FAC Development at 575 Fifth Avenue
Tonight’s coommunity meeting at Grand Prospect Hall is going to put the South Slope’s liberal leanings to the test. Up for discussion will be a proposed supported housing facility that the Fifth Avenue Committee wants to build on a municipal parking lot at 575 Fifth Avenue. Here’s the rub: When FAC initially proposed the project…
Tonight’s coommunity meeting at Grand Prospect Hall is going to put the South Slope’s liberal leanings to the test. Up for discussion will be a proposed supported housing facility that the Fifth Avenue Committee wants to build on a municipal parking lot at 575 Fifth Avenue. Here’s the rub: When FAC initially proposed the project a year and a half ago, the group left community members with the impression that it would be open to restricting the occupants to seniors and/or youths who were transitioning out of foster care. Now that the project is getting ready to move forward, the word is that 60% of the 49 studios in the development will be reserved for homeless and mentally disabled tenants. Some nearby residents (especially those with children) are concerned about the high numbers of drug addicts and sex offernders that are in this group. (Tempers are already flaring on the Brooklynian boards.) It’s easy to be in favor of providing facilities for this segment of society until one is planned for your own backyard. The meeting is tonight at 7 pm at Grand Prospect Hall, 263 Prospect Avenue. GMAP
Fifth Avenue Affordable Housing Fight Intensifies [Gowanus Lounge]
I have to admit it worries me a little, even though some of you may think that is “wrong”. I can’t afford to leave this neighborhood, and the idea that there may be an influx of mentally ill and reformed sex offenders and drug addicts isn’t pleasant. This area is very safe and is currently on an upswing. As a young woman, I feel safe walking around at night and I don’t know if I’d feel that way if I knew some sex offenders had moved in.
It’s not about avoiding diversity or being sheltered – this area of the south slope is already very very diverse.
It’s easy to say that you’d like a building like this in your neighborhood when it’s not happening to you.
Let knowledge replace fear… put down your torches and pitchforks and go to the meeting tonight.
any change, any new building, any alteration, any new store, any thing and you can find people against it.
And you’ll find newspapers and now bloggers that will highlight that and make it sound like area is up in arms – to make it more controversial.
Other than mention here and on curbed and a couple of neg commentors -a major neigborhood opposition it does not make.
Yeah, let’s just push our problems off on other people in other nabes. That’s the ticket.
1:37PM, it always feels good to pass the buck, to foist your problems off on someone else.
What a wonderful world we live in.
I’m not sure why we should care. Shutting down this project won’t address the underlying causes of homelessness and what to do with the mentally disabled. All it will do is move these problems to some other area or areas. But, that said, if you’re content to just play a perpetual shell game of moving the problem around from one location to the next, then hey…knock yourself out. On the other hand, if you decide it’s time to get serious and address the problem, then vote incompetent ninnys like Tish James out of office and get politically active on a larger scale.
i fully agree wtih those in support of this project. supportive housing is oftentimes the nicest buildings on the block being well constructed and monitored by multiple agencies and investors. in building this housing, FAC will have to think through security, services for tenants, etc. this will NOT be a homeless shelter, but great permanent housing. i think some people would be surprised to find out what other buildings in the city are supportive housing. to have a safer neighborhood, you need more of this type of housing, not less!
FAC is a first-class organization and their work is more necessary today than ever. They find housing for vulnerable people as well as providing job training through their sister organization, Brooklyn Workforce Innovations. What exactly are people so scared of? The homeless are not homeless once they have secure housing. Mentally disabled people belong in the community not in asylums. If you WANT folks loitering on the streets or soliciting, DON’T provide them with housing. That’ll surely do the trick!
can you guarantee that the brownstone buyer is not a sex criminal, or invite his coke head hedge fund buddies over?