For the city’s Department of Homeless Services (DHS), the third time was not a charm.
City Comptroller Scott Stringer has once again rejected the agency’s proposal, which was submitted twice before, to convert the former Pan American Hotel located at 79-00 Queens Blvd. into a permanent homeless shelter.
“The Comptroller’s Office rejected for the third time a permanent contract for Samaritan Village Inc. to operate a shelter at the Pan American Hotel. We have asked the Department of Homeless Services to revise its plan to address outstanding health and safety violations,” said Eric Sumberg, spokesman for Stringer.
The emergency homeless shelter at the former Elmhurst hotel was supposed to close last December, yet even after facing large opposition from community members, an application was submitted to convert it into a permanent shelter under a five-year, $42 million contract with DHS.
This third rejection comes after Stringer already sent the proposal back to DHS in July and May citing that changes, such as clearing all outstanding violations and complaints, needed to be made before he considered accepting.
Congresswoman Grace Meng applauded Stringer’s decision and voiced her opinion on the proposed shelter.
16 comments:
I wonder who is running against Mayor De Bolshevik?
Could it be Scott Stringer?
Where is Assemblyman Hevesi in all of this?
Samaritan Village is going to go down kicking and screaming or they are going to get what they want anyway by citing the desperate need for shelter again, for there is no way that Mayor Big Slow's plan to house 200,000 families in 10 years will materialize, but conversions of bankrupt hotels will sprout like weeds when the desperate need to expand tourism in Queens will definitely fail.
If Stringer is running for Mayor he could gain a lot of support by holding a hearing on the DHS awarding of these cushy non bid contracts being given to these "non profits" with all the political connections. None of our local representatives want to rock the boat, must be to lucrative. It is really a shame that main stream media will not do their jobs to point out government corruption. Investigative journalism is dead.
Hevesi is smart - he came out against it right from the start.
BUT! (a kim kardashian REAL BIG BUT)
Quickly Hevesi, like Pontius Pilate, washed his hands of it by saying it is a done deal and nothing could be done, and went on to bloviate about the inner workings of the broken system (that he is part of).
At least he did not painfully go around shrieking and screaming "ITS CONTAMINATED!"...
I'm actually impressed. You mean there is actually someone who can say "no" to Heir Duhblazio, other than Cuomo? Maybe there is hope.
No one will investigate the non profits because they could name names on who has been on the take, which is most likely all of our esteemed representatives.
I commend Comptroller Stringer for not bowing down to the pressure the Mayor and DHS must have placed on him to sign the contract. After all the hazardous problems that have been highlighted on this shelter, if the Mayor should file a lawsuit against the Comptroller or registers the contract on his own, then it would demonstrate that his number one priority is to make sure Samaritan Village is paid for substandard services and not the homeless families he claims to be helping. An investigation needs to be made on how much the Pan Am landlord and his "friends and family" have and is contributing to his campaign. Follow the money.
follow the money.. any elected pol that wants a shelter in their neighborhood has been bought.
I have so so happy -- they all have been bought for years and years --
What happens next? Can they re-apply?
What happens next? Can they re-apply?
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They will keep applying till they squeak in.
Its not like court, unfortunately, where if you are found guilty/not guilty, the charges are over.
Its like giving a baseball player an unlimited number of swings in a tie-game 9th inning. Eventually, no matter how hard the pitcher tries, or how well he pitches, the player will eventually hit a home run.
The game is stacked against the defense.
Jq, tourism is up in queens, not down.
Middle villager, crapicle is writing about this mess every week. Editorials too. Google.
Some guy, yes, forever if crapicle can be believed
last anon,
I Know tourism is up, the crime syndicate airbnb and it's other sharing economy startup types are exacerbating it.
I was making a prediction. This can only blow up, especially when the citizens get madder and the streets are filled with more discriminating criminals if they are specifically targeting oblivious transplants and tourists. It's already happening, murders and rapes are up, and robberies are happening with more frequency despite the boasts of Bratton and The Blaz.
Just wait and see.
Thank you Mr Stringer
Who owns this? This is prime real estate. They should tear it down and build a 'luxury' condo. I have no doubt the new Chinese mini-robberbarons will buy everything in cash, in record time.
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