A local homeless man was found barely conscious last week by members of the Union City Police Department and the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) who had fanned out on the Union City hillside to urge the residents to seek cover in local shelters.
The near record-setting storm of last week caused the Union City mayor to make a pre-emptive move in protecting the homeless people.
The patient, according to Union City Detective Jose Martinez, was taken to St. Mary’s Hospital in Hoboken. A representative from the Emergency Department had no recollection of him Tuesday, only stating that “we released a ‘John Doe’ at about 6 p.m.” A “John Doe” is the name used for someone who lacks identification.
According to Mayor Brian Stack, “We went down before it snowed. The police department and the Office of Emergency Management went down and we found a guy who was in rough condition.” The mayor continued, “Anytime there’s a storm coming, we try to get the homeless people off the hill.”
The plight of the residents of “The Hill” in Union City, difficult in any circumstances, becomes even more harrowing when two feet of snow are thrown into the mix. The man was found under the 14th Street Viaduct leading from Hoboken up the Palisades to Union City.
It has become common practice for the city to conduct these “sweeps” prior to storms. The safety of the homeless residents, according to the mayor, is his only concern. Recently, there has been some question on the part of the homeless residents as to the mayor’s motives because he launched a recent effort to encourage them to move from the hill. Many homeless people whom The Reporter spoke to don’t exactly trust the mayor. “He just wants to clear this area out for development,” said a resident who declined to be identified.
But Stack has said that this winter’s cold temperatures had spurred him to act. So far, the makeshift homes built by people in the area have not been removed, but some have been padlocked.
Regardless of the mayor’s future plans for the hill, it was lucky that the police department and the OEM came through when they did. Back in November, one homeless resident killed another in an undisclosed dispute.
According to Detective Jose Martinez of the Union City Police Department, “We went down with people from the homeless shelter (the Palisades Emergency Residence Corporation-PERC). We found a gentleman just under the viaduct. I wouldn’t say he was ‘unconscious’, but he was in pretty bad shape. We were able to wake him up but he appeared to be in shock. He wasn’t very responsive.” Martinez continued, “If we hadn’t found him when we did, he would have died. We don’t know who he is or where he’s from. He was in bad shape. Thank God we found him.”
The lack of a homeless census or a true knowledge of the identities of the residents of the hill makes situations like this even more complicated. Most of the residents lack the most basic official documentation.
Tom Harrigan and the PERC shelter, a homeless shelter in Union City, make it a priority to get their residents documented. However, most of the people who reside on the hill use the PERC shelter only for food.
Martinez went on to add that while most of the hill residents opted to use the shelter during the storm, “there are a hardcore few that stayed on the hill.”
According to PERC director Tom Harrigan, “Mayor Stack contacted me and asked to go along with the detectives down to the hill and try to get the people there to move into the shelter. Lourdes [Rebollo, PERC Director of Outreach Services] and I went down with a few detectives, who were very good, I must say, at about 4 p.m. I was on the south side of the viaduct with a detective, and we looked back and saw the [emergency] lights. The detective said ‘let’s go’.”
Harrigan explained that Lourdes Rebollo told him that she came upon the man almost immediately and kicked him in the foot in an attempt to rouse him. Rebollo stated that the man was unresponsive and that all he could move were his fingers.
Said Harrigan, “It was a twist of fate that we were there when we were and we found him when we did. If it had been much longer, he would have died.”
Harrigan had nice things to say about Mayor Stack’s involvement. “This is all Brian’s thing,” said Harrigan. “I have to tell the truth; he was really concerned for them.”