Community board slams shelter apartment building

 

 Queens Chronicle

A proposal to build 90 temporary apartment-style units for homeless families in Flushing was met with universal opposition Monday night during a remote meeting of Community Board 7.

But Asian Americans for Equality, which wants to build the structure at 39-03 College Point Blvd., told the Chronicle that the plan is far different from so-called “day shelters” and it is not really a shelter at all.

City officials in an email also disputed accusations that the project was approved without community notice in general and notification of CB 7 in particular.

AAFE on its website says the units are for families experiencing short-term hardships, such as those who may have just lost their homes and those who may have been living in illegal apartments.

Jennifer Sun, co-executive director of the agency, said they hope to break ground in the spring and begin operating in 2024.

Not if those in Monday’s virtual meeting have anything to say about it. Board Chairman Gene Kelty was particularly critical of the lame-duck city officials and the Department of Homeless Services.

“The problem is the city says they don’t need our approval,” said Board Chairman Gene Kelty. “They’re just coming in. They’re calling it transitional family housing and not a shelter for men or women ... And how do they do it? In December at the end of the year when everyone is leaving office.”

Kenneth Chu said volunteers collected more than 20,000 petition signatures in opposition to the plan last weekend.

They also are being backed by Tom Grech, president and CEO of the Queens Chamber of Commerce, who spoke briefly.

“We’re opposed to a shelter in this location,” Grech said. “No responsible person would deny the need for safe shelters for families. This location does not make any sense. Flushing is undergoing a renaissance. We all need to work to find a better use for that property.”

Sun told the Chronicle that the agency has been active for more than 50 years, including two decades in Flushing.

“The city is calling this a shelter, but it’s not a shelter, not like day shelters you see,” she said, adding that services on-site are aimed at getting residents into permanent housing quickly.

Pro-overdevelopment CB7 cancels member appointed by Donovan Richards

 

Queens Eagle

A Queens community board moved forward with efforts to remove one of its members from its ranks Monday night. 

Queens Community Board 7 voted 42 to 3, with one abstention, to take the next steps to expel board member John Choe, who’s been accused of various acts of misconduct by the board’s executive committee. He’s denied all allegations against him.

It was the first time in the board’s history that expulsion proceedings were initiated. 

Chuck Apelian, the board’s vice chair, began the process by reading the charges against Choe, which range from unauthorized postings to Facebook to violations of the City Charter. 

“This is something that’s been going on for a while,” Apelian said. “Every time we tried to work things out, it didn’t seem to go away.”

After a brief spat between Choe and Eugene Kelty, the board’s chair, the accused board member was given a few minutes to defend himself. 

“This is an embarrassment to the entire community board system,” Choe said. “I think this whole charade is a huge, huge embarrassment to the community board and I object vehemently to this entire process. It's absurd.”

In order to proceed with Choe’s removal, two-thirds of the board had to vote in favor – over 90 percent supported the motion. 

“I think that’s a very loud comment,” Apelian told the Eagle after the vote. “I knew we had overwhelming support but that’s a pretty resounding number – that’s pretty telling.”

Choe received support from both a handful of community board members and several members of the public, who were given an opportunity to speak after the vote had taken place.

“I just see this as an abuse of authority,” said Cody Herrmann, a board member, who added that she thought the charges against Choe were “misconstrued.”

Herrmann voted against the proceedings, as did members Harpreet Singh Wahan and Choe. 

“I do not believe that any of this is fair or justified,” said Laura Shepard, who spoke in support of Choe during the public comment period. “This whole thing is nonsense and shame on all of you who voted for it.”

The board’s executive committee, made up of members Warren Schreiber, Frank Macchio, Lei Zhao, Kelty and Apelian, voted unanimously to take the action against Choe last month. On May 26, Kelty issued Choe with a letter notifying him of the proceedings against him. 

Choe, who’s running for City Council in District 20, said he hadn’t been contacted by the board after receiving the letter. 

“No one has explained to me the process or what my rights are,” Choe told the Eagle prior to Monday’s meeting. “We've tried to contact the borough president’s office and it seems like they're tacitly allowing this to happen, even though there's really no credence to any of these allegations.”

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards has refrained from commenting on the removal proceedings, despite having appointed Choe to the board against the recommendation of City Council member Peter Koo earlier this year. 

“The Queens Borough President’s office will let this process unfold and not interfere,” a spokesperson for Richards told the Eagle earlier this month. 

While the executive committee and Choe have clashed for years, their disagreements came to a head in the lead up to the vote to approve plans to develop the Flushing waterfront in December 2020. Choe, who stood in stark opposition to the plan, called out Apelian for what he alleged to be a conflict of interest. 

Apelian, who also serves as the board’s Land Use Committee chair, worked as a paid consultant for the development group behind the project. Apelian recused himself from the board’s vote on the matter and accused Choe of slander. 

On Monday, Choe repeated his allegations to Apelian in front of the full board. 

“You are not only embarrassing yourself by doing this, you are actually promoting the corruption that’s going on in this community board by taking money from developers,” Choe said. “I cannot be silent on that.”