongly assumed to be stereotypical residents of subsidized housing.

Tonkinson said that if a public-housing resident can afford $19.95 per month for cable television, the resident can also afford to have his or her subsidy cut by $19.95. I hope he didn't mean it as coldly as it appears. For those who don't take advantage of subsidized housing, but depend on it to live as decently as possible, something as common as being able to watch television means a lot. Usually, the person can't afford to go to movies or eat in restaurants.

He says that residents need to grow in their understanding of needs vs. wants, and that the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority should counsel residents on their spending habits. Is it wrong to want an occasional goodie? Many who live in subsidized housing live meager, limited lives. Some, like the disabled tenants in my apartment complex, know it will be that way for as long as they live. If Tonkinson faced those circumstances, would he still be in favor of a no-frills existence?

If those in subsidized housing can manage to budget $19.95 a month for cable television, they shouldn't be penalized by having that amount taken away from them, as Tonkinson suggests. I imagine they manage it by doing without something else.

Does he think depriving tenants of ``extras'' will give them willpower to better themselves? A lot of us are already doing as much as we can.

Loretta Thomas of Roanoke is room director at a local day-care center.

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