Living in Tents, and by the Rules, Under a Bridge

Are_grits_groceries

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Fri Jul-31-09 07:53 AM
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Living in Tents, and by the Rules, Under a Bridge

Edited on Fri Jul-31-09 07:55 AM by Are_grits_groceries

Timothy Webb, 49, left, and Bruce, 59, live in a tent city, dubbed Camp Runamuck, in Providence, R.I., under an overpass stretch of Route 195 that is scheduled for demolition.

The chief emerges from his tent to face the leaden morning light. It had been a rare, rough night in his homeless Brigadoon: a boozy brawl, the wielding of a knife taped to a stick. But the community handled it, he says with pride, his day�s first cigar already aglow.

By community he means 80 or so people living in tents on a spit of state land beside the dusky Providence River: Camp Runamuck, no certain address, downtown Providence.

Because the two men in the fight had violated the community�s written compact, they were escorted off the camp, away from the protection of an abandoned overpass. One was told we�ll discuss this in the morning; the other was voted off the island, his knife tossed into the river, his tent taken down.
<snip>
The community also established a five-member leadership council and a compact that read in part: �No one person shall be greater than the will of the whole.�

It is now late afternoon in late July, a month after nearly everyone signed that compact. The community remains intact, though the very ground they walk on says nothing is forever. Here and there are the exposed foundations of fish shacks that lined the river long ago.

Some state officials recently stopped by to say, nicely but firmly, that everyone would soon have to leave. The overpass poses the threat of falling concrete, and is scheduled for demolition. The officials have shared the same message with a smaller encampment across the river.
<snip>
Here at the end, nearest the road, are the tents of young single people and substance abusers; this way, rescue vehicles won�t disrupt the entire compound.

Here in the center are a cluster of couples, including two competing for the nicest property, with homey touches like planted flowers. Here too are the food table, the coolers, the piles of donated clothes � what can�t be used will be taken by camp residents to the Salvation Army � and the large tent of the chief. Plastic pink flamingos stand guard.

Farther on, the recycled-can area (the money is used for ice and propane); the area for garbage bags that will be discreetly dropped in nearby Dumpsters at night; and, behind a blue tarp hung from the overpass, a plastic toilet. The chief says the shared task of removing the bags of waste tends to test the compact.

Finally, near some rocks where men go to urinate, live a gay couple and some people who drink hard. Timothy Webb, 49, who says he used to own a salon in Cranston called Class Act, cuts people�s hair here. Then, at night, he and his partner, Norman Trank, 45, sit at a riverside table, a battery-operated candle giving light, the moving waters suggesting mystery.

More photos: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/07/30/us/0731LAND_index.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/us/31land.html?hp

Shame on this country!

Congress should have to sleep here in August. I wish people would take every Congressperson to meet people who are in trouble since they apparently don't know any.

This is what drives me wild about the fundies and other people who claim to know God. They wouldn't recognize God if they were bitten on the butt. They are too busy worrying about where Obama is born or whatever. I could go on and on.

EFFING HYPOCRITES!