The former employees of the Clarion Hotel, located at 94-00 Ditmars Blvd. in East Elmhurst, which is closed as of Monday, are asserting that the space will be turned into a homeless shelter.
Emma Ballestaros, a longtime employee, Flushing resident and representative for the Local 6 Union, which serves hotel workers, said many believe that the hotel will be converted into a homeless shelter and have been spreading word in the community.
“We knew through our ex-general manager that his intention was to convert to a shelter,” she said of the new owner.
The new owner, Shimmie Horn, a hotel operator who owns shelters in the city, reportedly bought the hotel in February and Ballestaros said that fueled workers’ beliefs that the space would house homeless.
Around then, Ballestaros said employees were informed of the June 1 closing and had plans to tell nearby residents to be ready to protest, if needed.
Christine Lee, another former employee, echoed Ballestaros.
“Everyone seems to know,” she said, adding that at a staff meeting months ago, they were given letters indicating the building would be called “The Landing.”
A Department of Homeless Services spokesperson said Wednesday that they “currently have no plans to use the site.”
11 comments:
Of course it will be a homeless shelter! Just like all these hotels that are going up in queens will become homeless shelters eventually too! Welcome the Crack heads and drug dealers to your neighborhood! Most of the homeless don't even come from nyc as it is- it's such crap!
Good bye UCCA. You don't have the Vallones anymore.
That depends on the meaning of "use".
Looks like the Steinway Mansion 'warehouses.'
why isn't this being brought to the TV Stations and I also find it funny and sad that counselman Danny knows all about it and he will say he knows nothing about it -- the same way he said about the Pan American Hotel -- he is so full of S___ -- get out and rally people for your own sake -- I knew we all did for the Pan American Hotel -- follow the money people
They are only being dumped in the shit holes of Queens.
You'll find none of these in Douglaston.
A Department of Homeless Services spokesperson said Wednesday that they “currently have no plans to use the site.” ...That is exactly what the DHS said about the Pan Am at the Christ the King meeting 2 weeks before they moved in. Lying sacks of shit.
They're all going to become shelters! This was the plan all along. Why is this a surprise? How many legit hotels did Queens ever need? The building boom in the past ten years of one on every block is the result of landlords realizing a payday opportunity from the city, for the rest of their life. The city is required by law to house anyone who requests it, and this is how it will be done for decades to come.
BTW-- eastern Queens is not far away from this and won't be spared-- Bellerose and Floral Park already have them, with more on the way. These are coming to Douglaston/Little Neck/Bayside/Gen Oaks within a couple years as well. There is nothing to prevent the sludge from invading. See the above the article on massage parlors in Little Neck.
DHS is not at all interested in working with communities (I think they're scared), notwithstanding City Charter requirements under "Fair Share." We can expect more and more of these shelters, as the City tries to address critical housing needs. Get educated! When Liu was Comptroller (2013) his office released "Down and Out: How the City Places its Homeless Shelters." See https://comptroller.nyc.gov/wp-content/uploads/documents/20130509_NYC_ShelterSiteReport_v24_May.pdf
It seems that Queens has been singled out to receive the homeless who mainly come from other Boroughs. I believe there's a plan behind this: to bring poor people to mainly middle class areas, with good schools and a stable family structure. Why else would Queens be singled out to receive so many shelters? I think they believe that introducing the homeless population into areas such as Elmhurst and Glendale the cycle of poverty might be stopped. Meanwhile, there is no sympathy whatsoever for the decline of property values of the families living in those communities, who are already financially stretched paying high taxes plus all the hidden taxes we pay in NYC, such as tolls.
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