Lakewood (NJ) cut down Town Square trees to deter homeless

[Nevilledog]

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southpaw
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Aug 29, 2022
@nycsouthpaw
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A New Jersey town cut down all the shade trees in its central square to dissuade unhoused people from spending time there.

app.com
Lakewood cut down Town Square trees to deter homeless
Lakewood mayor said the decision was made after a recommendation from the Police Department which was triggered by numerous complaints from residents.

southpaw
@nycsouthpaw
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The Township of Lakewood has a whole chapter of its municipal code devoted to the protection of trees and a four member Shade Tree Commission.

ecode360.com
Township of Lakewood, NJ: Protection of Trees
Ch 19 [Editor's Note: Prior ordinance history includes 1971 Code §§ 4-19.1 — 4-19.9 and Ordinance No. 2003-29] [Ord. No. 2010-95] Indiscriminate, uncontrolled and excess destruction, removal and...
3:27 PM · Aug 29, 2022

https://www.app.com/story/news/local/jackson-lakewood/lakewood/2022/08/29/lakewood-nj-town-square-trees-cut-deter-homeless/65420495007/

LAKEWOOD – The township cut down all of the shade trees that once lined Town Square in a controversial move designed to prevent homeless people from spending time there.

Mayor Ray Coles said the decision was made after a recommendation from the Police Department Quality of Life Unit, which the township said was triggered by numerous complaints from residents and township employees about homeless people defecating and urinating in the area.

“They (homeless people) were harassing people, defecating between the cars and residents were complaining,” Coles said.

Claudia Romero, who works in a tax preparation company across from the Town Square, said that one day she found human feces on the sidewalk in front of her office and then submitted a complaint to the township. The township did not say how many complaints it received.

*snip*

[Blue Owl]

1. They must have consulted Herschel Walker on this...

[33taw]

2. Hmmm, maybe build a public restroom?

[IcyPeas]

3. They need to change the name of the town now to just "Lake"

I honestly don't have a solution to the homeless problem but cutting down trees doesn't seem like the answer.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

4. Nose, you offend my face so meet my chainsaw. We need a vaccine for stupid.

[RockRaven]

5. They'd rather create a wasteland for everyone to live in than deal with why people are homeless...

Here's a news flash for Lakewood: acting upon the recommendation of the Police Dept was extremely fucking stupid. Cops don't know how to solve shit when it comes to homelessness.

Cutting down those trees won't make all of the homeless people go away, but it will make you look like assholes, and make your town square look like a particularly ugly parking lot. Good job.

[Chicago1980]

6. A step by step tutorial

On how to make a boring brutalist barren plaza even more undesirable.

[Duppers]

7. Boo...hiss.

[progressoid]

8. That'll fix the homeless problem!

[NJCher]

9. It's ocean county

Lotsa’ republicans down there. This town voted for Christie in a big way not just once, but twice.

[Croney]

10. A porta-potty painted green with a few pretty flowers would have looked nice.

[BumRushDaShow]

11. Here's a precient article to provide some background on that township

https://www.nj.com/news/2017/08/the_faces_of_lakewood_a_photo_essay.html

[no_hypocrisy]

12. +1

[SharonClark]

18. Very informative article. Thanks for posting it.

[mopinko]

13. reminds me of daley the elder.

there were a string of rapes downtown, a couple in a public parking garage, and at least 1 that happened in the bushes at grant park, the jewel of the park system.
this was the 70's, downtown chicago was a ghost town after the last commuter train left, and ppl were pissed. (jane byrne turned this around.) the only thing the old man could think to do was start ripping out the greenery. he denuded all the parks. daley the younger made it a mission to repair that damage.
glad he did, but it cost a bloody fortune.
he wasnt a popular mayor. i was not fond of him. i live on the n end of the city and for various reasons our beaches up here a basic. ritchie came up w a grand plan for a marina, among other things. dude who had decided to challenge the 3 term alderman by making a stink about it. got a referendum on the ballot. most confusing wording i ever saw. they threw in stuff about commercialization that was not in the plan, and that is a hot button here. only a slight majority opposed the plan.
i supported the plan w this statement- i dont trust ritchie, in general, but on parks, whatever he wanted was good w me.

right now some our parks are tent cities, tho. the plague resulted in the closing of the field house at a small park near me. it had always had a lot of homeless around the clock, and w/o a supervisor on duty, it's been taken over. w covid in shelters, in a couple square blocks, there's about 100 tents. no one is talking about cutting down the trees, tho.

[Srkdqltr]

14. All those religious people and not a drop of charity. WWJD?

[SledDriver]

17. Lakewood has a LARGE population of Hasidic Jews

Not so much WWJD, but can't say or do anything about it really, because then the accusations of anti-semitism fly.

God's chosen people.

[2naSalit]

19. +1

[scarletlib]

15. How utterly stupid and shortsighted.

[Samrob]

16. Hate is a motivator. nt