Tempers flared, tears dropped and patience ran out Tuesday morning as marching orders were issued for the last residents of Tent City in Bristol, the county’s oldest and largest homeless camp.
As the day began, the work crews that had started clearing the land Monday for a planned 253,000-square-foot warehouse were about 100 feet away from the camp. Most of the camp would be leveled by the end of the work day.
“You can see the sunlight coming in,” said Jim Riley, as another nearby tree fell, exposing a section of the newly cleared woods.
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| Moving day at Tent City in Bristol Township, Pa. |
“The trees are already on my old flat,” said Jim Sandonato, who lived in Tent City for two months. “They’re cutting hard today.”
Sandonato had his belongings stuffed into two shopping carts. He planned to move to another camp, though he has bigger dreams.
“A house would be nice,” he said.
Around the mostly abandoned camp, hard decisions waited.
Do you take all the propane tanks, which can be refilled, or only the one with fuel? Take the canned food or leave it behind? Can you take all the blankets used to insulate the camping tent floors? Do you take plastic lawn chairs? What about the tables?
Phil DiNardo — better known as “Papa Bear” — wasn’t ready to make those choices, though he had packed most of his belongings in plastic tubs, cardboard boxes and garbage bags.
“This is not going to be pretty,” said Allen Johnson, who works for the Bucks County Department of Behavioral Health.
He was right.
A Bristol police officer with a K-9 arrived shortly after 10 a.m. “It’s time to go,” he told the remaining residents. “No more games.”
DiNardo, 63, protested. He barricaded himself in his tent, piling plastic tubs and bags of belongings and blankets in front of it. Then he began throwing items out of the tent and yelling obscenities.
“We need more time today,” he said. “We have no ride yet.”
But the officer said the marching orders were clear. The camp residents knew they had to leave Tuesday morning at the latest. No more excuses. The weeklong extension granted by the property owner was exhausted.
“Get your stuff and walk it to another area,” he said.
Later, the officer said there would be no trouble as long as the residents continued moving out. If they tried to delay or if he returned to find them sitting around smoking, they would be arrested.
After the confrontation with the officer, DiNardo — a two-pack a day smoker — had a bad asthma attack. Johnson coaxed him out of the tent with reassuring words, telling him to calm down. Soon, his wheezing subsided.
With the clock ticking, Johnson, Shields and Sandonato wandered deeper into the now-cleared part of the woods to retrieve abandoned shopping carts to help DiNardo move his belongings.
Everyone wondered when the promised truck and help would arrive. Would it arrive too late?
About 10:30 a.m., members of the Widows Sons, an international motorcycle association comprised of Freemasons, finally arrived with a flatbed truck. The members went right to work dismantling and moving belongings.
Everyone who had to move has found a new home. Some entered shelters or entered treatment for mental health issues or substance abuse.
Most Tent City residents, including Scott Brookshire, simply set up camp elsewhere.
Brookshire, 51, said he once lived in Warrington, worked a retail management job and ran his father’s insurance business for a while. When he lost his last job, he moved in with his mother and worked jobs where he was paid under the table. His last full-time job was in a diner 18 months ago.
Then, his mother fell ill and moved into an assisted-living center. When the lease on her apartment ran out in February, Brookshire couldn’t afford the rent. At first, he lived with friends. Then, he found his way to Tent City. Brookshire said he wants a job and has been looking for one.
“The priority is a roof over your head, then being clean. That then gives you the ability to get a job,” he said. “If I don’t get a shower for a week and I don’t have clean clothes, how am I going to get a job?”
But Brookshire could have a home later this month.
On Tuesday, a new faith-based group, The Way Home, signed a lease with a Bristol landlord, said the group’s program director James Richardson, who once was homeless, too. The new home will house five former Tent City residents, who will contribute 30 percent of their income toward rent with the group subsidizing the rest with donations and grants.
As for DiNardo, he found a new home, too. But it’s not in the woods.
A married couple who are Widows Sons members offered to rent him a room in their Bristol home, Richardson said.
Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181; email: jciavaglia@phillyBurbs.com; Twitter: @jociavaglia
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