No one is saying for certain, but it appears that the on-again, off-again proposal to build a men’s homeless shelter at a vacant factory building on Cooper Avenue in Glendale is on hold, according to Councilman Bob Holden (D-Middle Village), who addressed a packed house at the Juniper Park Civic Association’s meeting on Sept. 20.
Holden said he received confirmation in July that negotiations were underway for a plan to erect a shelter at 78-16 Cooper Ave. The facility could house up to 200 beds, he said, the maximum number permitted by the city’s Department of Homeless Services.
At the time, according to Holden, DHS Commissioner Steven Banks told him that no contracts had been signed.
As things stand, Holden said Banks is open to discussing other possible locations for the shelter, leaving the Cooper Avenue site available for other purposes.
“I’m confident,” he told the estimated 150 concerned area residents in attendance. But, he added, “It’s not a definite. We have people who are ready to protest.”
He promised to “work out the political end on my part.”
“We’re getting close” to making a school happen, Holden said. “They just have to go through the [Department of Education]; they have to talk to other people.”
A school, he said, “seems more likely now, it’s safe to say, than a homeless shelter.” The comment elicited widespread applause from the crowd.
From QNS:
Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan said that rumors about a new homeless shelter in Maspeth has been confirmed to her office from an unknown source.
Nolan told QNS on Friday afternoon that the shelter could be placed at P.S. 9 on 57th Street — but other activists and politicians are holding their tongues. The assemblywoman also declined to disclose the identity of the source.
Although city officials have yet to confirm this, Nolan worries the de Blasio administration could act fast to divert students – many of whom are bused in – and place “hundreds” of homeless people in the building.
“I don’t want to see a homeless shelter on 57th Street, it’s an absolutely terrible location,” Nolan said. “The city hasn’t [followed through] on anything they said and we have homeless people in all the hotels in Long Island City on a small rotating basis. How many more area we going to take? I want to work with Councilman Holden, Assemblymen Barnwell and Miller… and I’m hoping we can all work together.”
In Maspeth, 57th Street only runs for about a block and a half between Flushing and Grand Avenues and is mostly lined with warehouses, about five row-houses as well as P.S. 9.
“When the city moves, it moves very quickly, and I don’t want to wake up next week and find beds in P. 9,” Nolan continued.
Nolan also spoke of concern about a potential shelter at Summerfield Street and Wyckoff Avenue in Ridgewood.
From the Queens Chronicle:
Ozone Park activist Sam Esposito made a Facebook post on Sunday evening in which he claimed a tentative victory in the Ozone Park Block Association’s crusade against the homeless shelter being constructed at the former Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church on 101st Avenue and 86th street. The shelter is being constructed to house 113 men with mental illness.
Esposito claimed that major work had stopped and that a change in plans by the city will be made public soon.
“In closing, nothing official has been announced yet, but all indications point to the fact that we are NOT getting the 113 men, and the whole idea of a shelter, in that location, right now, is up in the air,” the post says in part. “I sent out 2 letters, again, to the owners’ wives this week and I hope they will find it in their hearts to convince their husbands, to do something else with this site.”
Isaac McGinn of the Department of Homeless Services, however, said the city is going ahead with its plans to turn the church into a homeless shelter.
14 comments:
Well this is the first time I've ever heard the city propose a shelter at a school building. What the hell? And how did Cathy Nolan find out about it before Bob Holden did? (Or did he just keep his mouth shut about it?) Has he released a statement? I saw him on NY1 about the Glendale site but there was no mention of this one.
Ridgewood: vibrant! diverse! hipsterified! let's put a shelter there!
That shelter in Ozone Park is happening regardless. de Faustio and his cult are only competent in the practice of lip service.
Diblassio still blames the state and the feds for NYCHA's problems. WHAT A DICK !!
What did you expect when you elected Holden? You thought DHS and the mayor would let this go unpunished? They will build this to make a point. If this gets built under Holden's term and not Crowley's then they hurt him. I am sure they have not forgotten the protests and things that were said.
Get ready for Atlas Mall to be a homeless hell and watch the district go south after the homeowners begin selling in mass.
Atlas Mall is near where Holden is arranging to have a school built. The Maspeth proposal he has no comment on for some reason.
In the End, you are getting a shelter.
Hope Holden didn't sell out Maspeth to save Glendale. With so many children in District 24 and overcrowded schools, I find it hard to believe the city would give up a school with seats to be converted to a homeless shelter. Maspeth already has 100 or so homeless men at the Holiday Inn.
I don't get it? Is PS9 a school building that is not in use? It seems the city is building and adding on to schools everywhere,after all isn't our district the most overcrowded in the city.So how can PS be sacrificed for a homeless shelter?
NYC has a homeless crisis with over 70,000 people,much more than any other major city.People are coming here from all over the country because they can't be turned down and we have the best benefits.There must be residency requirements or the homeless problem will kill the city.
It was just reported that over 100,000 students are homeless or have been living in shelters for years. So it seems like they can kill two birds here by having a school and a shelter. Like the Gentrification Industrial Complex's plan to build towers with jails and apartments
How odd it is to start seeing black homeless folk in middle village the last few months.....
Please look at the online comments and ratings for this school, its not a gem to the neighborhood for sure. In addition this school is almost into Williamsburg at the border of Maspeth in an industrial area. Yes, it's great to say no to every location but they are coming no matter how we feel. Where are our local politicians with their list of acceptable locations, why hasn't the puplic seen these list so we can fight to have those locations approved instead of fighting after the city selects a location. Saying no we don't want a shelter isn't working, unless we as citizens sue the city to stop the right to shelter laws altogether and build no new shelters period. No neighborhood wants one, in a good area or a bad area period.
To the last comment - I've noticed more homeless as well in Middle Village, Glendale and Forest Hills Glendale. I think even the homeless are moving out of the city and looking for areas where their numbers are less. on 71st ave by gotta get a bagel there was a homeless man with his pants down either peeing or wiping his poop up against the wall, at 3 in the afternoon on a Sunday. I'm just happy my kids were looking away and didn't notice.
Traveling to work in the morning by the LIE entrance by queens mall to brooklyn there is a group of about 5-6 white hipster like 25-35 year old adults with 2 dogs living in tents and sleeping bags every morning. We see them waking up every morning and cleaning up the site. It's as if they are living a gypsy / carnival life and this is a campground. You see them eating and smoking and chatting - a real community. Cops have stopped and talked with them but i don't think they've been forced to move along even with the no trespassing signs.
We are indeed becoming more and more like San Fransisco.
The school is being MOVED, not closed, so the "online ratings" (which I find hilarious that people would look up for a special ed school where the parents usually have issues along with the kids) will follow it to Glendale.
The point is that the DOE is begging for school space. They most certainly can't afford to give away a site they already own, no matter how unpleasing the neighborhood aesthetics are!
Maspeth is going to get it. We are the dumping ground here. Makes me laugh the city accessed the homes here for a million dollars. Property taxes creeping up 6,000 and climbing. A neighbor of mine said he is gonna go homeless so he could just live here and as he said he has been paying into this so why not? As he said his taxes. He was serious about it. What next for Maspeth?
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