TOMS RIVER, NJ – An ongoing feud between Toms River Mayor Dan Rodrick and Paul Hulse, organizer of Just Believe, Inc. is taking a new turn today. Last month, Rodrick said he would cut ties with the organization after learning the organization had exceeded its initial mission of providing a warming shelter for Toms River’s homeless and began importing hundreds of homeless from around New Jersey to grow their business from $50,000 in revenue annually to over $750,000 annually in just four years.
Today, it was announced that the Ocean County Board of Commissioners will instead open a warming shelter for Just Believe inside a county building in downtown Toms River.
“Toms River will no longer be a depository for the county’s homeless,” Rodrick said. “The prior administration allowed a homeless camp to grow and fester. My administration is working with the DCA (Department of Community Affairs) on a plan to clear out the camp……If the liberal do-gooders on the county board of commissioners move forward on this, we will take legal action against them.”
Rodrick said Toms River has a homeless problem and it’s getting out of hand due to the importation of homeless from around the state into a downtown tent city. Opening a homeless shelter downtown will only make matters worse and draw even more of the state’s homeless to the downtown area where people are often found sleeping inside the parking garages, on park benches and outside of stores and buildings downtown.
They plan on having 150 beds in the downtown shelter.
“We have seen it all over the country, we cannot allow Toms River to be the next San Francisco,” the mayor said.
This year, a Democrat candidate named Zach Dougherty, an intern for U.S. Senator Cory Booker, is running on a platform for Toms River to open its arms and to provide assistance for the homeless population being imported into the township.
On his website, his agenda is clear, “Support the homeless in Toms River, ensuring comprehensive aid is always available. Ensure Effective Shelter Programs: Commit to fully funding and expanding the Cold Blue and Cold Red initiatives to provide reliable shelter and services during extreme weather conditions.”
Rodrick said Just Believe, which was allowed to use the building at Riverwood Park in recent years to serve the town’s own homeless population is now the cause for a rapid growth in the homeless population of Toms River.
Ocean County Comissioners Bobbi Jo Crea and Virginia Haines have been avid supporters of homeless shelters in Toms River. Crea announced that the county will provide $400,000 in funding for the new Toms River homeless shelter this winter season.
A second homeless camp was found to be operating in Winding River Park, a public park in Toms River. The original homeless encampment established during the previous administration is in a wooded area outside downtown Toms River.
