The Libertarian Solution To End Homelessness

[Jim Johnson]

The coveted New Jersey Ambassadorship.

[Russell Kanning]

exactly
He can speak with the BLONDE about his salary.
Watch out for the terrorists bombers.

[Alex Libman]

This thread is about Tent Cities, tiny homes, government regulations hurting the poor, homesteading government land, agorism, and other voluntaryist ways to help the poor.

Statists always say, "what about the poor"?  They think it's the Achilles' Heel of liberty / free market capitalism.  Tent City is living proof that government does a lot more harm than good by artificially raising the cost of living, chasing away jobs, creating resentment, and discouraging voluntary charity!  It is the voluntaryist alternative to the coercive, corrupt, inefficient, immoral, tyranny-empowering racket of the Welfare State!

So, here I am, in the biggest Obamaville in North Eastern USA; managing their online presence as well as making my own stand; trying to strike at the very root of the problem; not paying taxes (since 2004!), not taking anything from the government, doing my laundry in a bucket, and doing my best to keep the bulldozers away...

And all I get from most Free Staters is discouragement!

[Alex Libman]

One person affiliated with the freedom community causes you online angst and this dictates your real life actions?

A person of insurmountable power within the Free State Project did something horrendously immoral and irrational; an act utterly contrary to principles of empiricism, honest debate, and the pursuit of Truth; spitefully destroying years of my writings and making the remaining writings corrupted and incomplete.  What's worse, no one but me has the intellect or the courage to understand this, and to express indignation at that holocaust.  It was utter invalidation of all hopes I ever had for FSP and the "freedom movement".  It was my eviction from the human race.

You will stand your ground until the all the parasitic lawyers on both sides have milked the issue for all its worth, then you will be forcibly removed.

I didn't give consent to any lawyer to speak on my behalf.  I will be forcefully removed, and I will come back, or start a new Tent City somewhere else...

Look, I don't really know what I'm doing.  My life ended 3 years ago.  I went mad and coasted in apathy until I wound up in Tent City.  I'm just looking for a place to bury myself.

[Russell Kanning]

hey you sound better than you did three years ago ...... maybe it is doing something in the real world that gives you a sense of meaning

[Alex Libman]

I detect sarcasm, because I'm not really better than I was 3 years ago.

But, if I'm wrong (and I hope that I am), then...  Thank You.   

[Alex Libman]

From Asbury Park Press -- Film about Lakewood's Tent City seized as evidence in charges against camp founder --

A documentary film about the township's homeless encampment, titled "Destiny's Bridge", has been subpoenaed as evidence in a case against the camp's founder Steven Brigham, who is charged with vandalism and witness tampering.

The film, directed by Jack Ballo, chronicles a year at the encampment, known as Tent City. The documentary features several camp residents and their interaction, and it focuses partially on an arrest made of Brigham, a minister who is also a camp resident.

Juan Patrana, a detective for the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office, served the subpoena on Ballo in a "special investigation" into charges against Brigham who was indicted in March on charges of witness tampering, according to Al DellaFave, spokesman for the county prosecutors.

"Please provide the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office with the movie / video documentary created by Ultravision Films named Destiny's Bridge", the subpoena states.

Brigham is due at the Ocean County courthouse in Toms River on Tuesday for a status conference. Investigators for the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office have received the film.

Tuesday will make the 10th time that Brigham has been summoned to court on this offense. He was charged after he did what he thought was the right thing to protect his fellow homeless campers, he said Monday.

Brigham, 53, was arrested in June 2012 at the encampment off Cedar Bridge Avenue at South Clover Street on charges of witness tampering and vandalism related to the eviction of two people from the camp.

About 80 people are living at Tent City, which is on township property. There is a continuing legal battle between Lakewood's governing body and the campers to remove them from the site and get them appropriate housing. Campers maintain they have a right to remain there, if no other option is available.

Meanwhile, Brigham enforces rules in the camp, insisting residents not be disruptive or conduct illegal activity there. If they do, they must leave Tent City. When he could not get two residents to comply, he cut the fabric of their tent.

"I cut up the tent I gave her", Brigham said of Deborah J. Martiniello.  "It is the only way."

Martiniello, 51, said she bears no hard feelings and now lives in an apartment in Brick since the incident.

"I refuse to testify against him" if asked, she said.

Another man, who Brigham said was a heroin addict and stealing in the camp, also refused to leave Tent City. So Brigham had a small crew cut down his tent.

Police said they charged Brigham with vandalism, contending he used intimidation to remove the man from the camp.

County prosecutors previewed the film to compare notes from what was said in the film to the reports given to investigators.

The film has already had two viewings in Monmouth County. [Its] Ocean County debut is scheduled for 7 pm, Nov 7 at AMC Loews Seacourt, 10 Theater, 635 Bay Ave, Toms River, NJ. For more information, call 732-387-8230 or visit DestinysBridge.com.

This is a perfect example of government harassment!

They don't have a legitimate case against him, so they make things up.  The slanderers exaggerate all bad things about Tent City, but when we try to evict some of "the bad apples" for aggression and/or theft, they press charges!  The court keeps wasting time, summoning him now TEN TIMES in an endless dance that goes nowhere - only provides the thugs job security at taxvictim expense, and wastes the resources of Minister Steve's pro-bono legal defenders...

They are trying to wear us down.  The good guys have things to do and bills to pay.  The bad guys are paid by the money they steal ("tax") from us all.

And of course this is a case of "tragedy of the commons".  Public land is a really screwed up concept.  They should recognize our Homesteaders' Rights and transfer the land to an NGO to care for the homeless - this would be good for the homeless, the neighbors, and the taxpayers too!


EDIT, POST-COURT UPDATE: Minister Steve has been scheduled to appear for the same thing again, now for the 11th time...  The dance continues...

They are clogging up the courts, delaying legitimate cases, violating the "right to a speedy trial", and wasting time and money of productive people...

[Alex Libman]

The shit has hit the fan! 



Follow our Facebook Page for latest!

A multitude of police cars have just descended on Tent City! The police, some armed with assault rifles, are asking for STEPS ID cards. People who don't have them (ex. people who didn't register on time, or refuse to accept Welfare) are being evicted from their homes and/or arrested.

Your tax dollars at work - harassing the poor!

Police have just returned to Tent City in search of any lit wood-burning stoves. Without a warning, with projected lows of 41 degrees tonight, wood-burning stoves, which are the only source of heat for most of us, are now banned at Tent City!

Please help spread the word!  Google+, Pinterest, Twitter

[Tom Sawyer]

Be safe Alex.

[Russell Kanning]

they are only there to help you

[Alex Libman]

I haven't been arrested yet, but things are getting bad.  Pigs are here all the time looking for people to evict, and I'm on the "non-compliance" list for refusing to accept taxvictim money.  Bulldozers are also here, demolishing the homes of people they've made homeless again...

For those that are "legally" allowed to remain while they wait for government housing (a promise made back in the spring), things are bad also, because all of a sudden, on October 20th, just as temperatures started approaching freezing, the Township announced that anyone caught using a wood-burning stove or a fire to keep warm will be fined and/or arrested!

Your tax dollars at work - forcing homeless people to freeze!


Some latest posts from Facebook:

Last night I've attended a meeting with local community leaders, and Lakewood Township, NJ mayor Albert Akerman and committeeman Meir Lichtenstein were also present.  (Lichtenstein is the Putin of Lakewood, and Akerman is the Medvedev.)

Akerman let it slip that the cost of shutting down Tent City will be "astronomical". Yup, he said that word. "ASTRONOMICAL!"

The tax-payers should be outraged!


Tent City is getting bulldozed because homeless people living efficiently and getting by on voluntary charity isn't what local politicians want to see. They want to put half the homeless in motel rooms for $1500/month (if their friends own the motels, plus much bureaucratic overhead that they feed off), and leave the other half shivering on the streets so they could point at them and say "we need more taxes"!

Mayor Akerman also said that Tent City residents will be given two weeks to switch to propane (not that we have the money to do this), but it turned out to be another lie, as the police were back threatening people for using a stove a couple of days later...

The government promised housing to 122 residents who were on the May 1st census. That was 6 months ago, and they haven't placed anybody yet. With all the overhead this would cost the taxpayers at least $3 million. But this isn't a complete or permanent solution. More people are becoming homeless every day and need a place like Tent City of Lakewood, NJ to help them.

There's an ever-rotating population of 12,000 to 20,000+ homeless people in New Jersey. The government can't house anybody. Taxes are already through the roof, which chases away businesses and increases unemployment. We can't tax-and-spend our way out of this problem!

Tent Cities, if they're responsibly managed and located out of everyone else's way, are the answer. Voluntary charity is far more efficient and humane than the Welfare State, and it doesn't destroy the incentive for people to pull their weight. The only thing we need from the government is to let us use "public land". Aren't we a part of the public?

Thank you very much, everyone, for your support!

The most important thing one can do to help Tent City, which doesn't cost a cent, is to help spread the word. Please invite all your friends to LIKE the "Tent City of Lakewood, NJ" Facebook page. Please LIKE and SHARE posts on that page to get them to "go viral".

If you have a blog, please write about us. E-mail your friends a link to our Facebook Page and Web-site, especially if they have popular blogs or other "media pull" for getting as many people as possible informed. Mention us on Twitter, Google+, and other social networks, message boards, chat-rooms, etc. If you're comfortable calling in to local talk radio, please give us a mention. Etc, etc, etc. The more people we inform, the better able we will be to put pressure on local politicians to back down.

We are also desperately in need of cash donations due to increased need for propane heaters and propane - as many people were counting on their wood-burning stoves which they are no longer allowed to use... Even a small donation would be greatly appreciated - http://TentCityNJ.org/Donate

For information on dropping off donations - http://TentCityNJ.org/Local_Donations

Direct link to donate via PayPal - http://TentCityNJ.org/PayPal

Follow our Facebook Page for latest!

Please help spread the word and get people onto our Facebook page - http://FB.com/TentCityNJ - help it GO VIRAL!

Civil Disobedience cannot work if nobody is watching.  Tyranny cannot work if everybody is paying attention!


We also have a new chat-room on IRC - #TentCityNJ on FreeNode (server: chat.freenode.net).  "Tent City - New Jersey homeless chat, advocacy, support".  IRC chat-rooms always start slow...  Just stay there even if there's nothing going on yet.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emQFXcK0js8

(more videos)

[Alex Libman]

I've recent sent an e-mail to a lawyer I found via http://www.nlg.org/referral-directory - my first attempt at this. The message was as follows:

I am a resident of Tent City of Lakewood, NJ (http://TentCityNJ.org/). Tent City is a shantytown of 100+ low-income otherwise-homeless individuals living in tents and other low-cost structures situated on township-owned land.

I've arrived at Tent City on March 1st of this year. On April 18th, Lakewood Township, NJ has passed an ordinance that essentially outlawed homelessness on "public land". A deal has been reached between the township and the majority of Tent City residents (represented by Jeffrey Wild of Lowenstein Sandler LLP) that they will get "one year of free housing" in compensation as Tent City is bulldozed to the ground and shut down.

I declined to be a part of this deal, because accepting taxpayer money is contrary to my principles. I believe that I'm pulling my weight here at Tent City, and I do not consider being poor to be a crime. I believe that homeless people have a Right to homestead on "public land", where they are not in anyone's way. My arguments are philosophical and economic rather than legal, and I am very much ignorant of judicial matters. I believe that those anti-homelessness laws may be contrary to the NJ State or US Constitution; and I most certainly consider them to be contrary to governmental fiscal responsibility, the Rights of the homeless, and the cause of Human Dignity. I am willing to openly confront these laws and be arrested in what I consider to be morally justified Civil Disobedience.

I got your e-mail address via the National Lawyers Guild, where you are listed as having an interest in constitutional law, ethics, and social justice. I have no money to pay for legal services. I am wondering if you would have an interest in my situation, or would be able to refer me to another lawyer who could offer me some advice on how anti-homelessness laws can be challenged in court.

(Hyperlinks added for this posting.)

I would appreciate some advice on how to find more lawyers to contact, and whether this kind of an introduction text is ideal...

[Silent_Bob]

I would appreciate some advice on how to find more lawyers to contact, and whether this kind of an introduction text is ideal...

Cover yourself with honey, coating liberally, roll around in a pile of $100 bills, stand in a conspicuous location, they'll find you...

[Jim Johnson]

I would appreciate some advice on how to find more lawyers to contact, and whether this kind of an introduction text is ideal...

Cover yourself with honey, coating liberally, roll around in a pile of $100 bills, stand in a conspicuous location, they'll find you...

$1,000 bills if you want a good lawyer... and by good lawyer, I mean schyster piece of shit.

[Russell Kanning]

I wouldn't recommend a lawyer either.