Hollywood gets its wish; homeless trek north
Like ragged refugees seeking a promised land, a mass exodus of Hollywood's homeless hit the road for an undisclosed northerly destination shortly after noon Friday.
With wheelchairs, walkers, canes and crutches, about 110 boarded two charter buses, vacating the Homeless Voice Shelter and fulfilling a long-held dream of city officials to see what they viewed as an eyesore at 1203 Federal Highway shuttered for good.
Sean Cononie intended to caravan along in an SUV after emotionally saying goodbye to the site where he has operated a haven for the homeless since 2002.
"No doubt, I have been exiled, sex offenders have it better," Cononie, 50, said. "Hollywood doesn't want us. They think we destroyed downtown. Every city commissioner should be drunk and happy right now."
The city bought out Cononie, paying him nearly $5 million for the dank, dilapidated property on a prime commercial stretch of Federal Highway, and nine other parcels he owned. In return, he would leave town and not return for 30 years.
In the run up to their departure, the shelter buzzed with anxiety and impatience, uncertainty and excitement. Sitting on a milk crate, one man clutched a fishing pole and umbrella bound together with tape. Another stood empty handed, back pocket stuffed with combs, cigarettes and a toothbrush. A 73-year-old with a matted white beard in an electric wheelchair said he'd packed his medications, tea bags, a radio and a flashlight.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fl-homeless-people-relocating-20150327-story.html
