With threats of arrests still looming over their heads, New York’s homeless dished out smiles yesterday at various soup kitchens — and some defiantly stated they would remain on city streets.
Cops stepped up efforts to eject them following the recent Midtown brick attack by a suspected homeless man.
“It’s a shame! I’m not on crack, I’m not mentally ill, I just could not afford to pay rent,” said Harry Reynolds, of the crackdown.
He was one of the 1,300 homeless people who went to the Bowery Mission for the traditional Thanksgiving meal served up by a host of volunteers. Even 5-year-olds, like Elena Fereit and Anthony Lee, helped dish out food.
The 57-year-old Reynolds said asking the homeless to go into crowded shelters or forcing them to sleep in chairs at Bellevue Hospital was shortsighted and wouldn’t solve any problems.
“If you go with them, the next morning you’re back in the same boat; still homeless.
“He [Giuliani] does not really want people in shelters and he does not want them on the streets, and it’s a little tiring.”
Fuzzy Cochrane, who has lived on the streets for seven years, said the cops were a nuisance who kept homeless people from sleeping.
“They tell you to move on if you don’t want to go to a shelter,” the 40-year-old said as he chowed down at the Salvation Army’s annual feast.
“There is a lot of good people out there who, for whatever reason, are homeless. But I am not afraid of cops. We have been dealing with this for a long time,” said Cochrane, who sleeps on benches and Church steps in the Midtown area.
“I will never go into a shelter,” said Steve Bryan, a homeless father of five. “It’s just like being in prison” the 44-year-old said, adding that he was kicked out of his home two years ago by a wife who could not deal with his drinking.
“They tell you when to sleep and what you can do in the shelters. I will stay out of there.” Like others, he said he was not afraid of being arrested.
Oscar Rivera, 40, returned to his regular stomping grounds, the streets around Penn Station after his Thanksgiving meal.
“I’m not worried. I don’t look like the guy [the brick attacker], so I’ll just keep moving,” Rivera said.
The crackdown began last Friday after a series of frightening random assaults by the mentally disturbed — most recently the attack on 27-year-old Nicole Barrett.