Last night the Manchester police department stopped by and told us to move to Walmart from where we had been parked, an empty parking lot at a defunct Lowe’s. Now Manchester, NH Mayor Ted Gatsas announced in time for his last election that there was a business moving into that building in November. So far nothing has happened that’s visible outside the building. We have had a real-estate type of person following us around the city, changing his disguise each time we see him and telling the appropriate people wherever we are that “If you don’t do something your parking lot is going to be full of homeless people soaking up your free-WiFi.” Well that’s what I heard him say the last time. The first time this stalker violently evicted us from a parking lot by pretending to be the manager of the business. Violently? Pounding with a clenched fist on our home and yelling “You guy gotta be out of this parking lot now!” is violent in my playbook. Anything more than a discreet knock on our door and a civil conversation is violent and threatening.
And what’s this “move over to WalMart stuff from the police? The Union Leader, once a powerhouse in Republicqn politics has been writing and publishing writers on the topic of Manchester’s homeless population from the point of view that the homeless are “freeloaders moving to the city to take advantage of Manchester’s generous human services.” “These homeless have no fixed address but couch surf or live in recreational vehicles and are only here to take advantage of the city.”
And now the police re telling us to move to WalMart? Is this so that the Mayor can point to a new homeless camp at Walmart and suggest to the corporation that if they want to build another store in the city maybe Walmart can do something about the homeless? I bet it won’t be a food drive.
