Queens Eagle
Two days after four homeless men were brutally beaten and killed on the streets of Manhattan’s Chinatown, hundreds of central Queens residents packed a high school auditorium in Middle Village to condemn a planned homeless men’s shelter — and to demonize the New Yorkers who would live there.
There are legitimate critiques of large-scale homeless shelters and the multi-million dollar city contracts awarded to shelter providers as the city contends with a record-high homeless population and a widening income inequality chasm.
But complex issues and possible solutions went unexamined Monday night at Christ the King High School — in part because speakers who attempted to address them were immediately booed and cursed at. The public hearing was the latest phase in the saga over a proposed 200-bed men’s shelter that the city plans to build inside a vacant warehouse at 78-16 Cooper Ave. in Glendale.
At the beginning of the event, hecklers interrupted a moment of silence for the four men killed while sleeping on the sidewalk early Saturday morning.
From there, the dialogue devolved into discriminatory denunciations of people, particularly men, who experience homelessness. Roughly 60,000 people, including 21,694 children, slept in a New York City municipal shelter on Oct. 6, according to the Department of Homeless Services’ most recent daily census.
”These homeless men are ‘tranks, lobos and zipheads’ … They’re drug addicts and sexual offenders,” said one woman who quoted a line from “Back to the Future.” “Put them in a separate area away from society. They should be locked away forever and out of sight permanently.”
Another woman went even further.
“I hope someone is going to burn the place down,” she shouted into the microphone.
Mike Papa of the anti-shelter group Glendale Middle Village Coalition criticized the nonprofit organization Westhab, which will receive a lucrative city contract to operate the shelter on Cooper Avenue. He then turned his attention to shelter residents, implying that they are criminals.
“Homelessness is their business and thanks to Mayor de Blasio, the Department of Correction will supply all the customers that companies like Westhab want,” said Papa, garnering applause from the crowd.
Moments later, the same attendees screamed at a Crystal Wolfe, a local resident who runs a nonprofit providing food for the homeless, when she said that “homelessness is a complex issue that is the result of problems that have been ignored for decades.”
Tousif Ahsan, a member of the Ridgewood Tenants Union, also attempted to speak “in support of our homeless neighbors.”
“Get the [expletive] outta here,” one man screamed. Most of Ahsan’s speech was inaudible amid the jeers.
District 30 Councilmember Robert Holden, whose 2017 victory over incumbent Elizabeth Crowley was driven by anti-shelter sentiment, did not condemn his constituents’ commentary. Instead, he stoked their anger.
29 comments:
Sounds like this article was written by Westhab
Isn't the Queens Eagle run by Michael Nussbaum who was once convicted of bribery in the Donald Manes cable TV scandal of the 1980's? He was also a democratic operative for Michael; Bloomberg.
Obviously he'd be agaisnt those homeowners who don't wasn't a huge homeless shelter in their midst.
The author is David Brand
And he left the hearing right after that woman said that the shelter should be burned down.
https://twitter.com/DavidFBrand/status/1181363823044902912
What he missed was what a man named Gerald said right after her.
https://twitter.com/jqllc/status/1181879728732549121
Note to readers. The reason I posted this article because it was the first one available.
Queens residents packed a high school auditorium in Middle Village to condemn.
Its the residents who are being (and will be) condemned, forever cleaning feces, vomit & piss off there streets & property if they dont give a large fight and raise the biggest hell & noise ever seen.
The mayor wants both that neighborhood, those white middle class people living in mostly private houses he cant control destroyed and plowed under.
I'm told mayor took a trip during a snow storm last year(and early summer this year) and felt MV and Glendale wasn't diverse enough, nor had enough sec 8 housing.
Now those people and homes are behind the 8 Ball.
I should point out that I do not condone what that woman said about burning a shelter nor the people applauding her and Robert Holden not addressing it, and also the people shouting over and oppressing people who were trying to speak and the brief amount of time that citizens are allowed to speak.
I also don't condone the DHS policy of secrecy and trickery in getting these shelters passed.
I also don't condone the truncated reporting of this controversy either. A lot of other pertinent issues were addressed that will never be reported on because of what two women said out of misplaced anger, fear and intolerance.
And I definitely don't condone what that man said at the end of the video who was conducting the crowd when he said "we are doing business here" Government is not a business, regardless of the metaphor.
Because you all are giving ammunition for DHS, other feckless council members, Mayor de Blasio and Governor Cuomo to exploit to continue to feed into the patronage mill of non-profit shelter providers. As over 60,000 people; displaced poor families and individuals, elderly people, mentally ill people, and people actually trying to reform and re-enter society will still be left wanting.of housing.
This is what I think are the causes of the schism that's going on here.
Can't we blame this on POTUS 45 ? #orangemanbad
Can or will the NYC sheeple voters look at the Demoratic Party and their Far-Leftist polices that make shite like this happen while making money off the tax payers back ?
"Government is not a business, regardless of the metaphor."
Perhaps it should be run like a business?
Why do they keep using the term ‘neighbor’? These homeless aren’t their neighbors.
This is payback for the demonstrations and bad publicity at the proposed Maspeth homeless shelter.
Ahh, the lovely denizens of Glendale, Middle Village, so eloquent in their protestations
So the reporter left just when it was getting good?
“How was the Presidents trip to Dallas?”
“No idea, I left before the motorcade showed up.”
W W J D ? At Christ the King HS ?
@JQLLC: Sadly government is a business for many of those in political positions of power.
The sentiments should not be condoned but are understandable. Many local home owners see their property taxes go up year over year without any corresponding increase in the quality or frequency of services, things like tree-planting and such not withstanding.
As a local (Elm) homeowner myself I'm aware our own nook has plenty of shelters already. But I'd rather the residents of those shelters be kept there, monitored, supported and assimilated as productive members of society, than let go onto the streets to wander.
It's sad most readers of this blog can't see how having crazy people OUT on the streets is WORSE than having them somewhere centralized and secure. Yes it sucks - so put shelters in Park Slope and Manhattan too. Put em in Forest Hills and Bayside, even. Maybe our property taxes will finally come down. Most readers would benefit from understanding there is a distinction between someone without a home, or at risk of becoming homeless, and a crazy, violent person, and not to over-estimate the overlap between the two groups.
One thing I could get behind, if true: all residents of the proposed shelter would have to work to remain eligible to be there.
Residents should be more afraid of their neighbors, such as the woman who threatened to burn it down. Wonder if she prefers that building be occupied while burning it ? Also wonder if the same mob in opposition attend Sunday mass. Such hypocrisy. Homeless are not criminals were the 4 murdered in Chinatown criminals ? Wasn't your saviour Jesus homeless.
Coming to your neighborhood: White Flight Part Deux.
Nice woman. Putting firefighters and people at risk. knucklehead
She should actually be investigated for making threats.
Anyway, it's coming.
In case u don’t know a lot of the homeless are people gaming the system.they deliberately claim to be homeless to try and jump the line for section 8 housing.the homeless are priority for housing takes about 8 months in a shelter verses 8 or 9 year wait if you play by the rules
It was Steven banks who started all this ,if Nyc did not prioritize homeless people the number in shelters would probably go down by at least at third to 40000 which is still high but more manageable
Read carefully. The woman did not threaten to burn the place down. She said she HOPED it would burn down. She was expressing a hope not a call to action.
Trump grew up in Queens and early on learned politics by watching the NYC Democratic Party.
I will repeat this frequently.
If NYS doesn't put residency requirements in place we will continue to have people coming here from all over looking for a hand out and we will never get a handle on the homeless problem.
Nice try, if someone made the same comment about the White House you think the secret service would visit that person ? It can be perceived as a threat. In addition if her wish were to come true, she would be the prime suspect right ?
"Ahh, the lovely denizens of Glendale, Middle Village, so eloquent in their protestations"
And so eloquent in paying their taxes on time and working for a living so the asswipe city politicians can shit all over them by placing perpetual losers who suck on the teat of society in their neighborhood and lower the value of their homes and place themselves and family at risk.
So the pro-shelter contingent at the hearing was apparently from the Ridgewood Tenants Association, a leftist organization comprised of young, unmarried, childless renters overflowing from Bushwick into soutjern Queens. They have no hustory in the borough, no affinity for the borough, and no plans for a future in it (i.e. no kids, no family - just career and preachy activism)
The point of unecessarily seeking out intact, family oriented, conservative neighborhoods for this kind of action is done to break their spririt. Crush their sense of community so that they leave, then change the zoning (which is largely r2a) and, ultimately, bulldoze the neighborhood for luxury boxes.
Elites can live next to homeless. It's no problem because their lifestyle is self centered anyway. They don't need a sense of community,because their activism and tinder profile is their community.
It's the modernist, cosmopolitan circle of life.
Sorry Georgie. All it takes is one person to take her seriously and do it. She still is enouraging it .
"She still is enouraging [sic] it ."
Really? You see where she revealed to the audience where the gasoline was stored? Seems to me she was expressing her innermost heartfelt feelings. Maybe she had a change of heart after being gaveled down? Maybe she didn't.
Why is this article written like a one-sided op-ed? Is this Daily Eagle thing a party line paper or something?
>All it takes is one person to take her seriously and do it. She still is enouraging it
By that logic no one should ever express any disagreement or distaste at all, because it might cause that one crazy to go over the edge. The exact same concept they've been using to push for censorship of books, movies, and video games for ages. (Current example: The "Joker" movie.)
The woman who spoke about "hoping someone burns down the place" is obviously not to be taken seriously but people will use her as a soundbite regardless.
I understand that people need a place to stay however a homeless shelter this large and in a residential area with no public transportation is not right for anyone. A block away from an elementary school, a children’s park, dance and gymnastics schools it is not a good choice.
The fact is that Homeless shelters have proven to be dangerous (see fact sheet below) with 525 arrests covering the period 4/1/2019 through 6/30/2019 116 of which were felonies. The people in this neighborhood do not want to risk their children’s welfare and this is completely understandable.
https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/homeless-shelter-arrests/homeless-shelter-arrests-2019-q2.pdf
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