Steve
Steve, 52, has lived in the downtown East Village area since he was born. Growing up near 28th and Imperial Ave.s, he now lives under the Commercial Avenue bridge, where he has been living on and off for five years, and at the moment is the self-professed head honcho. He tries to keep it clean under there, he says, but it’s not always easy because of those that shoot heroin and smoke crystal meth.
“Those are the people that are up all night, going through the trash like it’s a treasure hunt,” he said, “and in the morning time it’s a total mess. All of us look bad around that trash because we’re a part of the homeless community.”
He has a strong work ethic and a clear sense of purpose, spending his days trying to make a living. “I’m only homeless from 9 o’clock at night till 5 in the next morning. The rest of the day I’m out hustling for work. I detail cars, I’ve worked as a cashier.”
Steve said that since he’s homeless the police treat him differently. “I speak just like the rest of the people,” Steve said. “I just don’t have the rent money they want for these places that’s so high, for a one bedroom it’s $1,000 you know when a person’s only getting a minimum wage, there’s no way in the world a person’s gonna be able to pay that much!”
As for living in a shelter he concurs with many other homeless in the downtown area, that they’ve tried the shelters, but feel there are too many rules, and not enough privacy to warrant going back to them. He can find his own place, he said, if he can get a substantial job. He’s worked as a tow truck driver, as a cashier and doing body work on cars.
“If someone gives me a chance to get up on the ladder, I can do the rest,” he said.
He is incensed that the city is threatening to take away everyone’s carts and ticket them for having one. “Then where are people supposed to put their belongings?” he asked. He said the city just crushes the carts with everyone’s personal things in them, so it feels like a form of harassment, that it’s only being done to make life more miserable for the people on the street.
“This small community of homeless people actually just need a chance like anybody else…”
All these people they just want a decent job and a place to live. They’re just on hard times.