Homeless Intake Center Plan Provokes Broad Opposition
[nggallery id=”23562″ template=galleryview] Community outrage at the city’s plan to relocate the the homeless intake center for all five boroughs to the Bedford-Atlantic Armory in Crown Heights reached fever pitch last night at a special Community Board 8 meeting attended by Deputy Commissioner of the City’s Department of Homeless Services George Nashak and three of…
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Community outrage at the city’s plan to relocate the the homeless intake center for all five boroughs to the Bedford-Atlantic Armory in Crown Heights reached fever pitch last night at a special Community Board 8 meeting attended by Deputy Commissioner of the City’s Department of Homeless Services George Nashak and three of his staff members. In his introductory remarks, Nashak emphasized that as part of the plan to bring the intake center to the armory, Crown Heights would be benefiting from a net reduction in beds from 350 to 230. This didn’t fly with the crowd, one of whom pointed out that this reduction would really only result in Crown Heights having four times the number of beds of the average neighborhood from five. Several members of the audience tried to paint a picture for Nashak of what a negative impact the homeless shelter has on the surrounding area—and were met with pat, bureaucratic answers. One man who had recently spent three months in the armory shelter because of mental illness described crack being smoked openly and sex being solicited, which contrasted sharply with Nashak’s efforts to talk up DHS’s track record and reliability going forward. The combined effect: Nashak came off looking out of touch with the reality of the situation in and around the shelter. Anger mounted, and several local residents, including a Roman Catholic priest who had grown up and works in the neighborhood, boiled the issue down to one of respect and race. “This neighborhood has always been treated like a dumping ground…This process would not have happened this way in Bay Ridge. All we’re asking is that you treat us with respect.” Several residents pointed out that the community had spent decades lifting itself up by its bootstraps and now that it was finally reaping the fruits of its labors, the city was trying to push it back down again. “[This plan] shows the highest level of disrespect to the community,” said State Senator Eric Adams, vowing to challenge DHS in court. (In addition to Adams, reps of Mayor Bloomberg, Councilmember Avella, and Senator Montgomery were also in the audience.) Letitia James closed out the meeting calling for the closure of the Peter Young shelter, which is around the corner from the armory and houses a significant number of sex offenders and encouraging residents to attend a State Assembly hearing on the shelter relocation that will take place on September 19 at 10 a.m. in room 1923 at 250 Broadway in Manhattan. Perhaps the most moving moment of the evening was when one elderly woman described the sense of hope and optimism the community had had when Roger Green had first put forth the plan for turning the armory into a community center, and it was in turn approved by the Parks Department and Community Board 8, only to watch Park Slope have its armory spiffed up into a beautiful athletic facility while the residents of Crown Heights were left with a shelter and all the problems that come with it. “This is an insult to the community,” she said. Indeed it is.
Pols Gather to Pan Crown Heights Homeless Plan [Brownstoner]
March, Rally Held Over Crown Heights Homeless Plan [Brownstoner]
Legal opposition and financial incentives to go some place else.
Is anyone offering legal services to the community on this issue? If so, who is it (contact details). Bad publicity and legal opposition is the best way to stop this (the legal opposition, to the extent there are grounds, is the only option that will have real teeth).
Slight change of subject …..
I have noticed that lots of cops have been stationed outside the armory on the weekends. What is prompting this? If nothing else, it seems to keep people from hanging out outside of the building.
Thanks MM, I’ll try to come.
And yes, Daveinbedstuy (DIBS), I saw your post from yesterday and was heartened by the fact that you are aware of not only finance issues as they apply to Wall Street, but also have a larger worldview that includes the community. What, if anything, do you think would work to turn the NYC budget situation around at this late stage in the game? I don’t have a warm and fuzzy feeling about any of this. And if they try to balance the situation by raising property taxes, we’re in for wild snarly ride.
BTW – It would help a lot if Brownstoner could put a spell check on this blog. I type and post very fast in between other obligations and really don’t have time to go back and proof everything carefully. A spell check would be very helpful for me (and many others as far as I can tell), so thanks for your consideration Mr. B.
I was so proud to be a part of this community last night. Not only was every speaker passionate about Crown Heights, be we were also knowledgeable. Mr. Nashak refused to answer certain relevant questions. We all know that he was only there to try and pacify us, but I believe he left that meeting knowing that we are a united group of people who will not stand by and allow this plan to pass without a fight. Crown Heights has had enough!!! We made it known that it’s not about us not wanting the homeless in our backyards, but we simply should not be forced to take on the entire homeless population. As another poster mentioned, this is a perfect time to keep the momentum going.
Lastly, Father Buchanan was great!!!
As much NYC likes to think of itself as a world unto itself, we are still part of New York State, and the 19th is the date of the state hearing. From the documentation passed out last night:
NYS Assembly Standing Committee On Social Services
Notice of Public Hearing
Subject: Relocation of Men’s Homeless Intake Center from Manhattan to Brooklyn, NY
Purpose: To examine the feasibility adn impact of facility relocation on populations affected
Friday, September 19, 2008
10 AM
Assembly Hearing Room 1923
19th Floor
250 Broadway
If anyone wishes to speak, they have to fill out a form, submit questions, and conform to the rules laid out by the state assembly. See notice and form:
http://assembly.state.ny.us/comm/SocServ/20080718/
I posted this yeasterday on a thread. I am posting it again to give you some perspective as to whether or not there will be funding for anything, budgeted or proposed, over the next few years…
There has been a very worrisome issue out there that was highlighted by Bloomberg News today. The credit rating for NYC is likely to fall with lower tax revenues because all of the banks and brokers and investment banks have booked all these large losses due to writeoffs. These losses are likely to carry through well into the next decade which means that the losses will offset any income these companies have and there will be no taxes payable and no tax revenue coming into the city’s coffers.. Where will the tax revenues come from????
The result is that these companies will not be paying any income taxes to NYC and NYC for many years. In fact, since they have prepaid some of these in early 2008 they are looking for refund of that money now.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=a4A3yRSaEHRA
I work around the corner from the Armory and can tell you first hand what a BAD idea it would be to convert this building into a homeless shelter intake facility. That is not the direction that this part of Bed Stuy-Crown Heights is heading toward and would be a big mistake on many levels. This area has a very strong block association and a coordinated group of block associations dedicated to keeping the area in check I know b/c they’ve approached me about some issues they have with my building). What is the reason they want to move the current intake from Bellevue Hospital? What benefit would this be for the community? More importantly, what are the benefits to the residents of the shelter (current and future)? If people have to come to Atlantic Ave. to determine which shelter and in what borough they ultimately go to, imagine the mess of people who can’t navigate the C-train to Franklin Ave. and then find the shelter on Atlantic and Bedford. If you’re going to put an intake facility in Brooklyn, this is not the right place due to transportation issues alone! Personally, I like the idea of building something for this purpose by the proposed Atlantic Yards -area. It’s by a major transportation hub and would be a good use of tax dollars. BTW – There are visiting nurses and psychiatrists at the Atlantic Ave. men’s shelter, but the need far outweighs the resources. This is a funding issues that is — and will continue to be in growing numbers — a serious quality of life issues for many, many communities. Whatever your political affiliation, pray for an increase in funding for hospitals and other social service organizations. Otherwise this issue will be in all of our front yards in ways we currently cannot even imagine.
That should have read that “no one had any confidence that it (the shelter) would be any better run in the future.”