SECRET SHACK: Homeless man lived for years under a bridge; Mayor Daley "concerned."

St. Louis Post-Dispatch ^ | 12/13/2004 | AP

[rwa265]

SECRET SHACK: Homeless man lived for years under a bridge Associated Press 12/13/2004

CHICAGO - For three or four years, a homeless man achieved the impossible: He found a cheap place to live on pricey Lake Shore Drive. Actually, Richard Dorsay lived under Lake Shore Drive, in a wooden shack built into the beams and girders of the drawbridge that crosses the Chicago River. On Sunday, Dorsay was evicted after another man arrested in suburban Streamwood told police about the home under the bridge.

Police arrested Dorsay at the bridge Thursday. He was taken to Streamwood, where he was released without being charged. He was, however, charged in Chicago with criminal trespass to property, a misdemeanor.

Dorsay's father came by the police station Sunday to take him to his home in Burr Ridge. "I've always hoped that he would find a place and he would seek employment," Gary Dorsay told the Sun-Times. "He is strong enough and bright enough to do something."

Mayor Richard Daley said Dorsay illustrates the homelessness problem in the city.

"They're there for a reason, for shelter," the mayor said. "And that's the concern we share."

[rwa265]

"Surely not the same Mayor Daley who illegally destroyed Chicago's Meigs Field in the middle of the night so he could turn the land into a park dedicated to himself?"

That would be he. "Da Mare"

Friendsofmeigs.org has an online petition to reopen Meigs as a park and an airport, if you're interested.

http://meigsaction.net/html/petition.htm

[mikrofon]

Dorsay coulod relocate to this "bridge" --
at least he'd have a sympathetic landlord...

[CriticalJ]

Hendersonville is pretty town as well. Excellent girls prep sports if I remember correctly. It's another shame that the bums come there. For 21k a year, they should stay in home.

[DMZFrank]

We had better all start looking for our own bridges to squat under after this tyrant and his rubber stamp "City Council" raises taxes next year. I never thought that I would agree with Dorothy "the Hat" Tillman about anything, but she was right for being one of the few to vote against it. Probably for the wrong reasons though, like there not being enough wealth redistribution for her tastes.

[Shqipo]

Mayor Daley just became aware that Homeless people are in Chicago? At least this guy was somewhat inventive, and after all, Chris Farley's motivational speaker character did just fine in similar circumstances, "Living in a van, down by the River."