Sunday, August 9, 2015

DeBlasio homeless plan doesn't actually house anyone

From Capital New York:

The lead up to the “unprecedented” announcement Mayor Bill de Blasio would make yesterday was quite clear, at least according to two daily newspapers: the Democratic mayor had a plan to tackle homelessness.

Both the New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Mr. de Blasio’s $22 million initiative would specifically aid the rising number of homeless people.

“On Thursday, Mayor Bill de Blasio is set to appear with his wife, Chirlane McCray, to announce a $22 million mental health initiative that his administration says will aid the homeless,” the Times reported.

But reporters were surprised to learn on Thursday that the $22 million plan was not specifically about the homeless problem. Mr. de Blasio and a cadre of city officials insisted at a City Hall media roundtable that the initiative would be for helping a small subset of the general population: violent mentally ill people who need treatment. Whether they have a roof over their heads or not wasn’t the point, Mr. de Blasio said.

“Some in the media have tried to portray this as about homeless first and foremost. No, it is about people who have mental health challenges and are prone to violence,” Mr. de Blasio said. “They are a concern to all of us, whether they live in an apartment building, a private home, a shelter, or on the street.”

It was an odd statement coming off the heels of two preview stories which reported Mr. de Blasio clearly wanted to address homelessness, first and foremost. “Mayor Plans New Homeless Initiative,” read a Journal headline from Wednesday. “De Blasio, Facing Criticism, Is Taking On Homelessness With $22 Million Initiative,” blared a Times headline on the same day.

So what happened? It’s not really clear. A de Blasio spokeswoman did not immediately return a request for comment for this story. The announcement of the mental health initiative, which will send experts to New York City’s homeless shelters and to other places to treat mentally ill people who exhibit violent behavior, was delayed a day. The original plan had been to roll out the initiative on Wednesday.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mayor DiBlssio spend that money on the Mentally Ill Running City goverment start with the pop tart sweety you picked to run for Weprins seat Miss Snow White LYNCH then send Vivorito for a mental health check up,cure the rampant Homophobia that the City Counsel is infected with through in an Indictment for hate crimes perpetrated against a LGBT Supporter and give what's left
to AIDS Research and start taking your own Meds again

Anonymous said...

None of De Blah Blah's plans ever amount to being effective. This six foot gawking hulk is a bone head.
Bite my tongue....I would prefer a Bloomberg fourth term over this dumb bell.
Ma bye his first last wife or son is advising Der Wilhelm.

Anonymous said...

As much as I dislike dumBlasio, I have to admit the idea of getting violently mentally ill people off the street sounds like a good idea. More and more we see these people walking the streets and we just cross to the other side trying to avoid them. Many of these people are ticking time bombs and when they go off everyone just asks why this person was not in an institution. The authorities know who these people are yet do nothing to help them until after the shit hits the fan. Even the family members of the mentally ill try to get them help but to no avail. I guess no one cares because they don't vote.

Anonymous said...

There'd be a lot fewer mentally ill going off if synthetic marijuana was clamped down on.

Anonymous said...

To anonymous number three, I don't think this has much to do with getting them off the streets though. From the article -

Whether they have a roof over their heads or not wasn’t the point, Mr. de Blasio said.

“Some in the media have tried to portray this as about homeless first and foremost. No,


So I take it that it has little to do with HOMELESS violently mentally ill individuals. More to do with the health of these people rather than their living situation.

Anonymous said...

There is a guy that walks Myrtle Ave in Glendale that has been in a few scuffles and is taken in, gets meds and released. When Glendale had the funeral for the NYPD officer that was shot this guy was picked up and psyched for 72 hours then released after the funeral. The City knows this guy can be trouble but only cared about him when it could be a incident on national TV .

Anonymous said...

How many of the Mentally I'll were given bus tickets to NY
Just like the mama and her 3 babies who said Virginia didn't give her enough to live on so she came to NY an cried
no one is helping us,just wondering.

Anonymous said...

Main Street has its own nut job, who hangs out in front of a certain pizza store. He's been a fixture standing in front of Main Street stores for years. He usually lugs around a huge old boom box and constantly mutters to himself. I've seen him dart inside the pizza store and grab scraps of leftovers off peoples' plates just as they're about to dump them into the trash can. I've seen him in the winter inside the library, hogging a microfiche machine as he mutters to himself and stinks up the library. He is a certified wacko, and I see him as potentially dangerous But I don't see anyone from the city taking him in for any help or to protect the public.

Anonymous said...

Mentality ill do not belong in homeless shelters or the street, they should be in a mental hospital.

Anonymous said...

Liberalism is a mental disorder.

Anonymous said...

Dumblasio is so useless!! Whoever voted him into office could use the mental help themselves!

Joe said...

The nut who walks Myrtle ave nick name is "Bug" He lived on Stephen street between Cypress & Wycoff in the 70s. Bug did a lot of stealing and drugs, his favorite was angel dust. His mother was a tiny lady always pushing her shopping cart yelling and talking to herself. And yes Bug can flip and "bug out" at the drop of a dime and be very violent. All the cops know him, they say as long as somebody is calm, knows their name and is coherent when checked out they can not be touched.

Anonymous said...

Well, that explains the homeless guy I had to step over in my building foyer today. There are plenty around the neighborhood - more than the usual summer crowd.

Between that and rent increases, it's time to move to the suburbs again!

Anonymous said...

police get a call for a male masterbating in the alley singing to himself. The police have two choices.

a)arrest him. send him through the system to have a judge dismiss the charges and he is back out on the streets in 24 hours.
b)take him to hospital for a psych evaluation, gets seen by a doctor, given some meds and released back out on the streets in 24 hours.

either was same result. aint nothing gonna change till they figure out a long term solution. time to think outside the box.

Anonymous said...

Don't worry

Samaritan Village's most profitable venture us drug and alcohol counseling.
(and they are a non-profit - very interesting)

Once we get on board with the shelter plans all will be fixed.

Liz Crowley said so...

remember Joyce Patricia Brown (perhaps better known as Billie Boggs)?
oh, the good o'l days

Anonymous said...

Hey Joe... That's another whack who walks Myrtle Ave. There are several.

MarcioWilges said...

When the issue of homelessness is being addressed, we as members of the public would immediately think of the authorities providing a home for the affected group of people. However, since the issue of medical care for the mentally ill is raised instead, there is confusion regarding the real intent of the assistance.