The homeless man from the Morristown Library.

In my post Being a Junior, I discuss two "washed-up hookers" to whom I would bring doughnuts and coffee daily when I briefly stayed with my Father at an apartment on 79th and 2nd Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. New York had a homeless crisis with mass numbers of unsheltered people and the city was at the early stages of gaining any control over the crisis, one which they were forced into addressing after the settling of a lawsuit Callahan v. Carey in 1981. In that consent decree, the City and State agreed to provide shelter and board to all homeless men who met the need standard for welfare or who were homeless “by reason of physical, mental, or social dysfunction.” Thus the decree established a right to shelter for all homeless men in New York City, and also detailed the minimum standards which the City and State must maintain in shelters, including basic health and safety standards. In addition, Coalition for the Homeless was appointed monitor of shelters for homeless adults. I remember lots of debates of ways to have religious and other charitable organizations run and provide many, if not most, services receiving guidance (as in regulations) from the State and/or City, and in turn funding. Since then, there hare been multiple lawsuits and it remains a "hot topic" politically. While there is undoubtedly room to still improve services and the ways they are offered to their homeless population, they have notable results. New York has a larger homeless population than Los Angeles, but they provide shelter to 85% or more of those in need, whereas of now Los Angeles is efficiently providing shelter to roughly only 20% of it's Angelenos in need.

You could not arrive in Manhattan, whether at Port Authority Bus Terminal or at either Penn or Grand Central Station, without an overwhelming homeless population present. I most often tried to avoid those bathrooms for anything, let alone any need to sit on a toilet, as they were usually full of homeless individuals bathing, changing, washing clothes and, of course, simply using the facilities for which they are first and foremost intended. I definitely didn't at the Port Authority as it sits in my memory as being particularly "nasty." It also wasn't always safe and crime was rampant at the time.

For me though, the homeless population started right at home out in affluent Morris County, New Jersey. While it was only what I recall to be not much more than a dozen or so people, there was a homeless population that was most often present at the Morristown NJ Transit train station.

Morristown Train Station

When not there, at least some often found temporary shelter inside the Dunkin Donuts across from the station. I love Dunkin Donuts today. As a teenager, I only went into the one in Morristown a couple times when I had to for change or something (they were also I think one of the only places open 24 hours a day), and otherwise associated them as "trashy" becomes the homeless were at just that one location. I have evolved dramatically over the years. My evolution provides me a keen ability to talk to others who may live in their bubbles, have their very sculpted viewpoints.

In high school, I recall issues brewing increasingly about the homeless. The general consensus I recall from residents was from apathy to outrage that such "bums" had made their way to our town, even if people like Richard (see below) were actually from it. They were looked upon, at best, a nuisance, and by many as criminals from thieves to pedophiles.

Joint Free Public Library Morristown & Morris Township

The Morristown Library (officially the "Joint Free Public Library of  Morristown & Morris Township) became the debate. I remember colleagues at school telling me "horror" stories of visiting the library and how it had become scary and dangerous with the homeless there every day. In an effort to tackle the problem, the library instituted rules about hygiene and behavior as means in which most any excuse could be used to expel the homeless from the library. This Christian Science Monitor article suggests they happened as one set of rules in 1989 (which is after I had left for university), but I seem to remember there being an evolution of the policy.

One of these frequent homeless individuals was a man by the name of Richard Kreimer. Born in Morristown to one of the town's most prominent Jewish families, I doubt any would have seen his destiny while he grew up. But then again, yearbooks don't vote for "most likely to be homeless" and people almost exclusively fall into homelessness, not choose it as a destiny. His parents died in 1968 and 1973 and while he was able to remain in the family home until 1980, fighting with other family members led to his losing the residence and life spiraled downward from there. He did inherit money, which portions were released to him at certain ages, at least the last after he was homeless. He became a bit of a celebrity with coverage from Wash Post: Morristown's Man on the Street to  LA Times: Getting Even:Homeless in his hometown. Kreimer sued the Town of Morristown, its Chief of Police and the library. He later went on to sue a number of other municipalities, NJ Transit and other establishments. Suffice to say, this rubs many the wrong way. While understandable, his litigious efforts, which he has referred to as a "career," which can rub just about any of us as a bad choice of words at best, have led to changes in policy and hopefully some views on the homeless, which are by far not monolithic in any way. Others, obviously have little interest in understanding.

Smelly Homeless Guy from the '90s, author Michael Symons in his opinion suggests "First of all, how a person can be homeless in 1981 and still be homeless by 2019 is remarkable. I don't think that says something about society and capitalism as much as it says something about that person themselves." This is at best, naive. $230,000 in case awards, especially in 1991, is substantial. But it also easy to see how one could go through such money, especially, as the author indicated, over "medical issues" which I would argue is a "societal problem" more than an individual's problem. Why wasn't he insured? Why did he have to go broke paying for medical procedures? What social service agencies approached him to help him with his medical care, housing, and to provide guidance on transitioning out of homelessness?

The NY Post, known for its objective, non-bias journalism (that is completely sarcastic at best), wrote an article in 2010 entitled Sweet Stench of $uccess in which it proclaimed that the several million taxpayers of New Jersey referred to Kreimer as "the millionaire bum." I'd place a bet on the minority that even know of him and that a percentage, perhaps significant in a progressive state, don't use terms like "bum" in reference to him. The thought that an unnamed attorney is referenced saying that his acts are "legalized extortion" makes me chuckle and stare at the same time. Who the hell's fault is that? - lawyers that influence or otherwise the legislators'?


1991 Lawsuit. Morristown et al v Kreimer
 
3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. Morristown, etal v Kreimer
 
NYC investment in permanent housing - NPR
 
https://www.questia.com/magazine/1G1-8351583/a-long-distance-call-from-a-homeless-man