the mayor of Lakewood is under Fire over

a controversial decision to cut down all

of the trees once lining the Town Square

it's a move city leaders defended as a

way to deter homeless people from

Gathering there after they received

multiple complaints from residents and

town employees well Advocates contend

it's a reactive decision that doesn't

address the root issue of homelessness

Ted Goldberg reports as part of our

ongoing Series Chasing the Dream

focusing on Justice poverty and Economic

Opportunity I'm just appalled you know I

said who would do something like this

why would they do something like this

Minister Stephen Brigham is furious

about Lakewood chopping down trees to

keep homeless people away from Town

Square these stumps are the result of a

suggestion from the Township's quality

of life task force they felt that

removing the trees would make it a

little bit less comfortable for people

to basically live under them

um and harass the folks who are coming

and going from Town Square mayor Ray

Coles says the township heard numerous

other complaints about homeless people

in the area people coming out to their

cars and finding human waste on the

ground outside their car as well as

reports of people urinating on the cars

you put up how many portageons you need

to meet the need of the people that are

out here so yeah cutting down trees

isn't the answer to you know somebody

having to go to the bathroom this is how

it used to look and mayor Coles

acknowledges it's become a fixer-upper I

know that it doesn't look good right now

and the plan is not to leave it like

that

we are in the process of putting

together a revitalization plan for the

entire town square

to paint the retaining wall as well as

put in plantings that are aesthetically

pleasing as well as help us to maintain

the security down there homelessness

Advocates say the tree removal has done

more harm than good a lot of families

would come out here and sit around the

uh under the shade of the trees and

socialize with their neighbor it was a

beautiful Park you know it was it was

for everybody and yeah the homeless

really weren't bothering anybody in fact

people from the community would come and

help out the homeless I think it's kind

of embarrassing to ocean county that we

continue to treat human beings like

animals and continue to take things away

and punish people Paul Hulse leads one

of the non-profits that helps the

homeless in Ocean County he says that if

homeless people have to scatter it will

make it harder for non-profits to find

and help them when you have an area

where people can congregate it makes it

easier for us to offer the services that

we can provide gives us a safe location

instead of us trying to go out into the

woods in 10 areas

um and create more problems for us ocean

county is the only one in New Jersey

without a permanent transitional housing

shelter Advocates say that's led to tent

cities popping up including this one in

Lakewood that was shut down by a court

order eight years ago the county also

used to house the homeless in Seaside

Heights hotels but more of them are

being demolished Mike McNeil leads

another non-profit that helps the

homeless and he says the hotels weren't

a great alternative anyway we put a lot

of people in they tore up the apartments

and you know and things like that and um

that created a real hard feeling between

you know

um us and some of the landlords McNeil

says homelessness in Ocean County has

become a bigger problem and his

employees are busier than ever the real

problem is in the court with the high

rents that are going no rent control and

these people rinse we got people's rents

that are being raised over a thousand

dollars yesterday it's a pandemic right

now with the homeless oh my God yeah and

it's not you know people might think

that it's just you know

um you know blacks or Hispanics you know

like that no it's everybody in the

meantime mayor Coles says that Township

is trying to help homeless people get

housing vouchers we remain committed to

working with them and trying to get them

off the streets and into permanent

housing or to some kind of treatment

program so they could overcome whatever

addictions or problems they have right

now but Advocates tell us that the

vouchers can be difficult to sign up for

and that a permanent shelter would help

them a lot more as for the trees mayor

Cole says they had to be chopped down

since it wasn't feasible to move them in

Lakewood I'm Ted Goldberg NJ Spotlight

News Major funding for Chasing the Dream

is provided by the JPB foundation with

additional funding from the Peter G

Peterson and Joan Ganz Cooney fund

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