Homeless shelter bites the dust

From the Daily News:

A proposal to build a $50 million Jamaica residence to house more than 200 formerly homeless and low-income individuals has bitten the dust.

Common Ground, a Manhattan-based nonprofit group, was to present its plans for the facility to Community Board 12 on Wednesday. But the organization decided to nix the project yesterday, a Common Ground official said.

The group had assured community leaders the facility would not be a homeless shelter. It garnered strong support from City Councilman James Gennaro (D-Fresh Meadows). But it drew skepticism from community board leaders.

Common Ground spokesman Lyle Churchill said the community's nascent opposition "certainly was not the overriding issue" for the organization to pull the plug on the project. Be he wouldn't specify what the issues were.

"We just felt that this was not the right opportunity," said Churchill, who added that financial, environmental and political concerns are typically taken into account. "We hope there will be other opportunities in Queens."

Of course there will be! They dump all this crap in our laps.