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By Colin Mixson
Brooklyn Daily
You can call it a migratory habit.
There are a few things you can count on with the coming of summer: the Kings County Fair hits Aviator, the Brooklyn Cyclones throw their first pitch of the season, and a flock of homeless men come into Sheepshead Bay to squat along a favored stretch of Ocean Parkway, in the shade of the Belt Parkway overpass.
“As soon as it gets a little bit warm, they come,” said Ocean Parkway resident Ken Vitale. “They live right under the parkway, three, four, or five of them. It smells like you’re coming into a bathroom.”
Vitale says he’s been complaining about this hobo menace for some time, referring his grumblings to 311, although the homeless seem to possess a sixth sense when it comes to avoiding the authorities.
“The cops went over there a few times last year, but didn’t see anybody,” said Vitale. But, when I lean out my terrace I always see them.”
Furthermore, the police profess impotence regarding their ability to create a lasting impact on the homeless population beneath the belt, according to Vitale.
“The cops say they can’t do anything about it,” he said. “They can refuse homeless services.”
Vitale says he has a few schemes under his sleeves to deal with the hobo infestation, however.
Since the Ocean Parkway squatters have been using the overpass as a Port A Potty, Vitale has high hopes he can get the Department of Health involved to counter the biological hazard growing below the Belt.
“I was also hoping the Department of Health would step in, because they use this place as a bathroom and it’s terrible,” he said.
Chaim Deutsch, founder of the Flatbush Shomrim and Councilman Michael Nelson’s chief of operations, has some experience dealing with homeless issues by working with officials at the Brooklyn Holocaust Memorial. He said the best way to deal with unwanted vagrants is to contact volunteers working with homeless service providers.
“There are organizations that deal with these type of issues,” he said. “They have social workers that come down and speak with them, and try to convince them to go to a shelter.”
Until then, however, the bridge over Ocean Parkway will continue to look more and more like a junk yard, according to Vitale.
“You see beer and whisky bottles there all the time,” he said. “Sometimes a shopping cart! They’ll stand on the side of the highway and beg for change, just so they can get more to drink.”
Reach reporter Colin Mixson at cmixson@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-4514.