SRQ Daily Columnist Susan Nilon is the president of Florida Talk Radio and owner of WSRQ Radio. She hosts The Nilon Report on WSRQ Sarasota 1220AM/106.9FM weekdays 4pm-6pm. Email her at susan@sarasotatalkradio.com.

It was just two weeks ago that Donald Gould was just another person, homeless on the streets of Sarasota.  Then someone recorded him playing piano and the video went viral.  And like the reality show junkies that we are, we watched with amazement the national TV attention that garnered him a makeover, a job, an offer to finish his education that he started a long time ago, an outpouring of money from around the country, and a 15-year reunion with a son that he lost when the child was three. Don’t we wish we can cure all of our homeless problems like this?

For me, I watched this attention with sorrow, not joy.  I wondered about all of the other talents that lie within our homeless population.  And I wondered how Mr. Gould would be able to handle his new-found fame.  For you see, Mr. Gould has been in town for a while.  It was not the first time that he played the piano on Main Street.  His talent existed every other time someone passed him on the street without looking down at him when he was sitting on the sidewalk.  Or ignored his plea for money or food.  Because of his crusty image of a person who has been living on the streets for a long time, little thought was given to who he was or what he could offer until someone put it online. 

I hate to label Mr. Gould as “homeless.”  When someone has been out on the streets as long as Mr. Gould was, homelessness is just a symptom of greater problems.  I would bet that in all his years of addictions and inflictions, people have offered to help Mr. Gould.  And for many reasons, I’m sure it failed because the help offered was only a Band-Aid–not enough to make an impact on his life for the better.

The City of Sarasota has shown some initiative in starting to recognize they just can’t keep removing park benches and picnic tables, and did so by hiring a director of Special Initiatives on Chronic Homeless. I was one of the people who questioned the hiring process and large salary attached to the position.  I still find it hard to swallow when city government is filled with long-time employees who will never crack that threshold of a six-figure income. The same ones who see their departments shrink, their workload increase and their paperclips counted. But that is a management problem, not a homeless problem and we would be better served to recognize the difference. 

We have actually made great strides in the city and in the county with the homeless. There is a lot to boast about, yet we are still caught up in what to do about the people like Mr. Gould.   Maybe we can stop using descriptions like “chronically homeless” or “vagrants” as buzzwords to indicate someone “who can’t be helped” or does not “deserve” to be helped.  We can even put aside our political anger and letting our fear of losing control keep us from letting the people who actually can help, do their job. 

This past Monday, the City Commission opted to allow the director of Special Initiatives on Chronic Homeless to continue in his position.  We need to allow time to give birth to progress without our interference with petty arguing and cynicism.  And maybe with someone focused on the big picture every day, people like Mr. Gould will be seen less often on the streets and quite possibly sitting on a park bench with his son in downtown Sarasota.

SRQ Daily Columnist Susan Nilon is the president of Florida Talk Radio and owner of WSRQ Radio. She hosts The Nilon Report on WSRQ Sarasota 1220AM/106.9FM weekdays 4pm-6pm. Email her at susan@sarasotatalkradio.com.