Mario Cuomo's daughter's homeless shelter closes down

Gothamist

A notorious homeless shelter on Wards Island with ties to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo's sister has quietly closed following years of complaints about conditions.

The 200-bed HELP-USA facility for men with mental illness — formerly run by Cuomo's sister, Maria Cuomo Cole — was shut down in December despite a record number of people staying in city homeless shelters. There were more than 70,000 people in the shelter system Wednesday night, according to official data.

A spokesperson for HELP-USA — which the former governor founded more than 30 years ago — confirmed the closure. Cuomo Cole serves on HELP’s board of directors and describes herself as chair emeritus. The nonprofit operates three other shelters on Wards Island.

“Unfortunately, due to concerns with the building infrastructure, we were forced to close the site at the end of 2022,” HELP spokesperson Stephen Mott said.

The organization’s five-year, $65 million contract with the city to operate the shelter was due to expire in June, according to city comptroller records.

Crumbling conditions at the 13-story Meyer building earned the shelter the distinction of being one of the worst in New York City.

Shelter inspection reports issued by the Coalition for the Homeless revealed frequent heat outages, The City reported in 2019.

In 2021, a resident was stuck in a broken elevator at the building for four nights.

The barracks-style shelter on an isolated island served by a single bus line was especially tough for people with mental illness, Legal Aid attorney Joshua Goldfein said.

“This place was barely fit for human habitation, in addition to being inaccessible and terribly located,” he said.

Goldfein described a litany of problems, including drafty windows that HELP-USA attempted to address by covering them with plexiglass. But the quick fix cut off ventilation in the shared dormitories, a problem reported by Curbed in 2021. Elevators in the “fortress-like” building were only accessible by stairs, limiting access for people in wheelchairs or with other mobility issues, Goldfein added.

Mott, HELP-USA’s chief strategy officer, said all of the sleeping areas and common spaces in the shelter had air conditioning units that operated well.

He said residents were moved to permanent housing and other shelters throughout the city. The Department of Homeless Services said the closure was planned, but did not provide specifics about where residents were placed. An spokesperson for the agency said it has no plans to reopen the facility as a shelter.

Andre D-Nyse, a former resident of the facility, told Gothamist that staff and fellow residents frequently brought weapons. Shelter staff, he said, also used pepper spray on people.

“People have weapons and be hurting people in their sleep,” D-Nyse said in a text message. “I can’t live like this no more… I’m moving to the street as soon as it gets warmer out.”

 

Nurses and funeral home directors are pissed about the bureaucratic bullshit affecting their jobs from the state and city

 

NY Post

 New York State nurses and other hospital workers are being exposed to “dangerous working conditions” amid the coronavirus pandemic because of “critical shortages” of personal protective gear, and they want “urgent action” from Gov. Andrew Cuomo to provide them with the equipment they need.

 That’s the message in a blistering April 11 letter sent by the New York State Nurses Association’s director to Howard Zucker, the state health commissioner, obtained by The Post.

The letter contradicts comments made by Melissa de Rosa, secretary to Gov. Cuomo, at a press briefing last week, in which she said that hospitals were receiving stockpiled PPE equipment and that no health care facilities in the state would have to resort to “crisis conservation.”

That means the reusing of masks, hospital gowns and other equipment meant to guard against the spread of COVID-19.

“At this point most hospitals and nursing homes in the New York City metropolitan area, which is the national epicenter of the pandemic, continue to operate under ‘crisis conservation’ standards because they do not have enough PPE to distribute to our desperate staff,” wrote Patricia Kane, the executive director of the Nurses Association, the union which represents 42,000 frontline nurses in the state.

NY Post

Frazzled funeral home directors are complaining about the invasion of the municipal body snatchers.
At least two Queens funeral directors say the city’s red tape is making their grim backlog of bodies even worse, as remains are sent to Randall’s Island for storage with little or no notice — and retrieving them has become nearly impossible.

Omar Rodriguez was scheduled to pick up two bodies last week from Elmhurst Hospital, only to find out the night before they’d been packed into two mobile morgues and taken to Randall’s Island.
But once there, workers on the island told him the bodies needed to go back to the hospital before they could be released, he said.

“I spoke to everybody and their mothers about how to get the bodies but no one had an answer,” he told The Post. “I was going back-and-forth. I told them I’m here, release the bodies to me. Eight hours later they were released on Randall’s Island.”

Is a bus bridge the ticket to LaGuardia?

From LTVSquad:

We should build an entirely new bus-only (or maybe light rail) route to LaGuardia (LGA). It would follow the existing M60 bus route across 125th street in Harlem (connecting to all north/south subway lines in Manhattan as well as Metro North) and go east across the RFK Triboro bridge to Randalls island.

From Randalls island, the bus would enter a brand new, bus only bridge, taking it across the East River and into the massive private Con Ed property at the northwest tip of Queens. An existing roadway would bring us to Luyster Creek – where a short new bridge (or fill – it is at the end of the creek after all) would connect the property to the end of 19th avenue (a wide road through an industrial area that abruptly and dangerously dead ends).

Once on 19th avenue, it’s a short hop down existing streets to LaGuardia.

The route through Con Ed and over the new bridge would need to be camera enforced to automatically ticket any random drivers who enter (the technology exists in the form of specialized ez-pass readers & traffic cameras).

Randall's Island tossed into Queens Council district

From Crains:

Randall’s Island, a tract of less than a square mile in the East River, is part of the borough of Manhattan.

Yet a panel that recently drew New York City Council district lines, which are set to stand for the next decade, moved the sparsely populated island from its current Manhattan council district into a district that is otherwise entirely in Queens. That’s even though Queens is geographically farther from the island than Manhattan and the Bronx are.

And East Harlem and South Bronx community activists call the move politically motivated, arguing that Randall’s Island was corralled into Queens because the island’s current council member, Melissa-Mark Viverito of Manhattan, and local activists have emerged as thorns in the side of city officials who are pushing private development on Randall’s Island.

For years, community activists in the South Bronx and East Harlem have argued that the island should be the public backyard for their communities, where quality parkland is scarce. Instead, they argue, the Bloomberg administration has attempted to turn Randall’s Island into a country club for the rich, full of golf courses and tennis courts.

The 15-member Districting Commission was appointed by the City Council and Mayor Michael Bloomberg. At public hearings, South Bronx and East Harlem activists argued for the island to remain in a Manhattan-based district. There was little public support for moving it to Queens.

Hard to make a connection

From the Daily News:

The city could be building a bridge to nowhere, thanks to a muddled South Bronx land deal.

The Randalls Island Connector, a planned pedestrian and bicycle bridge, will eventually span the Bronx Kill, a narrow waterway separating the South Bronx from public ball fields and green space on Randalls Island.

But land between the bridge and the South Bronx street grid is controlled by a private company, Harlem River Yards Ventures. The New York City Economic Development Corp. needs an easement so it can build a path from the bridge to E. 132nd St.

The EDC and HRYV have worked together on the project for years and now that the city is ready to start bridge construction, it has made the company an easement offer. But no deal has been struck and now the project is in doubt, sources said.

The Connector will link the South Bronx to a greenway network that stretches from Randalls Island to Astoria, Queens and East Harlem.

If you build it, they won't come

From the Daily News:

Dozens of new ballfields in the sprawling park beneath the RFK-Triborough Bridge went unused last summer by the kids who need them most, the city parks boss admits.

And with school almost out for summer, advocates are complaining the $120 million revamp of Randalls Island Park in early 2010 created a playground for the rich and took crucial dollars from neighborhood ballfields.

Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe cited the low traffic earlier this year to justify plans for a private sports camp.

"Fields on Randalls Island have gone largely unused during weekday daytime hours in July and August, and thus availability should not be an issue," he wrote City Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito in January.

The deal called for Florida-based IMG Academies to operate the camp on Randalls Island after donating $200,000 to the Randalls Island Sports Foundation. But plans for the $895-a-week camp fell through in April, with IMG citing low enrollment.

Mark-Viverito (D-East Harlem/Bronx) slammed the pricey park rehab, claiming thousands of trees were cut down to make way for the artificial turf fields.

"Why would you build so many fields and then have a problem in terms of utilization?" she asked. "It was shortsighted and now we're paying the price."

Snow means trouble for bubbles

From A Walk in the Park:

Three tennis bubbles located in City parks collapsed under the weight of snow from the storm that blanked the area on Monday.

One bubble, housing five courts at the controversial $ 19 million dollar Sportime Randall's Island caved in. Workers were seen removing snow by a small front-end loader and clearing away debris. Personnel were also seen reviewing blue prints of the bubbles.

The facility is home to the John McEnroe Tennis Academy for Elite players and is managed by John's brother Mark. The enormous project was ushered through by the Randall's Island Sports Foundation and bypassed ULURP and appropriate environmental reviews.

All indoor tennis in Prospect Park in Brooklyn were suspended after its two bubbles at the Prospect Park Tennis Center collapsed Monday.

"The Prospect Park Tennis Center is currently closed," a message on the Prospect Park Alliance tennis center voice mail says. "Both bubbles collapsed due to heavy snow. We are making a concerted effort to remove the snow and re-inflate the bubbles. We plan to be open on Sunday, January 2nd."

A message on the website stated: "The severe storm conditions caused the Tennis Center bubbles to come down. The Tennis Center may be closed for the week. Please check our website or give the Center a call at (718) 436 2500 for updates.

Another defeat for Bloomberg

From the NY Times:

The Bloomberg administration’s attempt to revive a deal to allow 20 private schools to pay for exclusive use of public athletic fields on Randalls Island has been rejected by a State Supreme Court justice, who characterized the city’s position as “audacious.”

A coalition of public school parents and students, community groups and park advocates had sued the city, arguing that allowing the private schools, which include Buckley, Chapin and Dalton, to pay $45 million to use some of the fields would essentially turn public parkland into a private domain.

In the decision, released on Tuesday, the justice, Marilyn Shafer, rejected a revised deal between the city and the private schools, saying the city sought to “flout and undermine the purpose” of the land use review process and avoid the required community input.

The judge excoriated the Bloomberg administration, saying its arguments demonstrated “more daring than logic.” In an unusual step, she ordered the city to pay the plaintiffs’ legal fees and costs.

It was the second time in two years that the courts have rejected the city’s arrangement, and both rulings used particularly critical language.

“It’s a major win,” said Norman Siegel, who, along with New York Lawyers for the Public Interest and the firm Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, represented the plan’s opponents. “The city shouldn’t give a priority to people merely because they can pay for the use of public land. That discriminates against those who can’t pay to use the public land.”

City officials disagreed sharply with the decision and said they were “considering all legal options.”

If Bloomberg doesn't like the outcome of the lawsuit, then he should appeal with his own money, not the taxpayers.

Bloomberg takes over public park for private use

Randall's Island - June 27, 2009. Park users are kept behind metal barricades guarded by Bloomberg LP security this past weekend. Since 1997, his company has rented dozens of acres of public park land each Summer for weeks to host his lavish private corporate picnic for thousands of employees. The company pays the Randall's Island Sports Foundation (RISP) - a public/private group which the city allows to manage the island - $70,000 annually for the rental. Bloomberg was a long time RISF board member until he quit the board shortly before his mayoral run. An executive of his company reportedly still remains on the board however. Besides the annual rental fee Bloomberg continues to give annually to RISF including reportedly paying the salary of a gardener.

A Bronx couple attempt to gain park access but are denied by a Bloomberg LP security guard. The couple were in the park to attend a birthday party for their nephew.

Photos by Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates

Goose roundup continues on Randalls Island

From the NY Times:

A gaggle of geese who were, at least temporarily, calling Randalls Island home were the target on Wednesday, the third day of a citywide roundup of geese that is expected to result in the destruction of some 2,000 birds.

And a great comment from the same page:

"Mayor Bloomberg gets to look like he’s doing SOMETHING when all he is doing is harming poor innocent geese. We have to learn to share this space with other species. But our Mayor can barely share New York City with other humans (unless they are developers, affluent or corporations) so I’m looking to the wrong source."