Homeless, Evicted from Rotting Prospect Park Trees, Are Now Even More Homeless Than Before

Tearing out Rotting Trees Used by the Homeless in Prospect ParkSo guess what – all that publicity embarrassed Prospect Park into cutting down those rotting, hollow trees that homeless people were using to store their stuff and take shelter. And to be honest…  now it feels a little bit awful to see this happening without any clear indication of what’s going to happen to those people.

Anne-Katrin Titze–a freelance crusader for Prospect Park who pushed hard to get rid of the rotting trees–says matter-of-factly to the Brooklyn Eagle: “If the Alliance/Parks allow people to live in the park, then they should feed them, provide toilets, garbage collection and potable water.”

Really–are we going to be that hardcore? Why can’t the homeless just temporarily abide in the park, despite the lack of modern amenities? Was it really such a big deal for a small group of unfortunates to pee in the pond, and store their junk in the rotting tree trunks–is that really “destroying a delicate ecosystem“? It seems like the compassionate option here would have been to leave the shelter intact, while advocates discuss with Prospect Park what they “should” be doing to get these people to an appropriate shelter.

Summary: Tearing out rotting trees is a hollow victory (Sorry… just got a brief flash of inspiration from Punderdome).

JUNK IN THE TRUNKS: Vagrants Living in Prospect Park “Tree Houses”

Rotten Tree House, Prospect Park

Anne-Katrin Titze writes in:

The wildlife habitat of Prospect Park is treated as if it were an abandoned lot –

Prospect Park Lake is used as a garbage dump by the Alliance/Parks and the lakeside as a sewer.
Everything left uncollected ends up in the lake, polluting further the already filthy, debris littered watercourse.

Alliance/Parks waits for rain, wind, snow, and the overflow of the lake to wash away garbage and human waste from the lakeside, into the lake.

Anne-Katrin told the Brooklyn Papers that these “tree people” have been using a dozen or more trunks and branches (on the east side of the lake, near the Tennis Center) for more than a month. They are shielding themselves and their things with sticks, cardboard, and plastic. She claims they’re leaving “junk in the trunks” and dirtying up the lake by using it for washing and cooking.

 

Read more about Tree houses: Vagrants take residence in Prospect Park trees (Brooklyn Papers)