William Foster

1/25/2016

ENG 1102

The Tunnel

The underground train tunnel is a community that the public has not been able to get to in the past twenty years. The homeless people dwell in darkness along the two and half mile stretch which is penetrated only by shafts of light angling through air vents. Basically the tunnel had no lighting and energy power at all. Most of the residents who have been there the longest live alongside the tracks in block bunkers originally used by railroad personnel. Some Other residents are high above the tracks in recessed that are accessible only if you climb the walls of the tunnel. More recent tunnel dwellers have built freestanding structures in the dark alcoves of the tunnel or perched themselves on concrete ledges. This book shows the population of homeless people and the living situation of all the homeless people that lived in the tunnel and in New York City. This narrated entirely by tunnel homeless people. The Tunnel shows the beauty of people shun, and the light some people don’t see. This book is a remarkable moving tribute to survival among people.

This tunnel is one of the oldest tunnel in New York City. The tunnel was hidden from public views in an abandoned freight tunnel. The habitation lasted for about sixteen years before it was discovered by Amtrak. The earliest tunnel residents live alongside the tracks in cinderblock structures originally built as storage facilities. More recent tunnel dwellers have built plywood shanties and perched themselves on ledges. Shafts of light angle through air vents. Dwellings are clustered around these points of entry and on the light-washed walls are images and writing left by graffiti artists. An underground water source was shut off in the early 1980’s. The homeless families were forced to walk miles below ground for water and also food. Meals are cooked over fires that also serve to combat the damp chill. Homeless people would recycle the discarded furniture and cookware of nearby apartment to create their own homes. Among the tunnel homeless people was a guy name John who was wandered in searching for a safe place to sleep after being attacked on a park bench. He kept walking to the back and found this house and started to clean it and fix it up. They were there for the workers. He had to walk around the street at night to look for things that he wanted to put into it. And sometimes he had to carry it ten to fifteen blocks just to get it down. John stayed for over twenty years, taking into his care fifteen abandoned cats and three stray dogs. Bernard entered the tunnel in 1985. He supports himself by collecting cans in the early morning hours for redemption at a recycling center. Known as The Lord of the Tunnel. Bernard became the spokesperson for the tunnel residents when they were threatened with eviction in 1991.