A camping tent outside Tompkins Square Park on E. Seventh Street. (Photo by Everynight Charley Crespo)
In-tents situation at Tompkins Square Park
November 5, 2021
BY THE VILLAGE SUN | In shades of Tent City from 30 years ago, Tompkins Square Park and E. Seventh Street are now home to camping tents and some makeshift structures.
A tent outside Tompkins Square Park on E. Seventh Street. (Photo by Everynight Charley Crespo)
The Department of Homeless Services last week posted notices announcing that city agencies, including the Department of Sanitation, would be doing a “cleanup” of the area. But it didn’t seem to have the desired effect of getting anyone to clear out.
After the chess tables area was fenced off, homeless people moved to nearby benches in other spots of the park, draping tarps over the benches to create lean-tos. (Photo by The Village Sun)
After homeless people took over the park’s chess tables and created an encampment there, the spot was eventually fenced off. Some of them then just moved a bit farther away onto nearby benches, using tarps to create little enclosures.
A cluttered encampment of tents along E. Seventh Street. (Photo by Bonnie Rosenstock)A sign posted by the Department of Homeless Services annouced that a cleanup would start on Fri., Oct. 29, and that people encamped in the area had to take their belongings and leave. (Photo by Everynight Charley Crespo)Last Sunday evening, a light glowed inside a bench tarp lean-to inside the park near the entrance at Seventh Street and Avenue A. (Photo by The Village Sun)
Beth Sopko’s comment (supra) is spot on . . . . There but for the grace of God go I. . . . See also 1 Corinthians 15:8–10.
There are homeless people in every neighborhood of the city; the only thing that will make most people happy is if they just disappear.