A Paradise of Detritus and Ducks

MIAMI, April 11 – A homeless man, Jose Montaner, built a home for himself
four years ago on an empty island beyond the Coconut Grove Yacht Club
in Miami. A movement
is now under way to evict him.

"I thank the Lord every day for this place," Mr. Montaner, who speaks
only Spanish, said on Thursday, easing into a wobbly kitchen chair on his beach. "Are
they going to leave me here, or are they going to throw me to the wind?"

His allies – and there are many among the small-craft boaters who launch from
the marina – say Mr. Montaner is not only harmless but also an exemplary resident
of Coconut Grove, a lush, affluent section of Miami where some of its original
pioneers settled. Some of the neighboring uninhabited islands are blanketed
with garbage, they said, while Mr. Montaner keeps his spotless.

Stuart Sorg, a Coconut Grove resident and member of the Miami Waterfront Advisory
Board, sees the situation differently. He wants Mr. Montaner off the island
immediately, especially after reading in The Miami Herald last week that Mr.
Montaner had been arrested for minor crimes in the past. "We’ve got to
go through that island and disassemble everything," said Mr. Sorg, who
has complained about Mr. Montaner to city officials. "This city has become
too sophisticated, too cosmopolitan for that type of thing."

Boy, that sophisticated, cosmopolitan Mr. Sorg sounds like a real piece
of work, doesn’t he? We bet he has some nifty plans on what we could
do with ALL of the homeless people in America, if he had his way.  Like
sending them all to Cuba, to be divided equitably between Castro’s prision
system and the holding pens in Guantanamo Bay….

from
the New York Times