Juvie facility nixed

From the Times Ledger:

The plans for a juvenile group home proposed for a Jamaica Avenue site in Queens Village have been dropped by the city Administration Children’s Services after community members protested for months, elected officials announced Tuesday.

The former Merrick Academy school building on the corner of 207th Street and Jamaica Avenue would have become a group home for juvenile delinquents to transition into responsible young men while in a neighborhood environment through a state program administered by ACS.

Residents joined with elected officials and community leaders to stop the site plan through legal and social means and were elated to hear the news that the proposal for the group home had been canceled.

Contract for juvie home rejected by comptroller

From the Queens Chronicle:

South Ozone Park residents and members of the South Ozone Park Civic Association West on Tuesday erupted with applause when they heard the news that city Comptroller Scott Stringer rejected the contract for a proposed juvenile detention center on a residential block in the community.

A spokesman for the comptroller said the contract was sent back to the city Administration for Children's Services on Friday, June 12, due to "inconsistencies in the contract."

An ACS spokesman said in an email about the rejection "The Comptroller's office has given ACS additional time to provide more information about our contracts for Limited Secure Placement services, and we are hopeful that we will be able to do right by these young people and bring them closer to home later this summer."

Councilman Ruben Wills (D-South Jamaica), who announced the news to the civic at their meeting on Tuesday, called Stringer's move "a huge step" in the community's fight against the facility that seeks to hold 18 juvenile offenders at 133-23 127 St.

Construction worker punches photographer

From the Forum:

In the latest development of the saga of a proposed juvenile justice facility in South Ozone Park, a construction employee who had been working on the newly erected 127th Street building was arrested for allegedly assaulting a resident who was taking pictures of the controversial site, according to an area elected official and court records.

Andrixs Suarez, 24, was cuffed by 106th Precinct cops on April 30 and arraigned on charges of assault with the intent to cause physical injury, and second-degree harassment. He was released on his own recognizance under a temporary order of protection, according to court documents. Suarez’s next court date is scheduled for July 13.

According to the office of City Councilman Ruben Wills (D-Jamaica), on April 15, Philip Kinard, described as “a resident living in the immediate vicinity of the proposed Administration for Children’s Services Close to Home Limited Secure Placement facility” at 133-23 127th St., was capturing images of the building’s exterior to document what he, at the time, believed to be active violations of a city Department of Buildings stop-work order when Suarez allegedly threatened to strike him if he did not cease taking pictures. Suarez, who was employed by a construction firm that had been hired by facility operator Sheltering Arms, then allegedly punched Kinard as he was looking at Suarez through the camera lens.

Juvie jail opposed in Queens Village

From the Queens Courier:

Residents and community leaders in Queens Village are strongly opposed to a plan to convert a former school into a facility for delinquent children who have committed crimes as part of the state’s “Close to Home” law.

The law, enacted in 2012 by the Cuomo administration, seeks to bring young offenders from facilities upstate closer to their families and lawyers in the city.

The city’s Administration of Children’s Services (ACS) has targeted the building at 207-01 Jamaica Ave., the former home of the Merrick Academy charter school, to be the facility for troubled city youngsters, who have been arrested before they turned 16 years old and are considered “at-risk.” The city agency is hoping to house 18 youth offenders at the site in a “group home” setting, and The Children’s Village will operate the site under a contract with ACS.

However, Queens Village residents said they have not been adequately informed about the plan and don’t want teens with criminal backgrounds in their residential neighborhood, fearing they could escape and harm the community.

Facility for juvenile delinquents not welcome in S.Ozone Park

From the Queens Chronicle:

What was billed as a way for South Ozone Park residents to get answers from officials seeking to operate a residence for juvenile delinquents in the community quickly dissolved into more than 100 people shouting with frustration on Tuesday.

“We don’t want it here,” several residents yelled at a meeting of the South Ozone Park Civic Association West. “Put it somewhere else.”

The city Administration for Children’s Services leased a property at 133-23 127 St. to house 18 criminal offenders between the ages of 14 and 17. The program, entitled “Close to Home,” was passed as part of the 2012 state budget and seeks to hold juvenile criminals in residences closer to where they live, rather than in upstate prison facilities.

But several of the residents blasted officials from ACS and the organization that will oversee the teens or youths in the property —Episcopal Social Services — for no prior notice about the new residence, its proximity to two other similar shelters and a lack of answers.

Somehow, this is not surprising.

Juvie jail to be placed in southeastern Queens

From the Daily News:

The city is searching for sites in Queens to place a “limited secure” facility for juvenile offenders, the News has learned.

Sources said locations in South Ozone Park and Jamaica are being studied.

But officials from the Administration for Children’s Services would only say they are planning to place six of these facilities across the five boroughs with 12 to 20 youngsters in each.

“We have heard a lot of talk about juveniles not bring in regular jails,” said Frank Dardani, chair of the 106th Precinct Community Council. “We want to make sure it would be secure and that they have the proper staffing.”

The 2012 state “Close to Home” law was designed to reform the troubled juvenile justice system that kept young offenders in remote upstate facilities.

Under the reforms, juvenile offenders who only need lower levels of supervision will be moved into the city to be closer to their families and support systems. So-called 'limited secure" will still be locked and fenced but will have less of a jail-like atmosphere,

Young offenders who need to be in the most secure setting will remain in upstate facilities.

Illegal conversion adds to vibrant diversity

From the Queens Chronicle:

Dozens of Woodhaven residents packed the Moose Hall auditorium in Richmond Hill last week to demand that police take action against unruly neighbors residing at a house on 98th Street and 87th Avenue.

Residents who live on the block between 87th Avenue and Jamaica Avenue said at the 102nd Precinct Community Council meeting last week that the one-family residence has been subdivided into four or five apartments and currently houses 20 to 30 adults and children. The children are reportedly unsupervised and have been seen running around in the driveway, according to individuals at the meeting.

A source from the 102nd Precinct said that representatives from the city’s Administration for Children’s Services have been sent to the premises to check on the children.

Police have been called to quell loud noise coming from the house and late night disturbances, residents said.

They also reported that garbage left outside the house and on the street has led to a rodent problem on the block.

On 4/14/11, it was referred to the Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement and then apparently forgotten about, since it's now July and nothing's happened.

Revenge via false complaint

From Urbanite:

Hell hath no fury like a person using a public agency to torment a disliked relative or acquaintance.

Conscripting government workers to wage personal vendettas takes myriad forms: Women embittered by divorce settlements tell the IRS that an audit of their ex-husbands’ returns may prove fruitful.

Others make knowingly false allegations to law enforcement, or grouse to agencies mandated to investigate complaints.

While it’s impossible to determine how widespread the problem is, numbers from Administration for Children’s Services offer some hint of its potential scope. In 2009, no indication of abuse or neglect was found in 57.9 percent of the 59,249 investigations done by Administration for Children’s Services.

Most complaints are lodged by people with genuine concerns, said Michelle Conklin, a vice president of SSEU-Local 37, who worked as an ACS caseworker for 10 years. But phony reports are also called in by vindictive noncustodial parents and relatives, and by cranky neighbors seeking to punish parents whose children trespass or make noise, she said.

Agencies are in a Catch 22 when it comes to malicious complaints. “We really can’t not take things seriously. We’re required by law to investigate,” explained ACS spokesman Michael Fagan.

Falsely reporting an incident is a Class A misdemeanor, but neither Fagan nor the Manhattan DA could provide any numbers or information about people prosecuted for making false reports.

A spokesperson for NYC’s Independent Budget Office said no one had ever examined how much money was gobbled up investigating bogus complaints.

Let's not forget that this is also a valuable tool for elected officials to use against those who dare criticize them.

City places Katrina victims in illegal apt - then vacates them

From the Daily News:

When Stan Pryor and his pregnant wife boarded a bus out of New Orleans in late 2005, they hoped that wherever they were headed would be better than the devastation Hurricane Katrina left behind. They were wrong.

That bus ride landed the homeless couple in Queens, where they lived first in a hotel, then in a flat provided by a church parish before the city finally placed them in an apartment in the basement of a house in Jamaica.

The last straw came in late June, when the city Buildings Department declared the apartment uninhabitable and ordered Stan, 65, and Lisa Pryor, 43, and their 3-year-old daughter to leave.