Meeting about Evicting tent City Resident due To Health Concerns for Area Residents

just so that you understand what's happening um currently we're in a lawsuit and like every lawsuit a there a PL Defender defendant uh the pl FP is the township of Lakewood and the defendants are the residents of f City Lakewood uh probably what was it July of 2010 uh moved to have uh 10 City closed down and to have 10 City uh you could say evicted rejected and the judge did not grant us that permission our motion was denied and he told us that we needed to go as the step s La the discovery um they the people from Pen City have um some some strong backing behind them the American sub Union they have a pretty powerful Law Firm that's representing them as well I believe it's proo get and uh uh the judge did not allow for all the discovery uh to uh I'm sorry after all the discovery the judge would not allow us to proceed with that eviction for that ejection and he asked us and he asked us to um do certain things and to try to enter into mediation with them so that that's really where we're standing however uh as many people in this room have told me privately which is why I wanted to sort of gather all this information together uh I'm sure that the judge did not mean and I can't speak for the judge but I'm sure that if there's a problem with the health and safety of the community uh then that's something that needs to be addressed I'd like to begin with the following statement which I think accurately reflects everyone's opinion in this room we greatly appreciate the Outreach and good that is being done in ten City we sympathize with people who are genuinely homeless and agree that they have rights and needs just like we do however for everyone's best interest and safety the residents of 10 City must be relocated to a real shelter where they can regain their human dignity and receive the genuine help that they need and deserve our purpose in gathering here tonight is to bring to the Lakewood Township's attention the increasingly negative impact that the 10 city is having on our neighborhood and our community about 3 years ago in 2010 the 10 city was home to about 30 individuals today as we're about to end the 2013 there's close to 100 people living on the site this is causing numerous problems for people like us who live in the neighborhood the open fires that are lit each night spread smoke and S over the neighborhood and quite frankly are a terrible fire hazard putting our lives and homes in danger in addition the smell of the smoke is very strong almost unbearable making it uncomfortable to be outside as well as inside as the smoke penetrates our homes leaving a lingering unpleasant smell another major concern we have regarding the smoke in the soot is the health of our children the elderly and the infirm the smoke makes it difficult to breathe and is damaging to our lungs and to the heart I happen to know of one particular family whose child requires a ventilator pumping constant o to survive they have been forced to make numerous trips to local hospital due to the toxic fumes that are emanating from Penn City in regards to the local traffic the smoke is so thick at times it limits visibility on cedarbridge Avenue the Department of Environmental Protection has received many complaints from residents in the area concerning the smoke unfortunately we have yet to receive a response to our complaints our neighbor is also subject to homeless individuals who are coming and going to and from ten City there's lots of trespassing public urination tossing empty bottles and other refu onto private property as well as the open use of alcohol and illegal substances hardly the types of things you would want your children or yourself to witness we understand that the township as Mr Li has mentioned has appeared in court with regard to evicting the 10 City occupants and have come to a temporary agreement my understanding of the agreement is as follows the Lakewood Township has agreed to eliminate the need for the homeless Camp by identifying a temporary location perhaps within Ocean County where homeless individuals will be provided with a safe and adequate emergency [Music] shelter our position is if the township does not take full action now regardless of all cost and difficulty involved it will most likely be much more costly and even more difficult to take action at a later date as part of the agreement the 10 City Representatives agreed to contain the homeless encampment by one not encouraging or bringing new homeless individuals to the premises not advertising the camp not building any additional structures or complete any structures that were under construction at the time and finally not improving the facilities at the premises for expand purposes such as using power generating facilities waste disposal facilities or water Delivery Systems unfortunately these four agreements have been breached repeatedly there are constant fires burning that create a huge fired Hazard at times my home smells like a fireplace if my wife were to leave her laundry in the dryer overnight by mourning the clothes are unusable due to its stench of smoke my daughter who was diagnosed with a case of asthma suffers constantly from the poor air quality it's like Liv it's like living in secondhand smoke my wife is afraid to go out go outside by herself she is traumatized by instances of public urination my children don't want to play outside because they're constantly scared and intimidated from the homeless people and their dogs my son is scared to walk off the school bus alone this is not the Lakewood I should be living in I feel that my quality of life as a taxpaying resident of Lakewood has been severely diminished I recognize and appreciate the steps the township has taken thus far but I feel that the situation is spiring out of out of control for the past uh four years it started with a little fire you know nobody really bothered you know small tent doesn't bother anybody but it became every night I come home it's a cloud you walk into the building the Cedar Bridge the elevator stinks everything and everybody's afraid to say anything why homeless it's not fair they're homeless they don't want to be taken care of obviously they even stay on the YouTube video that they're drug addicts they're alcoholics they're thieves and they don't want they don't want to uh participate in any uh program I don't think we should suffer because they don't want to obey the law or obey any programs that the government offers them thank you he became the biggest drug dealer in the neighborhood everyone else in the neighborhood everyone everyone in the neighbor knows about it besides the cops we call the cops to come every time and what I'm trying to get to is that he Services the whole t t um 10 City all the all the I see all the homeless guys walking up to his house getting the drugs taking get and walking back back to it but that it's not only that in their neighborhood they live closer to Elm closer to Cedar Bridge we live all the way by Pine Street and they're all the way coming out all way to there and it's really affecting and sorry and there the Public Works guy came by to give me a ticket cuz I have furniture sitting there outside there so I told him why don't you go down the block to tenness City to give them a ticket for all the garbage I have sitting in the front he said that's different take care thank you for the opportunity sharing my thoughts and feelings we're all interdependent and connected to each other I do not live in the immediate area um I as an individual and we as a community Embrace integration this is how most of us and all of us got over here um I have one grandfather who is a dentist in the in the Navy I have an immediate family member who is the United States Marine corpse we fight for the country this is how we get here I would like to present this from a different perspective not just to protect us as a group I would like to discuss this as to protect them and people living over there we care I care we all care as some of us mentioned is um people that live in such settings sooner or later do get involved in some type of crime first it's the parents needing to support the children they need to have children needing to support the parents that comes through all kinds of forms of illegal drugs and things we don't want to mention over here so although immigr is important and beautiful and this is what made this country beautiful country we need to have a goal and to protect us to protect them they need to be clear settings as to what is okay and what isn't okay the crime anybody who wants to think in five years and 10 years who over here is willing to take responsibility to say it's not my not my responsibility it's growing it's growing out of control and all of us deserve to have a beautiful life um just a little about myself I remember being in one of the hotels over here now going back l was I did some research when I did a masters we had the gills The Rockefellers it was a beautiful town when ear travel came inexpensive some of these um hotels became boarding homes for all types of population and we commend you for taking care of that became a nicer place now we have other people that are moving in we deserve to have a better town and I look forward to seeing that in the near future thank you and I get very often public urination trespasses as a matter of fact my wife sits on the front lawn and many times these homeless individuals walk by knocking into her ignoring her and as if she doesn't exist um I just want to point out that all these people that you're talking about as if they're like not people and you're scared of them saying hello to your children they were regular normal people just like you and I and they fell on really hard times if anyone would take the time to actually talk to them see who they are some of them were doctors some of them were lawyers they had horrific stories each one has a more horrible story than the next okay and the fact that you talk about them is if like you used them when they were your employees and then you said okay goodbye it's been nice knowing you that's not the way we deal with people these are human beings and we have to deal with them that being said the whole problem that was created was created because there's a vacuum in L the vacuum is because we have a police force that doesn't really care about quality of life issues they ignore quality of life they ignore when there you could have a dance party middle of your block and you call the police and they'll say look we can't do anything that's just the way it's been it's always been that way they've never really done anything to help um serious serious issues that go on for example I had a homeless person walk into my store drop his pants in the middle of my store there was nobody to call we called the police they said they sorry we can't help you did you engage him in conversation as to his tough background uh not while his pants were down yes I [Applause] what what I'm saying is that I'm just trying to connect your first statement which insinuated that we view them as less no some people said some people said statements that were just a little bit insensitive s me that's all I'm saying I didn't say it was you maybe they could be moved into T City I I didn't say it was you okay what I'm saying is that unfortunately 10 city became sort of the place where we pushed all these problems under the rug these are not our problems 95% of those people are not even Lakewood people they came from a lot of them are and a lot of them are people that have been hanging around Lakewood for years maybe 5% none listen I lived on Lexington and Sixth Street okay and I had a building next door to me that had people living in the hallways we called the police for years we called the police and they never did anything the people lived in the hallways they had dance parties on the street nothing ever got done and they would always just blame the slumlords they would say it's a landlord's fault it's a landlord's fault it's a landlord's fault needs to be there needs to be uh there needs to be a concerted effort by the police it's not just the as far as the as far as the homeless Camp is concerned we have to focus on the homeless Camp getting rid of the homeless camp and finding an alternative place for them to live now especially because of Hurricane Sandy there are tons of resources to find them a place to live there's there's there's so many resources that the township committee should be focusing on to be able to find them a place to live that's that's that's respectful that can give them a sense of purpose and a sense of life but that being said we have tons of people walking the streets wandering the streets they end up at the homeless Camp that's the problem that is the problem the homeless Camp became the place for them to go and and until the police actually Focus walk up and down the streets deal with the deal with the problems I had one woman come to complain to me that there was a man who I can't say it in public did something very unmentionable and a police officer told her look what do you want from me he's just going to be back on the street again tomorrow anyway don't bother pressing charges I called I personally stood there I called the police on Second Street there was a man cursing families cursing people walking up and down the street just sitting there the police officer came came and told me well if you want you can go file a complaint I went I filed a complaint nothing ever came of it no one ever discussed it there's a there's a basic basic you know we don't we don't want to know we don't want to see when it comes to the police dealing with quality of life issues dealing with the homeless dealing with people who are living on the streets dealing with people who are are hurting the quality of life of and once that gets addressed and once we can address the the homeless encampment and find a place for those people to live I think the entire Lake will be a better place to live I just like to wrap up anyone else want to speak I just like to hi good evening thank you everyone for listening to us I I'm new in this um town I only live here about a year a little more than a year I don't know each and one of you titles but I do know RAB short period of time that I've lived here I've gotten to know a little bit personal so I can tell all of you from personal experience that if if someone has a real passion for this community if someone really wants to help us we're in good hands with him he's going to do everything that we can and I hope only thing I would like to add is that uh we are talking about how we are disadvantage just like you said and I just want to refer to what this gentleman just said the people who are in real danger of losing their lives are the people actually living there so if we care about them we should not let them live there because there it's not a question of when there's going to be big fire and hundreds of people are going to die it's a question of when and this town could be held accountable for allowing it and then there potentially millions of dollars of losses that will end up going on the backs of the residents it's it's just their own safety it's not like it's just disadvantage us that there could be a massive fire there hundreds of people that hour night thank you very much we understand that this problem of tenens city is a problem that can't be dealt with overnight and the reason we got to this situation is because of that there's no one to blame for what happens here I have guns and my family's protected I don't feel threatened by walking by my front door every point is that there's a limit to what public officials could do and what a Township could do to solve a problem and that's the reason for this meeting tonight uh for that matter I think that the offices town are just as concerned as we residents are with quality of life issues I think it should be noted on the record that this is not a bash the police department meeting this is a meeting of concerned citizens who if you listen carefully everyone has a nuanced way of expressing themselves including my nextdoor neighbor however uh however however at the end of the day this is one issue one issue only quality of life issues and our concern for the sanctity of human life the people in City are human beings we don't view them as martians or aliens from another country or Another World okay we understand that many of them are probably victims of the tough Economic Times that this country has been undergoing and currently faces it's not a secret that the last few years have been very difficult having said all that at the same time we firmly believe that our Township has a responsibility to deal with the issue in a kind compassionate man humane way thank you [Applause] thank you for coming and let me I know it's it's a little warm in here so I I'll talk quickly um the there's the purpose of this meeting was really to gather information from you and I imagine that just about everybody in this room uh gauging by the Applause uh was supporting Mo what most of the speakers um said to us tonight um I will tell you and I'm going to ask my attorney to stop me as soon as I'm I across the line into discussing litigation that I'm not allowed to it has been our position that ten City should be closed that is what we wrote in the court papers I mean that's public knowledge it has been our position to move everybody in 10 City to Safe housing as a matter of fact we have worked with the county we've had social workers and other case workers go down and as probably as little as a year and a half ago there have been a there has been a home or a place offered to every single person that lives there we arranged it with the county we offered them a place to go they did not want to go then the town spent some taxpayer dollars and hired a company to get in and infiltrate we'll call it into the fabric of 10 City uh and that was through steps I believe with through that organization and they were successful in actually convincing people to leave however there have been forces uh in in t City uh who are convincing people to come who are getting articles written in magazines and on websites inviting people to come to the very best 10 city in the United States of America we have a problem with that we have a problem with the fact that our firemen our police officers and our EMTs are in danger when they go into a situation where sometimes they can't get a firet truck to excuse me or where it's in very dark in middle of the night you can't see where you're going it's it's a very halfhazard situation and our First Responders are at risk we don't have a choice our First Responders need to go in there they don't want a fire to start and aside God forbid from the people in Tent City getting hurt the neighbors getting hurt and we of course just as important to us is the concerns that you all brought up here tonight we are going to investigate what you said I'm going to ask our Police Department to do a thorough look with our Inspection Department department and I'm going to ask Deputy Mayor akman I'm sure he'll agree with me on this uh to investigate if in fact the city 10 city has grown which I don't think it's going to take a rocket scientist to figure that out we are going to very seriously take a look at your concerns by patrolling the neighborhood either with our Police Department our inspection department and once we have that information that is something that we will be able to use as we continue along this uh discussion uh with 10 City so I want I know that you all took time to come out here tonight I want you to know that what you did tonight to protect your families and your neighborhood is important what you did tonight by the numbers of 70 probably people fit into a room that I think the Marshall allowed 44 in um is is is important to us it's important for us to hear with the passion that you speak of it's important us to hear about asmatics that are having a hard time with smoke it's important for us to hear about urination on your front lawns it's important for us to hear about the fact that at night when you're in an elevator you feel like you're stifled because of the smoke it's now you know this isn't about you this is about the residents in ten City we've seen people die in fires we've seen people get hit by cars and we've had sometimes had a rather difficult time accessing in case of an in case of an emergency because of the situation there so thank you for coming out your words that you spoke tonight are not going to go unnoticed we are going to do something with it uh we appreciate you coming out here tonight and please for those of you that spoke our attorney may get in touch with you at a later date to understand more of your concerns and to get some more details we ask that if in the investigation of this uh matter that you brought even more clearly to our attention he contacts you please cooperate and speak to him or his office so that we have the information we need to make sure that all of the citizens of lakeood are protected thank you very much for coming in we we we offered them County funded facilities in different places in Ocean County and in other counties a lot within Ocean County they did not want to go it is now what the attorney said before is that is exactly part of what the discussions are in front of the judge exactly your question is exactly part of what's being discussed you offer a place to go well if I live in Lakewood and you offer me a place in brick is that considered that you offered me something if I want to stay in Lakewood but I'm not from Lakewood and I came what you're what you're all discussing is exactly what's being discuss buring a fire that's hurting a person once two three times after I'm locked up it's as simple as that there's no there's no if and or buz so I understand as far as the um legalities of illegal you know of housing Etc is very complicated but in the short term very very simple somebody is making a fire next door to me both in secular law we know in religious law it's Universal Global accepted all over your next door to me you have the right to do whatever you want as long as I infringe on my Liberties they are infringing as simple as that how are they allowed to keep doing that the you want to yeah I I I think what we're here tonight is to get the information from all of you as to those events that have infringed and we are taking all that information down and are going to process it and do what we think but I'm saying in a very very short ter very very short term you cannot drive you cannot leave without choking we're not going to process it hopefully we're not going to process it at the typical government okay no I'm saying it's illegal not com to arrest just on the fire as a problem not living there you know it's illegal what you don't want to hear what you don't want to hear and it's not fair to tell this dud but I I'll say it and then understand that we're going to back it okay is the blame game it's his fault it's their fault it's their fault it's their fault we don't enforce fires fire marshal Fire Marshal is a function of the county okay so that very easy for me to say okay sorry go call the county we're not saying we make a join meeting why didn't you invite the fire I've called them rumorous times they no but if we have a join meeting with both sides this way it' be harder ivly to pass the B and I think that may be one of the things that will be looking at the property be sold to a private individual who can then evict people from their own that's a legal question I'm not going to answer that words does a private individual have different rights than the township um I does but again you're asking me a legal question as to whether or not uh if the town would have settled to a private party would a private party be more successful in being able to evict them definitely I know that private parties and public parties have different rights and different obligations investigation open against the people that organize it for eating in a beding all that criminal activity forget about the people that are there if there's people organizing that is there a criminal investigation ongoing or open other words if we went in there tomorrow as group of citizens and evicted them personally when we get arrested we get arrested taking down their that's where it's coming from thank you