Posted on 08/27/2009 5:35:32 AM PDT by NMEwithin
CUMBERLAND — After living under a rusty bridge for a half-year, the homeless at Hope City Wednesday moved to a new spot: a grassy swath near railroad tracks and a toxic waste dump.
“We have enough water for six days,” said Roland Colpitts, 37, head of the homeless group.
By then, the group hopes to find transitional or permanent housing, he said.
Colpitts, treasurer Barbara Ferrara and other Hope City residents began setting up camp around 2 p.m., erecting a screened sitting area and two-room tent next to a wall of cement railroad ties.
They spent about a half-hour unloading jugs of water, food, plastic chairs, a stove and tents from a trailer driven by Pat Anthony, a Warwick home improvement contractor who was moved by the group’s plight. “It sounded like they needed help,” he said.
The homeless had until noon to move from their old site — a strip of state land under a closed Route 195 bridge in Providence — or face arrest for trespassing. Some had been camping there since late January.
The group on Monday asked a Superior Court judge to give them an extra two weeks to leave their camp beneath the bridge. The group is working with the state Office of Housing and Community Development and Crossroads Rhode Island to find housing....
(Excerpt) Read more at projo.com ...
The thing that stands out for me is they named the place "Hope City"
Yes people...this is "Hope and Change" in action...LOL
It sounds like a reasonable place. There’s very little difference between being homeless and camping sometimes. I’ll be “homeless” on Friday night.
what, no extra room in the dorms at Brown?
Why not just give them all scholarships
One thing “the homeless” could hope for is that states across the country reopen their public mental hospitals, which prior to 1980 is where 95 percent of “the homeless” very properly found a place to live.
Treasurer??!! So this would mean that this group has some sort of cash flow and/or monetary resources, wouldn't it? At the very least, govt. grants perhaps. Weird. I've never seen "homeless" folk that have a treasurer. But then again, I don't get out much...
We are going to see a lot of homeless folks before this depression is over.Some will be the same lazy misfits that have always been homeless, but many will be caused by the bad economy. A lot of people who have been laid off are still getting various company benefits,or umemployment. When all of that goes away there are going to be many losing thier homes. I can see this situation getting much worse.
They had better watch relocating tent cities. Elkton Maryland did that and the ACLU sued on behalf of the tent folks. Elkton had to cough up thousands for each person affected. The ACLU took a percentage of the money per person. Nice gang of lawyers. We still see the blue tarp shelters along route 40.
YUP Just seal their histories and send them to Harvard. Maybe some will turn out better than previous mysterious graduates.
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