Tent City in Lakewood to close

So let’s get this straight, all these homeless people (most of whom were previously middle class people) are going to be thrown out of this tent city and given one year in a paid apartment or other housing.  Then what?  They went to this tent city because they lost everything and had no where else to go.  There has been no recovery since the economic collapse of 2007/2008, so what makes them think these people are going to magically find jobs within a year when no jobs exist?!?  It’s crystal clear people, the criminal organization posing as the United States Govenment wants us all dead.  This is just the first of the many objectives of the New World Order.  If anyone reading this does not yet understand that, there is no hope left for such people.  

Daily Record – by Kevin Penton

LAKEWOOD – For the longtime homeless camp known as Tent City, the end may be near.

Township workers began clearing unused tents and other structures from the Cedar Bridge Avenue encampment on Wednesday, Detective Sgt. Greg Staffordsmith said.

Lakewood is setting a June 1 deadline for people at the camp who were not counted in a May 2013 census to leave, Deputy Mayor Albert Akerman said. They will not be relocated, he said.

“Everyone who does not belong there will have to leave,” Akerman said. “We’re going to tear everything down.”

Once township workers tear down structures that are either unused or are housing people who were not part of the census, they will move on to tents occupied by people on the list, Akerman said.

As part of a court agreement, Lakewood has promised to move people who were registered as living in the camp last May into a motel for up to two months and in an apartment for at least 10 months, said Akerman, who believes there are still about 20 people at Tent City who are on the list.

Given that the number of people on the list is down from a high of 122, Akerman believes the relatively small number who remain can be relocated to motels, allowing Lakewood to shut down Tent City for good some time in June.

“We’ve given everyone an opportunity,” he said. “It is time to move on.”

Minister Steve Brigham of Lakewood Outreach Ministries, which has organized Tent City into a community for more than seven years, said he is in the process of consulting with an attorney representing the group to determine the best course of action in response to Lakewood’s move to shutter the camp.

“These people are going to be kicked to the street with nothing,” said Brigham, who estimated there were about 30 people overall who slept at the camp Tuesday night. “I’m upset right now to the hilt.”

Manny Leon parked his car at Tent City only about a month ago, meaning he is one of people who Lakewood intends to kick off the township-owned property by June 1.

As an afternoon rain poured heavily Wednesday, Leon and six other men sat inside a tent furnished with a bed, upholstered wooden chairs, and a plant, watching the movie “Batman Begins” on a television.

“I can’t park my car on the street and sleep, so I thought I would be safe here,” the 62-year-old Leon said as he patted the fur of his dog, Charlie. “They just want to put us in jail.”

Bear Burgos, who enjoys cooking chicken with rice for the camp when he has the provisions, paused the Batman movie before questioning why Lakewood would push people like him out from the woods without giving him direction.

“Would they really want us on the streets rather than out here?” said Burgos, who has lived at Tent City for about five months. “If they want everyone to leave, where would we go?”

John Kirch, who is on the census list, said he has no definitive plans for where he will go after Tent City. As he held slices of pizza in each of his hands, he told others at the camp that Wednesday morning, he had spotted a crane in the woods.

“Living out here, it’s not something you can pay for, like the Ritz,” said Kirch, 64, who used to sleep on the beach before he moved to Tent City over two years ago. “But you’re outdoors. It’s nice.”