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Huntington Station Tent City. Photo from LIFNB website.
Background story and more photos: here.
Long Island Food Not Bombs (LIFNB) led a call-in campaign today – Tuesday, January 19th – to stop further evictions and destruction at the Huntington Station Tent City. Since business hours are over, please consider e-mailing tonight and/or calling tomorrow morning. In addition, they are suggesting calls to Suffolk County Legislator Jon Cooper for Wednesday, January 20th.
The LIFNB message:
…we are asking everyone to contact (call, email, fax, etc…) the Town of Huntington. Tell them to stop any further eviction activities until the Township of Huntington has an adequate Shelter System.
We still encourage everyone to continue making phone calls, emails, etc… after this date but we hope that you will make an extra effort tomorrow. The idea is to get as many people as possible to call at one time; that way we can’t be dismissed.
Please aim to call/email all the numbers, multiple times if possible. If the lines are busy it’s a good thing, it means our message is getting across; but with that said keep trying. If you end up getting the same person on the phone more than once you can simply reiterate your message and ask for any updates.
To be clear the Township of Huntington (200,000+) has no shelter system. We hope that you join us in asking that the town creates a 24/7 year round shelter system.
Town of Huntington board member phone numbers:
Town Supervisor, Frank P. Petrone: (631) 351-3030
Councilman, Mark Cuthbertson: (631) 351-3172
Councilwoman, Susan A. Berland: (631) 351-3173
Councilwoman, Glenda A. Jackson: (631) 351-3174
Councilman, Mark Mayoka: (631)-351-3172
Town of Huntington board member e-mails:
fpetrone@town.huntington.ny.us, mcuthbertson@town.huntington.ny.us, sberland@town.huntington.ny.us, gjackson@town.huntington.ny.us, mmayoka@town.huntington.ny.us, jraia@town.huntington.ny.us
Suffolk County Legislator for the area e-mail:
jon.cooper@co.suffolk.ny.us
Police e-mails:
SCPD.2NDPRECINCT@suffolkcountyny.gov, SCPDINFO@suffolkcountyny.gov
Template Email letter/Suggestions on What to Say When Calling:
Stop the Huntington Station Tent City evictions!
As a concerned voter I was extremely disturbed to hear about the eviction of Huntington Station Tent City and the violent and wanton destruction suffered by its residents. As a compassionate and rational person I believe that everyone has a right to survival and that acting on such a right should not be against the law.
With that in mind, I ask that the Township of Huntington and the Suffolk County Police department delay any further actions against the residents of the Huntington Station Tent City until an adequate 24/7 year round shelter system is created within the town. The seasonal housing provide by HIHI, while well meaning, is not a solution and completely inadequate to handle the hundreds of homeless within our township. If this simple humanitarian action can not be met then I insist that any further actions against tent city residents be postponed to prevent these men from freezing to death – any shelter is better than none!
It is my hope that both the Township of Huntington and the Suffolk County Police Department can act as responsible, caring and intelligent arbiters in this situation, supporting both a temporary and permanent solution. I also suggest that community organizations, such as Long Island Food Not Bombs, be consulted in this process. Food Not Bombs has experience with these issues in Huntington Station and embodies the voices of many whom will feel the affects of your actions. I thank you for your time and hope for your immediate action to rectify this situation.
Regards,
YOUR NAME HERE
For Wednesday, January 20th:
We hope everyone continues the phone calls/emails to the Township of Huntington, but on Wednesday we ask that people also start making calls to Suffolk Legislator Jon Cooper.
Legislator, Jon Cooper: (631) 854-4500
Future Updates:
As developments arise, we’ll be posting updates on our website. Stay tuned for actions we’ll be taking later in the week. If you were forward this email, feel free to add yourself to our mailing list at www.lifnb.com/newsletter
Filed under: News Tagged: | Frank Petrone, Glenda A. Jackson, Glenda Jackson, homeless, homeless shelter, huntington, Huntington Station, Jon Cooper, LIFNB, Mark Cuthbertson, Mark Mayoka, shelter, Suffolk County, Suffolk County Police, Susan A. Berland, Susan Berland, tent city, Town of Huntington
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