Around New England

Homeless Woman Calls New City Park Curfew ‘Act of War,’ Cites Illegal Immigrants As Hindrance

January 5, 2019

A homeless woman who lives in her truck and lives off $750 a month in federal benefits says she plans to sue the city of Milford, Connecticut over a new 9 p.m. closing time at the public park where she stays, which she calls “an act of war.”

The woman pays for a membership at a local YMCA so she can use the shower. She sleeps on a mattress in the back of her truck with a propane tank for heat, according to the Connecticut Post.

Medical problems keep her from working and a local homeless shelter has banned her because of threats she has made there, so her options are limited. The harbor air at Fowler Park in Milford is good for her, the woman says.

“She talks about government conspiracies and illegal immigrants taking funds for resources that could be going to the nation’s homeless,” the Connecticut Post story states.

The board of aldermen in Milford in December 2018 declared as a public park an area that includes the public library, playground, basketball courts, and tennis courts, and set a 9 p.m. closing time.

An increase in homeless people around the library has made some residents of the city wary about using the library’s book drop at night, according to the Connecticut Post.

Milford is a city of about 52,000 people on the Long Island Sound southern coast of Connecticut, about 9 miles southwest of New Haven.