"when i first came down into the tunnel, it was looking dangerous man, real dangerous 'cause even in the daytime it was dark and, like, i was scared" "i'm saying, somewhere down the line it can't be as bad as it is on top because on the streets, you had kids fucking with you you had police fucking with you i mean, anybody can walk by you" "while you're sleeping on a bench and bust you in the head at least down in the tunnel, you don't worry bout that" "but nobody in their right mind gonna come down here so you don't have to worry about ... (?" ") coming down here messing with you but they're not (?" ")" "they got me too scared to come in here (?" ")" "but to me, once you get passed your fear, the first or second night... after that man, you adjust" "you'd be surprised what the human mind and the human body can adjust to" " tommy ?" " what ?" "damn i'm tired" "i'm tired, yo give out" "i could sleep for about... 2 or 3 hours more" "i don't feel like getting up" "shit it's fucking late i gotta take a fucking piss good morning people" "do me a favour man..." " bring you back an empty bottle ?" " no, take it out for me (?" ")" "yeah, sure" "it's fucking cold, man ... (?" ") feels cold ... (?" ") like yesterday i'm getting up i'm ready ready to hit the street" "when i first came down ... (?" ")" "scared that... not scared, just looking at this god damn place and shit" "yeah at that time, i remember i came down here just to get out ... (?" ")" "i looked around, i started noticing, started building this shit and that shit just became a little project at first i took it as ... (?" ") two weeks and then this fucker became, like, home after i started building thought, you know, stuff that i could use clothes, tvs, lamps... got power !" "that cap... (?" ") went right away went right up my god damn mind and shit you know what i'm sayin and look at me, i been down here for fuckin 5 years, going on 6 who knows it's been that long ?" "you don't, been that fuckin long i just forgot completely about the damn time" "i can see the place looks a little cleaner yeah, but you know what ?" "it's that fucking dog, man ever since i got that dog fucking place been fucked up" "i was just being sarcastic... i can see the dog chews everything up and shit yeah man it's hard to keep a place clean with a dog" "especially down here, he drags everything in" " was it clean before ?" " yeah it was always..." " used to be real nice and clean..." " yeah it was !" "in fact he used to make us take off our shoes !" "almost everytime i came in, he had a different rug on every couple of days, he'd put down another rug place looked real nice" "and he was always working on the house like what ?" "fixing the door, always the door if not the inside door, the outside door working on the roof making a trap door to get out and escape, or come in putting a window in, then he'd take it out" "you know, all kinds of stuff he even had a ladder in here" " the ladder used to be in this corner - yeah i know i took it out it used to go straight up to the roof then he was putting a balcony up there, and then he changed his mind" "he's the only one i'd ever see working on his house everybody else, like, they just..." " they got some nice houses..." " i mean yeah i seen them they did their house, but then they never did anything else to it whenever i used to come down here, i'd always see him working on his house i thought i had the nicest house down here... but i don't" "well, this don't look nice now you know but i don't have the nicest house you know who's got the nicest house down here ?" "tommy... but he's been here a long time no, tommy hasn't been down here... maybe a year longer than i have" "you know like a lot of my friends... (?" ")" "fellows come down here (?" ")" "in fact my boy came down last night to visit me brought one of his boys from school he'd never been down here, kid shit on himself when he came in and saw the ... (?" ")" "well, hey, that ain't no help to you... (?" ")" "but you feel good about it i guess ... (?" ")" "outside it ain't outside as he think make you feel a little better you ain't a tramp as he thought you was when he walking down the track yes, exactly that always makes you feel better i don't consider myself homeless cause a homeless man ain't got a home" "you don't consider yourself homeless you ain't ready to cope with this then... if you don't consider you're homeless" "i mean i do, it's like in the back of my mind way back in your mind (?" ") if you don't consider you're homeless you know that ?" "you gotta look ... (?" ") in the back of your mind what was the purpose of me building this place right ?" "it's not to be helpless, that don't say you ain't homeless" " it just stopped you being helpless - oh yeah ?" "if you consider you're not homeless once you get down here you'll be ... (?" ") those bricks all your life shit, i got real comfortable down here in this fucking dump and shit man let's face it man i mean like, down here i don't have to pay no bills, no nothing" "look at me, i'm shaving with..." "i'm using power red line (?" ")" "don't even have to pay the motherfucking bills and shit i mean that's part of comfortability and shit you know what i'm sayin ?" "turn the tv on, leave the tv on all night don't have to worrry about paying ... (?" ")" "that's fucked up but that's one of the reason i got so confortable" "in winter time i don't freeze... summer time i don't burn up !" "only thing we ain't got down here is running water and we did have that down here, believe it or not, at one time we had running water of course i got fucking comfortable, man i got too god damn comfortable" "that's why i'm really pissed off at myself, man cause i lost 5-6 years of my motherfucking life being down this motherfucker" "i'm gonna go out, make me some money man i got to get paid" "gotta make that allmighty dollar so what's happening ?" "i got to do my normal, man, i got to go out try to find me something to sell first i got to find out what i got here from last night i got these off ... (?" ") on 75th street cds... you know what i'm saying ?" "i can sell these to my man on east 2nd street these some good cds plus i got a couple of books" "hey i'm gonna get paid brother you know how us homeless guys do it we got to make a dollar" "this is my motherfucking van here that's right, that's my van that's right, that's a bad motherfucker to a whole new ride !" "this is my motherfucking station wagon if you notice, they're the biggest ones and they ... (?" ") motherfucking kids ... (?" ") fucking wagon you understand what i'm saying ?" "and the reason why i'm saying this because each one of them fucking carts contains something and what's that something ?" "money !" "that's why they say more money, mo' money, mo' money... and more motherfucking money !" "you know what i'm saying ?" "free enterprises what people throw away other people can use" "when they can use it, i get paid for it because i found it and half of the time, it'd be in perfect working condition" "it'd be just like new but down here, man, you'd be surprised the stuff that i've been founding and i've been selling, and getting top dollar for" "like vcrs, color televisions little portable televisions like this" "you know what i'm sayin... i found that heaters like this, you know what i'm sayin now i don't sell everything, stuff that i can use, i keep" "but stuff that i can't use, i sell everything you got, that you paid for, i can... 9 times out of 10, i will go out there and find it and it be in perfect working condition" "and i'll sell it that's the name of the game, hustler i'm a hustler bro i get paid" "i'm putting this sign... no crack cause they've been knocking on my house, sometimes... and they wanna borrow a stim(?" ")" "and i don't smoke crack no more so you know... crack fucked me up crack got me down here well crack helped me get down here" "and then, now i stopped and it took me a fucking long time to realise that that shit wasn't, you know... that wasn't it, that wasn't me" "so i don't want them in my house because if i see it around me everytime and i let people smoke in my house then i'm gonna get the urge" "it's bad enough that sometimes... i stopped crack already for a long time, for more than 3 years now" "and sometimes i wake up with the urge and i haven't done it for more 3 years and sometimes i still wake up with the urge to smoke it... but i fight it and then i'm gonna have these people knocking on my house" "talking about if i got a stim(?" ")" "or if they could go inside and smoke that shit is gonna fuck me all up again" "so i said, well let me go ahead and put a sign so that way these arseholes can read it" "and don't knock i do like you do sometimes heat it up a little bit" "... (?" ") not used to wasting it you know just heat it up a little bit" "good good" "this is one of the things i... keep to keep myself a little safer than what i'm supposed to be down here but i usually set up this trap with these pans and everything over here" "simply... put a pan like that put a little pencil underneath it" "so that... it'll roll if somebody dodgy comes by" "put it like that, ...(?" ")" "come over here, and tie it to the other side underneath so that way you know, even if they got a flash light they can't really see in the dark down here, they can't really see" "and you tie it to over here, not very tight, but... whatever movement you give it from up there" "so like... when you walk by it, you know" "when you trip the wire you can see that at night time, you know but people that don't really know what's going on and they're just looking around, looking to find something, or steal something or whatever" "when you walk by it, you trip the trap, make all that noise" "damn, y'all still here ?" "y'all must wanna hang out with me or something if y'all think i can't keep up, come on because i'm gonna get paid about right now" "i'm ready to go out and make me some money" "i bet you i come back with 10 dollars i'm gonna get paid and there's no doubt about it" "80% of the population down here are crackheads and that might be an understatement might be a little more than that it's really bad you know because they smoke this shit and they get so hooked up on it" "they just lose sight of reality they don't take care of themselves half of them don't wash their arse and they always all so bullshit and they always think that somebody is out to get them and stuff like that" "it's really fucked up you know i've seen guys..." "sell coats right of their back in the middle of winter when its 20 degrees outside just to support a drug habit see how people can let something... something do that to them take control of your life like that" "myself i can't go out like that it was the new year i was sitting in the room with my little step daughter i was sitting in the room and shit and then they called me over to the room" "and they told me :" "you wanna get high ?" "you know, you want some crack... i said no, you know, i tried that shit that shit doesn't do nothing to me so... they say well try this" "so what they did was to put rez they cook it up, and they put rez and then they put crack on top of the rez" "i didn't know anything about that shit and when i smoked that shit that shit fucking rocked my fuckin legs man" "and my shit is like..." "you know... i like to OD i like to almost OD on drugs i like to go to the highest man, i loved it, i loved it" "and i kept smoking, kept smoking but i never got to get back to that... that first high, yeah ?" "that first high, i never got it and i wasted so much money" "i made a mess of myself you see what mess i'm into now you know what i'm sayin ?" "because i wanted that high" "you know, my wife kicked me out she had my fuckin clothes packed bro swear to god man she had my fuckin clothes packed when i left man because she told me, it's either the drugs or me" "and i kept sayin her but i kept fuckin going back to the drugs one day when i went home my clothes were all packed man" "today is a fucked up day and shit man but this dumpster is empty there ain't shit in here this shit used to be stacked up to the top with garbage you'd be walking around on the edge of this shit" "no more garbage i'd spent about 45 minutes trying to go through all of this bullshit in here there ain't shit in here today nothing nothing but garbage" "what did you say about this spot ?" "this spot here, there's always a lot of plastics nothing ... really good ... cans (?" ")" "there's always been a lot of plastic and stuff i used to get like... i used to get like 3 or 4 dollars worth of cans out of here but i used to get like two bags, maybe two and a half bags," "like this, of plastics" "what is the best thing you sell ?" "the best thing i sell ?" "it's hard to say... what sells the best ?" "nasty movies !" "nasty faggot movies them dicks be slanging and shit them faggots be gathering around they'd be mugging you for that shit man i mean... basically the whole faggot books and the faggot movies sell quicker than... girly books and girly movies" "i know me and my partner had like... forty-some faggot books up there and shit ... we sold all of them before we sold any other book" "watch them faggots ... (?" ") see them dicks hanging out ... (?" ") backing up man i had a motherfucking crowd, yeah !" "that's what sells anything in porno, mainly sissy" "right now see i'm too early, or too late, ain't nothing out here, not yet anyway but it'll get better, it's definitely gonna pick up by the end of the day, how much do you have ?" "usually on fridays, if i work all day about 70$, 60 or 70 bucks" "i have enough to play around a little bit stinking rich... i call it being cracking rich for the day because i got enough money to go out there to basically do what i want to do for a day or two" "it gets me through the week end i take saturdays and sundays off just to chill, you know... i've always done that... i ran away from home when i was 16" "got tired of putting up with my parents bullshit so i just said fuck then i left" "my father was a dope fiend, an alcoholic my mother she didn't give a fuck she'd let my father beat on her, beat on me and my sisters she wouldn't say anything she wouldn't do anything" "i haven't spoken to them in 10 years and i don't care too couldn't give a damn ... (?" ") now they had 16 years to love me and treat me like a son and much less treat me like a human being and they couldn't do it then, and they couldn't do it now so i couldn't give a damn about them" "they gave me life, that's enough that's all i thank them for" "alright there goes the egg" " what are you making ?" " corn bread country corn bread here goes the mayo" "here goes all the water how did you learn how to make that ?" "when you're from the country you learn how raise it, grind it, and cook it !" "pull it... shell it... let it grind... if it don't go right then, then there ain't no right in it" "get down, motherfucker get down, get the hell down" "fuck !" "motherfucker bites man and all he does is go for the fucking hands" "alright get down stay there thats all he does is go for the hands he don't bullshit bro" "kick some ass this butter... (?" ") makes it taste better ... make it without it (?" ")" "sweet... (?" ") makes it more kinda... crumby butter... (?" ") makes it go together better and ...(?" ") sauce better taste too being homeless you can like... consider grow down here because if you're homeless on the street some have just what they got in their arms their little pack on their back" "if they get caught in the rain they ain't got shit just as simple as that" "so if you're homeless, this is the best spot" "you got a door with a lock on it you got a frigidaire or you can come in, suggest what you want to eat you've got somewhere to cook it you can go by (?" ") (buy?" ")" "damn i think these ... (?" ")" "... top off a little brown (?" ")" "... (?" ") too much brown ... (?" ") with their top on you got a TV on top if you see a TV, you peep in the store and wonder (?" ")" "that's like... you like growing down here compared to being homeless anyway" "these are my doggies this is ladybug, the mummy i've had her for about 4 years and these are her little kids this is her little boy this is junior" "the other two are little girls, this is princess she has a bad leg, she once fell off the roof which is the reason why i built the pen to keep them up here so they are safer plus so that they don't wander all over the place" "this is the other little girl this is fanny, she looks just like her mum" "they're about..." "puppies are about a year and... about 14 months older" "this is my pet, my first one" "yeah... roger tammy brought this one to me you know ?" "and he's real cool he's a lazy cat but a pretty one" "he eats rats yeah, no... he does... but he really doesn't... but rusty does !" "mr rusty over here eats martians !" "oh my god (?" "), it's a mouse... rusty does eat rats he doesn't eat them, he just plays with them" "and does a little damage so they don't come into my territory he's kinda like a trooper... a little protector... true protector !" "that's my little rusty" "go outside" "fucking dog, man" "he plays..." "he plays too fucking rough look at that now we can play some darts" "he bit me man ... (?" ")" "yeah, on the r.. (?" "), i know... but who told me to get a dog you know ?" "who did tell you to get a dog ?" "who told me to get a dog ?" "the mother fucker who stole my tv and shit that's the motherfucker that made me get a dog... then we got the most famous gerbil" "mrs peaches !" "she had 12 kids man peaches had 12 kids she was alright man mrs peaches was alright what did you do with the kids ?" "four of them died and... she ate the rest of them man" "i couldn't believe it man then we came to found out that they do eat their young" "how the fuck are they so many of them then ?" "they all fuck !" "this is my precious flying babes man wanna talk about an airplane ?" "this is mrs bleecks man when she flew around she used to fucking... the papers, and the clothes, and everything went flying the rats, every... everybody went flying when mrs bleachs got out of her cage" "i should've never kept her in a cage and for me keeping her in a cage, she got killed" "but mrs bleecks was the best man not the best, but close to it as roger was... don't start your shit" "hey, come here." "what did i tell you about that ?" "didn't i tell you about your bullshit ?" "get the fuck over there, you can wait get over there, you can wait till they eat" "arsehole... come here bugs !" "go eat come here fanny... i had some problems with a fellow" "and he threatened to burn my house down and i didn't believe it" "but to think that somebody would actually burn down my hut... and hoping that i was in it" "she got burnt out man what the fuck can i say ?" "she got burn out she did somebody wrong and they set her arse on fire which i do feel bad, and its not funny, because that can happen to anybody that can happen to anybody but that's one of the things you have to go through living in the street" "you're on your own down here, man you're on your own you can't go round (?" ") to the police the police are going to tell you to get the fuck out of here they'll listen but don't listen (?" ")" "what party is gonna come all the way down here in this motherfucking tumble(?" ")" "just to investigate a goddamn fire you're ain't no more a fucking taxpayer i feel sorry for dee though man because like, she had a little building down there but she'll get it again, just like she got... i don't think she paid for no boards" "and whatever she lost, she'll find it she'll get something up" "i walked around for a little while after crying and hurt i went to ralphie and i asked ralphie if i could stay in his house for a few days until i could find some more wood and stuff to build another hut for myself" "you're going to put eggs in there too ?" "sure... eggs, mustard... that's what make it taste so good !" "don't stretch your luck now, you've been ok today i haven't bust your ass today" "get over here stretch it here, get here that's cool" "i got to feed the dog the dog was already fed, his food is prepared all you got to do is put in in the bowl" "we got to make some collie(?" ") green someday they ain't nothing (?" ") but just roll them up, cut em that ain't all to it, you got to clean them suckers yeah, i know you got to clean them clean them from the bugs that they collect" "yeah, i know how to do that i clean them," "and then i roll them up and i cut them in little slices" "cold water... i know, cold water is no good to wash that well, thanks a lot !" "i told you, i just take the spaghetti and put the top on and just go like that... it's simple, man instead of going through all that well you cook different from i do" "i mean we're homeless people... yeah we're homeless people, but if you know how to cook, cook right !" "olive oil... it's not that, dee" " dee, it's not that - then what is it ?" "if you're going to come and drink out of the fucking cup and then you're going to lay the cup there and then you're going to go out and then the cup is going to be there, dirty" "all goddamn... for two days then i'm going to throw it out i bet you didn't do that to your wife, did you ?" "no i did't do that to her, because she would've kicked my ass yeah she would've kicked that ass boy !" "but i have to do it now, because of the situation that we live in if you leave shit on the floor, what happens ?" "what will happen ?" "i bet you didn't do that shit to your wife... well when you have rats like we have here ?" "still, i bet you didn't do that shit to your wife... we didn't have rats like we have... she would've kick your ass all over that damn place" " funny girl..." " what cup was it ?" "it was a cup it was a large cup, one of them large cups" "that my friend brought back from a country where he went to on his vacation and it was kind of shaped like a mermaid with just a top like this..." " that shit was from macdonalds man..." " it was no damn macdonalds !" " that shit was from macdonalds..." " it was not from macdonalds !" "mcdonalds don't even have cups like that !" " i know, you got the last one !" " yeah, right... i didn't get the last one they don't even have cups like that !" "and it had pepsi on the side because i got the top to it it got the straw to it and it got the cap to the straw" " now mcdonalds don't even..." " whoever gave her the cup, went to mcdonalds, got the cup, wrapped it up" " and said hey baby here - yeah right... i got this from spain or some shit my friend don't do no shit like that yeah i don't know all i know is that... leave that dirty stuff here, and it's not clean..." "so where do you hide all that shit at ?" "i keep it in my food bucket i got a couple of food buckets... (?" ")" "keeping it in you're food bucket ?" "so where you put your pots and shit at ?" "where you see i'm at !" "my man.. i mean i understand the situation but check it out my brother shit ain't that motherfucking rough now it can get better" "i know you survived and i respect that to the fullest with all these big motherfucking horses you got running around here" "you leave your shit right there ?" "yeah, i wash my shit, what's wrong with that ?" "you mean you got room in this motherfucker for a sink ?" "... (?" ")" "the rats don't come when the dog is here they were coming through that hole" " did they come in ?" " fuckin yeah they came in but where was the dog ?" "the dog was outside !" "if the dog was outside, he wouldn't let the rats come in hey listen, if the dog is outside, the rats are in here how the hell is the dog going to... why do you think the dog keeps woofing out there like that ?" "it keeps them from coming in here he'll be woofing that way and they're coming in through this way so the dog can be woofing over there... i ain't seen no rat up in here hey put it this way..." "you lost the cup" "see, to me, i'm a damn fool i sit here and battle with the motherfucker like i was ... (?" ") from last night that motherfucker woke me up last night ... (?" ")" "another one zooming by they're all trying to get inside here i mean, they're looking right at me and jumping and shit but i almost caught one of those motherfuckers last night suzie (?" ") jump, bam !" "i didn't hit him directly on his motherfucking head but that motherfucker went away" "i know he didn't come back last night for no more he said fuck that, he had enough but he went and told his relatives i tell you man, i couldn't sleep at all last night it ain't going to be like that shit tonight !" "it might be like that tonight but i know they aren't going to be full tonight" "like i can't get rid of this motherfucker ... (?" ")clean up behind him ... (?" ")" "he doesn't bring any company with him either, he's by himself motherfucker !" "everytime i see this motherfucker that make me have a ... (?" ") nice sleep ... (?" ") i know he walks at night he walks at night, not trying to sleep so me and him aren't going to make it with that kind of shit" "i hope  (?" ")" "this may make him go under my bed but i ...(?" ") put that light out i hope he comes back to check his house out ... (?" ")" "and the food i have for him and then i've got some ... (?" ")" "right now i'm cooking something to eat because i'm tired of taking my shit i keep telling them, they don't have to take it just ask me for it" "i'll fix you a meal i'm definitely going to fix them something to eat i'm going to fix them a good meal after this they won't want no more" "they won't want anything else to eat after this because i'm going to put sausages, oatmeal i'm going to put the topping on top of it once i put that on top, all they'll want is water" "what is that ?" "poison !" "they got some wise ass ... (?" ") out there get my pack of this a pack of this will keep them awake whilst i mix this all up" "they won't want anything else to eat because they'll be too full after they get their water, all they'll want to do is just lay down that's all and they won't want to get back up anymore" "it looks good, my friend i ain't gonna stand here and lie it look good" " you want some don't you ?" " no sir there are some things you do and some things you don't" "what's that ?" "that shit you're doing now what i'm doing now, i am eating i understand that... this tastes good this is rice" "this is ham, fried seasoning real good and it tastes very good and its clean" "cleaner than the stuff that comes out of the kitchens of restaurants this is clean food" "and it tastes very good lot of flavour the food mike, it was clean food" "you cannot dump on this all you can do is just eat this and keep on eatin .. (?" ") want more" "hey yo tommy !" " what's up tommy ?" " oh shit oh shit what's up man ?" " when did they let you out ?" " what's going on over here ?" "oh damn, yo, this is mark" " this is my friend mark - what's up mark, how you doing ?" "this is my friend brian(?" ") i've been talking to you about" " you lost a lot of weight..." " no doubt, and yourself man" " seriously, when did they let you out ?" " ... (?" ")" "while you were up north ?" "proper..." " what's up man ?" " nothing man... i can't believe this shit holy shit..." " no doubt !" " no doubt... 8 and a half months kid... no doubt cous' !" "too long..." " ... (?" ") - oh shit" "looks nice on the back" "turn around" "what's so funny ?" "what the hell... don't be fucking around, dee" "holy shit !" "fucking cold !" "oh fuck" "holy shit !" "fucking cold !" "oh my goodness" "what do you expect with four dogs ?" "especially growing small puppies shitting a lot" "when i just had ladybugs, it never got like this, never" "feels good does it ?" "it feels good but it's fucking cold !" "alright, just speed it up then holy shit !" "welcome back to the shit, right ?" "you're not going to start doing anything until you're ready to stop so don't you think its about time for you to stop ?" "no, when i get good and ready i'm gonna stop" " and when is that ?" " well i don't know... it could stop me !" "so that's the problem, it could stop you instead of you stopping it yeah, but still, i don't like to be pushed i was smoking crack and i stopped yeah but you're smoking reefer i smoke reefer but i don't smoke crack" "read down this, it's still a narcotic there's a difference to it you're going to stop doing anything... there's a difference it you can smoke a fuckin bag of reefer and chill out in the morning..." " i understand all that..." " the only thing..." " no, but check this out - it's still a drug" " its still a drug, i don't care - dee, check this... anything you wan't, it's when you get ready to stop something you're going to stop it on your own" " you don't have to..." " i'm not saying that..." " i'm not saying that - okay, but... by you keeping saying to me "stop smoking crack", it only makes me want to go out there and smoke more !" "why ?" "are you a baby ?" " you ain't no baby..." " don't pressure me... that's pressure" " that's putting pressure on me - so when are you going to stop ?" "when you stop putting pressure on me when you and other people" " stop putting pressure on me - but you put it like i smoke reefer well i smoke reefer... i don't put pressure on you !" "but what happens when i smoke reefer ?" "i sit down, i chill out..." " i understand all that !" " and the only thing i do is eat but regardless..." "still the factor remains alright i'm not going to put any pressure on you you want to (?" ") that don't come back and say that you didn't do it when you did it don't come back over here" " talking like you didn't do it - well don't even bother to ask me well don't bother to say it (?" ")" "i'm being punished for every god damn thing i did wrong and still got more punishement to come cause i've done so much shit wrong" "i mean i've done a lot of things wrong a lot" "i get to the point where sometimes i feel like crying" "sometimes i feel like crying... because i..." "(?" ") i was so damn selfish with myself with everybody around me, it was all about me" "i didn't care about what anybody thought i was fucked up" "i wouldn't listen i went to jail, i got caught robbing" "i went to jail, let's say today (?" ")" "yesterday my daughter was born i came out before my daughter was out of the hospital, i was back in jail" "then i came out 5 years later and stood out," "like 2 months out of 10 years that i did in jail, i stood out 2 months and 2 weeks what happened when you were inside, to your daughter ?" "my daughter ?" "in 1976," "76 ?" "yeah, in 76 i was doing time and my daughter was raped she was 5 years old, she was raped, her leg was cut off, her arm was cut off, and she was burnt" "that made me feel fucked up because part of it, i think, is my fault because i should have been there instead of being in jail and doing what i was doing robbing... and doing all the things i was doing" "i wasn't taking care of her" "i went to detox i needed a break so that's where you were then detox we were fucking looking for you all over the fucking place hope you didn't go to jail" "but we had a nice ... ... (?" ") a menu a little bit yeah my friend used to eat eggplant for lunch now they don't have it regularly for lunch now they have that as the chef special so you only get that once a week that eggplant you mean ?" "that shit was great first time i was there that's the first thing i had i didn't even know what it was they get double portions" "eggplant parmesan !" "i could eat that all fuckin day !" "the first time i was there u don't get a chance to choose ur stuff they just give you whatever is laying around until later on but when i got there the first time thats the first thing they gave me" "*it's my favourite man* i said this dinner is great i didn't know what it was i never ate egglpant in my life" "i thought it was some weird shit eggplant ?" "who the hell eats that shit and it was good i always order that, every chance i get" "dunno what that is, i don't like it i only eat what i'm familiar with" "stuff i ain't never seen before" "yeah that's beef good stuff" "very very eadable very tasty too" "this one is the safest pile you could eat from cause the food is clean, plus its kocher" "once they throw the food they put it all in one bag they don't mix it up with garbage, coffee browns, trash and nothing like that it all be clean" "take a few of everything man and tie the bag back up put in in the back (?" ")" "... (?" ")" "where ?" "i got a whole fucking bag of donuts man !" "look at that shit and these are today's donuts u want one ?" "these are good they're fucking good they're my favourite they *are* good yeah" "fuckin hell i could eat these motherfuckers ... (?" ") container of milk maybe two containers of milk" "yo brian that motherfucker stinks man !" "wash ur fucking ass no you wash ur fucking ass man" "dump it man dump it" "i was in jail and i had came on the news" "that two kids got burnt in a fire my two sons" "i regret so many things i may have done" "... (?" ") my children sometimes i ask why couldn't it of been me ?" "why couldn't it of been me ?" "i liked that responsability of being a mother somebody a little one can hook up to" "sending them off to school they get the education they need" "i miss some of those things... i do" "In response to external pressures, armed Amtrack police are ordered into the tunnel to tell the residents that they have 30 days to pack up and evacuate or face a forcable eviction" "Filming was prohibited" "DROP THE GUN MOLE!" "when they woke me up man they had their guns and everything its like what the fuck ?" "it took me time to get ready put my shoes on cause i sleep comfortable in there take my socks offm, my jacket i wasn't gonna come out in my underwear with my shit hanging out" "u gonna come out or what ?" "banging on the door i said take it easy ok when that happened they saw that i had took my time and then i came out fully dressed they had the guns i went over there to take a piss hey where you going ?" "hey relax man what the fuck is wrong with you ?" "i'm not against u u guys are coming down here to fuck me up alright ?" "i can't do nothing to you guys cause there's too many of u i'll take you on one on one and i'll talk to u nothing about guns, bats or nothing like that i'll talk to you on one on one" "they said they wanted me to clean that shit up i said i ain't cleaning shit up i got to move ... (?" ")" "i ain't cleaning that shit up they must be mad, take me to jail i need a little rest anyway i'm not cleaning up their garbage if i got to move shit that's making their job much easier" "cause last time they said we had to leave they said they were gonna do it in a humane way they were gonna sit down at a table and have some big words (?" ") from Amtrack to discuss where we gonna go at last time they was here they tell me they don't give a fuck where we go we just gotta go and shit" "they said they were gonna try to get us housing or shelter or something else i dunno what that something else is" "i don't wanna to go to a shelter cause i don't wanna worry bout someone stealing my shit they're gonna steal all my clothes they're gonna steal everything i got drugs, it's infected with drugs" "what they should do is leave us down here that's what they should do leave us down here until they get housing and when they get housing they ship us out but not just take us out of here i mean we're all down here by oursleves my friend" "like a family alright... you gonna break up the whole family it's not worth it it's not fair to us they gonna jave something... at least if you gonna construct down here okay put some of us to work" "for us to get something out of it because this has been our home for three years for me imagine all the people that been down here for 20 years" "i got three words i got three words for whoever's fuckin idea this was okay?" "and it's not i love u it's leave us alone!" "people residing in the tunnel are experiencing a lot of health diificulties" "*Amtrack community relations officer* they are respiratory conditions from living in cool dank conditions asthma i know is prevelant amongst a few indivuduals it's just there's a lot of vermine and disease that's spreaded from rodents and vermine in the tunnel" "and of course the danger of living close to high speed trains individuals run the risk of being struck by trains we've had two fatalities there in the course of the year one woman froze to death from exposure and another individual was struck by a train" "it is absolutely a dangerous horrendous living situation" "... (?" ")" "okay... why you smiling though ?" "u gotta be thinking of one way to get outta here" "... (?" ")" "i'm planning go back on the east side u already been overthere uhh ?" "u already been overthere we'll find somewhere" "sounds shitty (?" ")" "can't go in the park whatcha gonna do ?" "i gotta move on u gotta learn how to go with the flow yeah i know i been going with the flow since i came home that's how you got in here, going with the flow" "everytime i stay with the flow.." "when i was gonna get out the fuck of the flow being a homeless its all types of problems u never know what lies ahead" "so until it comes, deal with it can't plan shit being really ... (?" ") home u can't plan shit u say yeah well i'm going home to go sleep u get there that motherfucker's gone your home is gone" "it's really hard to plan what you gonna do it's deal with it day by day" "or needs to sleep upstairs (?" ")" "and they were going home to go to sleep her home was gone" "going to 28th street with the children (?" ")" "i ain't going in no shelter ... (?" ")" "shelter is out i ain't going in no shelter" "i'll ride the train i ride the motherfucking train" "i tried but lasted two nights that ain't nothing" "COALITION FOR THE HOMELESS our first response because of the long relationship that we've had with our clients was to immediately go to court previous to amtrack's decision to evict people out of the tunnel we had just sued amtrack on the grounds they cannot through people out of pen station" "they travel here in ny city (?" ")" "so when we found out that amtrack was gonna come in ... (?" ") we knew we had to stop them throwing people out of the tunnel who had called it their home for 10, 15,25 years we met with amtrack officials at first they were very abrupt they wanted everybody out had it been a few days they were gonna fence it off, put in security guards" "we worked at a plan that we would assist people in moving into temporary shelter with amtrack ... (?" ") people but soon thereafter we learned of a program run by the fellow government who had set up an aid program and we garanteed amtrack that nobody would be left inside of the tunnels the section a program, the housing program here in ny city" "is a great ticket into housing it garantees someone an apartment health paid ...(?" ") and security fees so it was a perfect chance and i think amtrack knew that it's a good opportunity to work with advocates rather than have a legal challenge and ... (?" ") we were pretty confident had we gone to court, we would have won it was crystal clear, a violation of people's rights we didn't want to defend people to live on the street we wanted to get them into housing" "that was the ultimate goal and we're glad it never went to court" "right you ready ?" "go !" "we're outta here !" "hard to believe its our last day in this place i thought this day would never come right ?" "i thought this day would never come" "no doubt" "are you exited ?" "exited ?" "very exited like a crackhead that just found a thousand bubbles on the tracks (?" ")" "yo that's all dirty laundry yeah ?" "so we put all dirty shit in here ?" "don't mix dirty clothes in with the clean ones" "here it comes" "... (?" ") got a job ?" "got a job coming up, 1.50 an hour working at ... (?" ")" "that's right cousin .. (?" ") once i get this moutain bike cook !" "start making 7 or 8 meals a week whatcha gonna do then uh ?" "enough to pay the rent, enough to help out with food no doubt" "oh man once we start these jobs there won't be none of that fried chicken and shit like that straight up steaks, flaming ...(?" "), all kinds of good shit it'll be nice no doubt" "we gonna gain about 400 pounds a piece eh ?" "got some good memories here too, in ny u gonna miss it ?" "sometimes how much you gonna miss it ?" "not bad enough to come back" "it's almost a freedom now this is ... (?" ") do whatever i want with it cause in an apartement you can't do that" "that's ... (?" ")" "what's next ?" "... (?" ") sign these this white piece of paper is proof that you are actually homeless" "here you go !" "i love my apartment man i *love* my apartment" "... (?" ") up ... (?" ") hustling ... (?" ") that i made when i was out there i'll put it all back in here in this apartement and make it look decent" "i definetly love my apartment as far as the living room is concerned once i get it together the way i want it eventually there'll be a nice new set of furniture going around these cornered counches ?" "you know what i'm talkin about right ?" "this is one section here as you can see what i wanna do is get a matching section that goes all the way round like this and eventually i'm gonna get a new entertainment center as you can see right now i'm just making a new bookshelf" "i'm hoping that eventually i'm gonna get a new entertainment center to put this wall eventually there will be a nice 25 inch color tv with cable hookup, and a vcr, a nice stereo system i'm planning on getting a nice rug to sit out here" "yeah i feel good i'm getting new furniture, new ... (?" ")" "yeah i feel good i can't wait" "to me it's like giving a baby a new toy, play with it all day that's the way i am everyday is something new, and it's something good" "now i feel like i never was in there that was the sadest part of my journey through life then were dark days, dark, real dark at the time it didn't bother me at all once i sit back and think about it" "i ask myself how could i have done that ?" "let myself go like that and be that way ?" "u don't realise until you get out of it u drift back every now and then" "... (?" ")" "damn i used to do that that used to be me ?" "u say no way... yeah it used to be me it definitely used to be me" "i tell u, to me its like it never happened, at all and it will never happen again, ever ever" "i will never go homeless again that was like a nightmare" "and i woke up out of it and i'm staying awake" "i'm serious, i don't want that shit, i don't need it i'm gonna stay working, and doing good" "i don't want to be homeless no more" "terrific !"