From the Times Ledger:Residents of the Royal Ranch section of Glen Oaks said a group home for autistic teenagers has been a nightmare for the community ever since it opened in February.
One of the teens stabbed a worker at the home with a pen, while another snuck into a neighbor’s backyard and masturbated, residents said. Other problems include vandalized cars and increased traffic near the home at 70-25 267th St., they said.
“It was a quiet neighborhood,” said Cindy Markopoulous, who lives near the group home, where houses are valued close to $1 million. “Tough luck for us, I wish I knew. There’s a lot of problems.”
The group home is run by the city chapter of the Association for Help of Retarded Children, which could not be reached for comment.
Markopoulous accused AHRC of “bad management” for hiring workers who she said were not equipped to handle the six teenagers with autism who live at the home.
Since a community meeting was called three weeks ago to address issues at the group home, she said AHRC has not let the teens outside.
“Now they have them caged like Alcatraz,” Markopoulous said. “Not only are they caged in, we’re caged in. I won’t let my daughter go out and play by herself.”
She said she doubted the improved conditions in the neighborhood will last.
“They just want us to shut up,” she said.
20 comments:
What a bunch of self entitled whiners. This doesn't sound anything like a major problem to me. A kid stabbing another kid with a pen? Another kid beating off behind someones bushes? A little more traffic on the block? What do these people expect, a totally perfect world on their block because they are totally perfect people themselves? They should look in the mirror, a lot of autistic kids are born in million dollar homes. And then she has the nerve to complain that the kids are caged like animals?? The kids are now being caged because of your petty complaints, bitch.
The great Padavan law.
What a bunch of crap.
Like everything else about that man, its a bunch of baloney. The Padavan law has not only not stopped a single group home coming to our neighborhoods, it opened the door for hundreds to flood in.
The Community Board must have a hearing, we all show up, and the Padavan law says they dont have to pay any attention to us.
Thanks Frank. After 50 years of ripping us off, thanks for that great law.
Yep. Maybe they could name the group home after Padavan like every other not-for-profit slimy poverty pimp group in Eastern Queens has done.
I can wait till Avella retires this bozo.
You wouldn't want a stranger beating off outside your home, especially if you had young girls living there. No one wants to hear about people being stabbed either.
Regardless of any sympathy I have for people with these burdens, I have to respect the neighbors who want to be left alone. Security on that facility has to tighten.
The other day, my sister told me about an autistic kid who grabbed a small census worker and threw him into a closet thinking he was a "troll." Although the image is comical, kidnapping is not.
Sounds like these people need to be in a mental hospital, not a group home. Too bad Mario Cuomo closed them all so we have to deal with this shit in our own backyards.
"A kid stabbing another kid with a pen?"
No, one of the nuts stabbed a worker with a pen. Next time it can be something worse, and may be a neighbor instead of a worker.
"Another kid beating off behind someones bushes?"
No, in someone's yard, so he trespassed and exposed himself.
"A little more traffic on the block?"
Guess you missed the part that said cars were vandalized.
The same types of things were happening on the block where they wanted to open the homeless shelter in Elmhurst. There is a home for autistic kids there and they set cars on fire and beat up 2 neighbors.
There's a movement by parents of autistic people these days to push the notion that these kids are normal when they aren't, and misunderstood when they are dangerous. Another form of political correctness that's going to end up hurting this society more than helping it.
"There's a movement by parents of autistic people these days to push the notion that these kids are normal when they aren't, and misunderstood when they are dangerous. Another form of political correctness that's going to end up hurting this society more than helping it."
Great statement!!!
They're not only "normal" according to their parents - but BRILLIANT!
I would NOT want a group home living next door to me or even on the same block - sorry parents of autistic children. You have my sympathy - but, NOT my support in this case.
Royal Ranch residents have Padavan signs ON THEIR LAWNS IN FRONT OF THEIR HOUSES as if he is still running for office. I have a feeling either he owns this neighborhood or they own him. I thought their community board voted down this group home. I understand that the group home was sold by a particular Royal Ranch Padavan supporter/resident to the agency. The residents don't sound very autistic to me, by the way.
It's funny to hear this complaint here. Its not the first time I heard about this... the Glen Oaks sharholders meeting brought this up, and people were upset for the same reasons with the stabbing incedent, and the smacking off incedent.. I live right around the block from the home, and let me tell you I would have never known. want to know why? There is a big fucking hospital ( LIJ ) right around the block, my street is a speed way for douchebags cutting to, and from the northern state, and i hear sirens from the hospital all night, and day. Sorry people but this house has a right to be there, further more get used to it the area, and the city as a whole is going to revert to what it was back during the dinkins administration thanks to police cuts, and the economy. "royal ranch" section of glen oaks? thats really funny.... Its glen oaks, the fact that you decided to buy a million dollar house so close to co-ops makes me laugh at your attempt to seperate yourself from the area in which you live in to keep those over-inflated homes you purchased value. Get used to the autistic house, hell i might even start raising money to help support them....
tooodles!
i have attended queens c.p.b. meetings when the group home advocates were trying to sell their agenda to the audience.
they would not discuss their high salaries. they would not discuss the over pricing of the properties that the public would have to pay for.
if anyone brought up a point that advocates did not agree with,eg.why should the public have to take care of your child? why not consider homes in lower property priced areas(upstate)?
many parent advocates would start the racist/bigot
tactics on the audience. they then follow up with letters to the editor.
btw ,the board is not able to stop the group homes.
the n.y.s. court judge has the final vote, and the state law says OK. thanks to Padavan and the n.y.s. lawmakers who voted it into law.
additionally the cost of "educating" one special education pupil in a public school is $45,000 to $60,000 per year. reading and math scores are practically "0". it is a sad situation,but spending all the money with no result is senseless.
I would NOT want a group home living next door to me or even on the same block - sorry parents of autistic children. You have my sympathy - but, NOT my support in this case.
This is quite an odd statement coming from our resident "tolerant" poster - BABS!!
The above doesn't quite square with what she wrote here:
there is NOTHING funny about poking fun at people with Down's Syndrome.
These people are brighter than people like Deke inc. here OBVIOUSLY - a spec of dirt is a higher life form than Deke actually - now that I'm thinking about it - and certainly they have more heart and soul.
If I had to choose to live like Deke or a life like a child with Down's Syndrome - I would choose the latter - hands down.
http://queenscrap.blogspot.com/2010/04/it-was-just-joke-people.html
Back in April, Babs tells us how much she loves Down's Syndrome children.
Now she tells us she doesn't want the autistic kids next door.
Which is it Babs?
I'm truly very flattered and quite touched to learn that every word I've ever said is remembered by you.
If I recall correctly you had linked an offensive photo of a child with Down's Syndrome - it didn't bother you at all that a human being who is disabled was being mocked AND that that human being is someone's beloved child. To you the child was an object to be exploited for your amusement.
that's actually the first I realized that I was talking with a sicko.
Group homes are not always the best alternative for the disabled nor for the nab.
Autism and Down's are 2 different things.
I'm truly very flattered and quite touched to learn that every word I've ever said is remembered by you.
I have a pretty good memory, even for useless drek written by sub-par blog posters. It could have been written by Osama Bin Laden for all I care.
But enough talk - let's get back to what you do best Blubs - talk about yourself!
1) There is nothing wrong with disabled people living in these homes. We should do all to help them.
2) Frank Padavan is a disgraceful political hack for creating a law that creates hatred of disabled people while simultaneously preventing communities from having a say in their neighborhoods.
Typical Padavan. Full of shit. Just like his fabled military career that started at the age of 45 stationed at Fort Totten, Bayside NY.
"Autism and Down's are 2 different things."
who said they weren't?
Deke did.
It's fine if you want to have those homes, they have to live somewhere. But residents have to be screened for violent or hypersexual tendencies and those put in more remote facilities not in residential neighborhoods.
Security has to be tight around the residents who are supposedly safe since injury to others can result from accidents caused by lack of understanding.
"But residents have to be screened for violent or hypersexual tendencies"
Oh come on, what is violent or hypersexual about a teenage boy poking someone with a pen or beating off in the bushes ???
I live in that EXACT neighborhood. the neighborhood is STILL quiet. They just need to have maybe more staff and people who are well trained/educated/equipped to prevent situations like that stabbing incident. also, its not the teenagers fault he ran outside into someone else's yard. to prevent incidents like THAT from happening...as I said before...they probably need more staff who are also trained to be there. Don't blame the autistic kids, its not their fault. I live there...there is NO traffic. its just a bunch of upper middle class folks who are whining cause they don't want to deal with what THEY consider the "riffraff". they care more about their property values than the lives of these kids. get over yourself. be more compassionate to those who have more needs than you.
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