So a couple of things really stand out here. First, the typical arguments are tossed out to keep folks from living on this property, including this beaut;
“There is no permanent clean water, sanitary facilities or waste disposal services, in addition to the property containing numerous contaminants injurious to the public health, safety and welfare.”
Second, this land is on a Superfund Toxic Cleanup site, which has been designated as such since....are you ready for this - 1983.
You mean to tell me there is a Superfund site sitting around for a quarter of a century, spewing its toxins wherever the wind and rain decide to take it, and we're worried about moving a few people off the grass?
Priorities.....Homeless campers ordered to leave
01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, September 1, 2009
CUMBERLAND –– The town has advised the chief of the Seaconke Wampanoag tribe to order a homeless encampment off a Superfund hazardous waste site by Wednesday or face potential court action.“The property is not suitable for human habitation,” Town Solicitor Thomas E. Hefner wrote in a letter to Wilfred W. Greene, who is known as Chief Eagle Heart of the Seaconke Wampanoags.
“There is no permanent clean water, sanitary facilities or waste disposal services, in addition to the property containing numerous contaminants injurious to the public health, safety and welfare,” as stated in a previous federal order.
The letter, dated Friday, further states “should those parties still remain after September 1, 2009 the Town will commence legal action against you personally and the [Seaconke Wampanoag Tribe] for this willful violation of the law.”
Several people who lived in the Hope City encampment under a closed Route 195 bridge in Providence for six months moved last Wednesday at Greene’s invitation to a grassy area near a toxic waste site. Representatives of the group said they expected to stay for just six days –– until Sept. 1 –– with hope of securing transitional or permanent housing.
Anne Nolan, president of Crossroads Rhode Island, said the agency will provide apartments for two of the Cumberland couples on Tuesday. The apartments are part of a new effort by Crossroads to accommodate homeless couples.
Two other Hope City residents have agreed to move into shelters or community rooms until they can find better housing, she said. “We’re hoping to have a place for everyone by the end of the week.”
Some couples at Camp Runamuck, another homeless encampment, in East Providence, could also benefit from the new Providence apartments, she said.
Greene on Monday said he does not believe the parcel on which the homeless are camping is contaminated. He referred to a 1661 deed and other records that he said supersede the nonpayment of taxes that, under state law, has allowed the town to take ownership. And he believes the tribe does not have to pay taxes on what he considers reservation land.
Town officials dispute his stance and note that tribe has not been recognized by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs and that federal court decisions have denied the tribe’s land claims.
Greene said town officials “seem to have more say on” the property, “so why don’t they just order” the homeless off the land.
The solicitor’s letter to Greene lays out several reasons why the town believes people, homeless or otherwise, cannot be on the land. The property lies in an industrial zone, and Greene, on behalf of the Seaconke Wampanoags, has allowed people there “for residential purposes which are not allowed” by zoning ordinance. An EPA map shows the land is part of the Peterson/Puritan site, an Environmental Protection Agency Superfund hazardous waste site since 1983. Letting people stay on the land is “in direct disregard” for an EPA administrative order sent to Greene in April, the solicitor’s letter to Greene says.
