NY COP FORUM NOVEMBER 1999

THE HOMELESS


QUESTION:


A young woman from Texas was attacked in broad daylight on a crowded street in Manhattan. She was struck on the head with a brick and hospitalized with serious injuries.  When reporters of a TV show conducted street interviews near Grand Central Station, the commuters were asked what should be done with the "homeless", many of those interviewed were sympathetic with the homeless.  What is your opinion about the "homeless" who choose to make their home in the public places of our City? 


RESPONSES:


"I strongly believe that the homeless should be taken off the street and placed in some sort of controlled institution."

Legs01@gateway.net


"Part of the problem stems from Governor Hugh Carey closing some State hospitals and the overbearing civil liberties union who obviously doesn't care about the ordinary citizens of this city. And last, but not the least is the Federal judges who are appointed for life and now believe they can make law any way they please. Most of these judges are very misguided (I hope). However, they are more likely to be the liberal and socialist persuasion."

Celticten@aol.com


"The true homeless in any location are the men, women, and children who are displaced from their homes for catastrophic reasons, such as fire, flood, and other natural disaster or by loss of jobs. Those who choose to be drug addicts, criminals or those who should be hospitalized due to mental disease are a different story.  There are many people who are in the streets that we deinstitutionalized under the Governor Carey Administration, who cannot function in society, we also have the drug addicts and crack heads, who have brought a new generation of children into this world who are now presenting criminal problems. Let's retrain, educate and treat those who can be and place in jail the criminals and place the dangerous mentally ill in the proper treatment facilities."

Tom343@aol.com


"Prior to my retirement in 1994, I worked Homeless Intervention with the NYC Transit Police. Homeless persons need shelter, medical, and psychological assistance.  They create fear in the general public and often are violent.  Redirecting them off the street to appropriate facilities is the best policy. It is humane and reduces the perception of fear and potential for violence."

Nypdblue@uswest.net


"On your question about the homeless who make their home in the street, I believe there is a great range of problems which each of these individuals face.  Therefore, it is not possible to give a pat answer to address the problem.  But, I think the ratio of crimes to the number of homeless people should be studied. It is probably not very high.  Moreover, they are, in a sense, victims of crimes themselves. I think the city of state should provide some kind of facility where they could stay without fear of being victimized by the dysfunctional homeless.  Perhaps the churches could assist the city in some kind of program."

Vincecap@con2.com


"All during the Reagan and Bush Administrations the press, TV, and the newspapers had stories on the homeless as their lead every day. Clinton gets elected, and the homeless disappear from news. Hillary runs for the senate in NY against Rudy and homeless "problem" is the lead story again. What has Hillary done about the homeless "problem" for the last seven years as co-president?  I guess she was too busy keeping bimbos away from Bill, saving all the world's children from poverty and hunger, making sure everyone gets the quality education the Arkansas students get from the system she set up there."

gld101@webtv.net


"The "homeless" situation is not new.  As a child, I remember vagrant men when I went with my parents to the vicinity of the Bowery.  Many of these men were alcoholics.  During the tenure of Nelson Rockefeller as Governor of NY State, he virtually threw out thousands of mentally ill people into halfway houses. Many of these ended up in the streets. He closed almost all of the mental health facilities in order to balance the budget. Now, there is no place to send the mentally ill.  Until this situation is corrected more of the mentally ill will be on the street and this type of horrific act will occur again. Until the politicians get off their duff and do something to help the situation, the problem will not go away or get better."

Chardan460@aol.com




EDITORIAL RESPONSE:

The 9th Precinct in Manhattan's Lower East Side has been the location for many of the social movements of our time. Tompkins Square Park lies in the heart of the Precinct.  It isn't a very large park.  It is bounded by Avenue A and Avenue B from East 7th Street to East 10th Street. 

By August of 1988, homeless persons had moved into Tompkins Square Park in large numbers. They had gradually built numerous makeshift shanties and had formed a large community that resemble the "Hoovervilles" of the Depression Years. The sanitary conditions were atrocious. The narcotics trade also flourished in the midst of the homeless as the dealers found a convenient cover for their activities The decades of the 70s and 80s had witnessed the destruction of much of the area east of the park.  Fires had ravaged many of the old tenements between Avenue B and Avenue C.  Now, there was a new trend called "Gentrification".  The old burned out tenements were being purchased and renovated.  The high cost of living in Manhattan had created a renewed interest in the Lower East Side.  The homeless who had moved into these old ruins and created living quarters for themselves were being forced out and many had taken refuge in Tompkins Square Park. There were pitched battles between the homeless and the police who were placed in the unenviable position of evicting them from the burned out tenements. The cops of the NYPD were often portrayed as agents of the heartless landlord. Ultimately, the conditions inside Tompkins Square Park grew to be so outrageous, that the residents of the surrounding area protested to the Police Department.  Community policing concepts would seem to indicate that the Precinct Commander listen to the needs of his community representatives. The taxpayers who resided in the tenements that surrounded the park were in effect deprived of the use of the park.  The park regulations called for the park to be closed each night shortly after midnight.  The local residents demanded that the law be enforced.  In this way, the homeless would be evicted and the shanties could be dismantled.

The pressures became so intense between the two groups, that finally an effort was made to force the removal of the homeless from the park. Those efforts resulted in what was to be termed a "Police Riot" by some in the media. The TV coverage of the incidents created the impression that the police reacted violently to the homeless.  The violence on the part of the homeless was given little notice by the news media.  Initially, Mayor Koch supported his cops, but as the videotapes of the disorders were repeatedly shown on TV, the cops were increasingly criticized for their conduct. One pathetic scene showed a police officer waving his nightstick at a demonstrator who was standing on the roof of a parked vehicle. There was a witchhunt atmosphere as the horror of cops not wearing their shields on their shirts was added to the litany of charges against the NYPD. Few in the media asked the cops why they had removed their shields.  Any cop who has been involved in a violent street disorder knows how easily a shield can be ripped from a uniformed shirt.  The loss of a shield is a personal affront to a police officer.  The videotapes of the "Police Riot" were viewed and disciplinary charges were prepared against identifiable cops.  The careers of high-ranking police commanders were destroyed as a result.  With the passing of the years, this so-called "Police Riot" by the NYPD pales in comparison with incidents in other cities.   

As the battle for the Lower East Side raged, the homeless became more and more organized.  Advocates for the homeless basked in the publicity that the media showered on them.  Such advocates looked like saviors of the downtrodden as they chastised Mayor Edward Koch and his army of unfeeling cops.  The advocates found support in the courts of the City of New York.  Mayor Koch had done much to provide shelter for the homeless. He was a humane and sympathetic leader who should have received praise for his efforts to deal with the thousands of destitute that flocked to New York City during the peak years of the homeless problem.

An example of the "spirit of the times" was reported in the newspapers.  A group of nuns from another State had very charitably filled their van with the homeless and destitute of their small town and driven them over the Hudson River into Manhattan. They left their charges in the care and custody of the City of New York and returned with their empty van to their small town in the suburbs.  It wasn't long before many such towns found it expedient to encourage their local indigents to make the short trip to New York City and become the burden of the New York City taxpayer. 
 
It is interesting to note that media reporters choose to interview the dashing commuters near major transit facilities such as Grand Central Station and poll them about the homeless problem in New York City.  Many of those commuters live outside the City of New York and are not taxpayers of this City.  Nor are they required to tolerate the armies of homeless sleeping on the trains that take them away from Manhattan. Often, such commuters are found to be quite tolerant and sympathetic to the plight of the homeless?  How would the commuter from the suburbs react to the presence of derelicts sleeping in the quaint town railroad stations of suburbia? What would be the attitude of that same commuter if he or she had to fight for a seat on the train with a homeless person? When the derelicts are sleeping on Lexington Avenue or near the Port Authority Bus Terminal, is it easy for such non-residents of New York City to be more tolerant?

I would challenge the press to ask the taxpayers of New York City what their opinions are. Ask resident commuters about the fire that destroyed South Ferry.  Interview the riders of the subways who were forced to step over human feces and urine every morning and evening of their trip to work. Ask the residents of upper Manhattan who had to live with the terror of the "Wildman of 96th Street". 

Who can forget the sad spectacle of that woman who lived in the streets of Manhattan?  She would defecate into the street sewer in full view of the passing public. When the City of New York tried to force her into a shelter and to receive psychiatric evaluation, advocates of the homeless came to her rescue and fought the efforts in court. They went so far as to clean her up, take her to Harvard University where she gave a lecture. This was a sad parody of Shakespeare's Pygmalion.  After the "advocates" had made their point, the woman went back to the streets to her former state.

I think that the advocates of the homeless can expect a fight this time around.  I don't believe that the taxpayers of this City will allow our streets and parks to destroyed by politically motivated charlatans. I believe that the citizens of the City of New York aren't going to stand by and surrender to their tyranny. The tyrants who seek power on the backs of unfortunate homeless deserve to be exposed for the hypocrites that they are.   The public places of our City are provided, paid for, and maintained for use of all the citizens of New York. A park bench is not the private domain of one needy person. The streets and sidewalks are not subject to "squatters rights". When an individual stakes a claim to a piece of the public domain, that person has violated the most basic rules of any civilization.  

Note:  Those in Law Enforcement who seek more information about the conflict between the rights of individuals and the rights of the community should read: George L. Kelling and Catherine M. Coles, Fixing Broken Windows, Restoring Order and Reducing Crime in Our Communities,   (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996).

CaptainReuss@Verizon.net

Copyright © 1999 Edward D. Reuss

CLICK HERE FOR MORE FORUM QUESTIONS

 Retirees Site